Here are some recent casting news updates from inside the Hollywood circle.

First off, EW is telling all that Dustin Hoffman is going to be reprising his role in the third Focker film, Little Fockers.  Originally, he was supposedly written out of the movie, but he is now confirmed to be back in.

Hoffman will be in four scenes, some indeed with Streisand, a studio source confirms. These were shot during one week of additional photography, after Hoffman had seen the movie and wanted to be a part of it. The source also confirms that the reason for Hoffman’s initial unavailability was not salary-related.

While I thought the first film Meet The Parents was pretty strong for a comedy, its sequel was unwatchable, so this news comes with little entusiasm here.

Up next, Jessica Alba (who is working with Robert Rodriguez in his upcoming Machete, will also star in the latest in his Spy Kids series, Spy Kids 4.  Considering Spy Kids probably doesn’t require great acting (I haven’t seen any of them but I feel strongly in this guess), Alba is perfectly cast as a retired spy.  I could totally see her in that. HeatVision says of Spy Kids 4: All The Time In The World:

The Dimension movie is a reboot of sorts for the moneymaking franchise, which initially starred Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara as the kids of superspy parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino). Rodriguez wrote and directed each installment.

Vega and Sabara are no longer kids — Vega is nearly 23 and recently engaged — but Rodriguez wanted to continue the series.

The new movie centers on Alba as a retired spy who has been reactivated. The actress, mother of a toddler in real life, will be playing the mother of a baby and two preteen stepchildren.

Makes complete sense that it is Spy “kids” with young 20 something actors in the roles.  Moving on…

The Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel (I thought he was gonna take off after that movie(?), I guess not) is set to star in Transit. Via THR

In the story line, thieves on the run from a bank robbery come across a suburban family on its way to a camping trip. When the criminals stash their stolen money in the family’s SUV at a rest stop, the road trippers, with Caviezel as the protective father, unwittingly draw the murderous band of outlaws on their trail.

Seems reasonably intriguing.

Comingsoon says Katie Holmes is joining the cast of Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill.  Al Pacino and Sandler also star.

In the Dennis Dugan-directed script, a family man by the name of Jack deals with his twin sister, Jill, when she visits for Thanksgiving then won’t leave. Sandler will play both characters.

Holmes would play Sandler’s wife; Pacino is set to play himself.

BTW, Jack and Jill went up the hill with $1.25 a piece, Jill came down with $2.50.  Holmes is starting to re-take on roles after her married life has settled in it appears.  I like that Pacino is playing “himself”.  What does that mean these days? Does he even know how he really is in real life anymore?  A valid question.  If you have thoughts, share them.

From Variety, comes the news that the lead in the new Predators film, which is being orchestrated by Robert Rodriguez, will be none other than The Pianist star, Adrien Brody. Not quite the first name on the list when casting an action movie, is it? I think it’s a great choice for the lead badass role and Brody has the acting chops to pull off almost anything, really.

The 20th Century Fox feature is being directed by Nimrod Antal, and also stars Alice Braga, Danny Trejo, Walt Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, and Louiz Ozawa. The film begins shooting soon, with the release date set for July 9, 2010.

Brody, who also starred in this years The Brothers Bloom and won an Oscar for his performance in The Pianist, is no stranger to getting unexpected leading roles. The same surprise surrounded his being cast in the leading role in Peter Jackson’s King Kong. What do you make of this, and are you on the Brody bandwagon?

As Robert Rodriguez week winds down here at The Film Nest, in which we’ve brought you a First Features write-up on El Mariachi, the classic opening scene from From Dusk Till Dawn, a retrospective on the career of the man up to now and finally a review of his new film, Shorts, out today. We didn’t want to leave without another classic scene taken from the man’s resume, however, and although I couldn’t find the Sin City scene I wanted to share with you, here comes a scene from Rodriguez’s half of Grindhouse, Planet Terror.

