Tag Archives: Michael Crichton

Martin Sheen to Narrate Audio Book of Charles Pellegrino’s “Ghosts of Hiroshima”

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Martin Sheen is preparing to talk ghosts… 

James Cameron has tapped the 84-year-old half-Spanish actor to narrate the audio book of Ghosts of Hiroshima, the Charles Pellegrino book set for publication by Blackstone on August 5.

Martin SheenCameron plans to use the book as the basis for a film of the same name, which the filmmaker will direct as his first non-Avatar film since 1997’s Titanic.

The project has been a labor of love for Cameron for 15 years, and the three-time Emmy winner Sheen was part of that dream.

“Martin Sheen is my dream come true to read this book for audio,” Cameron told Deadline. “His voice-over narration for Apocalypse Now still haunts me, and for a subject this dark, he will give it the gravitas and humanity that it needs.”

Cameron purchased the rights to Pellegrino‘s forthcoming book and will shoot the film as soon as Avatar production permits. Cameron plans an “uncompromising theatrical film.”

The book is timed to mark the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb in 1945. The film focuses in part on the true story of a Japanese man during World War II who survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima, got on a train to Nagasaki, and then survived the nuclear explosion in that city. Pellegrino’s book draws on the voices of bomb survivors and the new science of forensic archaeology.

“It’s a subject that I’ve wanted to do a film about, that I’ve been wrestling with how to do it, over the years,” Cameron told Deadline. “I met Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a survivor of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just days before he died. He was in the hospital. He was handing the baton of his personal story to us, so I have to do it. I can’t turn away from it.” While visiting Yamaguchi, Cameron and Pellegrino pledged to “pass on his unique and harrowing experience to future generations.”

Cameron’s fear of nuclear war, featured in several of his iconic films including The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, has been on his mind since watching the Cuban Missile Crisis unfold when he was 8 years old.

Pellegrino served as a science consultant to Cameron on Titanic and Avatar and his scientific writings also directly inspired Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park.

Blackstone’s Josh Stanton and Anthony Goff said everyone at the imprint “is thrilled with this remarkable partnership of James Cameron and Martin Sheen on this epic book.”

Universal Releases Trailer for “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” Featuring Manuel Garcio-Rulfo

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Manuel Garcio-Rulfo is readying to make a (Jurassic) World-wide impact…

Universal has released the first trailer for this summer’s action-packed film Jurassic World: Rebirth, starring the 43-year-old Mexican actor.

Manuel Garcia-RulfoThe film is set to open globally on July 2,

In addition to Garcia Rulfo, who portrays Reuben, the father of a shipwrecked civilian family, the film also stars Jonathan Bailey, Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali among others.

The fourth film in the Jurassic World series follows a team of scientists and others whose main objective is to acquire genetic samples from three of the largest dinosaurs in the sea, on land and in the air.

Set five years after Jurassic World: Dominion (2022), the planet has become inhospitable for dinosaurs, so those that still exist have become isolated to environments in which their breeds once flourished. The three most colossal creatures in the different parts of the ecosystem could prove necessary for a life-saving drug for humans.

Johansson plays Zora Bennett, a covert operations expert who is tasked with a top-secret mission that drives the film’s plot. Bailey will play paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis. Ali will play Zora’s most trusted team leader, Duncan Kincaid.

Rupert Friend will star as Martin Krebs, a representative of Big Pharma. Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain and Ed Skrein will also appear. 

Gareth Edwards is directing from original Jurassic Park scribe David Koepp’s script, based on characters created by Michael Crichton. The film is an Amblin Entertainment production.

Zora and Duncan’s task unites them with a stranded family (led by Garcia-Rulfo) whose shipwreck was at the hands of aquatic dinosaurs gone rogue. Together, the team and family uncover a secret hidden from the world for decades on the island where they have been marooned.

First Trailer Released for “Twisters,” Starring Antony Ramos

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Antony Ramos is getting things twisted…

The first trailer for Universal‘s Twisters, starring the 32-year-old Puerto Rican actor/singer, has been released.

