Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments
Friday the 13th
8/5/08 - Derek Mears, the stuntman/actor who takes on the iconic role of
Jason Voorhees in the upcoming Friday the 13th reboot movie, said
that the hockey-masked killer isn't all bad: He's just misunderstood.
And you can be like him, too. "I think, basically, he's a victim,"
Mears said. "And people can really relate to that, because anyone
growing up who got picked on--either they're too tall, too short, had
crooked teeth, doesn't matter what it is--they see he is a victim of
society. Society has kind of rejected him. And he's accepted it and
wants to be left alone. And now they've come in on him and invaded his
area, and now he's fighting back. So it's almost kind of like, 'Yeah, I
wish I could do that. My boss is a jerk face. I can't do that, but Jason
can do that.' And they can kind live through him in a fantasy sort of
way." In the reboot movie, from director Marcus Nispel, Mears plays the
machete-wielding mass murderer at a new version of Camp Crystal Lake.
Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti star in the movie, which features a
new set of young people who stumble across the boarded-up and abandoned
summer camp and its lone denizen, to their misfortune. In footage
screened at Comic-Con, fans got a glimpse of the new, improved Jason,
who actually moves faster than a slow, stalking lumber and even showed
off what appeared to be at least one martial-arts move. "In no way is
Jason a martial-arts character," Mears said. "People are going to be
like, 'What? Jason's doing martial arts? That's bullcrap!' No, he
doesn't. It's just my background. It's basically based off of what's in
the script and then something brand-new. He's a functional Jason. Like,
how would you be if you lived in the woods by yourself for so long?
You're not going to be extremely muscular, extremely well-fed. The idea
is basically, he lives off the land. ... And the movements, from time to
time, I would do little homages to some of the guys who've played Jason
before me in alternate takes. I don't know if they're going to use it or
not. We'll see, because I haven't seen the final product. But just
giving respect to the guys who have come before me. But all in all, I've
kind of done my own thing." Friday the 13th opens Feb. 13, 2009.
06/12/08 - Producers of the upcoming Friday the 13th--a reboot of
the slasher franchise that takes the story back to the beginning--want
to make clear that the film isn't a sequel and isn't strictly a remake
of the first movie. Rather, the movie will incorporate elements of the
first three Friday the 13th movies and will include a couple
versions of the machete-wielding serial killer Jason Voorhees, who has
come to embody the franchise. "This one's hard, because on Chainsaw,
it kind of was a reboot of the original, and on this one, ... everyone
in this room knows that [Jason] didn't put the hockey mask on until the
third movie," producer Andrew Form told a group of reporters visiting
the film's Austin, Texas, set on June 6. "I would say most of the
audience that will come see this movie doesn't know that. ... Most
people think that Jason Voorhees was in the first one. ... The younger
audience, they think he's in the first one, they think he's wearing a
hockey mask, and that's kind of how this franchise started. They don't
realize that Pamela [Voorhees, Jason's mother,] was basically the whole
first one, [and] he didn't show up until the very end of the movie." In
the original 1980 Friday the 13th, the killer stalking the
sexually active teens at Camp Crystal Lake was revealed to be Pamela
(Betsy Palmer). Jason appears at the very end of the film, a decomposing
corpse miraculously reanimated from the bottom of Crystal Lake. "He
came in late for that one shot," Form said. "And then the second one, of
course, he wore the sack. And the third one, finally, you have that
great moment when he comes out in the hockey mask. And I think, like you
said, we tried to take elements from all three of those movies to create
one reboot of Friday the 13th. And I think we take the elements
where you will see Jason put the hockey mask on for the first time, how
and why. And you'll see him actually do it, not just come out with it
on." Form's producing partner Brad Fuller added: "It's not presented as
an origin story in the least.
That's not our goal here, to show how he
put the mask on. The goal is to put a group of kids in Crystal Lake,
bring him back to Crystal Lake, and have them meet Jason Voorhees, and
along the way you kind of get a sense of the history,
but that's not
what the story is." Friday the 13th, which wraps production on
Friday the 13th of June, is set to open on Friday the 13th of February
in 2009.
03/21/08 - Jared Padalecki is in final negotiations to star in the remake of Friday the 13th. Marcus Nispel is directing from a script by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. The remake will focus on the serial killer, who will wear his now-iconic hockey mask. Padalecki will play the lead, who investigates what happened up at Crystal Lake. A release is planned for Friday, February. 13, 2009.
12/31/06 - The next installment of Friday the 13th will go back to the beginning so we may learn about the origins of Jason Voorhees. Marked as a remake of the original movie, it appears it's a little more than just a remake. Jonathan Liebesman has been selected to direct. Check out the website. www.fridaythe13thfilms.com/home.html
AlienAlmanac.com USA Copyright 2008
