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	People are living their lives remotely from the safety of their own homes via robotic surrogates -- sexy, physically perfect mechanical representations of themselves. It's an ideal world where crime, pain, fear and consequences don't exist. When the first murder in years jolts this utopia, FBI agent Greer discovers a vast conspiracy behind the surrogate phenomenon and must abandon his own surrogate, risking his life to unravel the mystery.... (more)
Production Status :	Released
Genres :	Action/Adventure, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller and Adaptation
Running Time :	1 hr. 44 min.... (more)

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• 2009: The Year of the Comic Book Movie (Again)?

  With last year's box office success of The Dark Knight and Iron Man,2008 was labeled by many as the year of the comic book movie. But 2009may turn out to be just as influenced by the world of comics, only thistime, it won&#

  39;t be dominated by well-known superheroes.

  "I would argue that 'comic book movies' is its own genre now. And I'mnot just talking about superheroes," said Jeff Katz, the former 20thCentury Fox executive and comics writer who was a producer on thisyear's X-Men Origins: Wolverine . "For a decade, we had to educate the audience and Hollywood about the difference. They get the difference now. 300 was a comic book movie, but it wasn't a superhero movie. Men in Black, Ghost World, Sin City-- comic book movies, but not superhero movies. Look where we areversus where we were 15 years ago in terms of respect and even lipservice. There's an applied respect for this medium and this form now.People get it."

  Although in the past, many film-goers didn't realize non-superhero movies like Road to Perdition and A History of Violence(famously, on the latter, director David Cronenberg didn't even know itwas a graphic novel first) were based on comic books, that's startingto change as studios are more willing to use the comic connection intheir marketing, as Universal did with Wanted last year.

  "I think that used to be the case, but 300 seemed to be awatershed moment where studios realized that tying a film in with itssource material is a good marketing idea, even if the source materialisn't one of the more recognizable Marvel or DC properties," saidRobert Venditti, the author of Surrogates, the graphic novel on which this year's Surrogatesmovie starring Bruce Willis is based. "So I think, generally speaking,moviegoers are now much more aware of the alternative comics andgraphic novels that find their way to the screen."

  As audiences are educated on the comic book origin behind theirfavorite films, the hope of publishers is that they'll seek out thesource material.

  "Hopefully once there are enough non-superhero movies out there, andthey've been promoted as being based on comics/graphic novels, it willhelp educate the public at large that there is a wider variety ofstories and characters available in our medium," said Oni PressPublisher Joe Nozemack, whose Greg Rucka-penned graphic novel Whiteoutis being released as a crime thriller film later this year. "Thechallenge then becomes to be sure they're introduced to books that meettheir interests and tastes, instead of forcing superheroes orsci-fi/fantasy books on them."

  In 2009, the variety of stories and genres in film that originated incomic book form are many, including the following comic-related moviesset to hit theaters this year:

  Astro Boy: With a voice cast that includes superhero fan favorites like Ghost Riderstar Nicolas Cage and Heroes villain Kristen Bell, Astro Boy will bringthe star of manga and anime television to modern audiences through CGIanimation. Originating as a manga comic book in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka,Astro Boy became a popular television show that first found success inJapan and later other countries. The film version, set to be releasedin October, stars Spiderwick Chronicles actor Freddie Highmore as thevoice of Astro Boy, the young robot with amazing powers whoseadventures require him to save his futuristic hometown of Metro City.
  

  Coraline: While the story was first a novella, Coraline makes our listbecause it's written by comics scribe Neil Gaiman and was just adaptedby artist P. Craig Russell as a graphic novel last year. With a February 6threlease, Coraline tells the story of a young girl who moves to a newhome and unlocks a mysterious door that leads to a parallel reality.Shot as stop-motion animation, the movie will have Dakota Fanningvoicing the lead role and Lois and Clark/Desperate Housewives star TeriHatcher as her mother.

  Kick-Ass: Tentatively slated for late 2009, Kick-Ass is the comic bookmovie that was being filmed before the comic series was even finishedby writer Mark Millar (Wanted) and artist John Romita Jr. With on-set photoshitting Newsarama in November, the movie looks to be sticking close tothe comic book, which tells a modern and brutally realistic story ofwhat would really happen to a teen who wants to fight crime like thesuperheroes in his beloved comic books. With young actor Aaron Johnsonin the lead role and the aforementioned Nick Cage as an ex-cop, thestory centers on a high school nerd who decides to try his hand atfighting crime in spandex, despite the fact he has no powers nor any ofthe basic physical attributes necessary to live up to the label crowdsgive him, "Kick-Ass."

