Question I saw and liked Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow but was wondering What was the source of Sir Laurence Oliviers performance Ive always wanted to know JayFlickChick The late Sir Laurence Oliviers performance as Professor Totenkopf dead head in German in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 2004 was digitally built from archival BBC footage of Olivier giving a speech at some fund-raising event The movements of his mouth were manipulated to match the films dialogue and the footage was processed to look like a staticky video holograph The same basic technology was used to alter existing footage of Marlon Brando from Superman 1978 so he could speak new dialogue for Superman Returns 2006 But in Superman Returns the Brando footage looks as real as the rest so its another step toward being truly able to have a living actor appear alongside a dead one the way singers can now do thoroughly convincing duets by integrating their new tracks
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Kevin Spacey is set to return as Lex Luthor in the super-sequel Superman: Man of Steel, to start production next year for a 2009 release. Also per Variety, Spacey will star in Telstar, a film adaptation of Nick Moran and James Hicks' darkly comic West End play about flamboyant '60s record mogul Joe Meek.... Alex Proyas (I, Robot) will direct Dracula Year Zero, the origins tale about Vlad the Impaler.... Danny DeVito and his Jersey Films shingle are eyeing a biopic of electronics shiller "Crazy Eddie" Antar, says the New York Post. Insane, I tell ya.
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Per Variety, Angelina Jolie's next film gig will be starring alongside Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy in Wanted, an actioner based on a graphic novel and concerning a son out to avenge his dad's murder, with Jolie playing an assassin who tutors him.... Channing Tatum (Step Up) will star in Dear John, based on the Nicholas Sparks best-seller.... Though the timetable is still very much up in the air, insiders refute rumors that the Superman Returns sequel has gone into turnaround.... Per the Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) will direct Brad Pitt in State of Play, a political thriller.... Catherine Keener and Robin Wright Penn have joined What Just Happened?, a comedy starring Robert De Niro as a down-and-out filmmaker. Penn's his ex.
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Per Variety, Warner Bros. is looking to bring not one or two but a gaggle of superheroes to the big screen, with a feature film based on DC Comics' Justice League of America. Though the specially abled all-star team typically includes such top-shelf crime fighters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman, the studio is not specifying exactly who is on its wish list, nor whether Christian Bale or Brandon Routh would be wooed to reprise their franchise roles.... Universal has re-upped Robert De Niro and hopes to also have back Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand for Little Fockers, a second sequel to Meet the Parents.
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How did 2006's film fare fare compared to the year before? Thanks in part to Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest ( which broke too many records to regurgitate here) and despite a somewhat lackluster holiday season, the final box-office tally is headed toward $9.42 billion, marking an increase of about five percent versus 2005. Before you crow, "Well, weren't ticket prices up at least five percent?" the Hollywood Reporter points out that the number of actual tickets sold — 1.44 billion — was up nearly three percent.Joining POTC 2 ($423.3 million) in this year's elite $200 mil-plus club were Cars ($244.1 mil), X-Men: The Last Stand ($234.4 mil), The Da Vinci Code ($217.5 mil) and Superman Returns ($200.1 mil).
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