Over the past few days, we’ve been sharing a number of updates from Neal Moritz that were gleaned in Steve’s recent lengthy interview with the producer.  Moritz talked extensively about Fast & Furious 6, 7, and the future of the franchise, he provided revealing updates on the 21 Jump Street sequel, he talked quite a bit about the upcoming supernatural actioner R.I.P.D., and he also provided a promising update on director Shane Black’s developing Doc Savage movie.

While we’ll be providing the full interview here on Collider soon, we wanted to share one last batch of updates on a number of projects.  Hit the jump for news concerning the Battle: Los Angeles sequel, the graphic novel adaptations of Preacher and The Boys, and director D.J. Caruso’s disaster film Invertigo.

At the recent Los Angeles press day for Skyfall, I was able to speak with director Sam Mendes.  During our extended conversation we talked about fan reaction to Skyfall, whether it was tough to land cinematographer Roger Deakins, deleted scenes, what will be on the eventual Blu-ray, whether he will direct another James Bond film, Javier Bardem’s character’s sexuality, crafting his own version of a Bond story rather than being beholden to the Bond mythos, and a lot more.  In addition, we talked about his Preacher adaptation, whether he would direct a comic book movie like Justice League (and his thoughts on the comic book movie genre), his vampire hunter TV series featuring Van Helsing with John Logan (which he will produce and possibly direct the pilot), and more.

I absolutely loved Skyfall.  Sam Mendes has crafted one of the best James Bond movies ever made.  While the Bond franchise is now 50 years old, Mendes has shown the best might be yet to come.  I really can’t recommend this film enough.  For all our Skyfall coverage including our review, clips, posters, my set visit and more, click here.  Skyfall also stars Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Helen McCrory, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe and Ben Whishaw.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

The 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, is finally set to hit U.S. theaters this Friday, and given the immense positive buzz surrounding the film, director Sam Mendes is poised to become very much in-demand for a number of studios’ large-scale projects.  He’s already proven his talent at drama—he won the Best Directing Oscar for his feature debut American Beauty—but early word is that he’s crafted one hell of an action thriller with Skyfall.  Mendes was actually set to make his genre debut a few years ago with an adaptation of the graphic novel series Preacher scripted by John Logan, but he eventually left that project to tackle Bond.

Steve recently sat down with Mendes for an extended video interview for Skyfall, but during the course of their conversation the director also talked a bit about Preacher.  He discussed how Skyfall flexed the muscle he was trying stretch with Preacher, why the project never took off, the difficulty of adapting the story for the big screen, and the possibility of doing a serialized adaptation on television.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Frankenweenie, from director Tim Burton and screenwriter John August, is a charming, macabre and heartwarming tale, about Victor (voiced by Charlie Tahan), a young boy who, after unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life, but quickly faces unintended and sometimes monstrous consequences for his actions.  The voice cast also includes Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Winona Ryder and Atticus Shaffer.

During this recent exclusive interview with Collider, John August talked about how his collaboration with Tim Burton originally started, expanding the original Frankenweenie short into a full-length feature, how amazing Weird Girl and her cat are, and his reaction to seeing the finished product put together.  He also talked about the challenge of actually getting a script made into a film, how many unproduced scripts he has sitting around collecting dust, what made Big Fish right for a Broadway musical, how he came to be collaborating with Josh Friedman (The Sarah Connor Chronicles) on a potential TV show called Chosen, that he plans to direct again after Big Fish makes it to the stage, the status of Preacher, and more.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Throughout the day, movie news sites have been picking up a quote from director D.J. Caruso (I Am Number Four) about various actors he sees for major characters in his adaptation of Preacher.  But this is just Caruso dropping names.  While I’m sure actors have been approaching him, the fact that he wants Chris Pine for Jesse Custer or that Shia LaBeouf wants to play Arseface (and I assume Caruso is joking when he says Alex Pettyfer is interested in The Saint of Killers), those are just empty conversations.  There are no serious negotiations going on and who knows if the scheduling would pan out.  We’re so far away from casting at this point that a director dropping names of famous actors off the top of his head in the middle of an interview shouldn’t be newsworthy.

What is newsworthy is Caruso revealation that he doesn’t understand what makes Preacher work.  Hit the jump for more.

The screen adaptation of Garth Ennis’ Preacher has been stuck in development hell for years.  The latest incarnation has I Am Number Four helmer D.J. Caruso stepping up to the plate to direct the flick.  /Film first mentioned his name in connection to the film last week, and now Caruso has announced the deal on his Twitter page.  We have independently confirmed that the deal is in the final stages.

Preacher has had a rough road to the screen. Back in 2008, HBO decided to nix an adaptation directed by Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil).  Then Sam Mendes got into the director’s chair with John August set to write the script.  Mendes eventually moved on to do the 23rd James Bond film and it’s unknown whether or not Caruso will use August’s script.  Hit the jump for my thoughts on Caruso getting the gig.

