The Morning Roundup: Bill Melendez Dies, Zack and Miri Goodies, Guillermo Del Toro Booked Until 2017
Written by: Tony Lazlo, CC2K Staff Writer
We've got some sad news this morning. A great animator died. But we also have some cheerier news from around the entertainment industry, including some promotional materials from Kevin Smith's new movie.
• Damn. Bill Melendez, best known for his work directing and animating the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, has died. I'll best remember him for his animated adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It's not perfect, but it retains a lot of charm, and the music still moves me.
• Well, Guillermo Del Toro is booked up until 2017. After the two upcoming Hobbit movies, he'll get to work on remakes of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Slaughterhouse-Five.
• Mark Pellington directed one of my guilty pleasures: The Mothman Prophecies, and now he's set to direct the mystery thriller Solace.
• Well, a cast is taking shape for the Charles Darwin biopic Creation: Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly will play Charles and Emma Darwin. Jon Amiel directs. Unfortunately, Variety says that this one will be "part ghost story, psychological thriller and love story." Ghost story? A movie about fucking Charles Darwin is going to have supernatural elements in it? It's bad enough that it's called Creation, but give me a break.
• Aaron Eckhart told AICN that Harvey Dent is, like, dead-dead.
• Whoa! There's another Heavy Metal movie coming?
• David Letterman plans to have Jay Leno as a guest on his show the day after Leno loses his job at NBC. Read about that and more in this interview at the New York Times.
• Comics2Film.com rustled up some nice concept art for a Green Lantern movie, and let me say that to the surprise of no one, I'd love to see GL on the big screen. It looks like he'd make great fodder for a grand sci-fi tale.
• Here's the poster for City of Ember.
• Hey, it's the big Zack and Miri Make a Porno update! Here are the movie's poster, plus the R-rated trailer. Looks pretty fun.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno: Red Band Trailer