‘Bates Motel’ casts Rihanna in Janet Leigh role

SAN DIEGO | The horror television series “Bates Motel” has cast pop star Rihanna in its final season, the show revealed during its panel at the Comic-Con fan convention on Friday.

The 28-year-old diva will play Marion Crane, the role made famous by Janet Leigh in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” executives revealed.

The series is set before the events of the 1960 horror thriller, in which motel owner Norman Bates murders Crane in one of movie history’s most memorable moments.

“We wanted to thrust the iconic role into a contemporary spotlight and redefine it in a meaningful and exciting new way,” executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin said in a joint statement released after the Comic-Con announcement.

“We also heard Rihanna was a fan of the show, and we were huge fans of hers, so it was the perfect collision of creativity and fate.”

Rihanna is no newcomer to acting, having starred in 2012 movie “Battleships” and played a lead role in Luc Besson’s upcoming sci-fi fantasy “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.”

But it will be the Grammy-winning Barbadian singer-songwriter’s debut television series role.

“Yes, hello Comic-Con. It’s the girl Ri-Ri and let me tell you what a bad bitch is about to do,” Rihanna said later in a video posted on the “Bates Motel” Twitter account.

“I am about to check into the Bates Motel, very soon, and guess what else? Guess who’s playing Marion? Yes, so all you Comic-Con fans, all you ‘Bates Motel’ fans, stay tuned.”

Producers at the “Bates Motel” panel also confirmed that the fifth season, filming in Vancouver in the fall, would be the show’s last.

It’s Emmy-nominated star Vera Farmiga, who has played Norman’s mother Norma Louise Bates since 2013, revealed how tough she found it to play a dead body.

“I found I would be thrown into a panic if I had to actually hold my breath… I’m actually breathing in all those scenes, but so shallow that it would take me about 40 minutes to get into it,” she said.

source: interaksyon.com

Tom Cruise's Son Connor Hits Comic-Con After Visit to Dad

It's back to business for the Cruise family.

After visiting recently divorced dad Tom Cruise at his movie location in the California mountains, teenage son Connor Cruise swung by Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday night to deejay a party.

A private jet took Connor, 17, to the popular, celebrity-filled convention, where he worked the IGN Entertainment party celebrating the new Resident Evil 6 game at the Hard Rock Hotel, opening for Jermaine Dupri and RZA.




"He seemed very upbeat and he looked great," says an onlooker. "He seemed to be having a great time performing for the crowd. Everyone totally ate it up! They were really getting into the music he was playing."




While the younger Cruise was the center of attention in front of hundreds at the bash while performing on stage – his dad's split from Katie Holmes has dominated the Hollywood news – he didn't stick around for the late-night party.

"Everyone was trying to get a minute with him after the set, but he took off soon after," says the observer.

source: people.com

‘Twilight’ stars reflect on bittersweet end to the film franchise at Comic-Con

SAN DIEGO – The stars of “Twilight” gathered for the final time at the Comic-Con pop culture convention on Thursday, laughing and joking with fans as they reflected on a “bittersweet” end to the film franchise that catapulted them to fame.

The “Twilight” films – five in all based on a series of young adult novels by author Stephenie Meyer about a vampire, Edward Cullen, who falls in love with a human girl, Bella Swan – have become a blockbuster franchise earning $2.5 billion at global box offices from the first four films.

The final installment, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ is due in theaters in November.

“If you told me tomorrow that we had to reshoot some scene, I’d be so happy because I do enjoy living in this world. We got to do it for four years and I put everything I had into it,” Kristen Stewart, who plays Swan, told reporters at Comic-Con.

“Even though it’s a bummer to walk away, it’s something I’ll always have.”

She was joined by fellow actors Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, author Meyer and newcomer Mackenzie Foy, who plays Edward and Bella’s daughter, Renesmee.

