Club Jade

A new trailer for Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro’s giant-robots-fight-giant-monsters movie. It’s like Transformers vs. Godzilla, except it might actually be good! There’s a chance, anyway.

Below the cut: The glorious return of our patron saint/nemesis Vin Diesel and other flashbacks.

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Well, here’s a factoid for you: Only 30% of the speaking characters in last year’s 100 top-grossing films of 2012 were women. (Here’s those 100 films – how many of them were led by women? By my count, 12, the top one being The Hunger Games.) And that’s only the beginning of the facepalm-worthy figures.

And that’s just in front of the camera. Behind the camera? Well.

An early internet favorite for the job of directing Episode VII, Brad Bird, tells The Hollywood Reporter that he was indeed approached to helm the film:

I’ve known Kathy [Kennedy] for a while and I know George. And they did come to me. But the problem was, the schedule they had in mind made it impossible to do…unless I dropped Tomorrowland. And I was just really deeply into this film at that point. It’s easy to say, “Just put it on hold.” But you’re moving now; you don’t know if you’re going to be able to move later. Maybe it’s true of filmmakers like Cameron or Spielberg, but I have to act on momentum. We had reached a critical mass where it would’ve thrown the furniture around from the train stopping. I really want to see this movie. I love the Star Wars films, and I can’t wait to see what J.J. does, but it meant I’d have to shut down one dream to participate in another. I feel like [with Tomorrowland] we’re making something that’s really special and unique.

Tomorrowland was first known under the name 1952, which also figured into some early EPVII speculation.

He also talks about the possibility of a sequel to The Incredibles.

He takes audience suggestions… Including some from folks you’ll certainly recognize.

First part of the interview is below the cut.

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J.J. Abrams stopped by The Daily Show to chat Star Trek and Star Wars with master geek (and future Jedi?) Jon Stewart. The extended version of the interview begins above, with part 2 below the cut

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And it’s the first trailer for the Ender’s Game adaption, which really wants you know that a bunch of these actors have been up for/won Oscars. (Ford was nominated for Witness in 1985, which I can’t blame anyone for forgetting) Book fans may want to check out io9′s spoiler-full screencap study of the trailers.

Below the cut, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost go pubbing, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock get lost in space, and… Alien folksingers, because why not?

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It’s Friday, so please take this video of Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. It really is kind of cute.

Meanwhile, if you want the actual thing instead of just jokes about it, Star Trek: The Exhibition will be making the rounds to San Diego, Los Angeles, and Arizona this year.

Ray Harryhausen, whose stop-motion animation made monsters come alive in films from the 30′s through the 80′s, has passed away, his family has announced. He was 93.

Stop-motion may be cheesey to those of us who grew up in the post-Star Wars era, but Harryhausen’s work – the most famous of which is perhaps the fighting skeletons of Jason and the Argonauts – was hugely influential. (Though to this 80s’ kid, it’s his Medusa in the original Clash of the Titans who kept me up at night!)

“Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much,” said George Lucas. “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars.”

Thor: The Dark World looks… dark? Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) joins Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston and his new wig for Thor’s first entry into Marvel’s Phrase 2. (Also, Thor… Just let her go, man. Didn’t you see what happened to the last pretty-but-kind-of-dim boy who got obsessed with saving Natalie Portman’s life? Ask Darcy, she’ll know.)

Beneath the cut, a new look at The Wolverine, Helen Mirren kills, Emma Watson wants to rob and… Judy Blume. It’s a mix.

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J.J. Abrams gave his most revealing Star Wars interview so far (which isn’t really saying much) to Playboy? Well. If you want to hear about Star Trek you can head on over there, but Star Wars fans, read on.

Okay, okay, he does say that doing a third Star Trek isn’t out of the question.

As for Star Wars, he wouldn’t comment on still-unofficial of returning cast members, or if the new trilogy will be ‘distinct.’ He’s “not going to give my opinion on the original movies or characters.”

When asked about broad ideas and the reaction to The Phantom Menace:

I try to approach a project from what it’s asking. What does it need to be? What is it demanding? With Star Wars, one has to take into account what has preceded it, what worked, what didn’t. There are cautionary tales for anything you take on that has a legacy—things you look at and think, I want to avoid this or that, or I want to do more of something. But even that feels like an outside-in approach, and it’s not how I work. For me, the key is when you have a script; it’s telling you what it wants to be.

On the pressure of taking on the franchise:

I meant if I viewed this from a fan’s point of view—and no one’s a bigger Star Wars fan than I am—or from a legacy standpoint, it would scare the hell out of me. But instead of trying to climb this mountain in one giant leap, I’m just enjoying the opportunity and looking to the people I’m working with. I’ve known Kathy for years. I’ve worked with the screenwriter, Michael Arndt, for a long time. I’ve known George for a number of years and he’s now a friend. Even if this wasn’t Star Wars, I’d be enormously fortunate to work with them.

And of course:

For me to talk to you about what the big themes or ideas are before they exist is disingenuous, but naturally I have a big say in how this gets put together. When I get involved with something, I own it and carry the responsibility of the job.

Well, Playboy, you tried.

It’s a big interview, so he also talks about his TV shows, growing up in Hollywood, Tom Cruise and more.