Mermaid Films: Part 2 of 5 Location

So you have your incredibly talented cast, your suited-to-the-film director, now you need to know where to film your epic mermaid movie of awesome. We'll go by your type of movie and how you can play off your location to the best advantage of a film.


For your typical epic high fantasy sort of film (it can be one with a darker portrayal of merpeople or it can work with a lighter tone as well), you'll want to go to where most epic fantasies are filmed: New Zealand. You've got plenty of beautiful locales to do your scenes on land (if you have any, which odds are you will) and many more for the water bits. If you don't believe me, just watch the Extended versions of The Lord of the Rings a couple times.

For a dark take on an Urban fantasy, I'd go with Boston or Washington D.C. Washington is a little harder with the water scenes, but there are great bodies of water in the proximity. Boston might be a bit easier in that aspect however.

Or, if you're going in the vein of the beloved "Splash" New York of course :) Another interesting though would be Canada. I've always thought of setting some mermaids up in Canada. Maybe that's just me.

Either way, lemme know what you think guys!

Much love and sonic screwdrivers,
Rnadi

Mermaid Film Series: Part 1 of 5 (Directors)

Hello again! So we've already cast a solid mermaid movie, now we've got to figure out the rest. Today I'll be picking some directors that could do a fantastic job bringing everything to life.

Directors is a pretty big topic to choose from. It all depends on the tone you want to set for your movie, so dividing it up into genres would be a good idea.

First, if you want to make a darker, creepier type of mer-film, you'd want to go with a director who's had some experiance in the genre. My first choice would be Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, The Corpse Bride, this most recent Alice in Wonderland adaptation). He is one of my favorite directors and I think he could pull something like this off really well. Known for making the creepy relateable, the strange not so hard to understand and wonderful art direction. All of his movies are a feast to the eyes.
Other good directors would be David Fincher (The Social Network, the upcoming American remakes of the Millenium series starting with the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill),  Christopher Nolan (Inception, the newest Batman reamkes) and I think I might be able to pull it off alright (I want to be a director in case you haven't   ;) )
If you want a mermaid comedy type thing, you'd want to have Edgar Wright. He's done stuff like Scott Pilgrim VS. The World and Shaun of the Dead. The aforementioned films were funny, but they also had a really big heart which is essential. Another idea would be John Lassater (Pixar mermaids anyone?).
Historical mermaids are also setting trends so a few directors who would ace the subject would be people like Tom Hooper who directed The King's Speech, which won Best Picture for Oscars 2011 (The film made me laugh and made em feel all good and mushy inside). The Cohen Brotheres also do good historical stuff. They're remake of the John Wayne film True Grit was excellent, but they might go for a darker tone film.

I'll go on later this week. Give me some more ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Much love and Sonic Screwdrivers,

Randi 

Casting Merpeople Part 3: Sirens

Hello hello again! I'm trying to finish this up fairly fast so I won't get any more ideas and go on and on and on and on.
So this lovely early morning here in the States, I've compiled some great talent to take over the roles of the evil seductive sirens, closer to the mermaids seen recently in Pirates of the Carribean than Ariel and Co.
My number one choice would have to be Blake Lively. She'd be a fantastic siren. It just fits her so well. You've probably seen her in Gossip Girl or The Town, and wether or not you'll admit it, the Sisterhood of the Travling Pants.
Number 2: Helena Bonham Carter. She's a personal favorite of mine and I think this role would give her something to play on as more than just an evil face. She's been seen in Harry Potter as the wicked evil Bellatrix Lestrange, the somewhat demure-in-comparison Corpse Bride, The Red Queen in this latest version of Alice in Wonderland, Queen Elizabeth in the King's Speech and so many more.
Number three on our list: Liv Tyler. Known for playing insanely beautiful women (Arwen in Lord of the Rings most noteably), she'd be spell-binding.
Other good choices include:
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, X-Men First Class, The Hunger Games as Katniss)
Noomi Rapace (Lisbeth Salander, a charcter in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes Sequel)
Kaya Scoldelario (Skins)


What are your thoughts? Comment below! I'd love to hear what you have to say. I'm  such a movie geek and nobody ever talks to me about films and actors and camera angles :)

Much love and sonic screwdrivers,
Randi

Casting Mermen: Part 2

Hello all! Sorry it's been a long time for part 2, but I waited eight months to see another particular part 2 and that took up a lot of time :)

So today, I'm here to talk about mermen and some good choices for actors if they're ever brought to the big screen (which I hope they will be in the near future).
Anyway, so mermen bring to mind underwater vikings, old dudes with beards and tridents (again, thank you Disney) and well, hot guys.


Alexander Skarsgard. He fits the underwater viking bit.
As far as old dudes with beards and tridents, my mind is kind of drawing a blank because all the old guys in beards that I've seen recently are now all reeeeeeeeeeealy old and I don't know if they'd even be possibilities anymore.
But my mind brings up Michael Gambon in his Dumbledore-ness from Harry Potter and Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. And for some strange reason, I think Colin Firth would be fantastic in a role like this, maybe minus the beard.
On just hot guys, I'm gonna plug Doctor Who again and go with Matt Smith. I can imagine him playing a merman for sure (what is it with all the sci-fi dudes here? Trend?).
Other good choices include Michael Phelps, Michael Cera (sort of), Logan Lermen, Jesse Eisenberg (more so than Michael Cera seeing as they look a lot alike), and Elijah Wood.
See you next time for sirens!

Much love and sonic screwdrivers,
Randi