Superman and Wolverine may not be the only comic book properties attracting the attentions of director Darren Aronofsky.  Newsarama is reporting that Aronofsky is also being courted by Columbia Pictures to helm the adaptation of Preacher.  For those unfamiliar with Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s comic, Preacher centers on the dark adventures of Jesse Custer, a preacher who accidentally kills his congregation and then awakens to discover he can speak with the word of God (meaning he can command almost anyone to do anything).  I’ve always maintained that the adaptation would work better as an HBO miniseries, but perhaps screenwriter John August has successfully cracked it and made it work as a movie.

Hit the jump for more on Aronofsky potentially helming Preacher.

With the future of MGM still uncertain, James Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have suspended development on the next James Bond film previously scheduled for release 2011/2012.

“Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on BOND 23 indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of BOND 23,” stated Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli jointly.

More after the jump:

About two weeks ago, I sat down with producer Neal H. Moritz for an awesome interview where we talked about everything he has in development and how he got into making movies.  Due to how long the interview was, I ran many articles under the headline “Seven Days With Neal Moritz”, and broke up each part by what movies we covered.

Due to how successful the articles were, I figured some of you might want to read the entire interview as it actually happened.  Also, I’m a huge fan of listening to what people have to say and not reading it as a transcript, so besides the full interview, after the jump you can also get the audio.

During the interview we talked about 3D, R.I.P.D., the Highlander reboot, Fast and the Furious 5/6, Shane Black’s Doc Savage, his remake of Total Recall, Flash Gordon, Battle: Los Angeles, Green Hornet, Jack the Giant Killer, Preacher, S.W.A.T. 2, the remake of Escape From New York, Man-Witch, The Boys, Sinbad, and so much more.  It’s an awesome interview and one I cannot recommend enough:

Continuing my “Seven Days with Producer Neal Moritz” series, tonight I’ve got updates on Preacher, S.W.A.T. 2, the remake of Escape From New York, Man-Witch, The Boys, and Sinbad - which is now called The 8th Voyage of Sinbad.   Some of the highlights are:

Preacher

• They’re talking to a new director (wouldn’t say who) as Sam Mendes is going to do James Bond
• John August wrote the script
• He envisions shooting Preacher in 2011
• Talks about John August deciding to spread out the story over a few movies rather than trying for just one film
• Definitely rated R
• He told me that John August mentioned he’d be interested in directing the movie himself!

Escape From New York remake

• They have a script and they’re out to directors
• They’ve had a few meetings with different directors and a couple of actors really want to play Snake Plissken
• Gerard Butler hasn’t read the new script but after they hire a director they’ll talk to him again
• Thinks it will be rated R

Much, much more after the jump:

Let me start by saying I’m sorry.

Director Sam Mendes “Away We Go” has been playing in limited release for a few weeks now and this interview should’ve gone online a lot sooner. But the last two weeks have seen me back and forth across the United States doing interviews and set visits and I only now had the time to edit and render the interview. I’m sorry for my tardiness.

Saying that, what you’re about to watch is one the most comprehensive interviews I’ve ever done with any director in Hollywood. That’s because I got almost 30 minutes with Mr. Mendes and we talked about everything.

If you’re a fan of his previous works like “Road to Perdition” or “Jarhead”, we talked about possible future director’s cuts on DVD. If you’re curious about his latest film “Away We Go”, we talked about how the project came together and the collaboration between the way he works, his writers and the actors. If you’re an actor looking for help when going in on an audition, Sam talks about what director’s look for. And of course we talked about his possibly next project, “Preacher”.

But the best part of the interview is how loose the exchange is between Sam and I. Since we had plenty of time to talk, there was no rushing between each question and his answers were long and informative. Trust me; it’s a great interview with a director I truly admire. So if you want to take a look, it’s all after the break including bullet points of what we talked about above each part:

Yesterday was the Los Angeles press day for director Sam Mendes new movie “Away We Go”. As I said when I posted the movie clips earlier today, I loved the movie. The film has a brilliant script, beautiful cinematography, great acting, and Sam Mendes directed this thing to perfection.

Anyway, to help promote the film, I sat down with Sam for almost thirty minutes for one of the best video interviews I’ve ever done on Collider. We covered everything you’d want to know about, and if you’re a fan of Sam’s work, you’ll going to love the interview.

But with the movie still almost a month away from coming out, I’m going to save the interview for the week of release.

However, with news for Sam’s next project “Preacher” hard to come by, I figured you’d like to hear what he said about the status right now.

For fans of Garth Ennis’ comic book, Sam says John August is still writing the script. He also said he’s directing two plays and the earliest he’s making his next movie is in 2010. That means “Preacher” is still on the horizon, and not happening anytime soon.

The other bit of news he told me was he’s not involved in any “Road to Perdition” sequel.

Finally, while I could have cut this interview to be much shorter, I let it go a little longer as he talked about his interest in graphic novels and how involved he is in the writing process. Also, it’ll give you a taste of the full interview. Take a look:

Sam Mendes

• Road to Perdition sequel/prequel? Says he is not involved
• Preacher talk – says John August is currently writing the script
• Is Preacher going to be his next project – says he is working on two plays in Brooklyn and then they’ll go around the world with them
• Says he will not do a movie till next year
• Sam talks about meeting Garth Ennis
• Talks about reading graphic novels
• How involved is he with the writing process