As early crowds settle in to see the movie, Los Angeles Times movie critic Kenneth Turan weighs in on "Clash of the Titans" with little enthusiasm about the remake of Ray Harryhausen's classic tale.

It's doubtful that records are kept about this sort of thing, but consider the possibility that "Clash of the Titans" is the first film to actually be made worse by being in 3-D.

Not that this remake of the creaky 1981 original, best remembered for a slumming Laurence Olivier and Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation monsters, was ever going to be something to write home about. At least not for anyone older than 10.

For one thing, as directed by action junkie Louis Leterrier ("Transporter 2," "Unleashed") and written by Travis Beacham and Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi, this "Clash" has dialogue so plodding that a halfway decent line like "You have insulted powers beyond your comprehension" sounds like something out of Noel Coward.

Obviously, no one comes to a movie like this for repartee, but even the action scenes, with ancient Greek hero Perseus ("Avatar's" Sam Worthington) facing off against an entire menagerie of mythical monsters, come off as lethargic and clunky.

Possibly because this film was converted to 3-D late in the game, the third dimension, especially in those action scenes, is more of a distraction than an enhancement. While some creatures, especially Pegasus the flying horse, flourish, 3-D clutters the film's innumerable battles, making them harder to follow rather than exciting.

"Clash of the Titans" is also burdened by a numskull plot notion. The idea is that though those ancient Greeks lived in a world where the gods were quite real and unimaginably powerful, these idiots decide to declare war on them, which is the short-sighted equivalent of teasing your younger brother even though he has the power to snap his fingers and turn you to stone.

READ THE REST

-- Kenneth Turan

Photo: Sam Worthington as Perseus in "Clash of the Titans." Credit: Warner Bros.

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EXCLUSIVE

It's no surprise to learn that back in Ireland, young Kenneth Branagh -- who would grow up to direct film adaptations of "Hamlet," "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Henry V" -- fell under the spell of tales about royal family intrigue, ancient rivalry and clanging battlefields. What is unexpected, though, is that epic of obsession was by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, not William Shakespeare.

"Growing up, my single comic book passion was Thor," says the 49-year-old actor and filmmaker who surprised many industry observers by taking on the director's job on the big-budget adaptation of the Marvel Comics thunder god. "From my time in Belfast as a kid, that's the first time I came across that comic, really, exclusively, I don't know why, but it struck a chord. I was drawn to it. I liked all the dynastic drama."

For the uninitiated, the Marvel character Thor first appeared in the August 1962 issue of "Journey into Mystery" (it was a big summer for Marvel -- the first Spider-Man comic book hits stands that same month) as an odd mix of Norse myth and Marvel's distinctive brand of wildly kinetic cosmic melodrama. With his winged helmet, magic hammer and odd old English diction, he fought evil aliens, ancient wizards and costumed crooks and even teamed up with Hercules in Marvel's no-borders brand of mythology.

"Thor," due in 2011, is filming now in Santa Fe, N.M., and stars newcomer Chris Hemsworth (who played the doomed father of James T. Kirk in last year's "Star Trek") will carry the magical hammer of Thor in the film, with Natalie Portman playing his mortal love, Jane Foster.  Anthony Hopkins is Odin, Thor's father, and Tom Hiddleston plays the thunder god's duplicitous brother, Loki.

For both Branagh and upstart Marvel Studios (which arrived with a splash in Hollywood in 2008 with "Iron Man") the cinematic mash-up of Viking deity and 21st century do-gooder will be a singular challenge in Hollywood's crowded superhero sector. The story is split between Asgard, the majestic and eternal home of the Norse gods, and the modern world, which Branagh says he views more as an opportunity than a challenge.

"Inspired by the comic book world both pictorially and compositionally at once, we've tried to find a way to make a virtue and a celebration of the distinction between the worlds that exist in the film but absolutely make them live in the same world," Branagh said. "It's about finding the framing style, the color palette, finding the texture and the amount of camera movement that helps celebrate and express the differences and the distinctions in those worlds. If it succeeds, it will mark this film as different.... The combination of the primitive and the sophisticated, the ancient and the modern, I think that potentially is the exciting fusion, the exciting tension in the film."

It was a different sort of tension that put the film in headlines this week. Gatecrasher, a report in the New York Daily News gossip column, quoted unnamed sources that painted a picture of a sour movie set, with Hopkins making it clear to the crew that he thinks little of 26-year-old Hemsworth's acting skills and Branagh growing frustrated with the Oscar-winning elder's pessimism and complaints. 

Hopkins was said to be outraged by the report. The 72-year-old Welsh actor issued this statement: “I am having the time of my life making Thor with Ken and Chris.  They have made every day immensely fun and collaborative, and we're all puzzled that someone would fabricate a story suggesting otherwise. I'm proud to say that Thor has been one of the great experiences of my career.”

Branagh,meanwhile, went on at length about the esprit de corps of his cast, which also includes Rene Russo, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson and Stellan Skarsgård.

There will also be elements that will move forward with Marvel Studios unprecedented plan to create a unified universe of heroes and stories that spreads across films, including the upcoming Captain America movie in 2011 and "Iron Man 2," which arrives May 7 as one of the most anticipated movies of 2010.

"It's going very, very well," Branagh said Wednesday. "We're in New Meixco now where we have a contemporary Earth part of our story. I guess we're two-thirds of the way through the story and at this stage of the game what's surprising and delighting me is the way the cast, the ensemble, has fused together. It's kind of an interesting combination of very young and very experienced people and the double-up of that, it seems to me, is there is a lot of fire in the movie. It doesn't take itself too seriously, it doesn't try to be too solemn."

Branagh made a point to praise Hopkins as "an extraordinary actor with his Celtic passion and incredible technique" and said he has been a binding force for the film on the set and will do the same on the screen. The cast that plays Asgard's royal family are "people who can embody larger-than-life characters but retain at the center a natural, recognizable, human dynamic ... and these people run the universe." 

Young Hemsworth will also star as "Thor" in the planned "Avengers" movie, the superhero team film where (if the current casting plan holds) the Aussie newcomer will have to hold his own with far more experienced peers -- Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man;  Edward Norton Jr. as the Hulk's alter ego, Bruce Banner; and Chris Evans as Captain America. 

Wednesday was a big day for Marvel Studios because director Jon Favreau wrapped up "Iron Man 2." Kevin Feige, Marvel Studio's president and producer on "Thor," was in a celebratory mood, but it was split with with anger over the New York Daily News reports, which Feige called "garbage."

