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PITCHERBLACKER.COM NEWS ARCHIVES
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January to June 2003
| Buy a TCOR slick
I don't know what random spider-sense made me cruise ebay for Pitch Black stuff tonight (I've kicked around the idea of a regular feature on ebay PB goodies, but never carried it through), but man did I ever hit the jackpot. Remember the new Riddick poster I mentioned a few days ago? Want one? $8.50 USD, it's yours
Unfortunately the picture in the auction sucks, but it looks like it's got headshots of Diesel, Dench, Feore, and probably Newton on the back. One of you WILL buy this and scan it for me, RIGHT?
And while we're on the subject of ebay, amongst the usual PB posters and videos and signed pictures of questionable authenticity, I spotted a couple of potentially cool predator resin kits.
| | Film Illusions joins up
Good news for all you fans of those big hairy desert dewback-things in Stargate (I know you're out there). The animatronics company that made them, Film Illusions, has been brought on to the TCOR roster. No word yet on their duties (animatronic Necromongers, complete with dorsal sphincters and flailing cilia? One can only hope).
The company is headed up by Russell Shinkle, and Darin Bouyssou will be acting as key technician.
The Body Count Rises
Like I mentioned before, wiameawahine was kind enough to ferret out a bunch of new cast and crew information. So that, along with a recent IMDB update, means that my TCOR Cast und Crew page is now packed full of strange and wonderous names.
The two new faces that will be appearing onscreen are Ron Selmour in an undisclosed part (hopefully NOT replacing Keith David as the imam, excuse my suspicion) and also Colin Corrigan playing a 'Vault Officer'. Could this mean we'll get to see Slam City, maybe?
Anyway, check out the full listing for all the new faces.
The poster
Thanks again to wiameawahine for pointing out that I forgot to link to the actual full poster image in Friday's update. Click, squint, puzzle.
| | Riddick Promo poster snap
Somebody sent a snapshot they took of an interesting poster to DarkHorizons yesterday. As far as I can tell from the image that looks like it was taken with some 1971 digital camera is that it just features text on a black background. At least it confirms that The Chronicles of Riddick is... posterworthy and not all that far away.
Double Negative doing VFX
I probably should have been tipped off by Peter Chiang's name showing up on the IMDB so long about, but anyway. Twohy continues to stick with his buddies, this time with Double Negative reprising their role as the VFX house that worked on his last two movies. These guys have not been screwing around since doing the work on Pitch Black, having added over thirty movie credits. Recent work includes the new Tomb Raider movie and also League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, both of which appear to be very FX-heavy. Some of the people that will be doing the work on the movie include:- Peter Chiang: visual effects supervisor
- Pete Hanson: studio manager
- Allen Maris: visual effects production supervisor
- Kimberly K. Nelson: visual effects producer
Make sure to click on the top two pictures on the Double Negative Pitch Black page... They show before/after effects of the Hunter-Gratzner's overhead cloudscape shot, and then a cool Paris/predator/fire greenscreen shot. I've never seen the the first one anywhere.
SCOOOOOOORE (by Graeme Revell)
I've never picked up the score for Pitch Black itself, but word has been universally good about it. Even original screenwriter Ken Wheat has nice things to say. It should really be no surprise then that after scoring Pitch Black and Below for Twohy, Revell has been tapped again to do Riddick. His official site hasn't been updated to reflect this yet, so lets hope the IMDB has it right.
Big cast/crew update coming
It's been next to impossible for me to break off time for the site recently, but as soon as I can there will be some cool stuff. In large part thanks to waimeawahine (and the saintly Kriszta from VinXperience who suggested she share) I have a metric scalp-load of new cast and crew info on TCOR.
| | Essay: "Pitch Black" Themes and Motifs
Evilgrrl, who runs the Cult of Vin, sent along a link to an interesting essay regarding, well, like the title says... themes and motifs in the movie Pitch Black.The characters' desire to see can be thwarted when the object in question is hidden. Riddick's humanity, for example, is like water in the desert, as Imam says. "It only waits to be found." Riddick's better nature is hidden deep inside of him along with his darker urges, and the viewer waits anxiously to see which one will eventually rise to the surface.