  Sherlock Holmes: This one shows up on our list of comic book films onlybecause of how the film was developed in the first place. Yes, thebooks and the character are legendary without the help of comic books.But Lionel Wigram's still-unpublished comic book was the spec scriptfor the film, meaning that graphic novels are not only rumored to beeffective in lieu of a speculative script, but are now proven as havingworked.

  "I think when you put illustrations on paper -- essentiallystoryboards, for people who think in movie terms -- and they canenvision how this will look on the screen, it does help sell theproduct," writer B. Clay Moore told Newsarama last year."In fact, I know there are more and more people in Hollywood that areputting together sort of graphic novels in an attempt to elevate thepitch so the people can see it visually, which I don't think is a badidea at all."

  With movies based on comics producing more than $1 billion last year,it's not surprising that studios are wooed by the medium even when thesource was never published. Besides, Sherlock Holmes has Iron Man starRobert Downey Jr. taking on the lead role in the film, further linkingit to the comic book movie genre when it comes out in November.

  The Surrogates: Starring Bruce Willis, the September 25 film The Surrogatesis based on the comic series by writer Robert Venditti and artist BrettWeldele and published by Top Shelf. The sci-fi story takes place in 2054, when advancements invirtual reality and cybernetics have led to an era where "surrogates"let people interact with the real world without leaving their ownhomes. When someone starts to "kill" surrogates, a copy played byWillis is forced to leave his home to investigate.
  

  The Surrogates, which is being brought to theaters by the filmmaking triobehind Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, is one of thosenon-superhero movies that has the potential to further educate amainstream audience on the wide variety of fiction genres available incomics. And publisher Top Shelf Productions is preparing for the kindof interest in the source material that publishers saw after therelease of other comic book movies like Sin City and Wanted.

  "Top Shelf will be ready by summer to support the frenzy of interestwith not only a large run of the new edition of The Surrogates graphicnovel, but also the brand new prequel, The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone-- another amazing graphic novel by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele,"said Chris Staros, Top Shelf publisher.
  

  Watchmen: Probably the most anticipated by comics fans, the Marchrelease of Watchmen will bring the acclaimed graphic novel to thescreen now that its legal problems have been settled by Warner Bros. and Fox. Originallypublished as a 12-issue comic series by writer Alan Moore and artistDave Gibbons in 1986/87, Watchmen is still among the best-sellinggraphic novels for DC Comics even 20 years later.

  The story's premise -- the deconstruction of the superhero -- is whatmade it such a pivotal work for the comic book industry, but it's alsobehind the film taking two decades to hit the screen. "I'm not surethat a deconstruction of the genre like the Watchmen would have beenpossible without all these other archetypical superhero origin moviesout in the marketplace providing the right language first, so theaudience could get the shorthand down," Katz said.

  Although Watchmen may not generate the box office numbers of The DarkKnight, the benefit for the publishing industry is potentially moresignificant because this film leads movie fans back to the sourcematerial more readily than a movie about iconic characters like Batmanor Superman. Because Watchmen is about characters unfamiliar tomainstream audiences, and because the film is based on a self-containedstory that can be purchased in one volume, interest in the Watchmenbook is already skyrocketing, just from the word-of-mouth caused by thetrailer.

  "Clearly, it's worked beyond any recognition in history," DC Publisher and Presidnet Paul Levitz told Newsarama last year just before it was announced that 1 million copies of Watchmenhad been sold in 2008. "We had a dinner of the buying teams from allthe major bookstore franchises, and no one there or on our Random Housesales side could remember a trailer from any film having the kind ofmathematical effect on book sales that we're experiencing withWatchmen."

  Whiteout: Starring genre movie favorite Kate Beckinsale (Underworld/VanHelsing), Whiteout is based on the graphic novel by writer Greg Ruckaand artist Steve Lieber. A crime thriller with Beckinsale playing aU.S. Marshal, Whiteout is about murder and intrigue in Antarctica,where the brutal white landscape plays as much of a role in the storyas the characters.

  
  Nozemack said the film, which is set to come out on September 11, hasalready generated an interest in the Whiteout book and its sequel,Whiteout: Melt.

  "We've already seen an increase in sales and interest in the books justfrom the publicity that's been done up to this point," the publishersaid. "We expect to see two more surges, one when the trailer isofficially released and then when the full marketing campaign is ineffect just before the film's release."