Feige said the plan to meld the Marvel Universe on the silver screen will move forward dramatically now and he said there are some surprises in "Iron Man 2" that set up an unexpected bond to the "Captain America" movie that director Joe Johnston is doing early work on now in England.

"Now many of the pieces are in place ... with 'Iron Man 2' finished and 'Thor' more than halfway done, that lattice work is being built."

Feige said Branagh is proving to be the ideal choice for "Thor" -- the executive knew he would be after seeing the buoyant and accessible "Much Ado About Nothing," which made Shakespeare fun and funny even to "comic book fans like me," Feige said. He added: "You could actually laugh and understand all of it."

Check back. I will be posting a lot more from my Branagh interview.

-- Geoff Boucher

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PHOTO: Kenneth Branagh portrait by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times. All artwork: Marvel

UPDATE: An earlier version of this post said Samuel L. Jackson would be in "Thor." He won;t. I trusted IMDB. My bad. I also scrambled Kevin Feige's title a bit, apologies for that.

 

Brad Meltzer, the bestselling author of "The Tenth Justice" and "The Book of Fate" as well as the DC Comics series "Identity Crisis," is at the center of an unprecedented public lynching by both his peers and far, far bigger names in the publishing world.

It was the night of the long knives Wednesday in Miami as a rare world summit of authors was held -- an assembly of elite bestselling writers who jetted in due to their surging animus toward Meltzer and the promise of a heaping buffet table that actually had buttered lobster and fried shrimp.

I was in the room and it was ugly. The shrimp was gone in, like, a minute. Horrible things were said about Meltzer. Essentially, the writers of the world have had enough of his half-baked plots and fully baked dialogue and his curious habit of wearing brown shoes with a black belt and vice versa.

“For the sheer level of purple prose, inept plotting, snotty-nosed characters and the overall pathetic quality of his entire oeuvre, Meltzer stands alone," David Baldacci bellowed. "He is our Lincoln of crappy fiction."

Scott Turow chimed in: “I know John Grisham . . . and Brad’s no John Grisham!”

James Frey did not attend but was reportedly thrilled to hear the event was about somebody else. 

It was hard for me to watch. I grew up in South Florida, not far from Meltzer, and we have a lot in common. We used to shop at the same comic-book store in Davie, a place where we picked up a lot of girls, which is totally 100% actual truth except for that 50% there at the end. Both of us consider "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali" to be the pinnacle of American pop culture and, well, we're right. We also deeply enjoy the sound of our own voices.

The writer meeting ended with the drafting of a press release which hit this morning, April 1st, which, in a sad twist, happens to be Meltzer's 40th birthday. (Yeah, I know, he does look much older, doesn't he?) I've pasted a copy of the statement below and all of the comments are actually from the authors as stated. They are some heavy hitters but that's what you get when you have a world-class pinata like Meltzer....

In his Word of Mouth column, Times Hollywood reporter John Horn discusses the continuing trend of 3-D films. As "Clash of the Titans" prepares to debut, the glut of films and scarcity of screens, along with the quality of films converted from 2-D to 3-D, may soon come into question among filmgoers. Here's an excerpt:

 
It worked for classic children's literature. The signs look equally promising for Greek mythology.

Hollywood's stereoscopic crusade has led several studios to rush to retrofit two-dimensional movies into 3-D releases. While some smaller companies dabbled in the conversion strategy before with mixed results -- such as 2007's "Battle for Terra" -- so far only two studios have finished rebooting movies originally conceived and shot as 2-D titles.

The first, Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," is a massive hit, with a domestic gross approaching $300 million. A whopping third or so of the Lewis Carroll adaptation's revenue is attributable to the higher ticket prices charged by theaters with 3-D screens, in which tickets can cost an extra $2 to $4 more. Next up: Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures' remake of "Clash of the Titans," which is poised to have the best Easter opening ever (the holiday record of $40.2 million was set by 2006's "Scary Movie 4"), with weekend sales projected to be more than $60 million, with $70 million not entirely out of reach. It opens in wide release Thursday night with more screens added Friday.

The PG-13 rated mythology movie, starring Sam Worthington as Perseus, Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades, is generating strong interest from men in their 20s and 30s, according to audience tracking surveys. Among the two other new wide releases, younger girls will likely head for Miley Cyrus' "The Last Song," while African Americans, particularly black women, are leaning toward Tyler Perry's sequel "Why Did I Get Married Too?"

Given the enormous returns generated by the 3-D "Avatar" -- a worldwide haul nearing $2.7 billion, with about 80% of its $740.7 million domestic take coming from theaters with 3-D screens -- Hollywood's growing affection for the format is hardly surprising, especially as ancillary revenue from DVDs plummet. Among movies previously envisioned as 2-D productions, Sony is planning a 3-D reworking of its 2011 vampire story "Priest," while Warners has similar stereoscopic plans for the last two "Harry Potter" films, 2011's "Sucker Punch" and "Green Lantern."

But the tactic does have its doubters, including "Avatar's" own James Cameron. "It's typical of Hollywood getting it wrong," he told MTV. "Now it's being crammed down from above and now people are being told to make movies in 3-D, when it should have been the other way around."

READ THE REST

-- John Horn

Photo: "Clash of the Titans." Credit: Legendary Pictures

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M. Night Shyamalan has a massive plan in mind for "The Last Airbender" -- a patient film trilogy that presents a fantasy epic and also grows progressively darker as its young characters (and actors) mature in front of moviegoers.

That brings to mind both "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the "Harry Potter" franchise, and, as you might imagine, that has stirred excitement among executives at Paramount Pictures who would love to have a magical franchise that pulls in billions of dollars at the box office. But because the stakes are so high, there has also been considerable behind-the-scenes hand-wringing because of a nasty fan backlash on a touchy subject -- race and casting.

Check the venting and venom we heard in more than 100 comments that followed an "Airbender" post in January. Here's how one reader summed it up: "I am one of the many who is seriously disappointed that characters who are non-white have been cast with white actors. Only the villain is allowed to be played by a person of color. I expected better of Mr. Shyamalan."

Shyamalan has responded to the threat of revolt. In a breakfast meeting with a circle of journalists and bloggers, the director said he has always cast his films with an open spirit, and that anime, such as the source material for "Airbender," is about blurring the race boundaries of the real world and embracing something more uplifting.