Zombies, or “sickos,” have taken over town a Texas town and this is the first time we get to see them up close, from the eyes of Doc Block (Josh Brolin) and his wife, Dakota (Marley Shelton), at the local medical clinic. Dakota has been carrying out an affair with Tammy (Fergie), which Doc Block is suspicious of, when the “sickos” come rolling in.

The great Nicky Katt makes an appearance in this scene and it’s a shame he’s not in more of it. Due to the nature of zombies, there’s some graphic stuff in this scene, which is pretty disgusting, but truly adds to the enjoyment level. Also, be sure to check out the “Kobainer” at the end of the clip. Enjoy!

A lot of directors start their careers making short films. They’re quick, they cost a lot less than a feature and it works as a good showcase of talent if one can tell a full-fledged story in a short period of time. Neill Blomkamp proved himself through short films before he was given the keys to direct District 9. Shane Acker directed a short version of 9 before he was granted the go-ahead to make it a full-length feature. Robert Rodriguez directed a short film, called Bedhead, before he took his skills to the feature arena. Now, in a way, he’s returned back to his roots with Shorts.

Toby “Toe” Thompson is the requisite grade school loser. A “ten-year-old virgin,” if you will. He doesn’t have any friends at school, so he feels the need to create imaginary ones, which he plays Magic: The Gathering-like card games with. Perhaps this is the reason he has no friends, like a catch-22/chicken-and-egg conundrum. Due to his lone ranger status, he is picked on by bullies at school. There are two that stand out more than the rest: Cole and Helvetica Black. They’re a brother and sister team of mean, who live only to make Toe’s life miserable. That being said, Toe thinks Helvetica’s only lashing out at him, because she secretly has a crush on him.

Cole and Helvetica are the children of Mr. Black, who owns the Black Box Corporation, the central employment hub for Black Falls Community. Sort of how Cypress Creek revolved around Hank Scorpio’s Globex Corporation in “The Simpsons” episode “You Only Move Twice.” The Black Box Corporation produces an Apple-like device not surprisingly called, The Black Box. It’s literally an all-in-one gadget that has the ability to transform into a toaster, a Blackberry, a computer screen and any other electronic device one could possibly imagine. The Black Box Corporation happens to employ both of Toe’s parents and Mr. Black pits them in a competition against each other to devise a marketing strategy that will crush the Box’s opponents.

Things change for the Thompson family when Toe comes into possession of a rainbow-colored wishing rock. He wishes for new friends and is blessed with a team of tiny aliens and UFOs who can make gourmet meals, brush Toe’s teeth and attack the bullies at school. However, as we learned from Spider-Man, “with great power comes great responsibility.” The wishing rock never seems to work the way the possessor desires and it freely changes hands from character to character getting each into sticky situations they find difficult to get themselves out of. Does the wishing rock cause more trouble then it’s worth? Perhaps so, but the biggest obstacle is keeping it out of the wrong hands.

This is the next worst thing to having to pick it's nose.

The film is told is five short vignettes (six if you count the pre-credits “Episode Zero”), all very much tied to the other. Each short piece is focused on a different set of characters, but all serve the same through-line. If they weren’t chopped and rearranged, there’d be no reason to designate them as short films. Through voice-over, Toe pauses, rewinds and fast-forwards parts of the films he either needs to explain, we haven’t seen yet or have already witnessed. It all comes together in the end, but Rodriguez rarely gives any overlap between the time-shifting segments, which could be disorienting for young viewers, if they even care so much as to follow a story.

Younger viewers are exactly who the film is geared toward. Aside from the child characters and situations kids can quickly identify with, there’s a large Booger monster (perhaps Rodriguez’s answer to Kevin Smith’s poop monster from Dogma) that is sure to delight all pint-size nose-pickers, but hopefully guide them away from the unsanitary habit. Although the inclusion of easily recognized actors like William H. Macy, Leslie Mann or James Spader may attract older viewers’ attention, there’s little substance to maintain it. Unfortunately, there’s no Pixar-like age crossover to be expected.