Origami Predators
Coolest. Thing. Ever? Not for me to decide, but I would certainly suggest that you click on this link to check out Phil Schulz's extremely smooth origami Pitch Black predator creations.
Amuse Pictures gets Japanese rights
Probably only barely newsworthy other than as a reminder that this is a real movie that is going to happen, but still... Spotted a brief item on Screen Daily about some overseas shenanigans...Meanwhile Universal has also offloaded Japanese rights to its epic science fiction picture The Chronicles Of Riddick to Amuse Pictures, which is now a division of Toshiba Corp. The big budget sequel to Pitch Black, The Chronicles Of Riddick stars Vin Diesel and Judi Dench and is directed by David Twohy. Amuse was smart enough to distribute Session 9 in Japan too, so they are cool by me.
| | Old script comment
Cinematic Happenings Under Development, a.k.a. CHUD, continues to be by far the most oustanding movie 'stuff' site on the Internet. Today is no different, and their update about the new actors added to Riddick's cast includes an interesting nugget.Andrew Sweeney has apparently read one of the old Riddick scripts, and tossed out the following detail about the Goldsman and/or Hayter effort:In that draft, Jack had become Kyra, a pseudo-slave/mercenary with Lady Deathstrike-like blades. With luck, they've shifted away from this angle for Kyra. Sweeney felt the script was 'okay', so maybe it wasn't as horrendous as the pummeling from Deadpool in his review lead us to believe.
PB Cast additions
So the character of Kyra appears to still be in, according to a recent Hollywood Reporter piece by Zorianna Kit... I guess the "aggressively beautiful" mercenary in a "practically skin-tight" outfit is still in the cards, then. Set to play the (barely, heh) older and probably not-pretending-to-be-a-boy-anymore character called 'Jack' in Pitch Black is Angel actress Alexa Davalos. Kit also reported that Nick Chinlund has joined up too, as Toombs. Chinlund has done some cool stuff, such as 'Training Day' and even Riddick director David Twohy's last flick 'Below'. And hell, anyone that's spent time in the 'Red Shoe Diaries 4: Auto Erotica' boot camp is okay in my book. This news was spotted at ComingSoon.net.
| | PB Crew page fix
Thanks to Melaini for pointing out that she and Kerry Mulgrew were both Assistant Production Co-ordinators in Australia. I've updated the Pitch Black crew page to note this change.
| | One Cast, One Crew
IMDB comes through again during a dry spell, this time with what appears to be another hint that Thandie Newton is actually signed for Riddick. Whoever is updating the cast & crew page on the site appears to really know what they're talking about, so I think it's safe to say that whenever a new name is added to the list, it's legit. So hooray for me, because while you all got yer Vin Diesel, I'll be more than happy to watch Thandie Newton for two hours.
There's a new crewie, too... Victor James Martinez has been added to the list as a set designer. After his apparently four year break from films, he kicked back into high gear last year starting with Reign of Fire and Minority Report (Solaris, too). The Cat in the Hat is wrapped now, so presumably he's full-time on Riddick before moving on to Superman. Nice CV!
| | Urban Yes, Thandie Maybe
Hollywood Reporter pointed out a slight development in casting, namely that Karl Urban is now signed and Thandie Newton is still in talks. The story contains some interesting movie-bits, namely that Urban will be playing a character named Vaako, one of Lord Marshal's military commanders, and Newton would be playing 'Dame Vaako' (his wife?).
Zakk on Vin
Wait, it's not what you think. George Zakk, Vin's production partner in One Race Prods. and Executive Producer on Riddick, talked to Canoe something or other and dropped some interesting nuggets.Vin is still this big kid who grew up playing Dungeons & Dragons. He was this dweeb who honed his imagination by the kind of role playing that game demands.