Here, for instance, is how he was quoted by Meredith Woerner at io9.com in a lengthy post that goes deep into topic of the planned mythology and clearly reveals the filmmaker's passion for the property:

"Here's the thing. The great thing about anime is that it's ambiguous. The features of the characters are an intentional mix of all features. It's intended to be ambiguous. That is completely its point. So when we watch Katara, my oldest daughter is literally a photo double of Katara in the cartoon. So that means that Katara is Indian, correct? No, that's just in our house. And her friends who watch it, they see themselves in it. And that's what's so beautiful about anime."

He also says:

When I was doing "Sixth Sense," if you literally read the script he [Cole Sear] has dark hair, black eyes. I always pictured the kid from "Searching For Bobby Fisher" as the lead for "Sixth Sense." And I said, "We are not hiring any blond L.A. kids, OK? Don't even bring them in." Then Haley [Joel Osment] came in and I said, "You've got the part." How can you not have him play this part?

That's always been my lean. I have hopes of what I want them to be, my hope was that the movie would be incredibly diverse. That when we look back on all three movies, that it is one of the most diverse movies of all times. And that is the case when you watch the movies. And it's not an agenda, like when you see a picture of a kid's school and they have everybody on the swings. It's not like that.

There's a lot more in Woerner's piece, and "Airbender" fans (whether they be optimistic or angry at this point) should check it out. Again, you can find it here.

We'll have a lot more on this film (and, I suspect, this topic) 

-- Geoff Boucher

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Upper photo: M. Night Shyamalan. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Lower photo: A scene from "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Credit: Nickelodeon
 

First, Buzz Lightyear arrived from a faraway galaxy (store). Then, Jessie and Stinky Pete and the crew were added to the stash. Now there are lots of new characters joining Woody, Hamm, Mr. Potato Head and the other original toys as "Toy Story 3" rolls into theaters this summer (June 10). Ken, Mr. Pricklepants, Stretch and others await their marketing spotlight. -- Jevon Phillips

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Tell all of your little friends: "Scarface School Play" is about as authentic as Al Pacino's Cuban accent.

The viral video that pinged across the internet on Monday seemed to show grade-school kids performing a wildly inappropriate adaptation of "Scarface," Brian DePalma's operatic 1983 crime classic but, of course, if you looked closely it seemed a little too polished and cryptic to be a real campus production.

The video was actually made a month ago with professional child actors in a rented theater in Koreatotwn and directed by Marc Klasfeld, a veteran music video director whose credits include "Girls,  Girls, Girls" with Jay-Z, "Times Like These" with the Foo Fighters, "When You're Gone" with Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend" with 'N Sync and "On My Block" by, ahem, Scarface.

Klasfeld has also made commercials for corporate powers such as Nike, the NFL and Motorola, but he showed a more subversive streak with his 2007 satire film "The L.A. Riot Spectacular," narrated by Snoop Dogg. On Wednesday, Klasfeld said these days he's smitten with the wildfire immediacy of viral video, which will only deepen after the million-hit Monday for "Scarface School Play."

"It's a rare place where you can be creative and express yourself freely and it's a very democratic process and I'm very excited to part of it," said Klasfeld, who is the owner of Rock Hard Films, the company behind the Lady GaGa video "Pokerface" and last year's memorably loopy "Hammer Pants Dance" viral video. "It was a lot of fun."

With the quirky homage to "Scarface," Klasfeld said "we had a great cast, great kids and great parents ... they enjoyed the process." The director said it was amusing to watch the pockets of outrage as the purposely provocative video spread out across the Internet.

"We definitely suspected that would happen," said Klasfeld, a father of two who says he wonders why the most vocal critics of the ironic video don't speak out more against the sexualization of young girls in American culture or the relentless violence on screens of all sorts.

"Everyday when I wake up with my daughter and I turn on the television for her and we're constantly guarding her against all these unnecessary sexual [messages] bombarding her ... so for us to see the reaction against this, well, that was a little shocking," Klasfeld said. "I found it all fascinating."

What's next? Klasfeld said he's going to sit back and enjoy the parodies, mash-ups and imitations of "Scarface School Play" that have already begun. Despite the success of his viral video he quickly dismissed the idea of making a sequel like, say, "Taxi Driver School Play" or "Leaving Las Vegas Schoolplay." "No, I don't see that happening."

It makes sense -- where would the shock be in that?

-- Geoff Boucher

SEE MORE VIDEOS OF RANDOM SILLINESS

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"Clash of the Titans" hits theaters Friday with an epic scale and spirit of adventure that jumps off the screen, and not just because of the 3-D effects. The film and its director, Louis Leterrier, make a strong visual statement -- and you can hear Leterrier talk about that and more Thursday night at the Apple Store on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

I'll be interviewing Leterrier on stage for about an hour starting at 6:30 p.m., and I'll save some of that time to take questions from the audience.

"Clash" could be a major career turning point for the 36-year-old Paris native who also directed "The Incredible Hulk," "The Transporter" and "Transporter 2."

I'll also talk to him about the surging Hollywood interest in 3-D, his "Clash" cast (led by Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson)  and the future of the Marvel Universe on film. I might be able to coax him into talking about the ripe story possibilities of a "Clash" sequel.

I've done two similar events at the same store (which is at 1248 Third Street Promenade, by the way), and they're always a lot of fun. Hope to see you there.

-- Geoff Boucher

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Photos: At top, "Clash of the Titans" lets loose the Kraken. Credit: Warner Bros. Middle, director Louis Leterrier. Credit: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times. Bottom: promotional poster for "Clash of the Titans."

Say hello to my little friends...

There's an interesting creator behind this -- it's someone who made a memorable stir with a very different project earlier this year. Any guesses?

-- Geoff Boucher

WATCH MORE RANDOM SILLINESS AT HERO COMPLEX

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Rachel Abramowitz has been keeping us up to date on the 1980s-era revival with her report on the “Karate Kid” and another on “Red Dawn,” and today she’s got an update on “The Smurfs” movie.

There are so many things to worry about in the world these days, but you can cross one off the list: Quentin Tarantino won’t be playing Brainy Smurf in the big-screen version of “The Smurfs” after all.

“There were conversations about it, but it didn’t work out,” says Hannah Minghella, president of Sony Pictures Animation, which is making the movie with a blend of live-action and animation. “Quentin is such a fanboy that it was part of the appeal.”

 Tarantino won’t portray the little know-it-all Smurf, but other notable names are lining up with intense interest about joining the tribe of miniature blue imps.

“You have no idea,” Minghella said of the blue-in-the-face lobbying by agents who want their stars to be part of the revival.

