The P3 Update Magazine Blog

by Iain Blair

Just saw the new “TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES”  Fox show and yes – there’slots of tough girls kicking ass on TV these days (Bionic Woman etc.) but none come close to the hard-core women in this spin-off from the great Terminator films (I was on the set of “T2” but Jim Cameron has nothing to do with the TV series). The story starts when Sarah (Lena Headey) stops running and goes on the offensive against an enemy bent on destroying her life, and perhaps the world. Her son, 15-year-old John (Thomas Dekker), knows that he may be the future savior of mankind, but is not yet ready to take on the mantle of leadership that he’s told is his destiny. John finds himself inextricably draw nto Cameron (Summer Glau), an enigmatic and otherworldly student at his high school, who soon proves to be much more than his confidante - she assumes ther ole of Sarah and John’s fearless protector. The show also features some verycool  visual effects by the award-winning company Zoic Studios (CSI, Eureka, Pushing Daisies, Cold Case,Criminal Minds). Jim Lima, Zoic Studios VFX Supervisor for TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, was responsible for designing the digital elements of the show, and worked hand-in-hand with the show creators to design the new model of the Terminator (And no – the Governator isn’t even missed). Lima and his team have been charged with creating over 400 shots for the pilot and between 25 and 100 cinematic level visual effects shots per episode from the invisible to photoreal, stylized environments. Check it out.

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by James Thompson

    Film commissioners targeting independent filmmakers have descended on Park City, Utah for Sundance 2008. This year in particular, seems to have attracted a new group of representatives from many different states and territories.

    It was a pleasure crossing paths with several film commissioners, including Jim Fitzpatrick (California), Lisa Strout (New Mexico), Pat Kaufman (New York), Aaron Syrett (North Carolina), Sharon Pinkerson (Philadelphia), Cristina Caraballo (Puerto Rico), Ward Emling (Mississippi), and of course Sue Kapis (Park City) and Marshall Moore from the sponsoring state of Utah. AFCI’s Kevin Clark and members of the Washington, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, Louisiana, Montana, Georgia and Florida film offices also braved the deep winter snow to participate in this year’s impressive film festival.

    The Utah film commission hosted an outstanding reception at the Sundance House in the Kimball Arts Center. Members of the commission wined and dined filmmakers who were fortunate enough to attend, while introducing them to the many advantages of filming in Utah. “This is a chance for us to recognize filmmakers who have made films or are currently making films in Utah,” commented Marshall Moore.

    Entertainment Partners had a terrific panel discussion at the Yarrow hotel titled, Production Incentives Panel: Meet the experts. The informative committee included industry experts and accountants, who gave film commissioners much insight on the numerous government incentives being offered today.

    The New York film commission is offering coffee and bagels at its New York Lounge on Main Street again this year. If you get a chance to stop by, take a look at the incentives that New York is now offering and mingle with the many other curious filmmakers, who are frequenting this venue.

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by Iain Blair

The Oscar noms came out this morning and the big winners are  “Juno” and Jason Reitman -  at least in terms of the surprise factor. I was chatting on the phone w. Jason just hours after the announcement, and he was still shell-shocked. In fact, many industry people were surprised that the much-talked about new Fox Searchlight movie “Juno” written by first-time screenwriter (and ex-stripper) Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman (“Thank you for Smoking”) scored two of the biggest nominations – Best Director and Best Picture. But maybe no one was more surprised than Reitman himself. “I never expected this,” he admits. “ And I totally never expected the Best Director nomination. That was a shock!  I thought I was making a charming little comedy about teen pregnancy for the film festival crowd – and I was hoping it’d gross the same as “Smoking.” And now it’s over $70 million!” And with an Oscar bump, a $100 mill gross doesn’t look that unlikely now.