Rodriguez, however, is still the true definition of an auteur. Sometimes the label is placed on directors who are able to visually put their stamp on any film they touch. Sometimes it’s put upon writer-directors who control their own vision or writer-director-producers who have only themselves to answer to. Rodriguez is the ultimate hyphenate as he performs the tasks of writer, director, producer, scorer, cinematographer, editor and visual effects supervisor. There’s no doubt he’s crafted the exact film he wanted to. If his intentions were to create a film for younger viewers, he’s succeeded.

I don’t begrudge Rodriguez for making films for his children and children everywhere as I’m happy his talents are being utilized at all. He’s still dedicated the same, if not more, of his career to more mature works. There’s still some enjoyment that can be squeezed out of this film for the older viewer and I’d much rather re-watch it over a handful of other films I’ve seen so far this year. One hopes he’ll return to the other career path he’s developed for his next project, though, and even if it’s a short film, I’ll be first in line.

It’s day number two of Robert Rodriguez Week here at The Film Nest and today we bring you our first classic scene from the director’s ouevre.

By 1996, Rodriguez had already worked alongside fellow film-fanatic-turned-filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino, as  they each wrote and directed a segment form the quadruple-tiered Four Rooms. Tarantino wrote the script for From Dusk Till Dawn (with Robert Kurtzman getting story credit) and was set to direct his first feature since Pulp Fiction, but instead chose to focus on his screenplay and his role as Seth Gecko, thus passing the directorial opportunity to his friend, Robert Rodriguez.

This is the first film Rodriguez directed not based on his own script, and this opening scene has Tarantino’s hand prints all over it. There isn’t much set-up to be given since it’s the opening scene of the film and although a tad long, every second is exceptional. It’s been too long since I’ve seen this film and revisiting this scene tells me I need to see see it again. Rodriguez was given a great screenplay to work from and his effort truly shows. Enjoy!

Here at The Film Nest, we’ve decided to dedicate this week to a much-beloved filmmaker who has a new release coming to theaters on Friday. He is Robert Rodriguez and his upcoming film is Shorts.

We’ve only had one other filmmaker week so far, when we celebrated Michael Mann week last month. We will dedicate at least one new post per day to Mr. Rodriguez and have already started the week with a bang. We have a new entry into the First Features column, with a look at Rodriguez’s first feature-length film, El Mariachi. We also have a new poll for you in our sidebar, asking you about your favorite Rodriguez-directed film.

Robert Rodriguez week will continue with a couple of classic scenes from his films, a career retrospective on the man and his movies and finally a full-fledged review of his new film, Shorts.

Join us in celebrating a brilliant filmmaker all this week, as we say “Cheers!” to Robert Rodriguez.

Just over a month ago we conducted our inaugural “Michael Mann Week,” only to be let down by his highly anticipated Public Enemies upon its release.  We liked the idea of looking at a director or actor over their career and focusing on them for a week, so we have decided to continue on that route despite Mann’s mediocre thrill-ride.  Now with the release of the new movie Shorts, The Film Nest Crew is celebrating another artist whose career achievements are many.  Writer, producer, and director (even sometime actor!), Robert Rodriguez is feted/objectively looked at for his contributions to the cinematic medium.  Here we will take a brief look at several of his movies and as you have been able to see already with our First Features post on El Mariachi, as well as our Classic Scene of From Dusk Till Dawn we will continue to examine his work throughout the week.