So far, the ensemble includes Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, Katy Perry as Smurfette, George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf and Kevin James as Hefty Smurf and Alan Cumming (who has prior experience in the wild blue yonder of cinema) as Gutsy Smurf.

Hank Azaria, the stalwart of “The Simpsons” who memorably chewed the historic scenery in “Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian,” will be Gargamel, the sour sorcerer who just absolutely hates the tiny blue folk.

While most Americans recognize the Smurfs from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon that ran from 1981 to 1990 -- and the mountain of tie-in merchandising -- what they might not know is that the little people were created in 1958 by Belgian cartoonist Peyo, whose real name was Pierre Culliford.

“The property is 50 years old,” Minghella said. “In Europe, it has never ceased to be a current popular
phenomenon. It still airs in prime time in certain countries around the world.”

The idea of the new movie, the first in a potential franchise, is that the Smurfs enter the real world and the lives of a young couple played by stars Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays. 

“We liked the idea of juxtaposing the Smurf values with the modern world,” Minghella explained. “Smurfs grow their own food and are very environmentally conscious. They don’t have technology or electricity. They do everything together and are really supportive of each other. For us, that was the starting point. Let’s bring that magic into the real world, the grounded world.”

So the blue people are actually, uh, green. That catches the humans off-guard at first. “They don’t know how to react, but the Smurfs become an agent of change and bring magic into their lives,” Minghella said.

-- Rachel Abramowitz

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In 1982, "Tron" became a landmark moment in pop culture for its prescient imagery and concepts. In December, the light cycles will roll again in the Disney revival project "Tron: Legacy." The film already has stirred the imagination and passion of "Tron" devotees, among them Jay West, a "super fan" who has been writing guest columns for Hero Complex about the buildup to the movie. Here's his newest dispatch.

"Now that is a big door." That's a line uttered by video-game programmer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) as he broke into the Encom corporation in the 1982 film "Tron." The break-in is a key plot element -- Flynn wants proof that his work has been stolen -- and, as you can see in the scenes above, he's aided by two Encom employees,  Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) and Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan).

That 28-year-old on-screen scenario is echoed in the new alternate-reality game (ARG) that has been created to promote "Tron: Legacy" and can be accessed at the Flynn Lives website. The game presents the search for Kevin Flynn, who "disappeared" some 20 years ago.

In a new element of the ARG, an online game recently was unveiled at the retro-spirited Arcade Aid website. Players who successfully completed the game were given the opportunity to request a personalized Encom corporate badge, which would then be mailed to them. It's a fun collectible that arrived in my mailbox; the laminated badge has a hologram emblem and came complete with an Encom lanyard.

On the back of the badge, it states: "For authorized use only. This badge is intended exclusively for Encom employees with Group 7 Security Clearance. If the photo on the front differs in appearance from the person carrying it, please report the offending party to your supervisor at once. Encom is serious about security"

That Group 7 clearance, by the way, is the same level that Bradley and Baines had in the original film. The badge also arrived with a note (written on the stationery of Arcade Aid, which is presented as a repair shop for vintage arcade machines) and this message:

I've been cranking out these badges in my workroom (behind Arcade Aid). Well, you don't know the half of it. I've also been working my magic on the ENCOM system so that you can access it using the unique ID number on your badge. Your password is the same one you use over at FlynnLives.com -- please note: only this password/ID combination will work (as I said -- workin' my magic, but that's the furthest magic can go). This is the hardest I've worked since the first time I beat Astro-Gunner back in '87 (I was on that machine for three days straight -- still have the calluses to prove it). Time to take a break and ... play some Astro-Gunner. -- Zack

The badge also includes a QR Code ("Quick Response" code) that, when scanned, links to a special website for "Encom employees" to log in by way of the Encom intranet. Using the necessary log-in information, I was able to "break in" to the company website, which even had employee e-mails you could snoop through.

 

More interesting, the page made it clear that a large ARG moment will be staged during WonderCon in San Francisco, April 2-4; there's a post on the company page with an image of the San Francisco skyline and a reference to "the Encom press conference" and the note that "our West Coast affiliates are brimming with anticipation." And, indeed, a few days later, on the public Encom International website there was an announcement that Encom Executive Consultant Alan Bradley (Boxleitner) himself would be part of a press conference in San Francisco in Justin Herman Plaza at 8 p.m. April 2.

Here's that faux press release and, inset, the photo from the website:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ALAN BRADLEY TO HEADLINE MAJOR ENCOM PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT

March 24th, 2010

Newly-minted Executive Consultant Alan Bradley will introduce the latest addition to the Encom International product library on April 2 in San Francisco.

Software giant Encom ushered in the digital age with an unrivaled library of gaming titles. Now, Encom International circles the globe with advanced software systems that include communications, sports, entertainment, navigation, agricultural, health care, construction, weather, military and governmental applications on every continent.

Bradley began his career with Encom as a security systems engineer and rose through the ranks to be named CEO in the early 1990s. When he exited the executive suite, he took on a far greater role. His visionary research turned Encom into the industry leader in sustainable production and distribution methods -- methods which are now the best practices for technology companies around the world. "Whether the challenge is to establish communications in a national disaster, or keep kids engaged as they battle Recognizers, I love what I do. Encom will always be my home. "

CEO Kurt Hardington sums it up this way: "Alan's new title and role reflect his unique position as part of the Encom story. He keeps us grounded, yet he's the first to move forward when technology takes us in a new direction. That's why he's perfect to present our newest product – it's where we've come from and where we're going." Alan Bradley will take the stage at 8pm in Justin Herman Plaza on April 2 to unveil the next generation in Encom innovation.

Press Inquires:
Celia Melardin
Encom International
pr@EncomInternational.com

Clearly, in San Francisco, the big door will open even wider for ARG players in search of Kevin Flynn and the world of "Tron: Legacy." I'll be there and will update Hero Complex readers on one of the most elaborate buildups to any movie in recent years.

-- Jay West

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Photos: Walt Disney Studios; ID badge photo by Jay West

Rachel Abramowitz goes back to the future to look at Hollywood's big-time interest in the 1980s.

Actor-writer-director Jorma Taccone remembers with loving fondness the gear montage from almost every '80s action flick of his youth -- Rambo movies and "Die Hard" and the "entire canon" of Arnold Schwarzenegger. "It's people putting the big Bowie knife into the sheath, the shell belts over the chest, click-clacking the gun. It was a quintessential awesome moment. It has permeated the minds of people who grew up in that era. There are entire websites dedicated to the gear-up montage."