  Whiteout is another film that promises to further break the stereotypeof comics being all about superheroes, as the parkas and real-worldinvestigating tools used by the characters in this movie are about asfar removed from superheroes as possible.

  X-Men Origins: Wolverine: With a May 1st release, X-Men Origins:Wolverine will have Hugh Jackman back as the lead character in a storyset 20 years before the original X-Men movie. Focusing on Wolverine'sorigins as part of the Weapon X program and his vendetta againstarch-enemy Victor Creed, the film has generated a lot of buzz,particularly when Jackman publicly thanked Wolverine creator Len Weinat San Diego Comic-Con. While the film has recently been reported asneeding reshoots, the number of X-Men guest stars -- including Gambit,Deadpool and the Blob -- gives this movie a lot of cred with comicsfans, and with People's "Sexist Man Alive" in the lead role, it's got abuilt-in attraction for mainstream fans as well.

  With such a wide array of movies based on stories from comic books,2009 could again claim the title of the year of the comic book movie.But with dozens more comic book movies in production and optioned forfilm, Hollywood's love affair with comics doesn't look to be endinganytime soon.

  Related:

  9 to Watch in 2009: The Movies

  9 to Watch in 2009: The Comics

  P. Craig Russell: Catching up - Coraline and More

  • Original Story: 2009: The Year of the Comic Book Movie (Again)?

  Newsarama.com is the go-to source for the latest comic book and genre entertainment news, reviews and commentary. Newsarama's passionate audience contributes to lively discussions ranging from classic and new comics to movies, TV, manga, anime and more. Watch previews, interviews and more on our video player, sneak peeks of new comics on our Comic Book Viewer and sign up for our RSS feeds. And be sure to join our community so you can voice your opinion on our articles and in our lively forums.

  ...(more) - 01 20 2009 8:29PM

• Three actresses commit to "Barney's Vision"

  LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver and Rachelle Lefevre are playing Paul Giamatti's many wives in "Barney's Version," the adaptation of the Mordecai Richler novel being direc

  ted by Richard Lewis.

  "Barney's" tells the story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky (Giamatti).

  Lefevre will play Clara, Barney's first wife, a wild, troubled artist. Driver plays Barney's second wife, the annoyingly loquacious Mrs. "P." Miriam, Barney's third wife and true love, will be played by Pike.

  Dustin Hoffman also is in the cast, as Barney's father.

  Michael Konyves wrote the adaptation. Robert Lantos is producing via his Serendipity Point Films."

  Driver ("The Riches") recently wrapped the drama "Betty Anne Waters" with Hilary Swank.

  Pike next appears in the Bruce Willis sci-fi action movie "The Surrogates," being released in the fall.

  Lefevre is best known for her work in the "Twilight" movies, where she portrays the evil vampire Victoria.

  (Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

  ...(more) - 07 14 2009 5:29PM

• Review: SURROGATES - A Pale Sci-Fi Substitute

  "Surrogates" is an exceptionally frustrating moviegoing experience.
  
  Not because it's an awful movie. It's not. There's a fascinating premise lying beneath the surface of this 88-minute picture.

  The idea that technology has become a crutch for humanity, a vessel in which to hide from actually living, has fascinating potential.
  
  That potential is never realized because the film is a big tease.
  
  Remember that old Chris Rock line, 'There is no sex in the champagne room'? He was talking about strip joints, and the ladies whose job it is to separate men from their money, a dollar bill at a time. He could have been talking about "Surrogates" too, because while there's lots of eye candy there's no payoff here, either.
  
  Adapted from the Top Shelf graphic novel, it's set in Boston during the very near future, when most of the world exists via their 'Surrys' - Surrogate robots.
  
  People control their surrogates remotely, from the safety and privacy of their home. Surrys come in all shapes and sizes. They're registered and part of a DMV-like database. And just like a car, you can get a bare-bones model or a top-of-the-line machine with all the bells & whistles.
  
  Blonde hair? Check. Athletic frame? Check. Dimples? Check.
  
  Crime, pain and fear have been practically eliminated by the surrogacy phenomenon.
  
  So has most actual human interaction, since - sadly - the human race has discovered it would rather stay indoors and be high-tech couch potatoes. Why take a chance on having an actual conversation with a real person, when you can pretend to be someone you're really not? What better way to deal with one's insecurities than by hiding them behind a physically perfect substitute?
  
  Those types of questions pop into your head while watching "Surrogates," but the movie doesn't bother to spend much time on exploring them onscreen.
  
