Ghost Rider

[Brazoliange]

am I the only person who liked Daredevil?

Blade 1+2 were pretty good too, he just kinda blew the third (in terms of a climax)

[MacGuffin]

Ghost Rider is Here!
First look at Nic Cage in character!

Sony Pictures has released the first official image of a flaming-skulled Nicolas Cage as Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider! The picture appears on a promotional banner at the 2005 Licensing Show International in New York City.

Ghost Rider's look appears relatively unchanged from how he appears in the comics. Flame engulfs Johnny Blaze's skull and even flickers from his eye sockets and from under his leather jacket.

The Licensing Show is where the studios go to peddle their respective entertainment licensing royalties. As The Hollywood Reporter tells us, "industry experts are expecting another strong year for entertainment licensing in 2006 because of several promising film properties being launched this week at the Licensing Show, including Superman Returns from Warner Bros. Pictures, Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest and Pixar Animation's Cars from Walt Disney Studios, Ghost Rider from Sony Pictures/Marvel, X3 from 20th Century Fox/Marvel and the animated features Flushed Away and Over the Hedge from DreamWorks Pictures."

Ghost Rider opens summer 2006. It was directed by Mark Steven Johnson and produced by Gary Foster, the team behind Daredevil.

[cron]

i want that tattooed on my back

[MacGuffin]

Comic-Con 2005: Ghost Rider Panel
Hellfire may be hot but Eva Mendes is hotter!
 
Sony presented exclusive footage from the big-screen version of Ghost Rider at this past weekend's Comic-Con. On hand for the movie panel was Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad, co-writer-director Mark Steven Johnson and leading lady Eva Mendes.

Unfortunately, the footage didn't really show Ghost Rider himself; there were a few quick flashes that Johnson explained were snippets from camera tests with a crew member standing in for star Nicolas Cage, who was a no-show.

The extended footage explains that Evel Knievel-like biker Johnny Blaze (Cage, wearing a very silly wig) made a deal with the devil in order to save his father. Now he must serve as the devil's bounty hunter, Ghost Rider, bringing back to hell those who have escaped. Blaze's love interest is TV news reporter Roxanne (Mendes). Peter Fonda portrays the demon Mephistopheles and Wes Bentley portrays the film's main villain, Blackheart, son of Mephistopheles.

Johnson explained that the footage showed the demons in their pre-CGI enhanced form so they will look different in the final film. He also revealed that, in the story, Blackheart is tired of waiting to take over from his dad and so sets out on his own, which leads to Ghost Rider being sent to bring him back in line. Ghost Rider's weaponry includes the Hellchain, the Hellshotgun and the Penance Stare, which makes an enemy feel the crippling pain of all their sins.

Johnson and Cage are both longtime fans of the comic book character; Cage even has a Ghost Rider tattoo. The filmmaker informed fans that he has borrowed elements from Johnny Blaze and the later incarnation of Ghost Rider, Danny Ketch, but has simplified the mythology. The demons will be fallen angels who, went cast out of heaven, did not go straight to hell but landed on earth and became elemental spirits. Johnson was coy about whether or not fans will see Ghost Rider's Old West, horse-riding predecessor in the film.

The writer-director spoke about the Ghost Rider visual effects, revealing that when Ghost Rider is angry the flames around his skull will grow tall and white-hot, and when he is sad they will diminish and turn blue. Only his skull will be a CGI effect; the rest of the character will be Cage or his stunt double. Sony ImageWorks is handling the film's visual effects.

Mendes sang Cage's praises, calling him the coolest cat on the planet and lauding his "fearless" acting prowess. "That man has flair," she exclaimed. Mendes was happy that her character Roxanne, who was Caucasian in the comics, was altered for the film. The actress found the Roxanne of the old comics "too victimy," and she and Johnson both agreed that their Roxanne had to be more than just a mere love interest in the film.

Johnson and Arad ended the panel by revealing the teaser poster for the film, which shows Ghost Rider on his fiery Hellcycle against a black background. Very cool.

Ghost Rider just wrapped filming a few weeks ago and will be in post-production for about a year. The film opens in summer 2006

[MacGuffin]

Ghost Ridin' on Down the Line
Marvel movie to bow in '07.

Variety reports that Sony has shifted the Marvel movie Ghost Rider from its original July 14, 2006, release date to Feb. 16, 2007. The new President's Day weekend slot is part of the studio's attempt to spread their slate over a wider period of time and to ease up the pressure on their revamping marketing department.