Of course, Taccone has included several choice gear-up moments in his new film "MacGruber," based on the "Saturday Night Live" skits and starring Will Forte and Kristen Wiig. Opening May 21, "MacGruber" pays homage to the action films of the Reagan years. But Taccone is far from the only filmmaker discovering his mojo in the high-concept, garish boom-boom fare of that long-ago decade.

They're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

If you go to the cineplex any time in the next year or so, you can catch new, big-screen versions of "Clash of the Titans" (April 2), "The Karate Kid" (June 11), "The A-Team" (June 11), "Red Dawn" (Nov. 24) and "The Thing" (2011), as well as the sequel "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" (Sept. 24) and "Hot Tub Time Machine" (just opened), which is not a remake or sequel, just the tale of a pack of middle-aged guys (including '80s fixture John Cusack) who return to their youthful heyday in a time-bending Jacuzzi amid a zillion references to touchstones like "Back to the Future," the rock group Poison and girls in leg warmers. And still more are brewing. There's the big-screen version of "21 Jump Street" (co-written by Jonah Hill), a new version of "Poltergeist," "Ghostbusters III" and "The Smurfs" movie with Neil Patrick Harris (or, in '80s parlance, Doogie Howser) about those lovable blue creatures best known from the Hanna-Barbera animated series.

Call it the nostalgia of the fortysomething studio head, producer or writer for the films of their youth and the wonder they once engendered. Or call it a sign of the creative exhaustion plaguing Hollywood.

Having plundered comic books and '70s genre staples such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," nervous producers are vigorously hunting for brands with built-in audience awareness, not just here but in foreign markets, where American TV seems to play in an endless loop.

The marketing theory, as espoused by more than a few participants, is that the new editions (usually endowed with the latest in filmmaking magic and playing off some new cultural elements) will appeal to both nostalgic parents and their progeny. Of course, for every "Charlie's Angels" hit, there's a "Land of the Lost"-size flop.

"Moviegoing habits in general are more multigenerational" than in the past, says Doug Belgrad, co-president of Sony's Columbia Pictures. "In certain demographics, it's even grandparents, parents and kids going to movies together. If it's something that the head of the family remembers fondly and thinks his kids might enjoy seeing the update -- that's marketable. . . . There also has to be something fresh for the audience but that's still consistent with the brand or property."

THERE'S MORE, READ THE REST

-- Rachel Abramowitz

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CREDITS: At top, photo illustration by An Moonen / Los Angeles Times, using images from "The A-Team" (Twentieth Century Fox), "Hot Tub Time Machine" (MGM) and "The Karate Kid" (Sony)
 

Los Angeles Times staff writer Greg Braxton spoke to Bill Cosby about his old friend Robert Culp and their shared life adventure with "I, Spy." 

Robert Culp and Bill Cosby knew they were taking a risk in the mid-1960s when the actors teamed up as globe-trotting spies in "I Spy." The NBC series was the first drama in American television to feature an African American actor in a lead role.

But making history ultimately was secondary to their impact on each other, according to Cosby, who spoke warmly about his former costar who died unexpectedly last week after taking a fall near his Hollywood Hills home.

The men developed a personal bond that extended far beyond their on-screen partnership, and their two-member secret society puzzled, even exasperated, their wives.

"Even to this day, [Cosby's wife] Camille would just walk away when Bob and I got together," Cosby recalled with a laugh during an interview Wednesday. "We almost had our own language and our own way of connecting, sometimes without saying anything."

"To our wives," continued Cosby, "it was some kind of code. Sometimes we would start to laugh, seemingly at nothing. Our wives hated the two of us together. It must have been horrible for them. They became friends and just looked at the two of us like we were nuts."

They worked together from 1965 to 1968 in the groundbreaking, lighthearted drama in which Culp played Kelly Robinson, a government agent posing as a top tennis player traveling the world, while Cosby portrayed spy Alexander Scott, Robinson's trainer and traveling companion.

"The first-born in every family is always dreaming for an imaginary older brother or sister who will look out for them," Cosby said. "Bob was the answer to my dreams."

 

In a 1994 interview, Culp addressed the significance of the show: "No other black man and no other white man would have made it work. We just got lucky. We met and decided that we liked each other. Everything else for me and Bill took second position to that. Both of us had total trust in each other."

When the series launched, Culp had a full résumé of film and TV roles, but Cosby was still an unproven dramatic actor -- even though he could point to a booming stand-up career and wildly popular comedy albums. Despite Cosby's mainstream success, some affiliates, angered by the black actor's prominence, refused to air the show.

The two overcame other potential land mines as well. During the three-year run of "I Spy" they competed head-to-head three years in a row for an Emmy in the lead dramatic actor category. Cosby won the award each time.

"Bob was the actor and I was the entertainer," Cosby recalled. "The day after each of those awards, I went to work with a feeling of guilt and darn near embarrassment. As soon as Bob appeared at work, he would come and say, 'How you feeling?' I said, 'OK.' The next thing I knew, I had forgotten all about the Emmy."

-- Greg Braxton

WATCH FULL EPISODES OF "I, SPY"

"SO LONG, PATRICK HENRY" (September 15, 1965)

"CHRYSANTHEMUM" (October 6, 1965)

 "DRAGON'S TEETH" (October 13, 1965) 

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PHOTOS: Top, Robert Culp and Bill Cosby on "I, Spy" (AP photo\NBC), Middle, Culp and Cosby reunited in a dream sequence on the September 2000 season premiere of the comedy "Cosby" (Craig Blankenhorn\CBS). Bottom, William Katt on "Greatest American Hero" (Los Angeles Times archives).

Kenneth Turan, the senior film critic for the Los Angeles Times, is impressed with a new documentary about the animated backstory of Disney in the 1980s. Here's an excerpt from his review.

Hard as it is to believe today, it was not so long ago that animation in general and Disney animation in particular were art forms given up for dead. Things got so bad that in 1984 the studio, which had been kick-started into success by "Snow White" almost half a century earlier, ingraciously booted its beleaguered artists off the lot and onto bleak rented premises.

But, as it happened, the glories of the world were not yet ready to depart the stage. As detailed in the fascinating new documentary "Waking Sleeping Beauty," an unlikely combination of personalities and circumstances came together in the next decade to create a run of animation successes -- "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Lion King" -- that exploded into unprecedented profitability.