"What he did back then with his Dungeons buddies he's doing with the writer and director (David Twohy - ed.) of The Chronicles of Riddick and he's just as committed and enthused as he was back then. Zakk also noted that there will be no tight release schedule for the three movies that are slated to make up TCOR. There could be several years between each one.
Vin Disses PB?
This item is really open to interpretation, but it's never fun to interpret things in a positive light, right? Vin was interviewed briefly by movie megasite CHUD as part of an A Man Apart junket, and seemed to refer to Pitch Black as a movie he felt he had to do in order to get to do one's he actually has a personal interest in.I've always wanted to be a successful actor, and actor who can get the roles I dream of playing. Without XXX, without Fast and the Furious, without Pitch Black, I would never be able to play Hannibal the conqueror. I know, it's a stretch...
News Archived
I've archived the news yet again because, you know, there's just so much info coming out everyday.
Yeah. Anyway, still working on fixing up a template for news archives. I'm sure there's a big demand.
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Vin talks Riddick
ComingSoon.net plucked some eye-rollers from an Entertainment Weekly piece with Vin Diesel, where he tossed out some details about Riddick while discussing his upcoming flick A Man Apart. I can't bring myself to repeat the quotes, but here's the gist:
- Diesel has "books and notes and research" as part of building the backstory
- Riddick has a mythological purpose and origin
- Aereon will apparently be some sort of mystical, magic character
- The movie will feature interplanar/interdimensional travel
- The Necromongers (spelled Necomongers here) "originate from a demiplane of shadow, which is where the negative plane overlaps with the prime material plane and creates its own universe"
Illustrator army headcount rises
The IMDB has a new name added to the already massive list of production illustrators that will be working on Riddick: Jim Martin. He's worked on such design-heavy flicks as Spider Man, The Scorpion King, A.I., and Alien: Resurrection. Maybe we'll get to see his work on the DVD someday, but in the meantime the drawing below (taken from the Alien movie) should give an indication that this guy is a major badass.
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| PitcherBlacker Year Two
Thanks for all the kind words and supportive emails, it's all really appreciated. I've renewed the site and will carry on, this time with updates ocurring slightly more often than once every two months.
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| IMDB lists VFX crew
As far as I'm concerned, this is like finding out that there are going to be two Christmases in 2004... The IMDB has added to it's crew section, this time pointing out that Riddick is going to feature the same visual effects supervisor as Pitch Black, namely Peter Chiang.
While most of you know him as the first person shown in a cryosleep locker during the opening scene, some of you might have made it to the secondary DVD commentary where he discussed working on the movie's effects. This is really excellent news for those of us who loved his work in Pitch Black, David Twohy's Below, and Enemy at the Gates.
In addition to it's mention of Chiang, the IMDB also has another new entry: Kimberly K. Nelson as visual effects producer. Nelson has fulfilled a similar role in such movies as The Time Machine, Waterworld, Demolition Man, The Hunt for Red October, and John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. We can expect that if the TCOR scripts ever call for Riddick to surf on a giant tidal wave, then Nelson will make sure it gets done right.
| | Requesting visitor feedback
Update: Thanks for all the emails, see post above...
Well, PitcherBlacker must be about a year or so old, since my hosts are sending out renewal notices. This means sometime soon I'll have to do what doesn't come easily, namely cough up some dough. The site isn't particularly expensive, but if nobody cares then it's just a waste of money and time. So here's the question, to be answered via email...
Should BruceL keep PitcherBlacker alive for another year?
