Last September, straight from the Toronto International Film Festival, I got to do something very cool: I went to Moscow and visited the set of Summit Entertainment’s The Darkest Hour.  Normally when I say I got to visit the set, it involves going to a huge soundstage and sitting around conducting interviews.  However, The Darkest Hour was a bit different: the production was filming on the streets of the city and in and around some of the most famous landmarks on the planet.   It was a set visit unlike any I’ve ever been on, and over the next few months, I’ll be posting video blogs from Moscow, on set interviews, and some really cool content.  It really was an amazing trip that I can’t wait to share.

One of the highlights of the trip was actually the first thing we did: we interviewed producers  Timur Bekmambetov & Tom Jacobson on the top of the of the Hotel Ukraina, a newly remodeled hotel in one of the historical Seven Sisters, seven buildings that were commissioned and built during the time the Soviets designed in the Stalinist style.  It was easily the most unique location I’ve ever conducted an interview and the view was breathtaking.  During the 45 minute interview I learned a lot about The Darkest Hour.  Hit the jump for the highlights, the first trailer, along with the full transcript and audio.

At this year’s Comic-Con, Summit released some concept art from The Darkest Hour and they recently unveiled the trailer. In addition, I was able to interview Emile Hirsh, Joel Kinnaman with Max Minghella, as well as director Chris Gorak (Right at Your Door, art director of Fight Club).   With the embargo starting to lift on the set visit, Summit has sent over some additional concept art and it’s pretty cool.  Check it out after the jump.

At this year’s Comic-Con, I had the chance to sit down with director Chris Gorak for an exclusive interview about Summit’s upcoming sci-fi thriller, The Darkest Hour.  While I could’ve posted the interview a lot sooner, I decided to wait until the studio released the cool looking trailer.  Hopefully you’ve all had a chance to check it out.  What’s important to know is the entire movie was filmed on location in Moscow, was filmed in 3D, and produced by Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov.

During the interview, Gorak talks about bring at Comic-Con, filming in Moscow, the aliens and what happens to the humans that encounter them, editing, test screenings, and did they decide to explain the alien motivation for attacking Earth or did they go the route of revealing as little as possible.  Hit the jump to watch.  The Darkest Hour opens December 23rd.

At this year’s Comic-Con, I had the chance to sit down with Joel Kinnaman (The Killing, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Max Minghella (The Social Network) for an exclusive interview about Summit’s upcoming sci-fi thriller, The Darkest Hour.  While I could’ve posted the interview a lot sooner, I decided to wait until the studio released the cool looking trailer.  Hopefully you’ve all had a chance to check it out.  What’s important to know is the entire movie was filmed on location in Moscow, was filmed in 3D, and produced by Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov.

During the interview, Kinnaman and Minghella talked about being at Comic-Con and filming in Moscow during the heat wave and fire outbreaks.  In addition, since both of them have worked for David Fincher, we talked about working for him and Kinnaman explains why his character was added to Fincher’s first Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie and how he’ll be in the two sequels.  Hit the jump to watch.  The Darkest Hour opens December 23rd.

At this year’s Comic-Con, I had the chance to sit down with Emile Hirsch for an exclusive interview about Summit’s upcoming sci-fi thriller, The Darkest Hour.  While I could’ve posted the interview a lot sooner, I decided to wait until the studio released the cool looking trailer.  Hopefully you’ve all had a chance to check it out.  What’s important to know is that the movie was filmed on location in Moscow and it was filmed in 3D.  While many movies might film a few days in Russia, the entire production was based there and it was produced by Timur Bekmambetov.  Trust me, The Darkest Hour should be a cool movie and it gets released this December.

During the interview, Hirsch talked about shooting in Moscow, filming in Red Square with thousands of people watching, being at Comic-Con, the Wachowski’s underappreciated Speed Racer (which is one of my favorite films of 2008), Oliver Stone’s Savages, William Friedkin’s Killer Joe, Twice Born with Penelope Cruz (he’s filming this in the fall), and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

The trailer for the alien invasion flick The Darkest Hour has gone online.  While we’ve been inundated with alien movies this year, you should know that The Darkest Hour picked up some positive buzz from it’s Comic-Con presentation and the concept art looks pretty neat.  The Moscow setting is also a nice change of pace.  That’s right, America: other countries sometimes get invaded by aliens too.  As for the trailer, it starts out a little too much like “Hey!  Another alien invasion movie!  I’m sure you’re in no way tired of these!”  But once it reveals its concept, that the aliens feed on electricity and that a small band of survivors has to come up with some inventive ways to stay alive, then it gets interesting.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, and Rachael Taylor.  The Darkest Hour opens in 3D on December 23rd.