Desperado (1995)

After the success of El Mariachi Rodriguez decided to revisit that world again with 1995’s sequel. It could be said that the film is not only a sequel, but also a remake of the first film, as it shares many similar scenes with its predecessor. Robert Rodriguez once again wrote, directed and edited Desperado, a film that picks up after the events of Mariachi. This time Antonio Banderas plays the nameless mariachi (similar to Sergio Leones” Man with no name”). The story revolves around the mariachi seeking revenge for the death of his lover from the first film. Once again, the mariachi comes to a small town and gets involved with bringing down a drug dealer. He also gets involved with a beautiful bookstore owner, played by the stunning Salma Hayek. Does the plot sound familiar to the first? Yes it is but, in a movie like this the plot is second fiddle to the action scenes and tongue in cheek humor. Desperado is a very fun movie, and Robert Rodriguez benefitted greatly from his increased budget, which was still only $7 million. All his trademarks are here, over the top action, humorous dialogue, and sexy women. If I had to pick one movie that is signature Rodriguez, this would be it.

A sweet explosion behind the even sweeter Selma Hayek.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

From Dusk Till Dawn has Rodriguez continuing his crime/action pace, but adding the horror element to offer an interesting take. It features two criminal brothers, Seth (George Clooney) and Richard Gecko (Quentin Taratino), who are on the run from the law after robbing a liquor store and murdering two people. While making their way to Mexico, they kidnap the Fuller family, Jacob (Harvey Keitel), Kate (Juliette Lewis) and Scott (Ernest Liu), so they can hide in their RV to cross the border. Once they get over the border, they arrive at a remote club called “The Titty Twister.” Once they enter the club, they realize they are secretly in a hive of vampires.  They soon find themselves in a struggle to stay alive.

"Harvey don't play that."

This marked the second collaboration between Rodriguez and Tarantino (the first being the segmented Four Rooms), with Tarantino co-starring and co-writing the screenplay with Robert Kurtzman. Judging by the sudden change of tone to the movie, it seems Tarantino concentrated on the first half with Kurtzman handling the second.  Despite the mid shift in the movie, Rodriguez really made this engaging with awesome action sequences mixed with Evil Dead-type gore (Kurtzman did the make up effects for Evil Dead 2) and an excellent performance by Clooney.  This is probably the most bad-ass you’ll ever see him, and he has Rob Rod to thank.

The Faculty (1998)

The loner geek (Elijah Wood), the goth “lesbian” (Clea DuVall), the jock (Shawn Hatosy), the overachiever (Jordanna Brewster), the 5^th-year senior (Josh Harnett), and the new girl (Laura Harris), are the high school clichés who discover something is amiss with the teachers at their school. It seems to start with the football coach, spreads to their principal, the nurse and even the beloved science teacher. It’s discovered an alien parasite is causing problems, in a concept similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. They must stop the spread before the town – or more – is overtaken.

The definition of "rollin' thick," with Hartnett at the wheel.

The Faculty is only the second time to-date Rodriguez had directed a film not from his own script (the first being From Dusk Till Dawn). The script belongs to Kevin Williamson, who 8 months later directed the similar-themed Teaching Mrs. Tingle. The film is very much similar to the high school horror films from the late 90s, but the replacement of an alien invasion instead of a killer with a knife is a welcome one. A lot of big name actors arose from this film and there are some subtle Rodriguez touches, like introductory freeze-frames for the main characters, but you can’t help but think Rodriguez did this project in order to gain freedom elsewhere.

Spy Kids (2001)

Gregorio (Antonio Banderas) and Ingrid (Carla Gugino) Cortez are one-time spies who fell in love and retired from the business. They have two young children, Carmen and Juni, to whom they’ve never revealed their secret, past lives. The star of Juni’s favorite TV program, Fegan Floop, has plans for world domination through robotic children he terms “sky kids.” Gregorio and Ingrid hold the key to making the “spy kids” work correctly and they are kidnapped by Floop and his cohorts. It’s up to Carmen and Juni, two kids of no discernable to talent to help get their parents back.

Spy Kids was the first kids film Rodriguez wrote and directed, having later turned Spy Kids into a trilogy. He had three children of his own when he made the film and presumably, he wanted to make a movie they could watch and enjoy. It’s definitely a child-like fantasy to wish your parents led secret lives of some sort and some of the spy-like inventions (the acid crayon) are more creative than any Bond film. It’s a decent adventure for younger audiences. Interesting note: The character of Machete, which received his own fake trailer as a part of Grindhouse and will soon get his own film, actually originated from this film.

