R.I.P. Master Craven

Horror master Wes Craven has died.

The Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street director was 76. He had been battling brain cancer, and passed away in his L.A. surrounded by his loved ones.

Such a sad, sad bummer.

I met Craven once, in Miami, when he was in the Magic City doing press for Red Eye. Wow, that was 10 years ago.... Anyway, the filmmaker – he wrote! he helmed and edited! he produced! – was so kind. He took great care to answer all my questions even though we were in a roundtable situation, and he even entertained a query about Madonna and why she ended up not being in Music of the Heart and graciously signed the case of my Scream VHS. Oh, I absolutely geeked out on him.

A talented and generous man. I was not ready for him to leave us, and, in fact, had been thinking that he would be perfect to direct an Americanization of the Academy Award-nominated Argentinean film Wild Tales. I thought he had the perfect sensibility for the material, which would have allowed him to try his hand at a dark, dark comedy of sorts.

I will miss him.

Photo: Sacramento.CBSLocal.com.

MTV Wants Ya to Scream

So no big-screen 5cream then?

Damn.

MTV now has concrete, tangible plans to televise the Scream franchise, now that it has hired a director and a cast of fresh-faced up-and-comers to deliver its take on the horror-movie send-up.

I won’t say I won’t watch this – but I will say I was hoping Kevin Williamson would write a fifth and final movie for Wes Craven to direct and for Neve Cambell & Co. to star in. I just know that, after 2011’s Scream 4, Sidney, Dewey (David Arquette), and Gale (Courtney Cox) has another one in ’em.

And I will wonder: How on Earth are the writers on this one gonna sustain the suspense on this one. Weekly slashings and stabbings of teens are bound to get old fast....

Photo: CraveOnline.com.

Harvey Wants to Scream Again

God wants there to be a fifth Scream.

And by that I mean Harvey Weinstein wants there to be a 5cream. (That’s how I will bet they will spell it when the time comes.)

“Everyone lived in Scream 4,” the movie mogul – and Scream executive producer – recently said at the Zurich Film Festival. “I’m begging him [who? Wes Craven, the franchise’s MVP director, of its mastermind screenwriter Kevin Williamson?] to do the movie and just end it.

“We’ve milked that cow.”

Yes! One more and then let Sidney (Neve Campbell), Dewey (David Arquette), and Gale (Courteney Cox) scream their way into the sunset.

Photo: EW.com.

Aahhh!

Shut. The Front. Door.

No, seriously – shut it. Ghostface is coming back in Scream 4, and I frakkin’ cannot wait to see him (her? them?) next April.

A lot has changed since Wes Craven kinda sorta re-invented the horror-movie genre, and the Scream powers that be’s proposed new trilogy-extension of the franchise promises to explore the new rules of the game with a bunch of new faces thrown into the mix…as well as three very familiar ones (hi, Neve, Courteney, and David!):

Scream 4 is due out in theaters on April 15.

Pipin’ In

Scream 4 has added a couple of belters to its cast – and I likey a lot.

Kristen Bell (pictured here) and True Blood star Anna Paquin have joined Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and newcomers Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, and Adam Brody, among others, in director Wes Craven’s 2011 fourthquel, which has been shooting in Michigan.

I wonder what is in store for these two gals....

Photo: WWD.com.

Update: Also on board for Scream 4? 90210 starlet Shenae Grimes, who tweeted about being on set about to shoot a cameo, and Lucy Hale from ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars.

Wes Says – And I Love

“New Decade. New Rules.”

So teases the new Scream 4 poster – and so I’ve officially begun counting down to next April 15.

Tax Day 2011 just got one heckuva lot scarier.

To complement the poster, director Wes Craven has shared yummy scoop bits about the plot, including the fact that, “The story of Sidney (Neve Campbell), Gale (Courteney Cox), and Dewey (David Arquette) is very much a part of Scream 4.”

Craven also reveled it has been 10 years “of no Ghostface” and lots and lots of Stab sequels, that Sidney “has been off by herself and living her own life, and [has] even written a book that has gotten a lot of critical acclaim,” and that he is “signed on for the duration” of producing Scream 4, 5, and 6.

The best part of it all: The movie will begin shooting this June, so we can expect a summer full of sightings and excitement.

Yay.

Photo: EW.com.

Get Ready, Officially, for Another Scream

Scream 4 is happening.