  The film's central thrust comes early on, when FBI agent Greer (Bruce Willis) and his partner Peters (Radha Mitchell) are assigned to investigate the first human murder in years. Besides the suspect, they're after the murder weapon, which could pose a huge threat to all surrogate users.
  
  Willis has carried a badge in so many films, it's nearly become a self-parodying exercise. But c'mon. No one plays the one-man-against-the-world card better than Bruce Willis.
  
  He gets to stretch his craft here a bit by playing two versions of the same guy. One is an airbrushed, well-coiffed G-man surrogate. He speaks smoothly and surely, his self-confidence evident with every phrase.
  
  The man behind the machine is a different story. Greer uses a surrogate as a way to escape from his personal tragedy. But he's had enough of hiding, and not living, and he wants to rejoin the real world.
  
  No one understands why. Not his wife (Rosamund Pike), not his partner or his boss.
  
  As the murder probe intensifies, Greer turns his attention to the small band of humans who think surrogacy is an abomination of life. These people live isolated in shanty towns nicknamed Dread Reservations, after the movement's dreadlocked leader.
  
  Ving Rhames isn't terribly convincing as The Prophet and a twist late in the film eventually undermines his character's entire reason for being.
  
  Mitchell doesn't fare much better, although she does do a convincing job portraying a surrogate (talk about a backhanded compliment).
  
  As the man who invented the surrogacy technology, James Cromwell has a small but key role in the story that seems to have been gutted in the edit room.
  
  Director Jonathan Mostow constantly offers up tiny morsels of the world he's brought to the screen.
  
  As Greer takes his first steps outside in a long time - HIS steps -surrogate charging stations are spotted on every street corner. Outside the Dread reservations, we signs that say 'No Machines Allowed.' In the city, all types of surrogates walk the streets, each one a perfect physical specimen.
  
  And if you suddenly get tired of having a blue-eyed, blonde-haired surry, you can hit a salon to have some 'work' done. Or get repairs done.
  
  But Mostow directs the film as if he's got a plane to catch. That lack of pacing saps the impact of many of the plot developments. He also uses TV news reports to go from Point A to Point B, which is a lazy storytelling device.
  
  Don't be fooled by Willis' presence and the trailers. This is a murder mystery, not an action movie. Gunfire is kept to a minimum, mostly during two extended chase sequences. That's where the clear physical superiority the surrogates have over humans is displayed. Their steel frames can take a punch better, they can run faster, leap farther.
  
  Too bad those jumps don't look very believable.
  
  What is it with subpar CGI work in big-budget movies this year? The special effects when a Surrogate bounces from car to car in heavy traffic were as weak as the sketchy work done in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Was the entire FX budget spent airbrushing the lead actors??
  
  "Surrogates" borrows freely from a number of past sci-fi movies, and touches on many of the archetypal elements of the genre. The dangers of technology, the corruption of humanity that can accompany scientific advances...it's been explored before in everything from "Blade Runner" to "The Island."
  
  Virtual role-playing is a hot topic in film these days. First there was "Gamer," and James Cameron's upcoming "Avatar" presumably will touch on it as well.
  
  "Gamer" missed the mark and so now, does "Surrogates."
  
  Mostow's failure, and ultimately the film's, is in not digging deep enough below the surface of these ideas. Perhaps Cameron will have better luck with his project.
  
  2009 has been quite a year for fans of quality science fiction moviemaking.
  
  "Sleep Dealer," "Moon," "District 9" and the animated "9" provided a welcome flashback to the thought-provoking sci-fi audiences were treated to back in the 70s and early 80s.
  
  "Surrogates" falls well short of those standards.

  More on Newsarama:
  Read the entire 1st issue of the SURROGATES comic book
  Art of the Adaptation: WHITEOUT & SURROGATES Hit the Big Screen

  • Original Story: Review: SURROGATES - A Pale Sci-Fi Substitute

  Newsarama.com is the go-to source for the latest comic book and genre entertainment news, reviews and commentary. Newsarama's passionate audience contributes to lively discussions ranging from classic and new comics to movies, TV, manga, anime and more. Watch previews, interviews and more on our video player, sneak peeks of new comics on our Comic Book Viewer and sign up for our RSS feeds. And be sure to join our community so you can voice your opinion on our articles and in our lively forums.

  ...(more) - 09 26 2009 2:56PM

• Review: `Surrogates' is a robotic retread

  NEW YORK – "Surrogates" is itself a surrogate, a kind of stand-in for many of the sci-fi movies of the recent past: In it, you'll recognize the ideas of "Blade Runner," "Minority Report" and even "WALL-E."

