Variety announced that Helen Mirren has joined the cast of the live adaptation movie of the comic Red.

The Time Traveler's Wife director Robert Schwentke is adapting Warren Ellis' three-issue comic series. The story follows a retied old black ops CIA agent who is forced back into the wild world of espionage, when he finds out he's marked for death. So he's got to rally his old retired CIA buddies to get behind the conspiracy theory surrounding the plot to kill him. With an "old people are so nutty and can murder you with their bare hands" twist. So what does Warren think of the new casting?

Warren Ellis replied via Twitter:

Current casting of the film adaptation of my graphic novel RED: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren. SO WEIRD.

But who will she be playing? Summit hopes Red will be in theaters Nov. 19, 2010.

Update: The Hollywood Reporter just added that John C. Reilly and Mary Louise Parker will also be joining the cast. Reilly will play a paranoid retired CIA agent convinced that everyone is out to kill him, and Parker will play Bruce Willis' love interest, a federal pension worker who gets caught up in his struggle to survive. [via /Film]

Surrogates, opening today, is at its most potent when it reminds us just how much having a body totally sucks. Bodies break down, they get sick, and they fall apart. No wonder that everybody would rather jack into impervious, lovely robot bodies to face the world. Of course, it all goes horribly wrong, because somebody finds a way to destroy a robot "surrogate" and kill its operator at the same time. You won't be too shocked to hear that this turns out to be the result of a huge, confusing, nonsensical conspiracy in which nothing is what it seems.

There's been a lot of body horror involving technology lately — both Robert Downey Jr. and Jason Statham have had crude batteries inserted into their chest cavities, in Iron Man and Crank 2 respectively, and there was lots of cyborg self-loathing in Terminator Salvation. But Surrogates is the first movie I can remember seeing where the real self-loathing comes as a result of removing the body from technology.

When FBI agent Tom Greer, played by Bruce Willis, first ventures out into the world in his "meat bag" body, all of the robot-avatar people stare at him with pity, when they're not just ignoring him and elbowing him aside with their super strong robo-limbs. He's like the old man surrounded by perfect young people at the end of Logan's Run. The scenes of Willis staggering around the perfect robo-world, the stench of bodily decay coming off him, are extraordinarily powerful. They've managed to make him look way older and more decripit than he really is, while his ideal robot body (which we see a lot of early in the movie) is airbrushed into looking vapidly handsome.

And just to drive the point home, Willis takes more punishment than even an action-movie hero ought to be able to handle. He rarely manages to land a punch, but he's constantly being beaten, kicked, slammed, and caught up in nasty car accidents. Super-robots throw parking meters at his head and he barely ducks in time. He gets more and more bruised and slashed up, over the course of the film.

The movie aims to tell us that Willis' weakness and vulnerability is a result of too much reliance on technology — this is what happens when you lean on something too much, and then it's yanked away from you. But actually, you could just easily see Willis' decrepitude as proof that technology is awesome, and it's a mistake ever to yank yourself away from it.

The main thing standing in the way of that interpretation is how disturbingly candy-coated the robot bodies in the movie look. Sometimes, you start getting used to seeing the airbrushed loveliness of almost everyone in the film, and then you catch sight of a real person — or you just get a weird robot crowd scene — and you're unnerved once again. The movie has some really nice visual effects and concept design, especially in those scenes where we see the ugly, Terminator-esque endoskeletons under the immaculate skins.

And the movie definitely wants you to know that excessive reliance on technology is bad and wrong — it's one of the preachiest films I've seen in ages, and it's by no means subtle. Willis' character starts out being opposed to the use of robotic "surrogates," and his conviction rapidly hardens. Meanwhile, we are lectured constantly about the evil of using robot bodies to interact instead of communing in the flesh. And the people who are pro-Surrogate are always revealed to be evil, misguided or in need of an epiphany of some sort. Some of the preachiness comes from the Prophet (Ving Rhames), the leader of the anti-surrogate and generally Luddite resistance, but a lot of it comes from various mouthpiece characters, and bits of symbolism that are labeled "SYMBOLISM" in bright flashing colors.

The surrogates, of course, are a metaphor for our own reliance on technology to interact with the world. Our iPhones, our Blackberries, our laptops, our xBox lives. We're cutting ourselves off from real humanity by using these toys instead of going out and getting a sexually transmitted disease the way God intended.

The movie's preachiness is one huge problem — and it does get awfully tiresome after an hour or so of having messages shoved in your face — but the movie's other huge problem is that it is every bit as moronic as you'd expect from a film from the writers and director of Terminator 3. I went into this film trying to have no preconceptions, and hoping that T3 was just an aberration — but no, this film is the absolute definition of an idiotic action movie. Stuff happens for no particular reason, and there's a shocking twist every 10-15 minutes that comes out of nowhere, and then goes right back there. If you tried to diagram the plot, you'd wind up drawing an evil squiggle. One great source of plot twists is the fact that you never quite know who is really operating a robot surrogate.

