Peter Jackson Behind Halo Animated Series

[EDIT: This has turned out to be a little less clear than I at first thought... read on to the end of the post for all of the info]

The Halo movie may be dead in the water (or just sleeping, face down, liable to drown soon enough) but an animated series based upon the game is, I'm told, already very, very deep into production.

Apparently, Peter Jackson is behind the series, in direct collaboration with Bungie, the game's creators. It's also expected that he's directing at least one episode, as is be Neil Blomkamp,
the director attached to the Halo feature film.

Are we to see this very soon? Perhaps around the launch of Halo 3 in the Autumn? And where will we see it? My source specualted that the series might be, initially at least, exclusively available for download to X-Boxes.

This is likely to be the first look we get at the motion capture technology being prepped for Tintin, though the budget is bound to be far greater and the quality, almost inevitably, to be somewhat less impressive.

[EDIT: There seems to be a story online that may have been my sources' source - though they provided further info (admittedly, info they may have either assumed or invented).

Several people are now claiming this is all just the result of a misunderstanding, but I'm not convinced. It looks to me - as far as I can see, sniffing around various online reports and e-mailing everybody that I thought would have some inside info to share - that the project simply wasn't supposed to be announced yet. Will it be swept under the carpet only to be announced later?]

[EDIT: The original story has been edited, with the word 'animated' changed for 'interactive' or just plain removed. That could be the end of the chase...]

Movie Minesweeper - The New Music Edition

- There was a clip from Harry Potter 5 on Ellen t'other day and HPana are hosting it on their site. Download the WMV file directly or settle for YouTube.

- There's a big screen version of Mama, I Want to Sing! coming and so far signed to appear are Patti LaBelle, Lynn Whitfield and Ciara. Two out of three 'aint bad.

- Nuri Bilge Ceylan's next film is to be Daydreams, a crime thriller. Climates is just coming out here on DVD in the UK, so go, queue it now if you haven't seen it already.

- Richard Gere is to produce and take the lead human role in Hachiko: A Dog's Story. A remake of a 1987 Japanese film (with a title that translates to approximately the same thing) the story's origins are apparently some true events - though beyond 'man takes in a dog, they bond', I have no idea what these events are. Can anybody shed some light?

- Tim Rice is setting lyrics to Tchaikovsky for Nutcracker - The Untold Story. And it gets worse: Elle Fanning is the lead, backed up by John Turturro (as the Mouse King) and Nathan Lane, while Andrei Konchalovsky is directing. This one runs an icy finger down my spine.

- Back From Hell at last, the Hughes Brothers are lugging about an increasingly full diary. The latest addition is The Book of Eli, a post apocalyptic yarn about a man who may somehow be able to save humanity with the titular book - this could be The Postman, could be Escape From New York... let's face it, it's erring towards The Postman on current evidence. Their other projects (if you want a reminder) include a film version of Kung Fu and The Ice Man, about a serial killer who fits snugly into a new role as a mafia hitman.

- Brett Ratner is to film lots of carnival jollity in 3D. Waste.

- Lucasfilm deny any plans to issue the Star Wars trilo... er... trilogies (?) on either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.

- CHUD have pretty much confirmed that Karen Allen will be in Indiana Jones and the Most Likely to Be City of Gods... and that - SPOILER ALERT - she's the mother of Indy's son.

- Ken Branagh has indeed joined the cast of Valkyrie. Meanwhile, that film's co-scripter Christopher McQuarrie will see his World War I script No Man's Land go before cameras couretsy of Mark Cuban and 2929.

- Aint it Cool are hosting one Transformers ad, IESB are hosting the other. Yaaaaaaaaaaawn.

- The NY Times seem to believe the Tintin trilogy will be released in 3D. I mean, I assumed as much, but this is the first real suggestion that it has been somehow announced to somebody somewhere. They also tell us that Jackson is directing the first film in the sequence, Spielberg the second and... the third? Well, will it be Frank Darabont? Only time will tell.

- Nintendo have lined up a truly amazing list of composers for their upcoming Smash Bros. Dojo game.

- Some new, some old, some spoilery, some not safe for work - more images from Hostel 2 have turned up.

- Sony are to co-produce a whole new slate of films with Stephen Chow.

- Rachel McAdams lies about her age. Why? In a few years, it's only going to make it look like she's aging prematurely. Silly girl.

- Glen Kenny quite liked Bouelverd de la Morte. Best of all, he's quite clear on how it differs from Death Proof.

- There are more No Country For Old Men clips out there. Gotta catch 'em all.

A Trio Of Frank Darabont Rumours

I've heard three separate Frank Darabont rumours in the past two days or so. Here they all are - the law of averages states that precisely one and a half of them will be false, I suppose - but these do come from (generally) trustworthy sources.

Rumour one: Ben Kingsley is to play Captain Beatty in the upcoming Darabont adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. Shooting is to start towards the end of the year and the script is 'dynamite'. Truffaut used spoken credits to give a flavour of a non-literate world, Darabont intends to go even further.

Rumour two: Darabont is 'in some way' involved in the Tintin trilogy. Either that means he's writing one or more of the films, I'd guess, or he's the missing link, the third director. Or he's producing. Or making the tea. Or they're using his beard as the basis for Captain Haddock's.

Rumour three: amongst the many commentary tracks on the upcoming Blade Runner DVD set is a conversation between Darabont and Ridley Scott.

Spielberg And Jackson Each Directing Their Own Tintin Film

Here's yet another case of Robert Zemeckis being at the cutting edge of film technique and technology...

Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are each directing a film in a planned trilogy of Tintin movies, with no indication yet of who will direct the third. Perhaps this deal was instrumental in The Lovely Bones landing at Dreamworks.

Now we know the next two films from each of the two directors - unless Spielberg squeezes another film in the middle somewhere. I'm quite confident Jackson's film will be the better of the two. For obvious reasons.

Apparently, a 20-minute test reel already exists, demonstrating the motion capture technology and the resulting images.

Spielberg said "Herge's characters have been reborn as living beings, expressing emotion and a soul which goes far beyond anything we've seen to date with computer animated characters". Yeah, right, Steve. I don't believe a word of it. I bet they're great, really great, but what, exactly is lacking emotion or soul in, say, King Kong, Gollum, Buzz, Woody, Sully or Mike? And this old claptrap about motion capture offering more nuance and 'reality' than conventionally animated characters is starting to get very, very tiring. It simply isn't true.

Jackson said "We're making them look photorealistic; the fibers of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. They look exactly like real people - but real Herge people!"

I hope they know what they're doing. Polar Express was a warning shot over the heads of the mo-cap world, perhaps, and if Zemeckis can come a little unstuck with this tech, I don't know what hope anybody else will have. Beowulf is going to be the tester - if that works, then it can be done; if not - who knows? Monster House style caricature might be the only attainable answer, for now at least.

[EDIT: Rumours already circulating that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost would be up for the roles of the Thomson twins]

[SECOND EDIT: Rumours FINALLY confirmed. Pegg and Frost WILL be taking the roles]