Once Upon A Time In Mexico (2003)

After directing a teen horror flick (The Faculty) and a couple of children’s movies (Spy Kids 1 & 2) Robert Rodriguez once again returned to the series that brought him acclaim. In 2003, Rodriguez “wrote, chopped, and shot” Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Mexico would mark the last chapter in what is known as the “Mexico Trilogy”. The plot for this installment finds the Mariachi (Banderas) being recruited by a CIA agent (Depp) to kill a general, who has also murdered the gun toting singer’s family.

Three guys, since it is the third of the trilogy.

This film also marked the directors first time shooting with HD cameras, something he has continued to do ever since. Rodriguez has said that he wanted this final chapter to evoke Sergio Leone’s classic spaghetti western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and it certainly does. Financially, the film was the most successful of the three films, but the plot for me, was a little convoluted.  Antonio Banderas as the Mariachi is really only a supporting player in this film. The real star of Mexico in my opinion was Johnny Depp. Hot off the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, Depp as the double crossing, disguise wearing, Agent Sands stole the show. The film once again features slick action scenes and editing, but I would’ve liked a more coherent plot and less of a reliance on graphic violence to bring an end to the trilogy.

Sin City (2005)

This is quintessential Rodriguez, perhaps not for anything specifically, but rather for his continuous innovation and exploration of the medium of filmmaking.  His adaptation of Frank Miller’s comic is stunning.  He pioneered the use of AMD64 technology here, shooting entirely in digital. You see its use in stunning form, with black and white offset by glimpses of brilliant color, whether it is lipstick, skin tone, or clothing.  While the movie’s graphically violent subject matter is clearly not for everyone, Robert also got brilliant performances out of many of his actors/characters (Mickey Rourke pre-The Wrestler being one of the most notable), really making a comic book come to life.  Helping to usher in the era of Hollywood comic book adaptations being all the rage, Sin City is still the gold standard by which all others are measured, succeeding where a movie like Watchmen failed.  A grand feat in and of itself, the film is a remarkable achievement for that alone if nothing else.

This still of Rourke doesn't do the AMD technology justice. Amazing.

Grindhouse / Planet Terror (2007)

A scientist releases a deadly biochemical agent into the air during a botched business transaction, turning a majority of a town’s population into zombies or “sickos” as they’re referred to here. Dr. Block (Josh Brolin) and his anesthesiologist wife, Dakota (Marley Shelton), try to help them at a local hospital – to no avail. “Cherry Darling” (Rose McGowan), a go-go dancer, teams up with her ex-boyfriend “El Wray” (Freddy Rodriguez – no relation) and the few uninfected cops and townspeople, to ward off the sickos in their fight for survival.

Robert found Rose's machine-gun leg such a turn-on, they would become an item off screen.

Planet Terror was originally released as one of two features in Rodriguez and Tarantino’s Grindhouse, but was split off and expanded for overseas and home video releases. The objective of Grindhouse was to bring exploitation films back to the cinema and Rodriguez brought tons of little touches to his zombie flick to help him achieve his goal. He digitally graded the film stock with nicks and scratches, giving the appearance of an old, beat-up workprint. A reel is missing, thus causing a jump in time and story. All his tricks help to serve the exploitative subject matter. A number of people consider this the better half of Grindhouse, but it works best not individually, but as part of the entire Grindhouse experience.

Our full review of double R’s new film Shorts will be up later this week, he has the aforementioned Machete getting ready for next year, and Sin City 2 is in production.  Rodriguez, love him or hate him, truly is a pioneering talent in the industry who continually pushes the boundaries of filmmaking and has progressed throughout his career as any true artist would want to do.  He will be a director that we continue to watch here at The Film Nest, and we were happy to take a closer look at the man and his works for this piece.  The entire Film Nest Crew contributed to the writing of this post.  Share your thoughts on some of his work below.

