All Articles by Hunter Daniels

ALCATRAZ Viral Campaign Recap with Video and Images

Posted: February 4th, 2012 at 11:16 am

The modern era of media is a fractured landscape. Where once 70 million Americans could watch The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, today networks must fight for viewer attention with TiVo, cable, video games and of course, the internet. Simply making a great show is no longer enough. In order to succeed, advertisers must move beyond their actual programming and create something unique and specific in order to instill a deeper emotional connection with consumers.

Perhaps the master of this approach is J.J. Abrams. Between Lost, Cloverfield and Super 8, Abrams has a proven track record of producing Triple-A content matched with innovative and singular marketing. His newest show, Alcatraz, is taking the Brechtian Meta-Reality antics to a whole other level. We’re only three weeks in to the show’s run and already the producer have pulled off one of the best Alternate Reality Game pieces ever. Last Friday, Fox invited the first 312 fans who lined up at San Fransisco’s Dock 33 a chance to participate in a large-scale scavenger hunt on the real Alcatraz. Collider was on the scene and played the game. Hit the jump for a video summary of the action and a detailed breakdown of the ARG madness.

Sara Paxton and Director Ti West THE INNKEEPERS Interview

Posted: February 2nd, 2012 at 8:17 am

While Ti West is not yet a household name he is a strong brand and a seal of quality. Beginning with the ultra-low budget The Roost before moving on to Trigger Man, House of the Devil and the troubled Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, West has spent the last decade producing a string of high quality creepers that recall Edgar Allen Poe and The Dulpass Brothers in equal measure.

Hitting theaters tomorrow after a VOD run is his new film, The Innkeepers, which West acutely describes as, “A charming ghost story.” Like most of West’s previous films, it is an understated and moody horror yarn that focuses more on characters than it does on blood, guts and jump scares. It’s a real gem if you’re willing to step outside the expected genre conventions.  Recently, I sat down with West and his star Sara Paxton to discuss the film. During the interview we talked about the movie’s indie stylings, meta jump scares, what it’s like to work with a director who also acts, West’s role in the upcoming (and also exceptional) slasher You’re Next and much, much more.  Hit the jump to watch.

20 Things to Know About PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 and the Franchise From Our Afternoon Tea with Oren Peli and the Cast

Posted: February 1st, 2012 at 4:57 pm

There is a lot Paranormal Activity grand maestro Oren Peli won’t talk about. He won’t talk about his long delayed Area 51. He won’t talk about any hypothetical projects or anyone he wants to work with in the future. He won’t give any specifics on his new TV series, The River. And he professes that he has no idea what Paranormal Activity 4 will look like. With this in mind, it is no great shock to announce that a recent afternoon tea with Peli, as well as Christopher Nicholas Smith, Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown (all of Paranormal Activity 3) and Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston (stars of the original film) revealed no great secrets about the franchise’s future. Rather, much like the films themselves, it was an afternoon of looking back and filling in the holes and unanswered questions about what came before.

The players told us about the difficulty of faking amateur camerawork, why Steven Spielberg turned off the original film halfway through, how the production allows for scene ideas from literally everyone, where the original concept for Paranormal Activity 2 came from and much, much more. Read on for the top 20 things to know about our afternoon tea with the cast and crew of Paranormal Activity.

Reader Report from the ALCATRAZ Viral Scavenger Hunt

Posted: January 29th, 2012 at 1:23 pm

Fox is trying some very fun and innovated approaches to marketing its new J.J. Abram’s produced supernatural procedural Alcatraz. The network began its viral campaign by sending a mysterious box to the Collider offices, then followed up with a premiere party on the island itself (Click here for our red carpet coverage). Now that the show is on the air, the Alternate Reality Game is moving ahead full steam.

Last Friday, the studio held a massive scavenger hunt inside of the prison as part of the www.legendsofalcatraz.com. Collider reader Tucker attended the event and was kind enough to send us a write up and a photo.  Read on for Tucker’s thoughts on the game and a picture of his prizes.

ALCATRAZ Red Carpet Interviews with Sam Neill, Robert Forester, Parminder Nagra and Director Jack Bender

Posted: January 16th, 2012 at 9:26 am

One of the most anticipated midseason premieres of 2012 is the J.J. Abrams produced Alcatraz, a supernatural procedural about a team of detectives who hunt and capture inmates from the infamous island prison after the convicts begin to mysteriously appear in modern day San Francisco.