  The Bruc

  e Willis action flick opens with two murders — the first in years in a quasi-present day Boston. Technology has advanced enough so that nearly everyone has a surrogate — or "surry" for short. While reclining at home and plugged into a machine, people control a robotic version of themselves that safely maneuvers through the world in all of its slings and arrows.

  The surrogates are a fantasy version of one's self — cosmetically perfect, thinner, younger and sometimes of the opposite sex. (This means, most importantly, that we have a blond Bruce Willis on our hands.)

  Yes, like James Bond, John McClane has gotten the Ken doll treatment. For an aging action star, the pseudo Willis is almost a pun, a wink at moviegoers' need for stars that never age.

  Willis is an FBI agent named Greer who, along with his partner (Radha Mitchell), is trying to solve the murders which, though committed on surrogates, also "liquefied" the brains of their human operators.

  The police, too, have surrogates. When Greer — himself, not his doppelganger — rolls out of his bedroom after a long night as himself, the attractive surrogate of his wife (Rosamund Pike) sighs at the sight of her bald and wrinkly husband.

  The surrogates are a clear metaphor for the virtual reality that's already upon us. It's a subject popular in Hollywood these days, given the recent Gerard Butler film "Gamer" and James Cameron's upcoming "Avatar."

  Having a robotic stand-in has some obvious perks: Sexuality is less inhibited. If you fall, you don't scrape your elbows. And if your helicopter crashes, you don't die.

  But this crime-less utopia is also a superficial wasteland, devoid of meaningfulness. As the investigation into the murders goes deeper, a plot to destroy the network becomes unfurled.

  It has something to do with VSI, the company that created surrogates. (Its slogan: "Life ... only better.") One of the founders of VSI (James Cromwell) is having inventor's remorse. Some also choose to live in human-only areas; the leader of these renegades is played by a dreadlocked Ving Rhames.

  "We're not meant to experience the world through a machine," Rhames' character announces. It's an ironic sentiment coming from a film projector beamed into a state-of-the-art movie theater.

  "Surrogates," directed by Jonathan Mostow ("Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"), is adapted from a graphic novel by Robert Venditti. If anyone hasn't noticed yet, graphic novels are — for better or worse — the new pulp fiction.

  Like those hard-boiled novels of the `40s that Hollywood couldn't get enough of, graphic novels are fueling what once would have been called B-movies. At its best, that's what "Surrogates" is: a quality B-movie, pulpy and very much reflective of its times. The film isn't shy about its feelings about technology — it's time to unplug. It laments a culture that medicates pain away and has its head in virtual realms.

  It's hard to miss the message or the nihilistic glee the film takes in seeing a world of robot surrogates suddenly collapse — a Second Life apocalypse that effectively forces society to unplug and step outside.

  The Internet, though, is here to stay. Dreams of a computer-less society are as much fantasy as a blond Bruce Willis.

  "Surrogates," a Walt Disney Co. release, is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene. Two stars out of four.

  ___

  Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

  G — General audiences. All ages admitted.

  PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

  PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

  R — Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

  NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.

  ...(more) - 09 25 2009 8:35PM

• Bruce Willis Raising Kane

  Los Angeles (E! Online) - Bruce Willis got game.

  The Die Hard veteran is in talks to front Kane & Lynch, Lionsgate's big-screen adaptation of the popular video game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, about a convict on the hunt f

  or some prized loot.

  Per Variety, the 53-year-old Willis would play Adam "Kane" Marcus, a soldier of fortune on death row who's freed by his old mercenary buddies along with a schizophrenic killer named James Lynch.

  Together, the duo must set out on a dangerous mission to recover a stolen microchip and save Kane's wife and daughter.

  Casting is already under way for the role of Lynch.

  Game maker Eidos has announced a sequel for the console hit, which has sold 2 million copies since debuting in November.

  Simon Crane, a stunt coordinator on such flicks as Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Troy, X-Men: The Last Stand and the soon-to-be-released Will Smith vehicle Hancock, will make his feature-helming debut on the film.

  He's currently supervising Willis' stunt work and serving as second unit director on Disney's The Surrogates, Jonathan Mostow's sci-fi actioner now filming.

  After that, Willis will choose between John Singleton's long-rumored feature version of The A-Team or Pinkville, Oliver Stone's latest Vietnam era drama, this one about the My Lai massacre.

  Cameras are set to roll on Kane & Lynch in the fall.

  ...(more) - 06 5 2008 7:40AM