Coming December 23 is The Darkest Hour a new 3D alien invasion movie starring Emile Hirsch, written by Jon Spaihts (the first scribe on Prometheus) and directed by Chris Gorak (Right at Your Door, art director of Fight Club). Whereas most invasion films focus on the military battle against the invading extra-terrestrials, this one focuses on what happens after the aliens have already won.

Yesterday, Gorak and the film’s producers sat down to talk with us about the film. After hearing what they had to say and seeing some production art and the first trailer, I think The Darkest Hour could well be the one Hollywood alien invasion movie that everyone remembers from 2011.

Hit the jump to find out why, plus see new concept art from the film.

Summit Entertainment has released the first image of Emile Hirsch in director Chris Gorak’s (art director on Fight Club) alien invasion pic The Darkest Hour. Starring Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, and Max Minghella, the film centers on five people who become stranded in Moscow (notice the beautiful architecture in the background) following a crippling alien attack.

Check out the image after the jump. The Darkest Hour opens later this year on December 23rd and will be part of Summit’s Hall H panel which runs from 11:15 – 12:15 on Thursday, July 21st. Make your way back here tomorrow for Matt and Adam’s roundup of the panel and for all of our continuing Comic-Con coverage.

Last year, the Twihards got a reprieve as Summit, having just released The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, had nothing new from the franchise to bring to Comic-Con.  But the tent city Twilight fans seem to set up around the San Diego Convention Center will return as Summit has announced—to the surprise of no one—that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 will be part of the studio’s Comic-Con presentation.  It will be joined by Paul W.S. Anderson’s atrocious-looking The Three Musketeers and the alien invasion flick The Darkest Hour.  As always, there will be footage and a Q&A.  Twilight fans, telling Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (if they’re on the panel) “I think you’re hot!” is not a question.

The better news for all of us is that the presentation will be one of the first panels in Hall H on Thursday, July 1st, so it will be out of the way early in the con.  There will also be other, non-panel related activites for Twilight fans and non-Twilight fans so hit the jump for details from the full press release.  The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 opens November 18, 2011.

Summit previously scheduled the 3D The Darkest Hour for August 5, a fairly typical summer release date for a sci-fi thriller.  Per Box Office Mojo, the studio has pushed the film to December 23, a less natural holiday season bow.  On the new date, The Darkest Hour must vie for 3D theaters against The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn; the date also holds The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and We Bought a Zoo.

Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachel Taylor, Max Minghella, and Joel Kinnaman star as young tourists who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack.  Chris Gorak (Right at Your Door) is directing from a script by Jon Spaihts.  Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) is among the producers.

Doug Liman’s Fair Game will begin playing in limited release on November 5th.  The film is based on the true-story of the Valerie Plame affair.  The film stars Naomi Watts as Plame and Sean Penn as Plame’s husband Joseph Wilson.  According to Variety, distributor Summit Entertainment will expand the movie’s release over the following two weekends.  Fair Game played at this year’s Cannes Film Festival to positive notices.  To learn more about the Plame affair, hit the jump.

The studio has also set Chris Gorak’s 3D sci-fi thriller The Darkest Hour for August 5, 2011.  The film stars Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachel Taylor, Max Minghella and Joel Kinnaman as young tourists who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack.

Olivia Thirlby (Juno, The Wackness) will play one of the leading roles in the sci-fi action film The Darkest Hour.  According to Heat Vision, the film “is set in Moscow and follows a group of Americans traveling in the city when an alien invasion occurs.  Thirlby will play “a trust fund girl trying to survive the attack who teams up with others to try to defeat the invaders.”  The way it reads from Heat Vision, it sounds like a group of Americans are the ones teaming up to defeat the aliens while the Russians flee in terror.  Of course, I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be like that since Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) is producing.  Chris Gorak (Right at Your Door) will direct.

This will be Thirlby’s first big foray into action films.  Her previous work has been in indie, character comedy/dramas.  While filming on Darkest Hour is set to begin in the summer, Thirlby will first co-star in the lesbian-romance-werewolf-drama Jack and Diane this spring.

New Regency and Summit are coming together to produce The Darkest Hour, a thriller about a group of kids in Russia struggling to survive after an alien invasion.  Deadline is reporting that Summit will be taking care of the domestic release of the film while New Regency and Fox International look to cover the foreign release.  New Regency purchased the script back in 2007 and now it looks like they’re moving ahead with the project.

The films director, Chris Gorak, has only directed one film entitled Right at Your Door which was released in 2006, about the aftermath of a Los Angeles terrorist attack.  However, he has worked as an art director for such films as Minority Report, Fight Club, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Tombstone, which gives me a bit more confidence about the movie.  The article claims that The Darkest Hour is in the style of 28 Days Later. If that’s the case, I’m all in.  The film is set to start filming in Russia this June.