NYCC '10 First Impressions: 'Your Highness' Footage Shows A Filthy, Funny & Action-Filled Medieval Stoner Comedy

This past weekend, New York Comic Con audiences were witness to a big treat: the first footage and trailer of David Gordon Green's medieval stoner comedy, "Your Highness" starring an all-star cast of James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, Danny McBride and Justin Theroux (a multitude of photos arrived recently, and note McBride is writing a prequel comic).

The panel was moderated by actor/director Todd McCarthy for some reason ("The Station Agent," "The Visitor") and to be perfectly honest, the footage looked excellent; funny, thrilling — like a deeply irreverent and filthy version of "The Lord Of The Rings" made by some of the core guys who created "Pineapple Express." The picture looks like a blast and if Universal markets this thing correctly — what do they really have to do other than let it sell itself — they should have a pretty decent-sized hit on their hands.

McCarthy saw the film earlier in the week and described it as "a hell of a ride. There's a lot action, it's funny as hell and there's some serious gore going on. But it's dramatic too. It sucks you in and you really care about these idiots in a really great way," he said to much laughter from the cast on the panel.

For those that are still wondering and puzzled as to why David Gordon Green went from lyrical dramas such as "George Washington" and "All The Real Girls" (the former of which made our best of the decade list) to relatively big-budget studio films about stoner princes trying to rescue a maiden from an evil wizard, they should realize eclecticism is big on the filmmaker's agenda.

" 'Pineapple' was a 180 turn from anything I had done before," Green said alluding to his early career of independent films that he joked that "three people saw." "But I really wanted to get into that [genre]. For me it's about the project and the cast and wanting to shake things up and try different things that I've done before and there's a great leap from drama to 'Pineapple' and an extraordinary technical leap from 'Pineapple' to 'Your Highness' and I'm always looking to take some left turns and do what's different, so I feel like the unexpected is the most interesting for me."
Asked whether the studio was nervous about such a wild and strange picture or had reservations, Green shrugged and said Universal and he were on the same page since day one. "I don't think they would have let us out of the gate on something like this if we weren't clear about the tone we were going for," he said. "There's some degree of risk. Any time you're gonna do something that's left of center I think people are a bit nervous about it, but when you're all looking at each other and thinking, 'This is someone we wanna get into business with, let's fucking do it.' It worked out great for everyone."

McBride did however admit that their first version of the script was unwieldy and overly ambitious. "The studio breakdown for the first draft was like a 200 million dollar movie, which is a little higher than we were shooting for," he laughed. "So we decided to be creative with it and pull it back and make it something that a studio would be willing to take a risk on and wouldn't sink a small nation."
One of the joys of the trailer and looking to be a scene-stealer throughout is Justin Theroux as the evil wizard Leezar. McCarthy also noted that Theroux's character was one of his favorites. "He [something]... he kinda breaks your heart in a wizard way," he said. Theroux's objectives and inspirations were simple. "I watched a lot of Gary Oldman," he said. "And I just thought, 'If I could kick Oldman's ass...if I could do better than he has, I'd be OK.' I just kinda hammed it up."

The trailer is impressive, and as noted before, looks like a comedic riff on "Lord Of The Rings" without simply being a spoof. The action is almost as impressive as that Peter Jackson film, at least in the extremely entertaining and well-cut trailer. And Green said creating a movie that looked believable was paramount.

"We wanted the movie to be real, we wanted to be hands on, we wanted it to be tangible," he explained. "There's puppets in the movie there's guys in creature suits (made by Spectral Motion, the company that did Guillermo del Toro's creatures in "Pan's Labyrinth"), there's stop motion elements, CG and we kinda just took the best of the technology. We love and prided ourselves on finding beautiful locations and construct sets that were massive yet elegant and constructed as if we're making a serious period piece and approach it dramatically knowing the more serious we took the movie, the funnier it would get."
However period exactitude wasn't on their minds. "We pride ourselves on the historical inaccuracy like trying to slip in some powdered wigs," he quipped.