Oh, and characters regularly say things like, "The only way to deal with addiction is to kill the addict!"

For some reason Surrogates reminded me of I, Robot. Maybe because both movies feature James Cromwell in a similar role. And they both have technology that everybody insists is safe inevitably biting us in the asses. But most of all, both movies have absolutely gorgeous concept design, amazing visuals, some really fun action sequences — and completely braindead storytelling. I would say Surrogates is slightly better than I, Robot, if only because it packs more of a punch to the gut.

Honestly, if you don't expect the plot to make sense, and if you enjoy giggling at ridiculous and often preachy dialog, you'll probably enjoy Surrogates a whole bunch. Bruce Willis keeps getting up, no matter what they throw at him. Even after his FBI boss says he's off the case, he keeps investigating the case. He's got some backstory involving a kid who died in an accident and a wife who's never really recovered, but mostly he's a stock-standard Willis character who won't quit until he gets to the truth. And there's nothing wrong with that.

The other thing that I really liked about Surrogates is the world-building. You get lots of interesting and sometimes horrifying hints about how this world works, including glimpsing an army "peace action" where robotic troops blow the shit out of meatsacks in some third-world country. And you sort of gather that poor people are stuck with shitty robot bodies, and you witness what looks like two surrogates beating up on a prostitute at one point. There's a nice undercurrent of corruption under the perfect shiny robot-sleeved world, which is way more effective than the movie's overt attempts to harangue us.

So to sum up: dumb movie, weak nonsense plot, incredibly preachy and sledgehammery. At the same time. it's a fun action movie with some nice set pieces, and the production design and world-building are really lovely. And it's mostly worth it for Bruce Willis' craggy, saggy, excessively mortal countenance, as he stumbles in some state of grievous injury through a landscape full of way too pretty people.

These trailers and clips feel like the first time we're actually getting a taste of the Surrogates, and it's got that B-Movie flavor we've been missing. Let's hope it doesn't go flat. Surrogates comes out September 25th.

In The Surrogates, based on the acclaimed Robert Venditti graphic novels, it's the future and nobody ever leaves the house any more. Instead, people use perfect, beautiful robotic bodies to venture out in the world — until it all goes wrong, and a cop played by Willis has to go out and investigate in the flesh. We first showed you some freaktastic images of this movie's robot bodies last year, but these new stills fully confirm it: the robots will look scary and unreal, sort of like the Bionic Woman's fembots crossed with new-style Cylons.

The Surrogates comes out Sept. 25. More pics at the link. [IGN]

The Surrogates movie is released September 25th. The Surrogates: Flesh And Bone, the second graphic novel in the series, is available now.

The Science-Fact Behind 'Surrogates' [Wired]

Powder!

Sorry this just isn't as appealing as my Korben Dallas/John McClane boys from the past, sigh. We need new action stars, and fast. Harrison Ford's befuddled old man Indiana and Nic Cage in just about everything aren't doing this genre any favors.

Also I'm generally starting to worry about the Surrogates film in general. Besides the little Bruces at the bottom, you really can't tell that this film is about robots, at all. And robots sell from Wall-E to Transformers – people like to see droids, and especially ones who pretend to be people. So why isn't this poster emphasizing the robot angle? People are going to see Surrogates to imagine what the pretty robotic versions of themselves will look like. Maybe we can get a more appealing poster before the film comes out September 25th.

For a better look at the Surrogates poster check out Coming Soon.

I guess the next natural question would be, what would you change... and would you be able to trust any robot you met for spur-of-the-moment alley sex? Does it matter? Will this movie be any good? All important questions, to be answered this Fall.

In the Surrogates future, we all get to sit on La-Z-Boys while our robot servants, who look just like us except cuter, run our errands, work our jobs and even go to raves (which are apparently trendy again). Willis plays a detective, who's investigating a rash of robotic Avatar murders, and he'll appear both as himself and (wearing a wig) as his Avatar. Who is behind these murders? And can citizens survive outside on their own, if they even want to?

So what do you think? Is it a little too shiny? The comic appears to be a wee bit darker. Is anyone else getting a Fifth Element feel from this first glimpse of Mostow's movie?

Surrogates will be released in theaters on September 25.

What, no ad for robo-wigs, for star Bruce Willis?

Surrogates, which will be featured in a special Disney panel at NYCC, is set in the future where no one leaves their home. So instead of going out for a jug of milk yourself, you'd send out one of Virtual Self's life-sized robot creations. And it just so happens, your lovely robotic avatar is the idealized version of yourself. Willis plays a cop who has to leave his house for the first time in years, to investigate the serial murder of Avatars.

