Super 8 Casting Call?

Slashfilm is reporting that Paramount Pictures has sent out a casting notice for an unnamed Paramount feature film that might be Super 8. The written and directed film by JJ Abrams will start filming in the fall. I am unclear on what makes the site think this is related to Super 8 beyond a rumor that indicates a rumor that the film is set in 1979 and focuses on kids that used their Super 8 to film something "sinister". If the rumor is true, then this is a description of characters that may be in the film.

Seeking 13-14 year old Boys & Girls for the lead roles in a new Paramount feature film. No previous acting experience is necessary, but must have great energy and a wonderful sense of humor and thoughtfulness.

JOSH: Male 13-14. Josh is cute, but could be on the scrawny side – definitely not the school jock. Loveable, empathetic, smart and interesting. Must have a great sense of humor. Should have a Midwestern feel.

COLLIN: Male 13-14. Slightly, or more than slightly, overweight. Collin is confident, driven, optimistic and a natural leader. Must have a great sense of humor. Should have a Midwestern feel.

NATALIE: Female 13-14. A natural beauty – she is stunning, but not the “cheerleader” type. Strong and confident, but has an underlying sadness. Should have a Midwestern feel.

Abrams' Heist Get A Writer

The Hollywood Reporter says that Phil Alden Robinson has been hired to write the script for a movie that JJ Abrams will be producing. The movie will be based on a Wired article called "The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist". The right was bought by Paramount in March 2009 and is about a group of Italian thieves that in 2003 somehow conquered 10 layers of security to at the Antwerp Diamond Center to steal estimated $100 million theft of diamonds, gold, and jewelry.

The movie currently does not have a title or potential release date. Robinson's previous work includes having written and directed both Sneakers and Field of Dreams. His latest screenplay is Sinatra that is coming out sometime next year.

Super 8 Viral Site Countdown Ends

The "download" countdown discovered on ScariestThingIEverSaw.com has ended and the result is a little bit of more teaser information about Super 8. Super 8 is the next movie written and directed by JJ Abrams that remains completely mysterious with the only real information coming from the trailer released a week ago.

MovieViral.com has compiled the current new information with the latest site update. The result is more questions, no answers. Now the website loads but the only command that works currently is "PRINT RSCOM8" which shows the newspaper clipping below. The first page is an ad for Rocket Poppeteers, another Super 8 viral website that is currently down. The second page is transcript of President John's F. Kennedy's "Radio and Television Address to the American People on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty" from July 26, 1963 which suggests the paper pages might be from that day or more likely July 27th.

First Glimpse at Undercovers

NBC is announcing its upfronts this afternoon and with that is a peek at JJ Abrams next television show called Undercovers. According to the leaked information of an upfront test run, the show is scheduled for Wednesday at 8-9pm EST timeslot. The basic idea is a married CIA couple is called back into action.

Super 8 HD Trailer and Secret Website

Last week was the official announcement and trailer for Super 8, the next movie that J.J. Abrams is writing and directing with Steven Spielberg producing. While the film will not start filming until this fall, the teaser trailer was released with Iron Man 2. Until now only bootleg copies were available online but now the official HD version is at Apple.com.

The official website is also up, which currently just links to other things including ability to sign up for updates. Super 8 being an Abrams project, according to TrekMovie.com there is a viral website that was found embedded (somehow) in the frames of the trailer. Scariestthingieversaw.com is a very old school design site. It has a "Copyright CBCD ata 2002" message on load and then a very old style desktop appears with a command line program. Very early 80s in design. Follow the various prompts to "load" a program which seems to hang at a certain point and slowly load. Trek speculates that is a timer counting down to May 15th.

Super 8 Teaser Trailer (Bootleg Version)

The teaser trailer has hit the internet, at least a camera copy of it. I assume the official HD version will become available soon. The official website is also up but so far it doesn't show anything of consequence.

Mission: Impossible IV Scheduled

Paramount has announced that the J.J. Abrams produced Mission: Impossible IV starring Tom Cruise will be released on December 16, 2011. It seemed the studio was holding out, hoping that Abrams would direct the film but recent news that he was directing Super 8 this fall for Steven Spielberg ended any hopes of that. The rumor is The Incredibles' Brad Bird is closing to signing on as director.

Abrams, Spielberg Team for Super 8

It turns out the trailer for Super 8 that permieres with Iron Man 2 is for a movie that doesn't really exist yet. According to The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision Blog the movie is a rumored collaboration between Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams. The origin was from a year ago when the two moviemakers discussed their early filmmaking experiences.

Super 8 will be written and directed by JJ Abrams with Steven Spielberg, Abrams, and Bryan Burk as producers. The film goes before the cameras this fall with a $50 million budget for a Summer 2011 release. The summer 2011 release will join an already crowded slate with Thor, Kung Fu Panda 2, Transformers 3, and Captain America.