"I think everybody is looking at their release schedules in '06 and trying to avoid some of the traffic jams," Sony's Jeff Blake advised Variety. "Seven films for a summer is a lot."

The release date shift, however, impacts Marvel Entertainment, which "must now undo a carefully laid out plan of ancillary tie-in deals."

On the other hand, the February '07 slot gives Ghost Rider breathing room in-between fellow superhero pics Superman Returns (June 30, 2006) and Spider-Man 3 (May 2007).

[MacGuffin]

Heeere's Ghost Rider!
The big-screen Spirit of Vengeance revealed.

The official film site for Sony's big-screen version of Marvel Comics' Ghost Rider has now officially unveiled what Nicolas Cage's Spirit of Vengeance will look like! Go to GhostRider-Movie.com to see a ten second piece featuring Johnny Blaze, a.k.a. Ghost Rider, all fired up.

Click "enter the site" and then "The Rider Revealed" for the film clip.

Previous images of the character seen online had either been early promotional art work or images from the video game adaptation erroneously attributed as film stills.

The film's updated teaser site also features flash animation of Ghost Rider that's worth a look-see.

[squints]

NIcholas Cage is Johnny Blaze?

This sounds like a wrestlemania heavy weight championship belt match...i hope johnny blaze wins

[polkablues]

When I was 14, I would have been anticipating this movie.  Sadly, I'll be 25 by the time they actually release it.

February 2007?  Really?  Do they have one guy doing all the special effects?  Are they painting the image onto each frame of film with an eyelash?  February 2007?!!??!?!

[matt35mm]

I agree.  Because of the amount of time to the deadline, I think it should be reasonable to expect the best CGI effects of all time.

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

[Gamblour.]

Hm, there is no vomit emoticon.

[Fernando]

Hm, there is no vomit emoticon.

There you go.

[MacGuffin]

Nicolas Cage on Ghost Rider

When the release date for Nicolas Cage's Ghost Rider got rather significantly pushed back, it certainly raised some eyebrows. Rumors naturally began circulating that the studio was afraid of the film and wanting to bury it in the movie dead-zone of February. According to Cage, the real reason for the delay was a helicopter. Apparently, director Mark Steven Johnson was really interested in packing the film with some serious high end special effects but only managed to convince the studio to add them at the last minute, resulting in a severe production delay. As Cage explained to Coming Soon: "There were some effects that finally got authorized by the studio which Mark really wanted and they're pretty big and it took time to put them together and design them. So we had to delay it and I think it's good because it's something we really wanted to fight for with Ghost Rider going into battle with a helicopter." So there you have it, folks. Johnny Blaze will be fighting a helicopter in what is apparently a rather epic CGI scene.

Cage promises you'd like the movie; he thinks its added dimension of spirituality is something Marvel films haven't really touched on yet, which will give this one a style and mystique all its own.

[MacGuffin]

Set Interview: Cage On Ghost Rider!
Source: Latino Review

Last year, Latino Review was on the set of the much-anticipated "Ghost Rider" with Nicolas Cage down under in Australia. It was a pretty cool time hanging out with Nic, Eva Mendes, Paul Fonda and writer and director Mark Steven Johnson.

When we caught up with Nic, he gave us a little background into what he went through to get ready for this film. In fact, Ghost Rider was one of his favorite comics; he had the very first edition.

He also held us in suspense talking about the upcoming National Treasure 2 and Next. Check out what else he said:

When we talked to you at the National Treasure junket you weren't 100 percent sure about this project, whether it was the script or the filmmakers...
Cage: It was always the script. It was always a matter of trying to get the script to a place that I felt comfortable with.

What element did it gain?
Cage: It was mostly different aspects of the effects that I felt were being diminished in earlier drafts and I thought it could be brought up, enhanced so that the movie would be more fun to watch. I just wanted to make sure that they were preserved.

What do you think of comic book movies?
Cage: Well, I've always thought that the comic book film would be wonderfully entertaining for audiences, because it taps into the fantasy world more than just straight up violence. And I had no doubt when the first Batman came out, because of the title and the character, that was going to be a sensational-- a very exciting movie to watch, combined with the technology that we have today, that you can take these fantasies that many of us grew up on and really bring them to the big screen. You have marvelous entertainment. Comic books to me are modern mythology, and so it taps into all sorts of psychological and soulful levels for audiences in a positive way, in a fantasy element as opposed to blood and guts, gore fests.