 
This tale of artistic reincarnation is a classic show business story, not lacking in temper tantrums and clashing egos, and as told in "Waking Sleeping Beauty," it's got a terrific inside Hollywood sensibility plus an unblinking candor that lets the chips fall where they should. Which, given who made it, is something of a pleasant surprise.

For director Dan Hahn and his producing partner Peter Schneider are not a pair of investigative journalists who happened on a good story. Rather, they are consummate Disney animation insiders -- Hahn was producer of "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King," Schneider was president of animation and later chairman of the studio -- both of whom had too much respect for what they went through to want to whitewash the experience....

THERE'S MORE, READ THE REST.

-- Kenneth Turan

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Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios

Over at 24 Frames, our sister blog, John Milius, the director and writer of the original "Red Dawn" (as well as the co-writer of  "Apocalypse Now" "Jeremiah Johnson" and many other manly-man films) tells Rachel Abramowitz that the upcoming remake of the film is a few rounds short of a full clip.

"I think it’s a stupid thing to do. The movie is not very old," said Milius, who’s not involved in the new film but was given a chance to read the new script. "It was terrible. There was a strange feeling to the whole thing. They were fans of the movie, so they put in stuff they thought was neat. It’s all about neat action scenes and has nothing to do with story."

In the original film, the Soviet Union has invaded the continental United States, and a group of young men and women (Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, among others) band together as a guerrilla group, nicknamed the Wolverines, to fight off the occupiers. In the 2010 edition, directed by Dan Bradley and starring Chris Hemsworth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the villains are the Chinese.

Though the new baddies might tap into American fears about a rising China, to Milius it makes little political sense. “There’s only one example in 4,000 years of Chinese territorial adventurism, and that was in 1979, when they invaded Vietnam, and to put it mildly they got their [butts] handed to them,“ said Milius, noting that China built a wall to separate itself from invaders. “Why would China want us? They sell us stuff. We’re a market. I would have done it about Mexico."

Oh, and for the record, Milius is no fan of the "Conan the Barbarian" revival talk either, telling Abramowitz: "No one wants their movie remade, especially when the movies take on a life of their own." Wow, Milius doesn't hold back does he? Well, this is the guy who put this classic exchange on the page:

Mongol leader: "What is best in life?"

Conan: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.”

-- Geoff Boucher

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Upper photo: Cast members of "Red Dawn" circa 1984. Credit: MGM

Lower photo: "The Losers."  Credit: Warner Bros.

Screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi had a Herculean task with "Clash of the Titans" -- how do you hold on to the heroic touchstones from the beloved (but now wildly dated) 1981 original film and still make a 21st century special-effects spectacular for this modern ironic age? It turns out one way was making Pegasus black.  I sat down with them for sandwiches at Little Dom's to separate myth from fact as far as the new epic, which is due in theaters April 2. -- Geoff Boucher

 

GB: Going into this project, what did you know you wanted to avoid? What were the things you didn't want to see in your revival of "Clash of the Titans"?

MM: We knew that tonally it should not be grim. It shouldn't be ponderous. It had to have a sense of fun and a sense that it's an adventure movie with likable characters. There had to be some irreverence in there but it couldn't be jokey.

PH: When things are happening, you want this true sense of jeopardy but it had to have a real sense of fun to it. It couldn't be self-serious. We also knew there were these set pieces from the original that were so critical in our memories and so big in our imaginations that this movie wouldn't be "Clash of the Titans" without them. We knew we wanted to include Medusa, the Pegasus, Calibos and the Kraken, of course.

GB: When I was on the set in London, director Louis Leterrier said he was mulling over big changes for the Pegasus -- he was thinking of making it black with leathery bat wings.

MM: The Pegasus is black in the movie. I'm glad the bat wings didn't happen. It made the horse look too evil, I think. But we were big supporters of black Pegasus. It was to make the Pegasus a bit more of a bad ass. When you see it in the film, it looks tough. And the actual horse they got was a bad ass. And huge.

GB: One of the other choices you needed to make was about Bubo, the little mechanical owl from the original film...

PH: There is a brief, loving cameo. There was a lot of debate about the owl. It's funny, everyone wants to know about the owl, everybody asks. He's always going to come up.

MM: He's a polarizing figure.

PH: It's true. There's two camps, the pro-Bubo camp and the hate-Bubo camp. We realized tonally and as an ongoing part of the story that we wanted to create, it would not work. We wanted a reference, though, so there is a scene that has made final cut. He is seen and dealt with. He is dispatched quickly.

MM: But nothing bad happens to him! He's not dispatched like that, just as far as the story. It's a way of acknowledging the fans of the original. This title has such a special place in our memories in our childhood, as it does for a lot of people.

PH: If the movie works the way we hope it works, it will access that way that you watched movies when you were a kid and you were just psyched to go see a movie. It was a quest for awesomeness at all times. It should kind of be like metal, you know, like the side of an old-school custom van? Frank Frazetta paintings and Dio.

GB: It's interesting to consider the character of Medusa -- here is a person who got a really raw deal. She was a beautiful young maiden who gets raped by Poseidon and then turned into a monster by Athena who is angry that the rape took place in her temple.  

 

MM: We explored that it in the script a little bit. We retell the story of how she came to be and, as usual, the gods are just so horrible.

PH: The gods are all about blame the victim. They blame everyone but themselves.

GB: "Clash" producer Basil Iwaynk at Thunder Road Pictures is the one who approached you two about the project, but what happened next? 

PH: We came in and met with everybody and we came in about the same time as [director] Louis Letterrier, so we kind of formed a bond with him. He's the best. And fortunately, our take really coincided with his right from the beginning.

MM: He was such a good call for this project. He has the kind of energy you need for this kind of adventure movie. He's also very smart and steeped in all kinds of movies. He brings a sense of focus but also a sense of playfulness to everything. He has fun with everything he does but he takes it all very seriously.

GB: I hear he may be directing the "Avengers" film for Marvel Studios.

MM: That's what it seems like. I know it's something he really, really wants to do. I think he would be absolutely perfect for it.

-- Geoff Boucher

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PHOTOS: Pegasus says hello to Perseus in the new "Clash of the Titans" (Warner Bros). Second, poster for the 1981 film and, third, Bubo from the 1981 film (Los Angeles Times archives). Fourth, Medusa in the new film (Warner Bros.). Bottom, a poster for the new film.

Rachel Abramowitz is back on the Hero Complex with a look at the past and the future of "The Karate Kid." 

The writer of 1984's "The Karate Kid" isn't flipping for this summer's remake starring young Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.

