Warner Bros. has picked up a pitch for an epic Julius Caesar film as a directing vehicle for Battle: Los Angeles director Jonathan Liebesman.  According to Deadline, the film wouldn’t be a biopic as much as a “Patton­-like approach” and would cover Caesar’s Spanish campaign, his formation of the 10th Legion, and the battles that would eventually establish Caesar as ruler of the Roman republic (Rome didn’t become an empire until Augustus, Caesar’s heir, took over following his uncle’s assassination).   The concept is to create a sweeping drama with a major movie star playing Caesar and to leave the door open for a second film that would cover Caesar’s journey to Egypt and his assassination.  Chris Boal will write the script and Liebesman will produce alongside Basil Iwanyk (Clash of the Titans 2).

Liebesman recently wrapped shooting on the Clash of the Titans sequel, which is due out March 30, 2012.  Last year we reported that 17 Again director Burr Steers was working on a Caesar film that would focus on the historical figure’s teenage years.

Production has begun on Jonathan Liebesman’s untitled sequel to Clash of the Titans.  Warner Bros. has sent out a press release confirming the film’s cast.  Returning actors Sam Worthington (Perseus), Liam Neeson (Zeus), Ralph Fiennes (Hades), and Danny Huston (seen in the first film for half-a-second as Poseidon), will be joined by Edgar Ramirez (Ares), Toby Kebbell (Argenor, Posiedon’s demigod son), Rosamund Pike (Andromeda), and Bill Nighy (Hephaestus). It’s worth noting that Gemma Arterton, who was rumored to return as Io, isn’t mentioned in the press release.

Warner Bros. has also sent out a full synopsis for the sequel.  The story takes place 10 years after the first film with Perseus attempting to lead a quiet life.  But he’s called back into action in order to rescue Zeus after the god is captured by Ares and Hades in a deal to unleash the titans.  The plot clearly has a major role set up for Kronos, the leader of the titans, but no actor has been linked to the role at this point.

Hit the jump for the full press release and synopsis.  Clash of the Titans 2 is set to be released in post-converted 3D (ugh) on March 30, 2012.

The Marines used to run commercials that would show a young man taking a sword and battling a fire-breathing dragon.  I was always left wondering if anyone ever saw one of those ads, thought “I need to get in on that dragon-fighting action” and were left sorely disappointed when they discovered that the job was short on dragon-slaying, but long on getting shot at.

That recruitment ad has now been expanded to a feature length film with Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle: Los Angeles.  While it’s slightly more realistic than sword-fighting a dragon, a platoon of marines taking on space aliens isn’t really what the actual job entails.  On a technical level, the film is a dazzling special effects punch of sight and sound that will keep you pinned to your seat and rooting for a small band of soldiers to complete their mission.  But there’s nothing thoughtful underneath and the hollowness of the undertaking that may support our troops, but doesn’t provide them with the honesty they deserve.

With Battle: Los Angeles opening tomorrow, I got to speak with director Jonathan Liebesman at the Los Angeles press junket.  Since we’ve been covering the film since it’s inception, you all know the film tells the story of an alien invasion as seen through the eyes of a Marine platoon headed up by Aaron Eckhart.  The film also stars Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Michael Pena and Ramon Rodriguez.  You can watch some clips and read the full synopsis here.

Anyway, all week we’ve been posting video interviews with the cast and now it’s time for the director.  During the interview, Liebesman talked about how he did some of the special effects himself (they look great), the challenges of making the film, casting, test screenings, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch:

Sony has provided us with 2 clips and 3 TV spots from their upcoming film Battle: Los Angeles. The Jonathan Liebesman-directed flick stars Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan and Michael Pena. The stirring first trailer let audiences know that this isn’t your typical action movie. The film tells the story of an alien invasion as seen through the eyes of a Marine platoon headed up by Aaron Eckhart. Each subsequent piece of promotional material released did not disappoint, and it’s safe to say that the film looks to be quite a ride. Battle: Los Angeles hits theaters on March 11th. Hit the jump to check out the footage, and to catch up on all of our coverage regarding Battle:LA click here.

