The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

Posted: 06 Jun 2011 12:07 AM PDT

The undead, werewolves and vampires all live among us. Well, that's the premise of the new Brandon Routh vehicle Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night, at least.

IT'S not too farfetched to think that supernatural beings could actually live amongst us – passing themselves off as nothing more than just nocturnal people. In the world of Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night, it turns out they hold jobs and socialise in clubs, co-existing perfectly with the living – even if majority of the people have no idea who they are sharing their breathing space with. The main character in Dylan Dog is a private investigator who specialises in paranormal matters. He knows about the creatures as he was once in charge of keeping the truce within the undead community; you know, things like zombies are forbidden to eat human flesh, and werewolves and vampires must not be seen together.

However, when the audience first meets the character Dylan Dog, he is just another ordinary private eye with cases that mostly revolve around cheating spouses. All that changes when a case leads him to discover a strand of werewolf hair; so now whether he is in favour of entering the world of the paranormal or not, he's dragged in to explore the underbelly of nightly goings-on revolving around the supernatural creatures.

Dylan Dog is based on the successful Italian graphic novel created by Tiziano Sclavi. It's mainly set in London, where the protagonist lives, and the character's looks are said to be based on the English actor Rupert Everett. For the film, the producers decided to change the location to New Orleans, and get Brandon Routh (who is perhaps best known for playing Superman in Superman Returns) to play the protagonist.

In the production notes of the film, screenwriters Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer admire Sclavi's version of London, which is gothic and dark. In the comic panels, they look like places where anything can happen; it was a challenge to find places that looked like that.

So when New Orleans was brought up they knew it'd be the perfect location if they wanted to bring Dylan to the United States. Many of the locations were scouted out in New Orleans to provide the perfect backdrop for the film – in the end, the film features a number of famous sites in the city including Saenger Theatre, the Ninth Ward Wharf, Bourbon Street and the Garden District.

Meanwhile, in an interview provided by RAM Entertainment, Routh admitted that he was familiar with the comic books even before he got the script. He said: "I have a friend who lived in Italy for seven years, and he speaks fluent Italian. We were roommates at one time, and he told me abut this great comic book he read in Italy, which helped him with his Italian and it was Dylan Dog. Years later when I received the script titled Dead Of Night based on Dylan Dog, I thought, 'Don't I know this?' I called my friend and he said 'Can you do this movie? For me, he is cooler than Superman'."

Routh found the character appealing because Dylan is the kind of guy who doesn't want to be a hero but rises to the occasion when he has to.

Routh said: "What's exciting about Dylan is that he has two sides to him, when he gets in tough situations, he puts on this game face like Indiana Jones or Han Solo. When he's more relaxed, he has a more emotional side to him."

Dylan also has a dry sense of humour and his viewpoints are usually dripping with sarcasm. To balance this is the presence of Marcus, Dylan's assistant, who provides the comic relief. In the comics, Dylan's assistant is named – get this – Groucho (as in Groucho Marx). But here, Marcus' comedy is more in line with the fact that he becomes a zombie while investigating a case, which creates all kinds of opportunities for actor Sam Huntington to go absolutely crazy. Huntington, of course, played Jimmy Olsen in Superman Returns.

Huntington said: "Brandon and I had been friends for awhile, and he calls me up and says, 'Hey man, I just got this part in this movie, and I think you'd be great for this role and the movie is called Dead Of Night.' And I said, Oh man, I just went in for that three months ago and I never heard anything. What's happening with it?' And he said, 'We're doing it.' and from that moment on, it was our mission to make this movie together. Marcus is a real shot of life. He's Dylan's sidekick and he's kind of his little brother in many, many ways."

Other than buddy comedy, what is in abundance in Dylan Dog is, of course, the world of the supernatural. To ensure there is a level of authenticity with the creatures, director Kevin Munroe decided to get actors to wear makeup and do the physical action themselves, instead of blending CGI characters into the scenes.

Munroe explained: "What I love about live action is the level of collaboration. Not that there isn't any in CGI. But with live action, there's a lot of happy mistakes and it feels more freeing to me. I like it."

Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night starts showing in cinemas nationwide on June 9.

Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 6 Jun 2011

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

0 ulasan:

Catat Ulasan