That piercing sound you hear? That’s the teenager in me, waking up thanks to the jolt of scary-movie nostalgia.

Dimension Films has confirmed – OMYay! – that the fourth chapter of the series will start production this spring, with – double-OMYay! – Wes Craven directing from a script by Kevin Williamson.

Original cast members Neve Campbell, and David Arquette and Courteney Cox all have signed on to reprise their roles, and will be joined by a group of young’uns who have yet to be announced.

“Working with Courteney, David, and Neve was a blast 10 years ago,” Craven said, “and I’m sure it will be again. Kevin is right on his game with the new script – the characters and story crackle with energy and originality – to say nothing of some of the most hair-raising scares I’ve seen in a script since…well, since the original Scream series. Let me at it.”

Scream 4 will be released on April 15, 2011.

Photo: ThinkHero.com.

Only a Matter of Time Until We Scream Again

Jeez – it’s like everyone’s on Twitter.

Last night, Wes Craven (pictured at right in his cameo/homage to his own oeuvre in Scream) took to his account to simma talk that he will be directing a fourth entry in the Scream franchise.

“In response to the rumors about me directing Scream 4, a deal has not yet been set, so stay tuned for accurate information,” he tweeted.

Craven is enthusiastic, though. He recently tweeted that he had “ had dinner with [screenwriter Kevin Williamson], and the script sounds fantastic!”

Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette already are on board, and I remember reading somewhere on the blogosphere that Never Campbell had said OK to reprising her role as Sidney Prescott again, but that, too, remains TBC.

Photo: Stumblerz.com.

Get Ready to Scream

It’s not a rumor anymore: Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette will reprise their roles as Gale Weathers and Deputy Dwight “Dewey” Riley in an another Scream movie.

“We are doing Scream 4,” the actor confirmed today in New York City, where he’s hanging out in plastic box over Madison Square Garden on behalf of Feeding America. “Kevin Williamson is writing the script at this moment, and hopefully Wes Craven is going to direct.”

Williamson has said, however, that Neve Campbell has turned down the chance to play Sidney Prescott again, but Arquette said he hopes “Neve does it. I really hope so.”

One thing he was mum about, though, was the movie’s plot.

“Kevin has sort of put out the broad strokes,” he said, “but I don’t think I’m at liberty to share any of that.”

I’m excited.

Photo: Babble.com.

Oh, L’amour

The collective Paris, Je T’aime explores the neighborhoods of the French capital, but, more importantly, it explores the connections Parisians make – the love they feel, the love they hide, the love for which they yearn….

C’est l’amour; it makes the film go ‘round.

A series of vignettes helmed by directors such as Wes Craven, Alexander Payne, and Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas, the film depicts a moment in the lives of some of the diverse people that inhabit and radiate in the City Lights.

Because the actors have a limited time to draw in the audience, it is essential that Paris Je T’aime be completely engaging.

It was.

I don’t know how each director managed the feat of establishing and making me care for these characters so quickly, but they did so rather successfully – for the most part.

(A couple of vignettes – “Porte de Choisy” and “Quartier de la Madeleine” were thematic departures, but enjoyable nevertheless.)

A particular triumph was Salles & Thomas’ “Loin du 16ème,” which followed Catalina Sandino Moreno’s struggle to balance motherhood and work (pictured at left), and observed the sacrifices that society often asks of people.

Frédéric Auburtin’s tenderly biting “Quartier Latin,” with Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands, and Richard LaGravanese’s hopefully romantic “Pigalle,” with Fanny Ardant and Bob Hoskins, were rather funny.

But Payne’s “14ème Arrondissement,” with Margo Martindale as an all-American woman in Paris, delivered the most heart and laughs with its meditation on self-awareness and falling in love with Paris.

To tell you that Paris, Je T’aime is a bold film would be easy, so be bolder and go see it.

My Rating ***1/2

Photo: AboutRufus.com.

J’adore!

In the upcoming Paris, Je T'aime, Alfonso Cuarón, Wes Craven, and Alexander Payne, among others, direct a splendid international cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Ben Gazzara, Marianne Faithful, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Natalie Portman, Gena Rowlands, Leonor Watling, and Li Xin, through a series of 20 short love stories based in each of the arrondissements in the French capital.

It sounds like a très charmant little concept, doesn’t it.

You can see the trailer for Paris, Je T’aime here.

Photo: LinternAute.com.