Just a few hours ago I got to interview Battle: Los Angeles director Jonathan Liebesman as Sony is doing a big press junket for the film today and tomorrow.  During the week of release (March 11th) I’ll be posting our full conversation, but with Liebesman directing the sequel to Clash of the Titans, I did get an update on how pre-production has been going and what can people expect in the sequel.

While you can read a full transcript or watch the video after the jump, he told me that the shoot is scheduled for 78 days (which is a sign that it’s a big movie), he’s not filming in 3D but the entire production has been conceived as a 3D picture (unlike the first film).  He went on to say they’ll have a 3D stereographer on set and he’s shooting on film in a 1.8:5 ratio.  And for those wondering about the look of the film, here’s a choice quote:

“For me, taking Greek mythology and all that fantasy and putting it in a real world that’s epic, like Gladiator, like a big Ridley Scott movie, and taking all that fantasy and putting it in, grounding it, making it feel real, that’s the movie that I wanted to see when I walked into Clash 1 and that’s the movie that Clash 2 is gonna be. That’s what I was looking for, I was looking to come in and have a real, intense, visceral kick-ass experience with spectacle but grounded, with great actors, and that’s what the second one will be.”

Hit the jump for more:

Sony has released a new poster for Battle: Los Angeles.  I really hope this turns out to be a good flick and not just Independence Day with a shakier camera.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, Battle: Los Angeles stars Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo, and Michael Peña.  The film opens March 11th.

Rosamund Pike is an actress who has been circling big-name properties like X-Men: First Class and more recently, Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot.  However, it looks like rather than tangle with the Man of Steel, she’ll be joining Jonathan Liebesman Clash of the Titans sequel, Wrath of the Titans.  Deadline reports that Pike will play Andromeda in the film and that it will be a much larger role than in the 2010 film (when it was played by Alexa Davalos, who was “unavailable for the sequel”).  For those unfamiliar with Pike, she first broke out in 2002′s Die Another Day, and has done some strong supporting work in recent indie films such as An Education and Barney’s Version.

Wrath of the Titans also stars Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, and Liam Neeson.  The film is due out in 3D on March 30, 2012.

In October of 2009, I was invited to visit the set of director Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle: Los Angeles while the production was filming in Shreveport, Louisiana.  At the time, I didn’t know much beyond the basics (aliens attack and the Marine’s have to kick ass), but with sci-fi being my favorite genre, I knew that I wanted to see the production up close.  Thankfully, everything I saw on set made me think Battle: Los Angeles is going to be a really cool movie and I’m very excited to see the finished film.

Anyway, while on set I got to talk to Liebesman, producer’s Ori Marmur & Jeffrey Churnov, screenwriter Chris Bertolini, and senior military technical advisor James D. Dever. Here’s some of the highlights:

• Liebesman talked about balancing the action and seriousness with some humor.  Says J.J. Abrams Star Trek was a great example of how to do both.  I agree.
• Talked about trying to get all the Marines some time on screen while also being truthful to the story
• Liebesman talked about why he was cool with a PG-13 rating
• Why they chose to use film over digital
• Discussed shooting with 3 cameras at the same time and how each take was slightly different. Also, why they were going for handheld camera for the movie. Liebesman mentioned Neill Blomkamp and Paul Greengrass filmmakers he admires
• Producer Jeffrey Churnov says 90% of the aliens in the movie will be CG. 10% of it will be real.

For a lot more, hit the jump:

When I got to visit the set of director Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle: Los Angeles when the production was filming in Shreveport, Louisiana in October of 2009, I was able to interview Aaron Eckhart, Michael Peña, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan and Ramon Rodriguez.  While some of the group had been filming all day (the interview was one of the last things they did), the group was still really excited to talk to us about how the shoot had been going and why they were excited to be a part of the movie.  They also talked about how they got ready for the movie, the challenges of shooting in extreme heat with all the military equipment they had to wear, who they play, the boot camp that some of them had to go through, and a lot more.  You can either read or listen to the interview after the jump.  Also, if you missed my video blog about going to the set, you can watch it here.