Though a fantasy film with spectacle-like set-pieces James Franco noted the shoot wasn't distinctly different from "Pineapple Express" and improvisation was still an important element in shaping the film and its comedy.

"You can [be free] to go anywhere," Franco said. "And that's the environment that David creates and that is unusual. With David you depend on the chemistry and relationship you have with the other actors. Despite the action and effects he does create a space where actors can discover things on set."

While it may remain to be seen what mainstream audiences will think of the film — it's conceivable, it could run into the same issues "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" did — there is no doubt that movie geek and fantasy types are going to flip for the trailer.
Filthy and hilarious, it also boasts a lot of action and one of the sheer delights is watching Natalie Portman really going for it and treating the material (and her action sequences) deadly serious (which of course causes more comedy). The trailer begins with melodramatic music right out of a "Harry Potter" film before segueing into the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" and there's no doubt the picture is going to be very R-Rated (the trailer shown to NYCC fans was definitely a red-band one). When James Franco's doofus prince character asks the wizard played by Theroux how he's going to steal his princess Deschanel away, the sorcerer answers simply," Magic... Motherfucker!" There's another line about Zooey Deschanel's vagina that we won't spoil here, but suffice to say all those in attendance were rolling in their seats.

Given the thumbs-up reception the trailer received we don't doubt Universal will be putting it in front of audiences and online soon. "Your Highness" is set for an April 8, 2011 release and to be honest, we kind of can't wait.

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Writer Justin Theroux Says 'Zoolander' Script Is 'In Good Shape,' Teases Return Of Will Ferrell's Fashion Mogul Mugatu

Last we heard, Ben Stiller was working with fellow actor/writer/director Justin Theroux on a sequel to his cult hit, 2003's fashion industry comedy "Zoolander."

Appearing at NYCC for David Gordon Green's "Your Highness" now, Theroux has provided several updates on the sequel. The gestating script is described as being in "good shape right now. I'm feeling very optimistic about it. We're doing a few little tweaks before we submit it, but I'm very hopeful that I'm going to be working on that soon," Theroux told MTV.

As previously mentioned, the sequel will be set 10 years after the original and will begin with Derek Zoolander (Stiller) and rival-turned-partner Hansel (Owen Wilson, whose return sounds more likely now) "in a pretty bad place. They're about to ring 40's bell. They have to claw their way back into the fashion industry in some way or another." We're sure some of Theroux's attempts to hook with up models research at Paris Fashion Week will come into play here.

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Ray Liotta Joins David Wain/Judd Apatow Comedy 'Wanderlust'

If you're a hard-boiled character actor looking to get out of dodgy villain roles and bad horror movies, one of the most well-worn routes is to find a late-blooming penchant for comedy. From Robert De Niro to Christopher Walken, plenty of actors in recent memory have revived their careers by using their tough guy skills to tickle the audience's funnybone. (Or in De Niro's case, not).

The latest actor to make the switch is Ray Liotta; while he still crops up in more serious tough guy roles from time to time, he's started to make a decent living out of roles in comedies like "Wild Hogs," "Observe and Report" and "Youth in Revolt." He's got the Tobey Maguire/Elizabeth Banks dramedy "The Details" on the way, and now he's signed on to a film from one of the more potent comic teams around at the moment -- the Judd Apatow-produced, David Wain-directed comedy "Wanderlust."

The comedy toplines Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as a married couple who escape New York society by moving into a hippie commune, and also features Lauren Ambrose, Justin Theroux, Alan Alda and Malin Akerman among the cast. There's no word on who Liotta will play -- we've had the script for a while, but never quite got around to reading it, otherwise we'd take our usual semi-educated guess...

The pleasantly surprising "Role Models" showed that Wain could bring his comic chops from "The State" to a more mainstream audience, without diluting it, and with Apatow having his back, and a strong cast, this is one of the comedies we're most looking forward to in the next year. [The Hollywood Reporter]

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Alan Alda Joins Paul Rudd In 'Wanderlust' & Ben Stiller In 'Tower Heist'

Alan Alda's lengthy resume of gold is too long to mention, but needless to say, the guy rules and is incredibly funny, so consider us excited that he will lend his talents to two upcoming Universal comedies.