Of course, readers can be assured that there will be a lot more activity from here on in, since the movie is actually underway in a few weeks. That means lots of news, information, and probably new pictures of that manly scalp that so many of you are so obsessed with. Plus I've got a whole list of feature content ideas waiting to be put together, pending proof that there is an actual audience that wants to read them. So a PitcherBlacker that lived through 2003 would have a lot to offer. Tell me what you think.
| | More IMDB Crew info
The IMDB Riddick crew page has been updated again, and it would make no sense for this info to be anything except legit.- Cinematography: Hugh Johnson (also worked with Ridley Scott on G.I. Jane)
- Illustrator: Steve Burg
- Illustrator: Daren Dochterman
- Illustrator: Tim Flattery
- Illustrator: Brian Murray
- Illustrator: James Oxford
- Conceptual designer: Matt Codd (Sorry Tim Lawrence...)
- Head scenic artist: Barry Kootchin
| | Script now mirrored
Sad to see that the Screentalk.org website seems to be gone, which was where I got the Pitch Black script from (not to mention a ton of other good information). Until such a time as they return, I'll be mirroring the script here.
| | Sculpts are cool
I was perusing the forums over at movie supersite CHUD.com and spotted a contribution by one of their guys, Smilin' Jack Ruby.I wander past one of the local art departments of this project over at the Todd-AO building about once a week and nose in where they're sculpting. The art tacked up on the wall is very "Giger-esque," but looks pretty nifty like they're going "Aliens" with all this stuff. They were having acting auditions there, too, about two weeks ago. You've never seen so many, "skinny, slutty stripper-types" in your life. Thandie Newton and Karl Urban joining cast?
The unstoppable VinXperience (I only visit there for Riddick news, honest!) spotted the briefest of mentions regarding the two actors above in an E!Online piece courtesy of Anderson Jones.
Newton was the unforgettable beauty from Mission Impossible II (which itself was largely forgettable) and Karl Urban is, of course, Éomer from The Lord of the Rings.
| | Story tidbit
A few news pages (Coming Soon and Dark Horizons) have posted about an article where Vin Diesel drops the tiniest of bits of information regarding Riddick. Here's the nugget:These movies will involve plane travel through different dimensions | | Studio fire confirmed
Looks like my scoop from the thirteenth has been confirmed by the never sleeping crew at VinXPerience... this post on their newsboard comes from The Vancouver Province, and discusses a fire at a Mammoth Studios (weren't they filming at Pinewood?) that destroyed a set and set the production back a week. Check out the link above for more details, but breathe easy... nobody was hurt, and production resumes tomorrow.
Tamblyn exits the Chronicles
I managed to dodge the flying fur and slashing claws of duelling fan networks long enough to find out the final deal with The Ring actress Amber Tamblyn, originally rumored to be participating in Riddick. It turns out she was in the running for a part in the movie (Kyra, the Jack-turned-mercenary from an old script) but was passed up for someone else. Details are sketchy, but the actress posted the following on her official site messageboard:so close
but no cigar
it came down to the wire between me and katie balswik(sp?)
IGN with some Vin quotes
IGN posted up a piece talking with Vin Diesel about Riddick. Not much new in the way of information, but as always is worth checking out.
Diesel to push for Dench payday
Missed this one a while back... IGN again, with an article on Vin Diesel's intention to muscle a nice payday for Riddick costar Judi Dench. Mostly speculation, but here's hoping the money flows.
| | Vin behind the scenes
The SciFi Wire talked with Vin Diesel a bit about Riddick, and they discuss a few things like new contacts and some of his work on actual story elements. Looks like there will be a type of villian called the Necromongers that come from 'negative matter'.
Necromongers.
Necromongers?
I guess I should be glad that Dreamcatcher already laid claim to the name shitweasels...
Vin@MTV article
MTV just tossed up a new Vin Diesel article where he talks about Riddick-related stuffage. As always, hit the article for details on how rugged and muscular Vin is, but here are the movie-related bits:- Vin starts in a couple of weeks
- There will be a month of rehearsals
- Vin is happy about the support of the studio
- The movie will start after Riddick's been a recluse for five years, post-Pitch Black
- He'll still be a killer, not an evolved person
- Ja Rule is still involved(?)