Robert Rodriguez has been very busy lately lining up projects for himself and his production company, Troublemaker Studios. Not long ago, we reported that his full length version of Machete will soon go into production with some big names attached. Rodriguez has also written the script for the new Predator reboot, as well as producing it. With all that, he even has a new family film Shorts being released on August 21^st. So, here at The Film Nest we are taking a look at his first feature length directorial effort El Mariachi. His first-ever film was a short eight-minute short titled Bedhead (you can see another short film Becoming Roman here), which he shot while he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin. With all the accolades he won from his short film, he then decided to shoot El Mariachi. Rodriguez used the money that he won from entering Bedhead in festivals to finance this low budget action film. El Mariachi, which is filmed entirely in Spanish with English subtitles, was produced for only $7,000 (the lowest budget for a feature length movie that I’m aware of). Rodriguez had intended for the film to be released for the Spanish-language home video market only, but once it took home the Audience Award at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival, Columbia Pictures picked up distribution of the film.

El Mariachi, story-wise, is a very simple case of mistaken identities. It’s the story of an out-of-work mariachi (Carlos Gallardo in the nameless title role) who, while traveling across Mexico looking for employment, comes to the little town of Acuna. After he stops in at a local bar (which is not hiring) he then gets a room at a local motel. While waiting to check out other local businesses to see if they need a musical act to play in their establishments, the mariachi meets a beautiful, but feisty bar owner named Domino. While the mariachi is looking for work, trouble is brewing between Azul and his ex-business partner, Moco. You see, while Azul  runs a semi-profitable business from his jail cell, it’s nothing compared to what Moco is making. Azul wants in on the action, but will settle for the money he is owed by his ex partner. Moco doesn’t want to pay Azul what he is owed and instead sends a group of his men to kill Azul. After Moco’s plan backfires, Azul sets out for revenge. Azul also carries around a guitar case  and dresses in all black just like our title character. So when Moco’s men are looking for Azul, they mistake the mild mannered mariachi for the bloodthirsty Azul. The mariachi must then take drastic measures to stay alive.

El Mariachi con una guitarra para la primera vez.

The film’s plot is a fairly simple one. The most impressive thing about the film for me is Rodriguez’s direction. Mariachi is shot with mostly closeups (Rodriguez only had two lenses on his camera). The film’s action is good, if sparse and the acting merely adequate. The cast is made up of mostly amateur actors. The film being entirely in Spanish helps to hide the actors lack of experience for American audiences. The fact that Rodriguez made such a damn good movie for less than most movies’ catering bill is mind-blowing. He used so many ingenious techniques when shooting the film to save money, such as editing in camera, using actors as his crew, and even shooting the whole movie without sound. (The sound was added in after the film was shot by the way). Rodriguez discusses at great length just what kind of creativity goes into making a movie for seven grand on the film’s DVD. If you are an aspiring director, or just a film buff like myself, its one of the most informative commentaries ever recorded. It’s definitely well worth a listen.

Robert Rodriguez also chose to shoot this movie on video instead of film. Since he had a very limited budget, with a film print can usually costing north of $20,000, he shot on video to avoid spending all the extra money (which he didn’t have). Like Micheal Mann as well, Rodriguez has since switched to lensing all his films in digital, as he did with the third chapter in the trilogy: Once Upon A Time In Mexico. In El Mariachi, as well as most of his other films, Rodriguez uses very quick cuts for the action scenes, but steadier closeups for most of the quieter, dialogue-heavy scenes.

As with Rodriguez’s other entries in what is known as the Mariachi Trilogy, 1995’s Desperado(which starred Antonio Banderas in the role of the mariachi) and 2003’s Once Upon A Time In Mexico, the movie is almost a parody of the standard spaghetti westerns of the 60s. El Mariachi never takes itself too seriously, and is a pleasure to watch because of  that fact. This guy is the MacGyver of  modern cinema. I’d love to see what kind of movie he could make with everyday household items.  Seriously, he produces movies that look as if they easily cost ten times what they do. If you want to see what $7,000 can really look like on screen take a look back at where Robert Rodriguez got started with El Mariachi.