"It’s weird to have your films remade in your lifetime,"  says screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen, who has watched an Internet backlash against trailers for the June movie. "Two-thirds of the comments out there are negative: 'Why are you remaking this classic?' 'It was the movie of my childhood.' 'It was my inspirational movie.' 'Why are you remaking it? Just because Jaden is a little rich kid?’  I’m wondering if those people are going to go see it."

Kamen is best known these days as French writer-director-producer Luc Besson’s go-to collaborator on projects such as “Taken,” “The Transporter” films and “The Fifth Element,” but it's clear he has deep (and protective) affection for the 1980s coming-of-age film that starred Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita.

In that original (which spawned three sequels) Macchio plays Daniel, a high school student who moves from New Jersey to California, where he is bullied by the locals. Morita, a handyman, agrees to teach the East Coast outsider in the ways of martial arts but the lessons are about far more than fighting.

The new revival is set in China, where 11-year old Smith portrays Dre Parker, who is even more of an outsider. Jackie Chan steps in this time as the mentor. The film opens June 11.

Kamen wasn’t invited to be part of the new production, although, per Writers Guild rules, he was sent a copy of the script and received a story credit.

"The film is exactly the film I wrote," Kamen said. "They just changed a 17-year-old kid into an 11-year-old African American kid. They changed Reseda to Beijing. It’s exactly the same, scene for scene. I was surprised I didn’t get [screenwriter] credit.”

The structure may look familiar to Kamen, but not the tone.

“This version is much slicker." Kaman said. "This version has scope, and big scenes with kung fu and beautiful scenic shots of China."

One major thing missing is sexual frisson, Kamen points out. The first had Macchio longing for the young Elisabeth Shue. “The first one had a girl who had [breasts] and [a butt]. There was some sexual danger between these teenagers."

He added that the date-movie crowd might stay home. “I don’t know if they’re going to want to show up. It’s now a kids' movie.”

Kamen, with tongue in cheek, said he has scaled back his plan to see the new film with a celebrity date -- Macchio. “We were going to drive up to the Chinese theater in that big yellow convertible that Mr. Miyagi gives him in the movie. Now we’re just going to dinner and the movie."

-- Rachel Abramowitz

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Over on sister blog All the Rage, Adam Tschorn is hot on the scent of a certain Golden Avenger as news drops about a cologne, Only the Brave, teaming with "Iron Man" in a unique marketing scheme.  Don't you want to smell like a billionaire?

Holy heroic tie-ins! It was just a few months ago we were mentioning that the men's fragrance market was moving in a more manlier direction. Now, word comes to us from a secret underground lair (well, OK, from a PR firm) that Diesel is trying to tractor-beam the comic-book crowd to the cologne counter by giving its clench-fisted Only the Brave bottle a major makeover.

In advance of "Iron Man 2" hitting theaters May 7 (which stars Robert Downey Jr., reprising his role as Tony Stark, and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash), the clear, flacon-gripping hand has been rendered in the same red and glossy gold shades of billionaire industrialist playboy Tony Stark's trademark exoskeleton for a limited-edition production run.

READ THE REST

-- Adam Tschorn

P.S.: The description of the scent, "top notes of lemon blossom, mandarin and coriander leaves, a heart of labdanum, black rose and lavender, and a dry down of amber, tolu wood and ebony wood," does have a mention of Mandarin in it.  Hmmm ...

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Michael Cera gets in on the superheroics this summer with "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," about a bass player who must defeat seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win the hand of the girl of his dreams. Universal Studios just released the first trailer for the Aug. 13 release.

"Shaun of the Dead" director Edgar Wright adapted this film from Bryan Lee O'Malley's popular comics. Expect lots of music, action and -- check it out! -- flaming swords.

-- Patrick Kevin Day

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Photo: Universal Pictures

The time is almost upon us...

The new Doctor is in, beginning April 17 on BBC America.

In the first episode, "The Eleventh Hour," new star Matt Smith begins his stint as the Time Lord with quite the challenge -- his sonic screwdriver is scrap metal, the TARDIS is wrecked and The Doctor has only 20 minutes to save planet Earth. Luckily, the mysterious Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) is on the scene as well.

Even better, if you're going to WonderCon in San Francisco on April 3 or to C2E2 Chicago on April 16 you can see special screenings of the season premiere. 

-- Geoff Boucher

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ELSEWHERE: The BBC's official 'Doctor Who' site

Actor Robert Culp, whose signature roles were on two especially heroic television shows, "I Spy" and "The Greatest American Hero," has died. Here's the info at our sister blog, L.A. Now:

Actor Robert Culp, best known for his role as an international tennis star and globe-trotting secret agent in the hit 1960s television series "I Spy," died Wednesday morning after a fall at his Hollywood home, authorities said.

The 79-year-old actor was rushed to Queen of Angels hospital shortly after 11 a.m. after hitting his head while taking a walk outside his home in the 1800 block of El Cerrito Place, said LAPD Lt. Bob Binder. He was found by a jogger who called 911, and paramedics, patrol officers and detectives responded to the scene.

He was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later. A preliminary investigation found "that his death is accidental and there appears to be no sign of foul play," Binder said. An autopsy by the Los Angeles County Coroner's office is pending.

THERE'S MORE, READ THE REST

-- Andrew Blankstein

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Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Do it fast, do it now -- the seats won't last long.

"Kick-Ass," the sensation of South by Southwest, hits theaters on April 16 but here's your chance to see it early and for free. The Hero Complex, the Los Angeles Times and Brand X are presenting a screening of the Matthew Vaughn film at 7:30 p.m. on April 5 at the Mann 6 in Hollywood.

Hero Complex blogger Geoff Boucher will interview Vaughn and other creators and cast members live on stage.

Sign up right here. 

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It was 28 years ago this month that Philip K. Dick died, and, in a blend of the tragic and the wonderful, his acclaim has surged to unexpected heights in the years since his troubled life ended.

To mark the anniversary of his death, we're revisiting Scott Timberg's amazing series on the author's last years, which were spent in Orange County, a place where Dick was like a subversive agent living behind enemy lines in a cultural war only he could completely define. Thanks again to Timberg for his extraordinary work on this project, and be sure to check out his other musings and manias at The Misread City blog.

PART 1: Philip K. Dick in O.C., a stranger in a strange land

PART 2: Philip K. Dick at work in John Birch territory 

PART 3: Philip K. Dick, an uneasy spy in '70s suburbia

PART 4: Philip K. Dick finds God and madness on the doorstep

PART 5: Philip K. Dick scans the darkness of O.C.