- Judi Dench's character Aereon will play an "Air Elemental" ambassador, a sort of mentor
- There is a possibility they'll shoot scenes now for future movies
New Names on IMDB
The IMDB Cast & Crew page has gotten an update, hopefully from someone that actually knows what the hell they're talking about.
Amber Tamblyn is gone... previously listed as playing the part of Kyra, it's assumed that since the Kyra script is no longer going to be used, neither will Amber. Ja Rule is still there, which to me seems like a reversal of how things should go.
Some new crew names include Andrew Li doing set designs, Rebeka L. Roberts as costume ager/dyer, and Michael Burnett doing special makeup effects for.... wait for it... here it comes... dead bodies. That must look kickass on business cards.
Production delay due to fire?
Rumor time: The word on the street is that the production has been put on hold due to a studio fire. There are no details at this time, nothing even as to whether it's Pinewood itself, or the Primal Foe offices.
| | New Faces and Info(?)
This stuff just seems speculative to me, but... The Hollywood Reporter put up a piece (first spotted by a DH reader) about Judi Dench being in negotiations to work on Riddick. This long-time 007 alum hasn't done a whole lot of genre work, so we'll just have to wait and see.
The most interesting part of the news item though are the plot hints dropped:- The setting is 500 years in the future
- Riddick is now a hunted man in the middle of two opposing forces in a major crusade
- Colm Feore is playing the lead villian, Lord Marshal
- Lord Marshal is a warrior priest in a sect conducting the 10th crusade
- Dench's character is named Aereon, an abassador from the Elemental race
- "She is an ethereal being who helps Riddick unearth his origins."
Having been fortunate enough to catch Peter Benchley's Creature on SciFi recently, I now have a better handle on the kind of bad guy that Feore can bring and I'm a hell of a lot more excited about his casting. Dench? who knows. But the crusade angle could be interesting, considering who one of the Pitch Black survivors was...
New VinXperience URL
Since you're all just here looking for pictures of Vin Diesel in a tank top anyway, I thought you should know that premiere Vinformation site VinXperience has changed web addresses slightly. Formerly www.vindiesel.info, they're now providing the cyberdrool at www.vindiesel.hu.
| | Crew and Production Office
Looks like there's been quite a bit of activity, as the BC Film Commission and Union of BC Perfomers websites have put up information about the picture. The production has been given a damn cool name; Primal Foe Productions, Inc.. On top of that, the following people have apparently been signed up to do some of the dirty work:- Production Manager: Wendy Williams
- Unit Manager: Mandy Spencer Phillips
- Casting: Coreen Mayrs, Anne McCarthy
- Extras: Stephanie Boeke
- Production Designer: Holger Gross
- Production Coordinator: Bliss McDonald
- Executive Producer: Peter MacGregor-Scott
- Stunt Coord: Ken Kirzinger
I'll be discussing the CV of some of these people in the future (Holger Gross was the PD of Stargate. Rock!).
Another name change?
Thanks to the VinXPerience, I was taking to this page on Upcoming Movies where Greg mentions that the name has been trimmed down to just RIDDICK, and that the *series* will now be called THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK.
| | More Casting via IMDB?
After reading today's casting news about Colm Feore, I figured I would take a spin through the Internet Movie Database*'s entry for The Chronicles of Riddick and see what was up there. Turns out that quite a bit has been added since I last looked.
Among lots of interesting additions which I'll try to do some investigating into, I noticed mention of a cast member that I don't ever recall hearing about, namely Amber Tamblyn. Amber provided a fine bit of drama in the recent Dreamworks remake of The Ring as the victim in the opening scene, and she certainly did justice to her schoolgirl outfit and freaky Rick Baker makeup. The question is (as with every other item on the IMDB) whether it's actually true or not. Poking around on the actress's official site could only bring up the following two comments: (1-25-03)
a question for you:
what do Amber Tamblyn and Vin Diesel have in common?