Update: Check out The Surrogates viral site for Virtual Self Industries at Choose Your Surrogate (thanks for the tip Slashfilm).

The new movie, adapted from Robert Vanditti's graphic novel Surrogates is set in a world where humans no longer leave their homes. Instead they send life like surrogate robots out to do their bidding, chores and jobs. Willis plays a FBI agent who must leave his house for the first time, to investigate a murder of a college student who is linked to the robot production company.

This new still shows a tired old Willis, who's robo-wigless and a little worse for wear. What's the problem, Bruce? Did your flawless robo-unit break down? These surrogate bots can be made to look like the ideal version of their human owner, but without their skin, they look a little something like this.

The movie was shot in Boston over the summer and is set to release on September 25, 2009.

[First still via Slashfilm]

Graphic novel writer Robert Vendetti is working on a prequel comic, almost done, and hopes to write a sequel as well. But Banks says she's taking it one movie at a time. Also, co-star Elizabeth Mitchell dropped a few details about the film's plot.

Mitchell plays the wife of Willis' police detective in the movie. And she also plays her character's robot surrogate, who goes out into the world to interact with people. And, in an interesting twist, it sounds like Mitchell's surrogate gets hacked — so the robot version is under the control of various other people. "I get to be different people," says Mitchell. "It's an interesting concept."

Also, your surrogate doesn't have to look like the real you, says Mitchell. It can be more beautiful, it can be a different gender, and presumably it doesn't even have to be human. And if your surrogate dies out in the real world, all that happens to you is that you need to buy a new surrogate. [MTV]

Milford Daily News is reporting from the edges of the set that there was a massive helicopter and chase scene over the dirt.

Bob Britt owner of the custom body shop Atlantic Customs, in Peabody, MA, was called in to create the robot extras before they have their skin put on. He used a mix of paint and vinyl on the mannequins to give them the appearance of shiny new droids. "We painted mannequins to look like the robots before they take on human skin. We were doing most of the background robots. We took pretty high line department store mannequins and painted them with a metallic structure or with muscle tissue. They're basically the robots before they get the human flesh, hair and eyes. They're silver and gold, and we gave them a green shading to give them a realistic look. I think they are replicas of the original robot [prop]."

After working for a few days, Britt has built a complete body of one robot, minus the head and a collection of robot appendages. His robot parts will appear in the background of a scene that takes place in a laboratory where the robots are built. "They should get a lot of good screen time because they are going to do a lot of shoots in the lab mock up," he adds.

Although Britt was only privy to the bare minimum on the plot of the movie he has his own theories on how his work will be used and what's been going on in his hometown, "What I gathered from working on it, is that it's a movie based on these surrogate robots that you have built of yourself when you get old, fat, lazy and you can't do anything anymore. You get a surrogate robot made. The robot is an exact copy of the person, so other people can't tell if it's a robot or if it's a human. I think one of the robots goes haywire, or they all do. There's a lot of military stuff there, a lot of people in camouflage and a few military motorcycles. At least that's what I'm gathering because there is a big chase scene with one of the robots. So I'm guessing that, that robot went crazy. It sounds like a typical robot movie, where you shouldn't mess with human nature. But that's my take, I have very limited information."

The official synopsis for the film says that Willis' character is a cop, or FBI agent, who ventures out of his house in the flesh to investigate a murder, in a time when almost no human ever goes out any more.

As far as other on set rumors there was a casting call in April for young and sexy surrogates. Sources reveal to us the set will [and has been] populated with beautiful people, since the surrogates are supposed to be like perfect humans.

All around Massachusetts filming sets the crew has posted direction signs with "VSI" in big bold letters. If you read the books the company that creates the Surrogates is called Virtual Self Inc. Obviously these signs are a shout-out to the company and a way to throw off any unwanted attention by not using the movie's real name. Tricky, tricky Disney. The comic was also known for including Virtual Self advertisements through the pages of its books.

In hair news, Bruce Willis has been spotted on set in the town of Worcester covering his shiny noggin with a blond wig. Our sources tell us that this is one of two looks for Willis in the movie. Willis is the man who made bald cool, so I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this. But then again it is the future, and if they can make robot duplicates of people, surely they've fixed male pattern baldness as well. Or maybe his perfect robot version of himself has blond hair. If that's the case, then shame on you, Willis!

