From Michael Fassbender to Jude Law to Bradley Cooper and now Ewan McGregor, there has been a lot of in’s and out’s on the production for Jane Got a Gun. With filming already underway, director Gavin O’Connor has his eyes set on ending the Western indie in a reasonably length of time as The Impossible star will now fill the vacant role as central antagonist. This is obviously a major component of the feature, thus the upcasting, and we cannot wait to see what turns out. O’Connor himself was a replacement back when filming got underway.
The Miracle director took up the gig of helming the Natalie Portman-produced effort when Lynne Ramsay unexpectedly bounced due to creative differences. Thankfully, Joel Edgerton remained on the project as Natalie Portman’s knight in shining armor (figurative of course) sent in to help defend her and her husband (Noah Emmerich) from bandits. O’Connor previously worked with the Great Gatsby star on Warrior and Emmerich on a number of productions including the FX television series The Americans.
Just a quick heads up, tracking came online for Jack the Giant Slayer and the numbers are lousy. How lousy? Not as bad as the $25 million open some initially projected, but we are talking Cowboys and Aliens bad with a sub-$40 million debut. This is typically great for any movie, but New Line put $200 million behind the Bryan Singer-directed project which could guarantee flop status for the fantasy pic. Oz the Great and Powerful will likely dominate the fantasy genre overseas as well, thus causing some to question whether Jack’s delay was really a great idea. For the record, a 75% foreign box office split could save the pic from financial ruin, putting its global gross near $400 million. Good luck.
What do you do when your first big tentpole of the year is getting zero traction with theater goers? You reboot the marketing campaign. That appears to be exactly what Warner Bros. is planning to do with their Bryan Singer-directed fantasy flick Jack the Giant Slayer which is finally coming out after a year-long delay for ‘special effects work.’ The studio just released a ‘sneak peek’ at the second full-length traile–something we did not expect this close to release. It looks like they are going for an even edgier vibe this time around, but we will wait for the real deal prior to analysis. 
Ewan McGregor was on Jimmy Kimmel last night promoting his new movie coming out in roughly three weeks. The actor’s follow-up to The Impossible is a Bryan Singer feature called Jack the Giant Slayer. This is one of the early tentpoles for the year with a lot of money behind it, so we are not exactly shocked to see the press wheels grinding so soon. Expect more appearances from McGregor and maybe even the leading man Nicholas Hoult in the near future. 
In recent months, we have seen the hype train start to roll for Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer with a flurry of posters. Today, we have a banner with the four non-giant leads to help generate some buzz. The biggest hurdle for this film will be to distinguish itself from last March’s disgraceful Wrath of the Titans which may carry the same bad-fantasy vibe with some audiences while presenting a sense of originality despite the film’s foundations. Nicholas Hoult has the lead role, and he is definitely an up and comer with a starring role in February’s zombie comedy Warm Bodies. That should help establish the actor with a little more street cred going into this one as his last big role came nearly two years ago in X-Men: First Class. 
Ewan McGregor is off promoting his new film The Impossible which arrives in theaters Friday. This feature is set against the backdrop of the Christmas tsunami in Southeast Asia eight years ago, but more importantly the press says the movie gets it right. As a result, it has received critical recognition and a few early nominations going into award season. For that reason, it was worth the former Obi-Wan player’s time to visit Jimmy Fallon where he participated in a bit called True Facts. As for the interview portion, that mostly had to do with George Lucas’ sale of the Star Wars empire and the basis for the actor’s new movie. 
There is a new trailer out for The Impossible–a movie that tackles the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in South Asia. It is much more than some random disaster movie that we are used to seeing or even Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter with a gimmick. This film tells the true story of a family divided by the natural disaster. The Impossible is being marketed as a human story of survival in the toughest of circumstances and the lengths of which people will go through to reunite. Juan Antonio Bayonia’s film is also being labeled as an uplifting tale of compassion, courage, and kindness.
Ewan McGregorwas on Conan last night to promote Salmon Fishing in the Yemen in which the actor co-stars alongside Emily Blunt. Here is the interview where he tells a story involving his brother’s fighter jet and more..