...maybe i'll tell you...
maybe, i wont
and (2-3-03 in reference to her name on the TCOR IMDB page)
how did that get up there???????
um...
ok...
I can neither deny nor confirm that information right now. IMD has a lot of esssssplaining to do (in a ricky recardo voice).
Nothing conclusive there, unfortunately. It's just as possible that she might be involved with one of Diesel's other products, like XXX2 maybe, and someone just goofed in their IMDB updating. We'll see...
*Now, there are two schools of thought on the IMDB. One says that it's an amazing collection of details about movies and an absolutely critical reference. The other school says that just about anybody can get items posted, which means every single detail should be considered suspect. The reader is encouraged to investigate this issue and form their own opinion. I personally come from the camp that every single bit of information on the internet ANYWHERE should be considered suspicious. If you've got a computer, fingers, and a free AOL cd, then you have everything necessary to fill people's brains with false or inaccurate data. However, I've seen a hell of a lot of good stuff on IMDB. So while chaos and change is the name of the game for pre-release movie information, as far as TCOR it's still worth at least considering.
Casting News
And it's Dark Horizons serving up the goods again, this time a tiny item about Colm Feore being hired on to the TCOR production. No source is quoted and nothing is said about what character he'll play, but DH does point out that this Canadian actor has appeared in such productions as CHICAGO and PEARL HARBOR. A little research shows that Colm has also been involved with some great genre product. He played Dr. Malcolm Walsh in John Woo's FACE/OFF, multiple characters in the great Stephen King TV miniseries STORM OF THE CENTURY, an Admiral in the most-likely miserably wretched TV movie Peter Benchley's CREATURE, and hell he was even in one of those IRON EAGLE flicks (II to be exact)!
| | TCOR Script: Sigh Of Relief
Dark Horizons comes through with the news that the script review (see update below) is for a very old draft. Check out DH for the full post, but here's a kibble:"That's not the version we're making. We had the same problems with ALL early drafts that the reviewer did: Basically, it felt like someone was remaking the first movie..." | | TCOR Script gets Ript DEBUNKED
The following update has been debunked. See 01-17-03 post (above)
Thanks to Dark Horizons, I spotted a script review for The Chronicles of Riddick over on TNMC. The article author Deadpool comes across as an enthusiastic fan of the movie and it's principals, but is disappointed by what he read. Make sure to check out his piece to see what you think about the general storyline and catch an admittedly painful little clip from the script itself.
Here are some of the new story/universe elements (SPOILERS):- Genosphere Corporation: owns North America.
- Marek: Genosphere executive looking to hire Riddick for a tough job.
- Kyra: Jack from the first movie, now working as a mercenary. An "aggressively beautiful" mercenary, that is, in a "practically skin-tight" outfit. Ouch.
- Remorus: a living forest planet who's source of energy Marek wants Riddick to steal.
- "Tiger/tree-like creatures": activated by the planet to stop Riddick from stealing the energy source.
- Montana: The state, not Joe. Riddick's birthplace.
DVDFile Pulls A Sly One
The sainted crew at DVDFile, an *excellent* source for great DVD reviews (and more), used their brains and snuck in a bunch of TCOR questions to Vin during this Triple X interview.
Hit the link above for some nicely lengthy TCOR-specific replies from Vin, but here are the highlights:- Vin 'designs' his physique to match the character. This newest Riddick requires about three months.
- He uses the words "mythology" and "fantasy" in describing the upcoming movie
- He wasn't apparently particularly happy with the direction the previous scripts (by Hayter and Goldsman?) were going.
- He apparently is very involved in the creative process. "...the reason why I'm doing Chronicles of Riddick next is because I wanted to try to find a way to create a modern day mythology in a trilogy form...'
- He likes Twohy's ability to "think outside of the box"
- The upcoming movies will reveal that Riddick is very relevant "in the grand scheme of things"
- Pitch Black is to the three Chronicles movies as The Hobbit is to the Lord Of The Rings.
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