Twisters, Antony RamosGlen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Ramos star in the new chapter to the 1996 box office hit. Lee Isaac Chung directs the film from a script by Mark L. Smith. The film is co-financed by Warner Bros.

The supporting cast includes Kiernan Shipka, David Corenswet, Daryl McCormack, Sasha Lane, Maura Tierney and Katy O’Brian.

Starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, the original Twister was a massive hit in 1996, scoring almost $500M at the worldwide box office, due in no small part to the film’s groundbreaking special effects.

The film followed a pair of storm chasers who risk their lives in an attempt to test an experimental weather alert system. The film was helmed by Speed director Jan De Bont and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by author Michael Crichton.

Plot details have been kept under wraps on the big-budget sequel, which began filming around Oklahoma City in May 2023. Filming was suspended in July due to the SAG-AFTRA strike but production resumed in November 2023, wrapping the following month.

The film is scheduled to be released in the U.S. by Universal and internationally by Warner Bros in July 2024.

Brandon Perea to Star in Upcoming “Twister” Sequel, “Twisters”

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Brandon Perea is getting twisted…

The 27-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor will star in the upcoming Twister sequel.

Brandon Perea, Perea, a standout in Jordan Peele’s Nope, joins Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos in Twisters, directed by Lee Isaac Chung from a script by writer Mark L. Smith.

The film, from Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment, is described as a “new chapter” of the 1996 movie, which followed a team of storm chasers as they hunted down the most powerful tornado in decades.

Plot details, including Perea’s role, are being kept under wraps.

Twisters is slated for release on July 19, 2024.

The original Twister was a massive hit, earning more than $494 million at the worldwide box office, which is often credited to the film’s groundbreaking special effects. Starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, the film was helmed by director Jan De Bont and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, from a screenplay by Michael Crichton.

Before Nope, Perea was best known for his work in Netflix’s The OA, where he played Alfonso “French” Sosa for two seasons. Then, Perea auditioned for Peele, delivering such a compelling performance that the Oscar winner rewrote the part of Angel Torres to suit the actor, casting him alongside Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun and Michael Wincott.

“This is the greatest miracle to ever experience,” Perea told Variety on the red carpet at the film’s world premiere last July. “For Jordan to change the role for me is just truly a blessing. And I’m glad I just went with my gut feeling of, like, you know what, let me go do something different. I know Jordan is just full of surprises, so I was just like, ‘Let me surprise him.’ So I’m glad that I was able to.”

In another interview with Variety, Perea explained that Angel, who works as a tech expert at Fry’s Electronics, was written as more of a cheery, can-do guy, but Perea brought a more downbeat, angsty approach to the part.

Following his scene-stealing performance, Perea was selected as one of BAFTA’s Breakthrough Artists for 2022 and honored with the rising star award for film at the Critics Choice second annual Celebration of Latino Cinema and Television.

Rodrigo Lands a Villainous Role on HBO’s “Westworld”

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Rodrigo Santoro is heading west(world)…

The 38-year-old Brazilian actor has landed a villainous role on HBO’s Westworld.

Rodrigo Santoro

Santoro joins the Anthony Hopkins– and Evan Rachel Wood-starrer, which is inspired by Michael Crichton‘s 1973 film of the same name.

The drama is billed as a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin. Hopkins stars as Dr. Robert Ford, the brilliant, taciturn and complicated creative director, chief programmer and chairman of the board of Westworld, who has an uncompromising creative vision for the park — and unorthodox methods of achieving it.

Wood portrays Dolores Abernathy, the quintessential farm girl of the frontier West — who is about to discover that her entire idyllic existence is an elaborately constructed lie.

Santoro will portray the terrifying and brutal with a dark sense of humor Harlan Bell, Westworld’s perennial “most wanted” bandit. He subscribes to the theory that the West is a wild place, and the only way to survive is to embrace the role of predator.

Joining Santoro, Hopkins and Wood are Jeffrey Wright, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Angela Sarafyan and Simon Quarterman.

Person of Interest‘s Jonathan Nolan, who co-wrote the pilot, will direct and executive produce alongside J.J. Abrams. Lisa Joy co-wrote the pilot and will exec produce.