Comic-Con attracts more than 125,000 movie, TV, comic book and pop culture fans annually, and Hollywood’s studios turn out with upcoming films and stars to promote. The “Twilight” makers used the convention as a launching pad for the first film in 2008 and they continue to return to reach hard-core followers.

Thousands of fans lined up for hours – and for some people, days – to get into a Comic-Con panel where the stars talked about the film and treated fans to the first seven minutes of “Breaking Dawn – Part 2.”

In the clip, Bella is seen experiencing her first moments as a vampire, reuniting with husband Edward and coming to terms with her newfound bloodlust. The footage ended just as Bella meets Renesmee – leaving the audience desperate for more.

Comic-Con fans also were treated to a short clip showing the new Bella having to disguise herself as a human. Questions from the audience focused on the actors’ personal highlights over the last four years of filming the four movies.

The cast appeared in a jovial mood, teasing each other and sharing stories from the film shoot. Stewart described the experience as a “bittersweet” period. The cast members said Comic-Con provided an opportunity to reconnect with some of their most rabid fans.

Yet the event was marred by tragedy on Tuesday, when a woman died after being hit by a car while crossing the street outside the convention center. She was remembered at the start of Thursday’s panel.

“We would like to honor the memory of Gisela Gagliardi, a fan we tragically lost two days ago. We wish her family and friends the best during this difficult time,” said “Twilight” panel moderator Eric Moro.

source: interaksyon.com

Elijah Wood hints at big ‘Hobbit’ show at Comic-Con

LOS ANGELES – Comic-Con International rolls into San Diego this week for its annual pop culture convention, and high on the list of must-see events is film footage of what actor Elijah Wood promises is a bigger “Hobbit” than fans can imagine.

Comic-Con, which kicks off on Thursday and is expected to attract more than 125,000 people, is the biggest event of the year for many fans of comic book superheroes and science-fiction lovers. And TV networks and Hollywood’s major studios stage elaborate promotions to showcase upcoming films and programs.

Actors Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner will put on their vampire fangs and werewolf claws for the last time to discuss “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.” Hollywood veterans Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger will be on hand to promote “The Expendables 2.”

Perhaps the greatest sense of anticipation this year is reserved for “The Hobbit,” a Warner Bros. film based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien that follows the trilogy of blockbuster films based on his “Lord of the Rings” book series.

Wood, who catapulted to fame with his role as Frodo Baggins in the “Rings” trilogy and has reprised his character for “The Hobbit,” will be back at Comic-Con this year, a decade after he accompanied director Peter Jackson to promote the first film.

“The scale of “The Hobbit” is larger, the anticipation is potentially greater, everything feels a little bit bigger,” Wood told Reuters about the movie, which hits theaters in December. “For so long, people didn’t think there would be a ‘Hobbit’ film, so the fact that there is finally, people have been anticipating this for a long time.”

So far, details about “The Hobbit” have been kept under wraps with only one trailer released last December, but the studio will finally show extended film clips and Jackson himself is expected to turn out to meet fans and answer questions.

Other films holding panels will include “Total Recall,” “Resident Evil: Retribution,” “Looper,” “Elysium,” “Django Unchained” and “Iron Man 3.”

Comic-Con is now in its 43rd year, and recent editions have become sold-out events that bring an estimated $75 million to the city, according to San Diego Convention Center. Attendees dress up as characters from movies, TV shows, science-fiction books, comics and graphic novels, and over the years, events have spilled outside the city’s convention center.

This year, TV’s Cartoon Network will be taking over The New Children’s Museum to host fun events for kids. The makers of animated film “ParaNorman,” about a boy who can converse with the dead, will show film clips and host a panel with cast members Anna Kendrick and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

Although the film is aimed at children, directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell said they were expecting a varied audience.

“Fanboys have kids now, and the convention has become more mainstream because generations are growing up with it,” Fell said. “This movie has mainstream appeal … but it comes from the love of the fringe exploitation of pop culture, and we’re playing to the home audience.”

source: interaksyon.com