Seems like this is a really CGI heavy movie. How is that working?
Cage: I've always enjoyed working with effects. I like any aspect that's creative, and Kevin Mack, who's directing the visual effects, is a very creative man and a very interesting person to talk to. So, to me, it's just stimulating to be around it, to participate. I want to, after the production is finished shooting here, I want to go to where they're working on the effects and say hello and see what they're doing with all the painting and how they're going to make the fire work, because fire is, you probably know, the most difficult of all the digital effects to pull off. Fire and water, but even more so fire.

How have your worked with Mark (Steven Johnson) on developing the character and what input did you have?
Cage: I was concerned that this wasn't sort of your typical hero. I wanted to approach it from the point of view of someone who is beleaguered by this contract of selling his soul to the devil. So if you were somebody that was experiencing a great deal of pain, like in a dental chair you try to relax by listening to dentist's music or things like that, so I'm trying to play Johnny Blaze more in that direction than the hard drinking and smoking
badass. I'm playing him more as someone who, he's made this deal and he's trying to avoid confronting it, anything he can do to keep it away from him.

Does the stunt riding play into that?
Cage: Yeah. I think anything like that is a form of escape. Also, the stunt riding keeps him connected to his father, who's passed away. So there's a version of being able to keep that relationship going when he's jumping, because that's what his father taught him.

How familiar were you with the different iterations of the character and what appealed to you about him specifically?
Cage: The main thing that appealed to me about the character was that it was dealing with very complicated spiritual issues. And for a comic book, that to me seemed different than all the others. I have a line in the movie that we worked on in the movie where I say I'm the only one that can walk in both worlds. And Ghost Rider really is that, when you think about it. Spider-Man doesn't go into the supernatural or the spiritual world. Superman doesn't. Batman doesn't. But Ghost Rider really walks this dimension between two different worlds, and to me that is interesting. I find all that fascinating. I've always had an interest in the possibility of ghosts and the possibility of things that are in the unknown that we don¹t really comprehend or understand. So that made it more exciting for me. The other idea, that you can take a negative and turn it into a positive. How do you take this terrible mistake of making a deal with the devil and how do you take this curse and turn it into something good? Which, to me is unusual for a comic-book based movie. It's a pretty deep concept. And I was reading it when I was 10 years old. So that's pretty heavy stuff for kids to be reading.

Ghost Rider can't exist without violence, so where do you see that element in the film?
Cage: Well, he's the devil's bounty hunter. One of his rules is that he will never take a human being's life. But he will go after demons, other demons, and this movie's loaded with what they call The Hidden, which are these elemental demons that Mephistopheles, or Black Heart, Mephistopheles' son, is using, and so the Ghost Rider goes into battle with them more than the people.

How does he battle them?
Cage: He has these wonderful abilities, like hellfire and the chain that he can use and swing, and then he has the penance stare, where you can look at someone and make them review every bad, horrible thing they've ever done to anybody and then feel it and feel the pain of all their mistakes and sins and basically reduce you to a human jellyfish.

How is it riding the hell cycle?
Cage: I only rode the chopper, Grace. And also the stunt cycle. It's a Buell. They're both really terrific. The hell cycle, only the Ghost Rider rides that. That's the other thing. His bike transforms too, and turns into a demon hell cycle. But yeah, that's not much of a bike to really ride. You have to really know what you're doing on that. I want to add, though, there is a lot of humor in the movie. We've managed to really put a great deal of humor. Just character building humor. There's the relationship between Johnny Blaze and his best friend, Mack, is an interesting dynamic. Just humor about dealing with the irony of his situation.

Any difficulties with shooting the film so far?
Cage: No, this was a pretty smooth shoot, I have to say. The Australian crews are wonderful to work with. I really think American crews could learn a lot from what's going on over here. I don't know what it is, but it's been smooth. There hasn't been any hold ups. Everyone seems to be getting along terrifically.

