Titanic 3D London Premiere: James Cameron & Kate Winslet + New Carrie Star?

Two days ago, James Cameron made world headlines for reportedly finding himself about 11 1/4 kilometers below sea level in the Marianas Trench, which is supposed to be the deepest spot on Earth. Whether as a testament to human-made technology or human-made p.r., Cameron was actually able to tweet to his followers: “Just arrived at the ocean’s deepest pt. Hitting bottom never felt so good. Can’t wait to share what I’m seeing w/ you.”

Fast forward a couple of days and Cameron is above ground in London with Kate Winslet (photo) – but not Leonardo DiCaprio – at the premiere of Titanic 3D, the (are you ready?) 3D version of Cameron’s 1997 multiple-Oscar-winning megablockbuster about a luxury liner that sank to the bottom of the ocean nearly a century ago. So, does that mean the timing of Cameron’s deep-sea diving to-do and the ensuing Mariana Trench tweet were merely a couple of Titanic-related p.r. stunts? No way.

“It’s right to go frm @DeepChallenge dives to the #Titanic3D premiere,” explained Cameron via another tweet, “b/c the same driving force inspired both, my fascination w/deep #oceans.”

I’m assuming it’s also right to have the world premiere of Titanic coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ship’s first (and last) voyage from Southampton in April 1912 (more exactly, April 10, 1912). Titanic opens in the United States on April 4. It opens in the UK two days later.

Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment have reportedly spent 60 weeks and $18 million on the Titanic‘s full restoration and 2D-to-3D conversion.

In early 1998, Titanic was nominated for a record-tying (with Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve) 14 Academy Awards. Cameron’s romantic disaster epic-melodrama went on to receive 11 Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director), tying the record of William Wyler’s equally mammoth 1959 Ben-Hur. (In early 2004, another superproduction, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, would also win 11 Oscars.)

Kate Winslet, veteran Gloria Stuart (Roman Scandals, The Invisible Man, The Old Dark House), and the Titanic‘s make-up crew were the only Titanic nominees who failed to take home an Oscar statuette: Winslet lost to Helen Hunt in James L. Brooks’ As Good as It Gets, Stuart lost to Kim Basinger in Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential, while the Tommy Lee Jones-Will Smith actioner Men in Black won for Best Make-Up.

I should add that both Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance and James Cameron’s screenplay were by passed by the Academy. Else, Titanic would have boasted a record-shattering 16 Oscar nods.

In addition to DiCaprio, Winslet, and Stuart, Titanic features The Roommate / The Mule‘s Billy Zane, Misery / About Schmidt‘s Kathy Bates (as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”), Haywire / Shanghai Calling‘s Bill Paxton, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, David Warner, Victor Garber, The Usual Suspects / Firestorm‘s Suzy Amis (Cameron’s wife since 2000), Mark Lindsay Chapman, Jonathan Hyde, Danny Nucci, and Sanctum / Fantastic Four‘s Ioan Gruffudd.

Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Hugo

Chloë Grace Moretz in Carrie Remake?

Chloë Grace Moretz, has been formally invited to play the shy-but-don’t-mess-with-her high-school student in Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie for MGM / Screen Gems according to Deadline.com. Moretz, last seen opposite Asa Butterfield in Martin Scorsese’s Best Picture Oscar nominee Hugo, is also known for playing Aaron Johnson’s sidekick in Kick-Ass and the girl vampire in Matt Reeves’ commercial disappointment Let Me In. She turned 15 last Feb. 10.

Based on Stephen King’s 1974 bestselling horror novel, Carrie was first made into a movie in 1976. Adapted by Lawrence D. Cohen and directed by Brian De Palma, the sleeper hit about a homely teenager with deadly telekinetic powers helped to propel Sissy Spacek to movie stardom and resurrected the career of former 1950s Universal player Piper Laurie, both of whom were nominated for Academy Awards. (Both Spacek and Laurie lost to actresses featured in Sidney Lumet’s Network: In the Best Actress category, Spacek lost to Faye Dunaway; Laurie lost the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Beatrice Straight.)

Also in the original Carrie cast: Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, William Katt, John Travolta, Betty Buckley, and Priscilla Pointer.

Needless to say, Stephen King’s Carrie White has absolutely nothing to do with Theodore Dreiser’s Carrie Meeber, played by Jennifer Jones in William Wyler’s 1952 Carrie. Now, although Wyler’s movie is very good and the cast – Jones, Laurence Olivier, Miriam Hopkins – is generally first-rate, this is one Carrie that merits a new cinematic interpretation.

Hugo photo: Jaap Buitendijk / GK Films

Colin Farrell: Total Recall poster

Colin Farrell ‘Total Recall’ Poster: Fragmented Mind

The upcoming Total Recall remake stars Colin Farrell in the old Arnold Schwarzenegger role of a man who, to simplify things, can’t quite tell where dreaming ends and reality begins. True, this makes Farrell/Schwarzenegger’s character seem like just about everyone on planet Earth – especially Eduardo Noriega in Open Your Eyes and Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky – but in Total Recall, the hero’s predicament is a bit more complicated. He not only doesn’t know what’s real and what isn’t, but he also has a whole bunch of people out to kill him.

In the poster, you can see how fragmented things are for Farrell’s hero, Douglas Quaid. His head is literally falling into pieces.

To be released by Sony / Columbia on August 3, Total Recall will have its full trailer launched next Sunday. Based on Philip K. Dick’s short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale,” Total Recall also features Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Bryan Cranston, Bill Nighy, Bokeem Woodbine, Ethan Hawke, Steve Byers, and John Cho. Beckinsale’s husband and Underworld director Len Wiseman helms his first movie since Live Free or Die Hard (2007), from a screenplay by Mark Bomback, James Vanderbilt, and Kurt Wimmer.

The original Total Recall was a mindtrip directed by Paul Verhoeven. In addition to Schwarzenegger, the cast included Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox, and Marshall Bell.

Rosie Perez, Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee Tweeted Wrong George Zimmerman Address

Spike Lee, 55, is no stranger to controversy, especially when it involves issues related to anti-black racism. Lee’s latest ethnicity-related controversy is a result of his retweeting to his nearly 248,000 followers (and potentially to their followers, and so on) the home address of George Zimmerman, the man accused of stalking and murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin because of Martin’s black skin.

The reasons for Lee’s retweet – the original tweet purportedly came from a man in California – remain murky. Was he expecting peaceful protests in that residential Sanford, Florida, neighborhood? Or perhaps a scene out of the Do the Right Thing climax, when the pizza delivery guy (played by Lee himself) throws a garbage can through the window of the local pizzeria owned by Italian-Americans?

Anyhow, according to the Orlando Sentinel, Lee has tweeted the wrong address. Someone lives in that house, but that someone isn’t the George Zimmerman who killed Trayvon Martin. As per The Hollywood Reporter, “Lee’s offices in New York said he was unavailable for comment.”

Lee’s retweet, since then removed but still being disseminated, gave out the address of “a school-cafeteria lunch lady and her husband,” both of whom have temporarily moved to a hotel to escape media attention and potential danger as per the Sentinel. The elderly woman suffers from a heart condition. The mix-up was likely caused by the fact that the couple have a son named William George Zimmerman – no relation to the Martin shooter.

The Sentinel adds that Zimmerman “has implored the man to stop and said he received this response, ‘Black power all day. No justice, no peace’ and an obscenity.”