Buy this First Feature here.

We reported on the news a while ago that Robert Rodriguez is mounting up a new version of the 80’s sci-fi classic  Predator after two abysmal Alien vs. Predator films. He’s calling it Predators and yes, we just found out that he wants the Gov., Arnie, back for the film.  However, he was originally scheduled to direct, then it was thought to be Neil Marshall, but it ended up being Nimrod Antal to helm with RR as the producer on the project.  Now comes word that the man who helmed the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien, Ridley Scott, is gonna be back behind the directors chair for a prequel. Jon Spaihts (“Shadow 19″) is set to write the script. From Variety:

Twentieth Century Fox is resuscitating its “Alien” franchise. The studio has hired Jon Spaihts to write a prequel that has Ridley Scott attached to return as director.

Spaihts got the job after pitching the studio and Scott Free, which will produce the film.

The film is set up to be a prequel to the groundbreaking 1979 film that Scott directed. It will precede that film, in which the crew of a commercial towing ship returning to Earth is awakened and sent to respond to a distress signal from a nearby planetoid. The crew discovers too late that the signal generated by an empty ship was meant to warn them.

The deal gives Fox another chance to keep the “Alien” franchise alive. There were three sequels to Scott’s original, but it is the first time the director has set his mind on directing one.

Sounds like some very interesting news indeed. After the horrible AvP movies, this is what both franchises needed. I haven’t heard what the plot of the new Predators film will be, but an Alien prequel sounds like a pretty good time to me. If only because Ridley is back on board. The only other “Alien” film I enjoyed was James Cameron’s sequel Aliens. What do you guys think? Will you welcome Mr. Scott back to the franchise?

The latest rumors from the casting mill involving Robert Rodriguez’s b-movie Machete which we have reported on this site in the past.  Rodriguez’s Shorts is about to drop on us all, but he is switching gears for his next project.  While Danny Trejo is set for the lead, Steven Seagal is being rumored as a possible cast member for the film.  [Movie Muser] Nothing is confirmed, other than his reps appear to be in deep discussions about his place in the project, as long as “certain conditions” are met.  At this point who knows what those conditions are, perhaps screen time/size of role would have something to do with it.  A trailer for his Indian rituals? I don’t know.  Still, it’d be nice to see him do something reasonable again (and I am jumping to conclusions that Machete will be worth a damn).  Seagal was also once rumored for Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming The Expendables movie, but it was put to rest that he would not be in it.  Sad, considering the ridiculous amount of actioners on board for that movie.  Statham, Jet Li, and Sly himself of course among them.  However, Machete has another interesting rumor as well.

One minute your eatin' a Denver omelette, next someone's stickin' a gun in your face.

Apparently, the queen of paparazzi, Lindsay Lohan (who once would have been rubbed with a slow hand-inside joke) has been offered a role in RR’s flick. Robert stated:

“Lindsay’s cool. There’s actually a cool part in the movie for her – if she takes it.”

She notoriously turned down a role in The Hangover, and that turned out to be a gigantic mistake, considering it is the top grossing R-rated comedy of all-time (not in true box office though, as Beverly Hills Cop still would rule with inflation).  Nevertheless, wouldn’t it be wise of her to accept a role this time around?  Or is the potential role and movie, so vastly different from what she might have done in The Hangover, that it wouldn’t suit her?  Nobody knows for sure, but as one of the (seemingly) few who is actually pulling for LiLo to turn her career around (yeah, she’s thrashed, but I am a sucker for a good comeback story, what can I say?), I hope that she takes the role, if nothing else to gain the type of exposure she needs, not the type that she gets turning up on gossip sites.  What say you, mateys?  Hit me one.