In October of 2009, I was invited to visit the set of Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle: Los Angeles while the production was filming in Shreveport, Louisiana.  At the time, I didn’t know much beyond the basics (aliens attack and the Marine’s have to kick ass), but with sci-fi being my favorite genre, I knew that I wanted to see the production up close.

While my set visit illuminated what the film was going to be about and how Liebesman planned to shoot most of the film with handheld cameras, by now most of you already know the basics as the awesome Battle: Los Angeles trailers have been very popular with our readers.  However, for the few that haven’t seen them, Battle: L.A. gets released March 11, and it stars Aaron Eckhart, Bridget Moynahan, Michael Pena, Ne-Yo, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ramon Rodriguez and many others.

Even though there are a number of “aliens attacking” movies on the horizon, I really believe Battle: Los Angeles is going to be very cool and most of it stems from being on set and seeing firsthand what the production was trying to accomplish.  More after the jump:

An international poster for Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle: Los Angeles (titled World Invasion abroad) has landed online alongside a couple of new posters from Joe Wright’s (Atonement) Hanna and Duncan Jones’ (Moon) Source Code.  In case you’re new to the film, Battle: Los Angeles stars Aaron Eckhart as a Marine who must lead his team against an ongoing alien invasion.  Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, and Michael Pena also star.  Hanna, starring Cate Blanchett and Saoirse Ronan, features Ronan as a 16-year-old assassin who is being tracked across Europe by an intelligence agent.  Eric Bana also stars as Ronan’s father/ex-CIA employee/assassin instructor.  Finally, Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monahgan, and Vera Farmiga and tells the story of a soldier (Gyllenhaal) who wakes up in the body of a stranger and finds he is part of an elaborate plan designed to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.

To check out each of the three posters, hit the jump.  Battle: Los Angeles opens March 11th while the other two films premiere only a week apart with Source Code debuting April 1st and Hanna hitting theaters on April 8th.

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says, “If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.” If the intel in Battle: Los Angeles’s new viral marketing is any good, we humans might just stand a fighting chance.

The movie pits Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, and Michael Pena against an alien invasion. You can see exactly what they’re up against (well, sort of) by taking a look at the teaser trailer and the more recently released theatrical trailer. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, Battle: Los Angeles invades theaters on March 11th.  Hit the jump for the classified files.

The theatrical trailer for Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle: Los Angeles is now available online.  Starring Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, and Michael Pena, the film is of the “alien invasion” variety and follows a Marine staff sergeant (Eckhart) as he and his team take on the unwelcome guests.  A few months ago, the film premiered a great teaser trailer.  While the theatrical trailer doesn’t quite live up to that stellar cut, it’s still an effective and suspenseful 2:30 minutes that manages to raise my modestly high expectations for the film even higher.

To check out the trailer for yourself, hit the jump.  Battle: Los Angeles hits theaters March 11, 2011.

By now it’s a universal truth that Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans sucked giant, kraken-sized balls. The story was atrocious, the characters flat and the 3D FX were a terrible, headache-inducing mess. About the only thing Clash had going for it was star Sam Worthington – one of the more polished chaps on the Hollywood block if you ask me – who did his damndest in a thankless role, but still couldn’t quite save the film from the critical lambasting it received. Well, following a sudden trend in which stars like Mark Wahlberg and Shia LaBeouf publicly diss their own work, Worthington has seen fit to comment on Clash’s critical reception via Moviefone. His remarks give me hope that director Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles) and his crew have listened to the pleas of fans worldwide and will deliver a much grander sequel.  Said Worthington:

“I just think we can improve on it. I think the first one, we kind of let down some people. And yeah, I totally agree. The only point of doing a sequel is either the audience demands it or you believe you can better the first one. What we’re setting out to do with this one — the writers and the director and myself — is improve. I think I can act fucking better, to be honest … Just take all the notes from people that I have been reading about on the ‘net and give them a movie they fucking want. This one I want to kind of try to satisfy a lot more people.”

Wrath of the Titans is due out March 30, 2012.