Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of updates straight from San Diego Comic-Con 2011. Check back for more recaps from panels and other footage on The Film Stage.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
The mash-up between Guillermo del Toro and Drive director, Nicholas Winding Refn was interesting unto itself. The two made jokes, cussed up a storm, and delighted the entire audience. The footage shown for Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark wasn’t much that we hadn’t already seen before. We were shown an artist rendering of one of the creatures from the film. Del Toro talked about monster films and how much he admired them. “Monsters are a ‘fuck you’ to perfection in society” and states that’s why they’re so popular. You can’t strive for something that’s impossible, only impossible. In response to Refn’s comments on location shooting, del Toro comments that he creates all his locations, backgrounds, environments from scratch. He hardly ever relies on an already existing location/background to shoot his films.
Check out the trailer here for the film starring Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes and Bailee Madison. Hits theaters August 26th.
Drive
Directed by Nicholas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling, Ron Perlman, Carey Mulligan, and Albert Brooks, Drive looks to be an awesome ride.
Footage
The footage we were shown was the trailer along with an additional scene between Gosling and Mulligan. The trailer looks like an 80’s mobster movie with a little western cowboy influence thrown in. The short scene between Gosling and Mulligan involves the two making out in an elevator before Gosling beats up and kicks in a man’s head before the doors open. Looking forward to this film. The footage looked great.
Panel
Refn not only touched on del Toro as a director, but also brought up how he believed the background/location that a movie was shot could be seen as another character in the movie. He believes, especially with 3D, that you can involve certain elements of the background that bring a lot more to each shot. He also stated that Gosling approached him for the film, as Gosling had final director approval for the film. A picture was shown of the two kissing and an awkward story of how the two first met was told, which involved Refn high on cold medication crying in the passenger seat of Gosling’s car. This film looks great and I’m looking forward to screening this one soon.
Check out the SDCC red band trailer for Drive here and see the film on September 16th.