First up, he will join the ensemble cast of the forthcoming comedy "Wanderlust." Written by the "The State" duo of Ken Marino and David Wain and directed by the latter, the film already boasts a strong cast including Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston, Lauren Ambrose, Justin Theroux and Malin Ackerman. The film, which is being produced by comedy heavyweight Judd Apatow, "centers on a married couple (Aniston, Rudd) who try escaping modern society by moving from New York" to a commune headed by Alda. "Wanderlust" is currently filming.

Following that, Alda will lend his talents to the Brett Ratner comedy, "Tower Heist." The working-stiffs-from-New-Yawk tale will star Ben Stiller "as the overworked manager of a luxury building who, along with other staff, lost their pensions to a Bernie Madoff-like Wall Street crook. It so happens that the fraudster is being held under house arrest in the luxury penthouse apartment upstairs, and the manager and four cohorts figure a heist will make them whole." Alda will play the faux-Madoff. Our hope for the film lies in the script written by Ted Griffin ("Ocean's Eleven," "Matchstick Men"), reworked by longtime Brett Ratner collaborator Jeff Nathanson ("Rush Hour 2," "Rush Hour 3") with Noah Baumbach lending his contributions specifically to Stiller's character. Here's hoping Griffin and Baumbach's contributions smother Nathanson's. "Tower Heist" will go in front of cameras in November.

And remember Alan, if it bends its funny, if it breaks, it's not funny. [THR]

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New Promo & Set Photos Of 'Your Highness' Starring James Franco, Danny McBride, Portman & Deschanel

You've got to hand it to Universal Pictures. They've had a string of bombs, or pictures that severely underperformed in the last two years -- "Public Enemies," "Funny People," "Brüno," "Green Zone," "The Wolfman," etc. -- and still they have the balls to greenlight something like David Gordon Green's upcoming medieval stoner film, "Your Highness" which sounds like it might be the most balls-out, craziest mainstream studio film we've seen in some time (or at least since "Brüno," which ended up being a lot tamer than we envisioned).

The picture stars James Franco, Danny McBride, Zooey Deschanel, Natalie Portman and Justin Theroux in a bizarre, fantasy movie about an arrogant, lazy prince (McBride) and his more heroic brother (Franco) who must complete a quest in order to save their father's kingdom.
In the past, Green and McBride have called the film a mix of "Krull" (the oddest film the venerable Peter Yates ever directed) and "Barry Lyndon" and right there, that hilarious and strange concoction demands you buy a ticket. Anyhow, the film will be appearing at New York Comic Con next weekend so Universal is unveiling promo and production photos (via Hitfix and Hitfix) from the film and giving thego ahead to publish various set visits from the film that took place last year in Ireland where the film was shot (more photos below)

From all accounts it's a pretty nutty film and most of the principal cast are surprised with what they got away with. "We just locked 'Your Highness,' Danny McBride recently said in an A/V Club interview. "David and I watched that and looked at each other and said, “I can’t believe people are letting us do some of the stuff we’re doing.” [Laughs.] I don’t know if I would."
Zooey Deschanel also extolled its filthy virtues recently and yes, it's R-Rated. "[It's] the dirtiest medieval comedy you will ever see," she said. "I will guarantee you that. Oh my God, it’s ridiculously dirty. I mean, it’s like the most dirty humor that you could possibly come up with."
At SXSW, Green called the film a "tough shoot" and "by far the most expensive movie, by about double anything I’ve ever done. There was huge special effects, it’s just got so many different elements working [at once]." He also noted that English actors like the great Charles Dance thought they were off their rocker when making the film which bodes well for its levels of absurdity. "We had these amazing British thespians that have worked on the stage of London who thought we were fucking retarded."

Additionally, while "Your Highness" was delayed and was supposed to hit theaters this October originally, the picture was shot for a more modest $45-ish million so Uni will have less worries on return (though the additional time they've spent in the editing room and on effects has probably added up). The picture is set for a April 8, 2011 release date and you should be hearing a full Playlist report from NYCC next weekend.

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