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by Iain Blair

Got a call from my sister who works in movies in Britain -  no strike problems there. She’s busier than ever and says it’s been a “great year”for the Brit. film biz. And the UK Film Council confirms it.They report that ’07 was a very strong year for UK box office with £904 million in ticket sales - 8% up on 2006.Market share for British films hit 28% in 2007 - the third highest since records began.: The amount of money spent on making films in the UK in 2007 including “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,”“Sweeney Todd,” “Brideshead Revisited”and “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People” totalled £723 million.  No surprise that the highest grossing film of 2007 was “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” taking £49 million followed by “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” with £40 million.

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by Iain Blair
More strike fall-out – just got a call from a very close friend working on the set of the new quirky family comedy “Ticket to Ride” starring Michael Keaton, produced by comedy vet Ivan Reitman. The film’s been shooting on location around town – including UCLA and downtown. “We just got picketed by the WGA and they were loud and obnoxious,” reports my friend. “I support the strike and agree with their goals, but now it’s just hurting the blue collar people on movies and being picketed was pretty bad.  Even sympathetic crew got pissed off big-time. The strike’s not making them any new friends, that’s for sure.”

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by Iain Blair

Went to meet Sly Stallone at the Four Seasons to talk about his new film, “Rambo 4,”and got a very interesting window into shooting on location in Asia. In “Rambo 4”.. it’s twenty years after the last film in the series, and John Rambo has retreated to northern Thailand, where he’s running a longboat on the Salween River. On the nearby Thai-Burma(Myanmar) border, the world’s longest-running civil war, the Burmese-Karenconflict, rages into its 60th year. But Rambo, who lives a solitary, simple life in the mountains and jungles fishing and catching poisonous snakes to sell, has long given up fighting, even as medics, mercenaries, rebels and peace workers pass by on their way to the war-torn region. Of course, all that changes when some human rights missionaries are held hostage and it’s Rambo to the rescue….. Although he’s early ‘60s now, Sly, who writes,directs and stars, and who filmed on location in and around Chiang Mai,Thailand, looks in great shape. “But it was a bitch of a shoot,” he told me.“Where we were was very primitive – and the truth is, the Far East is a dangerous, unpredictable place. You can get hurt and disappear very easily… it was also tough because of the heat and the burning season. They burn to clear the land and we were all choking….” Sly reports that he had a crew of 500 and spent three months in the jungle in “extreme conditions. But I told everyone at the time, ‘Guys – mark this down as the last great adventure of your life. No one’s ever gonna do this again. I don’t know anyone crazy enough to do this movie again!”

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by iain Blair

Mo Henry – another old friend and Hollywood’s reigning Queen of Negative Cutting ( check out her amazing credits on IMDB – everything from Spider-Man and Harry Potter to Shrek…) called with a very funny strike update story. Her Los Feliz neighborhood is full of movie people, all now adversely affected by the strike. But one writer down the road has put up a sign on his front lawn saying “We support the strike!” How have his neighbors reacted? Mo tells me that every time anyone walks their dog, they now leave the dog poop in a bag hanging from the sign. “It’s becoming a local tradition!” she says…

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by Iain Blair

Had lunch yesterday with my old friend Andy Summers who’s back in town for a week before hitting the road again with a little band called The Police. We go back over 30 years to when I was in the original Rocky Horror Show show and played guitar in the band and Andy would sit in for me if I was away. He was a starving artist then – now he’s back at the top and The Police is now the biggest act in the world all over again  - this tour has had rave reviews and netted over $220 million so far – and that’s just last year’s legs. “The shows we just did in Buenos Aires were some of our best ever – and we filmed everything,” he told me. The 12 camera shoot was directed by music vid vet Jim Gable (The Stones, U2, Michael Jackson etc.) and will likely be a theatrical release later this year.

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 by Iain Blair

A friend in the movie biz called and said she’s on the new Bond film – the 22nd!! in cinema’s longest franchise. Shooting finally started at Pinewood , a month behind schedule. The female lead is “still secret” she said – producers will announce the lucky actress by end o fJan. But  the film’s villain is set –turns out it’s Mathieu Amalric, the French actor who barely had to say a word as the paralyzed star of “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Bond 22 will also star exotic locations around the world that are still being finalized…stay tuned for more Bond news….

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