To promote the show, Fox flew select journalists out to the bay area for a premiere party and screening at the prison (here’s my recap of the event). While on location, I got to talk to stars Sam Neill, Robert Forester and Parminder Nagra and Executive Producer and Director Jack Bender about their work on the show. During the interviews we discussed how the series will end, researching time travel, potential appearances by Machinegun Kelly, what it’s like to sit in a real electric chair and much, much more.  Hit the jump for the video interviews.

ALCATRAZ Premiere Party Recap With Images

Posted: January 16th, 2012 at 8:06 am

When I started doing web journalism as a hobby, I never thought it would lead me to a cell deep in the bowels of an infamous maximum security prison. But last week that is exactly where I found myself.

Of course, this was the kind of prison stay that included catered food, open bars – both on the cells and in the mess hall – and a screening of Fox’s new J.J. Abrams produced supernatural procedural Alactraz. Hit the jump for the whole story including some brief thoughts on the pilot and pictures from the event.

Christoph Waltz CARNAGE Interview

Posted: December 16th, 2011 at 11:50 am

Every Auteur has his signature visual fetish. For Alfred Hitchcock it is women in pieces, for Martin Scorsese it is the omnipotent God’s-eye-view of the tracking shot and for Roman Polanski it is the domestic space made wild. So, when development began on an adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s award winning play, God of Carnage, it only made sense for Polanski to take the helm. Carnage, which stars Christoph Waltz, Kate Winselt, Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly, is a brutally funny and subtly disturbing film set entirely within the confines of a slightly bougie New York apartment, detailing the sublimated rage, self-righteousness and self-loathing that come to the surface when two sets of parents who come together to discuss a minor fistfight between their sons.

Recently, I sat down with Oscar Winner Christoph Waltz to discuss his role in the film and his approach to acting. During the interview, Waltz eloquently explained the differences between stage and screen acting, finding truth in his character and the faulty logic of always believing that you are the hero in your own story.  Hit the jump to watch.

John C. Reilly Talks CARNAGE, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN and TIM AND ERIC’S BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE

Posted: December 14th, 2011 at 9:07 pm

Every Auteur has his signature visual fetish. For Alfred Hitchcock it is women in pieces, for Martin Scorsese it is the omnipotent God’s-eye-view of the tracking shot and for Roman Polanski it is the domestic space made wild. So, when development began on an adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s award winning play, God of Carnage, it only made sense for Polanski to take the helm. Carnage, which stars Christoph Waltz, Kate Winselt, Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly, is a brutally funny and subtly disturbing film set entirely within the confines of a slightly bougie New York apartment, detailing the sublimated rage, self-righteousness and self-loathing that come to the surface when two sets of parents who come together to discuss a minor fistfight between their sons.

Recently, I sat down with Oscar nominee Reilly to discuss the film. During the conversation, which he described as one of the most awkward of his entire life, the actor discussed approaching comedy versus drama, how adults can be childish, the Stepbrothers rap album, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, going to the confessional and more, including how he might not be in Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming, The Dictator.  Hit the jump for the interview.

18 Things We Learned about Peter Berg’s BATTLESHIP from Our Editing Room Visit; Plus New Images from the Film

Posted: December 8th, 2011 at 2:00 pm

A few months back Collider, along with a few other websites, was invited to visit the editing bay of Peter Berg’s upcoming mega-budget adaptation of Hasbro’s popular maritime board game Battleship (starring Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna, Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker and Alexander Skarsgard), which hits theaters next May. During our visit we got to see several scenes from the movie, learn about the characters, the settings and get a sense of the film’s scope and its interstellar enemies.

There has been a lot of discussion about Battleship, much of it openly negative, but until now there has been precious little detail on what the movie actually is, and what it isn’t. And what it is, is probably very different than you are thinking.  Read on for the full story and the top 18 things you should know about Battleship.

Producer Roy Lee Talks THE RING, POLTERGEIST, and THE GRUDGE Reboots, A Darker Ending for Spike Lee’s OLDBOY Remake, and More

Posted: November 28th, 2011 at 6:00 am

While on the set of Takashi Shimizu’s upcoming 7500, I got to sit down with a few other journalists and producer Roy Lee, who almost single-handedly spearheaded the J-Horror craze of the early 00’s, producing remakes of over a dozen foreign language horror films including, The Ring and The Grudge, as well as Martin Scorsese’s Oscar winning, The Departed.