Besides Cronenberg, Vigalondo expressed interest in Kurt Russell or Bruce Willis for the remake's leading man (and what scifi fan could blame him?). Vigalondo also has hopes for Adam Brody as the scientist and Joan Allen for the main character's wife. Timecrimes is about a man who travels back in time and discovers that infinite possibilities lead to infinite corruption. And that's before he comes face-to-face with himself. [Blog de Cine via Shock til You Drop]

Here's the plot synopsis of the original graphic novel written by Robert Vendetti, which appears to be out of print:

The fusing of virtual reality and cybernetics has ushered in the era of the surrogate, a new technology that lets users interact with the world without ever leaving their homes. It's a perfect world, and it's up to Detectives Harvey Greer and Pete Ford of the Metro Police Department to keep it that way. But, to do so, they'll need to stop a techno-terrorist bent on returning society to a time when people lived their lives instead of merely experiencing them.

The Batmobile from Batman Begins. This was the first on-screen version of Batman's muscle car that didn't just look like a cheesy toy car. Instead of the stretched-out roadster of previous movies, director Christopher Nolan opted for a compact, tank-like design. In "attack mode" the driver shifts to the middle of the car, in a more secure prone position. This car doesn't look like it's only designed to impress Kim Basinger.
Top speed: 110 mph, plus jet engine and adjustable control surfaces let it jump 30 feet without a ramp.

The DeLorean from the Back To The Future movies. This car's main superpower is making those movies look incredibly dated. But it also travels in time if you feed it enough plutonium. And after a visit to the year 2015, it also gains the ability to fly, with wheels that turn sideways and become thrusters.
Top speed: A regular DeLorean could reach 124 mph. It needs to reach 88 mph to time-travel.

The flying taxi from The Fifth Element. It looks just like a regular cab, but it can fly. It handles amazingly well, judging from some of the teeny openings Bruce Willis manages to steer it through during the high-speed cop chase. And it can stop on a dime to hide behind billboards.
Top speed: Unclear, but it's fast. The original movie script says: "Korben and his flying taxi are absolute masters of the air. The cops have trouble following him."

The self-folding car from that SciFi Channel ad. Long after people have forgotten Flash Gordon and Tin Man, they'll still be passing around this ad. It looks like a regular pick-up truck, until the driver presses a button. Then it folds up to the size (and weight) of a golf ball.
Top speed: no clue.

The Whomobile on Doctor Who. Stranded on Earth in the early 1970s, the Doctor started dressing like Prince. Except instead of driving a little red Corvette, he pimped out an antique roadster named Bessie to go super fast. Then he built his own spaceship-looking car. With huge honking fins! Because, of course, an alien trapped on Earth has to stay incognito at all costs.
Top speed: 150 mph (in real life), plus the Whomobile can fly (using dodgy greenscreen.)

The Spinner from Blade Runner. Deckard's cop car flies, but also has vertical take-off and landing (VTOL). It uses regular internal combustion, plus antigrav and a jet engine. It also directs air downwards to create lift. And it has a pretty sweet glass cockpit.
Top speed: Deckard mentions a fellow cop was going 150 mph when he went off a cliff.

KITT, from the Knight Rider TV show and TV movies. KITT was a Pontiac Trans AM with a super-computer that could talk to Michael (its driver) and even drive itself. (Plus KITT prints money in one episode, which could be handy.) The new Knight Rider, airing in February, will feature a new KITT that can launch a mini-car drone and fire a rocket launcher
Top speed: 300 mph, plus a "turbo boost" lets you jump over obstacles.

The Lexus from Minority Report. Lexus designed a special flying car for Tom Cruise to zip around the city of 2054 in. The car includes an electric engine, body panels that change color at a voice command, doors and ignition that require a DNA match, and "auto valet."
Top speed: According to Lexus, this car can get up to about 350 mph. We have a winner!

Based on the 2005 murder mystery comic The Surrogates by Robert Venditti and indie star Brett Weldele, Variety is reporting that the new movie will be brought to you by the same team who gave the world Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines: writers Michael Ferris and John Brancato (who have also scripted the upcoming Terminator 4) and director Jonathan Mostow.

Whether this means that the comic's subtle conspiracy plot is going to be replaced by explosions and Clare Danes' inability to act is still open to question.

Bruce Willis to star in 'Surrogates' [Variety]

Famous names: Luc Besson, Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman

Crunchy goodness: 2

Design breakthrough: Sometimes a breakthrough is a beta test that turns out to be woefully wrong. The Fifth Element demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that nobody wants the future to look like it was designed by aging French fashionistas who still think it's racy to reference the Virgin Mary.

Copycats: Thankfully there was no Sixth Element, but Fifth Element did launch the career of the world's first-ever female action star - Milla Jovovich. Sure there have been other women who played action roles, but Jovovich is the only one to play solely action heroes (see her wildly popular Resident Evil series). Hopefully her action hero career will not follow the trajectory of Arnold Schwarzenegger's, because that would mean she'd have to star in a series of terrible comedies before becoming a homophobic politician.

Sights you'll never unsee: The costumes.

Fifth Element - Script, Multimedia, Character Descriptions...