What’s up, Contenders? Terry Malloy here reporting live from the Waterfront.
I culled together a few of the past week’s action film news items for your perusal. There are quite a few items of interest below that I think action fans will get a kick out of.
Nic Cage To Be Directed By William Friedkin In A Vigilante Thriller?
JoBlo’s Arrow In The Head cited Deadline as confirming an upcoming collaboration between William Friedkin and Nicolas Cage! I AM WRATH sounds pretty much exactly like DEATH WISH, only with a focus on policemen being corrupt as opposed to just ineffective.
Regardless of your thoughts on The Ragin’ Cage-un, William Friedkin is one of the great living American directors. Aside from such classics as THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE EXORCIST, his most recent outing KILLER JOE proves that Friedkin has not lost his razor sharp instincts.
Cage is obviously capable of incredible performances and I’m guessing Friedkin will rein him in a little bit and coax something brilliant out of him. What do you all think?
New International Trailer For BULLET IN THE HEAD
An international trailer is out for a new Walter Hill film, starring Sylvester Stallone. BULLET IN THE HEAD. Just watch it.
I really like what Stallone is doing here with a character that seems like a lot of fun. That said, I could do without whatever that music is laid overtop of this thing. What do you all think?
Hat Tip: IGN
THE PROTECTOR 2 Developments
Twitch Film and City On Fire are talking about some updates on the already-in-production TOM YUM GOONG 2, AKA THE PROTECTOR 2! It turns out that star Tony Jaa has set aside differences with director Pracha Pinknaew in order to get back on their game. (In my opinion, Jaa has fared the worst between them since their split.)
This part was actually news to me as I had no idea this film was under way already. But that may not be news to you savvy readers. What MIGHT be of interest, though, is the bit about a certain RZA being confirmed as a cast member in the film! What?! THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS may well be just the beginning of a killer career in martial arts films for our Wu Tang friend.
NINJA 2 Rumored To Be Developing With Scott Adkins Attached To Star
I’m pretty sure NINJA was the first film where I was exposed to the reigning king of DTV action films, Scott Adkins. From what I recall, NINJA had some pretty sweet action sequences, and a respectable production design. And if the acting was a little dicey, all can be forgiven because Adkins has been growing leaps and bounds as an actor ever since. So consider me excited about news that NINJA may soon be turned into a franchise.
Movies.com reports that MovieHole broke an exclusive suggesting that Director Isaac Florentine and star Scott Adkins will be returning to bring us NINJA 2 through Millennium Films.
I don’t see any mention of this on Millennium’s site, however, so consider this rumor for now. Although I’d consider it a very likely one since Adkins and Florentine have worked well together on several projects and others are already rumored as well.
And I’m Out.
Terry Malloy AKA Ed Travis