We’ll have full coverage of the new, original, aviation-based horror film closer to the release date, but today we have a slew of updates on Lee’s very busy development slate. During the interview, Lee talked about rebooting The Ring and The Grudge, a new ending for Spike Lee‘s English-language Oldboy remake that he promises will be darker than the original, directors he wants to work with, spoofs of his own films, getting beaten to the punch by The Hunger Games, his excitement for remaking Poltergeist, the current state of Japanese horror and more.

Leslie Bibb Talks Playing Wonder Woman Opposite Jason Sudeikis as Batman in MOVIE 43

Posted: November 28th, 2011 at 6:00 am

While on the set of Takashi Shimizu’s upcoming airplane based horror film 7500, I got to sit down with a few other journalists and Leslie Bibb. We’ll have the full set report closer to the film’s release date, but today we have a little scoop on her upcoming role as Wonder Woman. Seriously. Kinda. Bibb plays the superhero in a segment of Peter and Bobby Farrelly‘s comedy anthology Movie 43. Her short features Jason Sudekis as Batman, Bobby Cannavale (The Other Guys) as a “jacked-up” Batman, Kristen Bell as Supergirl, and John Hodgman as Penguin. Hit the jump to see what Bibb had to say about her stint as Wonder Woman and the segment as a whole (which also stars Justin Long and Uma Thurman), and to watch the original short that inspired their version called Robin’s Big Date.

Jamie Chung Talks Quentin Tarantino-produced Kung Fu Movie THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS Directed by RZA

Posted: November 28th, 2011 at 6:00 am

While on the set of Takashi Shimizu’s upcoming aviation thriller 7500 I got to sit down with a few other journalists and Jamie Chung to discuss her role. We’ll have the full interview and a set visit write up closer to the film’s release. Today we have a short update from Chung on Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and his Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino produced Kung-Fu film, The Man with the Iron Fists. The movie takes place in feudal China and centers on a small village’s weapon-maker who must defend its peoples. RZA wrote the pic alongside Roth, and the cast also includes Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, and Pam Grier. Chung discussed the film’s original four-hour cut, the idea of splitting it in half, RZA’s famous obsession with obscure Asian action films and reveals that they’re eyeing an August 2012 release. Hit the jump to see what she had to say.

VFX Men Aaron McBride and Ben Snow Talk PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES; Plus 15 Things I Learned on My Visit to ILM

Posted: October 27th, 2011 at 7:02 am

 

Recently, I was invited to visit the ILM Campus in the Bay Area to discuss the development of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and see some of the new Blu-ray features that Disney has developed for the disc. While touring the effects house, I got to talk to visual effects art director Aaron McBride and visual effects supervisor Ben Snow.

During the interviews, Snow and McBride told me about how pirate maps influence the design of the films, why they can’t reuse digital armatures, what it’s like to be nominated for an Oscar, how the director influences the effects work, and more.  Read on for the complete interviews and a list of the 15 things I learned.

Pee-Wee Herman, Sean Bean and James Wan & Leigh Whan Video Interviews from the Scream Awards

Posted: October 23rd, 2011 at 7:52 am

Last weekend Collider hit the red carpet at the Scream Awards. The event was held in a massive outdoor theater on the Universal back lot, right around the corner from the Bates Motel and just in front of the giant blue screen they used for the end of The Truman Show. If you’ve taken the studio tour, you probably know the place.

While on the red carpet, we got a chance to talk to Game of Thrones star Sean Bean, Pee-Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens and Saw and Insidious creators James Wan and Leigh Whannel. The artists told us about returning from the dead on Thrones, the relation of LSD to Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, 3D remakes of Jaws, biopics of famous Demonologists and much more.  Hit the jump for the interviews.

Disney’s Second Screen Technology Takes Special Features off the Blu-ray

Posted: October 23rd, 2011 at 7:17 am

When DVD first hit the scene it was, to steal a phrase from Disney’s Aladdin, “A whole new world.” The bonus features let cinephiles behind the scenes for the first time and laid bare the often-arduous mechanics behind crafting a feature film. But, as the medium matured, many of these features became stagnant. Now, with the advent of Blu-ray and the connectivity opportunities offered by iPads, film studios are once again finding new ways to expand upon the medium of bonus features.

Disney is out ahead of the pack, using big-ticket releases like Bambi and now Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides to introduce new ways to interact with the film and encourage consumers to buy, rather than rent. Read on to hear about the new, “Second Screen” technology.

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