How did you prepare physically, mentally or perhaps even spiritually before you took this role?
Cage: Well, I'm not kidding. I was in Africa shooting a movie called Lord of War, and we went to this place in the middle of the desert to shoot for about a week, and-- trying to remember what happened exactly, what was the name of the place?-- anyway, I don¹t remember the exact name. But there weren't a lot of people there. And I was stuck there and I was driving home in a van, there was a cobra in the road. And I said, Let's back up, let's look at it. So we backed it up and the cobra got up like that on its hind, whatever, it doesn't have legs, but tail, and attacked my car. And I was shocked, and I never got that image out of my head. And then shortly after that, I started eating less portions. I stopped imbibing as much, I didn't go out as much, didn't have as many cocktails. And I just kind of worked out a lot more, and got ready for this role. So I think it had something to do with this cobra.

A near death experience?
Cage: Something like that. Or just, he had this look in his eyes like, You got a lot of responsibility don't blow it. I could take you right now, but I'm here to warn you. Get your shit together.

Do you think there are no coincidences?
Cage: I do believe there are no coincidences, yes. I think everything happens for a reason.

Do you remember what your first exposure to comic books was and do you read any today?
Cage: My first experience with comic books was The Incredible Hulk. And I was living in Long Beach, California. I must have been 7 or 8 and I liked the color of it, the imagination of it. I liked the world that I could escape into. And then I started to read plenty of them and look at them. And Ghost Rider, I had the first one. I remember looking at that as well because it was such a marvelous iconic image, this black leather bike rider with a flaming skull for a head. I didn't understand what it was about, but I loved the way it looked. So he was an interesting icon for me. Those are my earliest memories.

How is it working with Peter Fonda?
Cage: It's interesting because when I think of Peter Fonda I think of this 1960s icon. Captain America. But I've been doing this for 25 years, and he's been doing it for 40 years. And it was just odd to me that there's only a 15 year spread, and yet I see him as this 60s icon. And then I thought, wow, but we're not that far apart. It's like, I started to feel thrilled and yeah, thrilled and dated. I felt thrilled and dated.

This might be a semi-personal question. How did it feel to sell your comic book collection?
Cage: Well, I had a bad experience, which, you know, I was-- what's the right thing to say? I was robbed. And they took my best ones. They took Action 1 and Detective 27 and Detective 1. And now today they're worth who knows what. But I thought to myself, because I'm not the kind of person that wants to take comics and leave them in a safe somewhere. I'd rather put them on the wall and really enjoy them and look at them. But after that happened I thought maybe it's better not to own them, just to enjoy them from afar, and I sold them.

That must have been tough to do that.
Cage: You know, it was and it wasn't. I feel like no one really owns anything anyway and it's time for someone else to enjoy them and have them. Now, obviously, whatever I was doing it wasn't good enough because they're missing. So I decided that maybe someone else should have them.

Given how dark the material is, and the fact that you're trying to interpolate some humor into it, how difficult is it to manage those elements?
Cage: That came naturally to me. I think that heavy material is inherently--I know this is going to sound strange--but it can lend itself very easily to humor. Because I think people, when they're in heavy occupations, you look at paramedics or cops, they have the blackest humor. But it's a way of coping with the situation. I guess that's the only way I can answer that. I'm just thinking about what I said before about being thrilled and dated. Yeah, because I was in the 80s. I was doing Valley Girl, and he was doing Captain America in Easy Rider, so I felt we were both [laughs] somehow symbolic of a time, of a period, of a time capsule.

Are you signed on for sequels?
Cage: That remains to be seen. I'd have to see the movie and see how it comes together.

Would you do other comic book heroes?
Cage: Yeah, sure. Yeah. I think it's a great, great way to express yourself with making yourself and a lot of people happy and not doing anything that bad or wrong like chopping people's heads off.

Can you say something about Next?
Cage: Lee Tamahori is directing and I play a man-- it's based on a Philip K. Dick short story called The Golden Man. I play a man who has the gift of pre-vision. He can see what's going to happen to him very quickly into the future and he's being chased by the FBI so they can put him up on a TV set and help them find bombs and things like that. And he's trying to avoid that from happening to him.

GHOST RIDER RIDES INTO THEATERS ON FEB 2007.

[sheshothim]

I'm so not enthused.

I don't even like how he looks. It kinda looks like they took a picture of a flaming skull and pasted it on Cage's body. Maybe I'm just pissed about how long it's taking them to release it. I'm probably not going to see it anyway, though. I just don't think I like Cage playing Ghost Rider. It just doesn't seem right. Kinda like Halle Berry playing Storm: she's just not African enough.