Super 8 Trailer Description

Film Popper has posted a description of the trailer for J.J. Abrams' mysterious next movie called Super 8. Since the announcement of the trailer, there has been lots of speculation about what the movie could be about. At this point all we know is it's not related to Cloverfield. Spoiler Warning!

The trailer starts with a black screen, that says Steven Spielberg is the producer. Then a small written narrative begins that reads something like this. “In 1970 Area 51 was closed down and everything was shipped to an undisclosed location in Ohio”. Then you see a train carrying lots of cargo loads. Cut to a car driving down the road that jumps up on the tracks and heads straight toward the train. Cut to black screen and then the words “From Director J.J. Abrams”. Then back to the train and car colliding into each other, the train derails, the camera slowly zooms in on one of the tipped over cargo cars of the derailed train, then something is punching on the walls inside the train cart trying to escape. Cut to black screen and then the title ”Super 8“.

Could this be the rumored collaboration between Abrams and Spielberg? Who knows at this point. The trailer description doesn't even verify the cast, writer nor director (but I suspect Abrams was the writer, not the director). (via AICN)

Abrams' Denies Super 8 Cloverfield Connection

Yesterday it was revealed that JJ Abrams' next film, Super 8, would debut its trailer in front of Iron Man 2 this Friday. Pretty much no one knows what the film is about but early rumors theorized it was possibly a prequel to Cloverfield whose trailer debuted in similar surprise fashion. While at the Time 100 Gala at the Time Warner Center, JJ Abrams spoke with New York Magazine'sVulture, denying a connection to Cloverfield but did not provide any other details.

"You have to check [out the trailer]," he told us. "But it has nothing whatsoever to do with Cloverfield, despite your expert reporting." So what does it have to do with? "I won’t be able to tell you until it’s done," he said.

We asked if 8's trailer was really sent to theaters in canisters requiring special codes to open. "That is correct," Abrams told us. Certainly such conspicuous security measures only invite the kind of scrutiny that can ruin carefully planned surprises, though, right? "I don’t know if it would matter with you guys," he said, laughing. "I don’t think it matters."

To summarize the verified facts about Super 8 is has a trailer coming this Friday, Abrams is involved in some unknown fashion and trailer has lots of security (which probably means more theatres then normal will not attach it to Iron Man).

Abrams' Super 8 Trailer with Iron Man 2

J.J. Abrams may have a surprise for fans when Iron Man 2 hits theatres this Friday at 12:01am around the country. Multiple websites are reporting that the trailer for his next film, Super 8, will debut. Never heard of Super 8? Neither has anyone else. The title itself could be a call back to Abrams childhood when he use to film movies on his Super 8 camera as a child. Abrams seems to be attempting to repeat the history of Cloverfield when he caught Hollywood, the internet and films fans by surprise when that films' trailer premiered (below) with the first Transformers film (and led to the creation of this blog).

No one knows what the film was about, the extent of Abrams involvement (directing? producing? writer?), the cast, nada. Last year Slashfilm reported that Abrams and his production company were working on a movie called 500 Rads which could have been a codename for this film. It was to have been written by Jeff Pinkner for a $25 million budget and take place in Europe. No details beyond that.

The current theory is a prequel to Cloverfield as TrekMovie reports a brief description of the trailer that seems very similar to the Cloverfield one:

…it shows a bunch of kids who are shooting a movie with a Super 8 camera in the seventies or eighties. When they develop the film, they notice that there’s an alien creature in the frame.

Abrams' loves his secrets and he has shown an impressive ability to keep them so there is not telling what will, or will not happen, when the trailer reportedly will unfurl this Friday. Just a word of warning that not necessarily all theatres will air the same trailers so hopefully it will also get a web release shortly after. My only hope is another piece of history doesn't repeat itself which was the massive headache the shaky cameras in Cloverfield gave me.

Abrams' Undercovers Joins NBC's Fall Schedule

J.J. Abrams' next television show, Undercovers, has been picked up by NBC for the fall season. The spy drama stars Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbath-Raw as "married ex-CIA agents who get pulled back in the spy biz." Abrams was co-writer, executive producer and co-creator and director on the pilot. It isn't known the extent of his involvement in the regular series. On Fringe, he was involved in the directing and writing of several episodes so might be the same relationship as time allows. More details may be revealed at NBC's upfront presentation in about two weeks.

Official pilot synopsis:

“Outwardly, Steven Bloom (Kodjoe) and his wife, Samantha (Mbatha-Raw), are a typical married couple who own a small catering company in Los Angeles and are helped by Samantha’s easily frazzled younger sister, Lizzy (Jessica Parker Kennedy). Secretly, the duo were two of the CIA’s best spies until they fell in love on the job five years ago and retired. When fellow spy and friend Nash (Carter MacIntyre) goes missing while on the trail of a Russian arms dealer, the Blooms are reinstated by boss Carlton Shaw (Gerald McRaney) to locate and rescue Nash. The pair is thrust back into the world of espionage as they follow leads that span the globe — and Steven and Samantha realize that this supercharged, undercover lifestyle provides the excitement and romance that their marriage has been missing.”