PART 6: Phillip K. Dick and the maze of death

 

-- Geoff Boucher

Photo credit: The Philip K. Dick Trust

Harry Houdini was born 136 years ago today. To mark the day, Susan King goes back to look at a life that included a somewhat-forgotten stint as a movie star.  

 

He was born Ehrich Weiss on March 24, 1874, to Rabbi Samuel Weiss and his wife, Cecelia, in Budapest, Hungary. By  1887, though, the family was in chaotic and pulsing New York City, and four years after that, young Ehrich created a magic act with a friend named Jacob Hyman. They called themselves the Brothers Houdini, and Ehrich chose a new first name, Harry.

Hyman went his own way, and by the final year of the 1890s, the man known as Harry Houdini was the hottest attraction in vaudeville, thanks to his extraordinary, mystifying handcuff-escape tricks. His trip to Europe in 1900 turned him into an international star, and his escape tricks became more elaborate. In 1904 at London’s Hippodrome, he performed his “Mirror Cuff” escape, an hourlong escape from specially made cuffs with nesting locks.

In 1906, he escaped from the jail in Washington, D.C., where Charles Guiteau, the man who assassinated President James A. Garfield, was held and then the following year he performed his first “manacled bridge jumps” in Rochester, New York. And in 1912, Scientific American magazine declares that his underwater box escape from the East River in New York was “one of the most remarkable tricks ever performed.”

Then a new type of fame beckoned him. And not even Harry Houdini could escape the siren call of the silver screen.

In 1919, having already conquered the stage, the superstar of illusion and escape set out to become a master of motion pictures. Much of that screen work is gathered up in the three-disc set “Houdini: The Movie Star” from Kino International, a 450-minute collection that hit DVD in April 2008.

The collection shows how the stage showman became an early-days action star in “The Master Mystery,” a 15-episode serial from 1919; “Terror Island” from 1920; “The Man From Beyond” from 1922, which he also wrote and produced; “Haldane of the Secret Service” from 1923; and a surviving five-minute fragment of “The Grim Game” from 1923.

Though the 5 foot-5 performer was shaped somewhat like a fire hydrant and would never dazzle anyone with his acting, the brief movie career took his fame to even greater heights by  capturing the breathtaking stunts and magic tricks that had made Houdini's name synonymous with confounding feats.

After his foray into film, Houdini continued to work on stage, finally hitting Broadway in 1925 with the 2 1/2-hour extravaganza entitled “HOUDINI,” featuring tricks, illusions, his most famous escapes and an exposé on spiritualism.

Houdini was a leading opponent of spiritualism after he attended a séance in 1922 with Lady Doyle, the wife of his good friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Lady Doyle believed she could channel automatic writing from Houdini’s mother. Houdini didn’t believe her; this lead to a break in his friendship with the couple.

Houdini was performing on Oct. 22, 1926, at the Princess Theatre in Montreal. Before the show, a college student entered his dressing room and asked him if he could punch the magician in the stomach to see how strong he was. During the pummeling, Houdini’s appendix burst. The doctor told him not to perform, but for Houdini, "the show must go on" was more than a motto. He died in Detroit on Halloween of complications from the burst appendix. A steady parade of the grieving and the curious came to see Houdini as he lay in state for two days in New York, and some 2,000 mourners gathered in the ballroom of the Elks clubhouse in New York for his memorial service on Nov. 4. Just as he had instructed, his head was put to rest on a coffin pillow of letters from his mother.

-- Susan King

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THREE-PAGE PREVIEW BELOW

When it was announced in October that Scott Snyder’s new monthly comic book series, “American Vampire” from Vertigo, would feature the contribution of suspense novelist Stephen King, it wasn’t long before the phone started ringing.

“We got all these crazy phone calls from movie producers wanting to know when they could see it, who they should cast in it. … It was nuts,” Snyder said. “It only existed as a script then, and DC and Vertigo weren’t showing it. It hasn’t physically existed until now. … Hopefully, people will still be interested.”

The comic book’s first story arc, which hit shelves last week, centers on two primary characters in two different eras — aspiring actress Pearl in the 1920s and violent cowboy-turned-vampire Skinner Sweet in the 1880s.

So who does Snyder, best known for his short stories, think would best be suited to play the merciless Skinner should the comic be made into a movie?

“I was watching “Half Nelson” the other day, and I thought Ryan Gosling would make a great vampire.”

But don't worry, Rob Pattinson, your heartthrob status is safe. These vampires aren't the kind you bring home to dad. They're more brawny and vicious.

Snyder imagined the series years ago to combat the last “vampire glut” -- a time when “Underworld” and “Blade" were all the rage.

“It just seemed like all the vampires were so sort of glamorous in that sort of leather-trench-coat, sunglasses-at-night, aristocratic, exotic way,” he said. "They were so otherworldly and fashion-modelish; it just felt like they were on their way to some exclusive night club. They were always sort of squatting near a gargoyle in the rain against the moonlight.

"To me, it just made me very nostalgic at that point for the vampires I always liked growing up, which were the vampires of something like 'Salem’s Lot' or 'Near Dark' or 'Lost Boys.' What makes them appealing or frightening was they always seemed like they walked the same landscape. They were sort of your neighbors or the kids you looked up to. It got me thinking, why there weren’t vampires like the ones I grew up loving in prototypical American landscapes that I like writing about — '50s suburb, the Old West, the 1920s Jazz Age. I started trying to imagine what kind of vampire would fit that idea.”

The result is “American Vampire.” The series, illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque, is focused on the concept of vampire genealogy. It re-imagines the bloodsuckers as creatures that evolved as bloodlines hit different populations at different times, producing different breeds of vampires. Just don’t expect to see these vampires evolve into the glittery heartthrobs popular today.

“We’re trying to be very faithful to at least the classic vampire,” Snyder said. There are no breeds that are like "Twilight" in ours. There is no sudden offshoot of twinkly vampires. Perhaps that’s the next evolutionary step. That’s not to dismiss “Twilight” or any of the other stuff out there. I’m very glad that all those things exist. It’s fun to see people read vampires in new ways. To imagine them as sort of Tiger Beat pin-ups is very original, and it’s really well done. But at the end of the day, I tend to be drawn to scary vampires … the kind you don’t want to cuddle with or go on dates with.”

--Yvonne Villarreal

HERE'S A SAMPLE OF THE FIRST ISSUE...