Legendary Pictures may not be as big of a name as Sony or Fox, but they’ve got some neat projects in the works. The studio behind 300 and Inception is continuing their trend of producing nerd-friendly fare with their next batch of projects. We got a first look at upcoming films Seventh Son and Paradise Lost, as well as highly anticipated video-game adaptation Mass Effect and Guillermo del Toro‘s surreal new giant-robot film, Pacific Rim. Plus, they brought along fan favorites Jeff Bridges, Alex Proyas, Guillermo del Toro, and Idris Elba to answer questions. It may be Legendary’s first SDCC panel, but boy do they have their audience down.
Pacific Rim: The big reveal here was the logo for the film which looks like a silver version of Captain America’s original shield, but emblazoned with custom logos which include a eagle and a star. Del Toro says everything about the movie is about scale. All of the previously announced cast members were in attendance, including Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day and Idris Elba. They all seems incredibly excited about getting the opportunity to work with del Toro, and he seems to love his eclectic cast, which will also include Babel’s Rinko Kikuchi.
The Seventh Son: Director says it’s a film with a really dark tone. Also said that it was tough getting Jeff Bridges to agree to work on it. Bridges says that it is a wonderful story with lots of twists and turns and that, along with being a fan of the filmmaker’s previous works, enticed him to take the part. The images shown to us from the film thus far included a monster that is actually a part of the landscape, cloaked human figures who look like the hero in Assassin’s Creed who are walking along large pillars and a guy riding a zombie-like horse with bones and organs and muscles exposed. Jeff Bridges also touched upon his interest in the new breed of tech used in big budget productions, which can help a filmmaker tell virtually any story.
Paradise Lost: Director Alex Proyas says the film is obviously set on a BIG canvas. “This film couldn’t have been made a few years ago. Not even sure we can make it now,” he added, blessing the CG technology that made his last film Knowing possible. Star Bradley Cooper, who will star as Lucifer in the film, says he “begged” Proyas to let him play Lucifer. As a student he loved the Milton original poem and considers Lucifer not only a sympathetic character, but the overall story to be one about the biblical family drama and less about the war. The concept art included fantastic mountainous environments with fire and brimstone bursting all over the place, but also featured some beautiful heavenly images. Proyas also talked about his liking of Cooper for the part: “Meeting Bradley and seeing what he’s capable of blew me away. This partnership was meant to happen.” Cooper also talked about his relationship with Legendary (which produced The Hangover films): “I love working at Legendary.”
Mass Effect: Screenwriter Mark Protosevich and Casey Hudson, the game’s creator, were on hand to talk about the forthcoming adaptation. Protosevich noted that video games don’t always translate well into movies and that depth of character and story is what makes often kills their potential. But he took this project over other video game adaptation because he believes Mass Effect has great material to work with. Casey Hudson said that by listening to fans of Mass Effect he knows what people want out of the story. “Legendary makes great movies and has abilities to make huge movies,” he said of his media partner, adding: “We’ve talked to many companies about making a movie, but we needed a really great partner. We have the best people we can possibly have. “
Pacific Rim is due to be released July 12, 2013 and The Seventh Son has a release date of February 15, 2013. No release dates have been released yet for Mass Effect and Paradise Lost, but don’t expect them before 2014. Legendary Pictures certainly wants us to stew in anticipation.
