Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1996

DEADPOOL Co-Creator Rob Liefeld Draws Zazie Beets As DOMINO

Say what you want about Rob Liefeld’s artisitc talents–his art style has always made him a polarizing figure to comics fandom–but after 25 years in the comics business, he still has all the enthusiasm for superheroes and comic books of a teenage fanboy. And it’s totally endearing.

Case in point – last week, after actress Zazie Beetz was officially unveiled in an official photo by Fox as the mutant mercenary Domino for Deadpool 2,we’ve learned that Liefeld instantly went to his drawing board and drew a new image of Beetz as Domino, showing fans that the film’s version of the character has the complete approval of her creator. He posted his rendering of movie Domino onto his Instagram (via CBR), and you can check it out down below:

Sketch stage. #Domino #marvel #Deadpool #robliefeld #xforce #robliefeldcreations

A post shared by RobertLiefeld (@robliefeld) on Aug 4, 2017 at 3:23pm PDT

Domino was created by Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza way back in 1991, around the time New Mutants was transitioning into X-Force. Domino’s mutant power was to “subconsciously and telekinetically alter luck and probabilities in her immediate area, allowing for consistent, generous outcomes in her favour.” This is similar to X-Men’s Longshot.

How the makers of Deadpool 2 plan on showcasing this power in live-action I’m not sure, but I have a feeling it will be fuel for several comedic moments at the expense of Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin, who plays Cable, Domino’s partner.

Deadpool 2 is coming to theaters on June 1, 2018, and is directed by David Leitch and stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T. J. Miller, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić, Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin, and Jack Kesy.

Are you as excited as we are to see Domino in action in Deadpool 2? Be sure to let us know in the comments down below.

Images: Marvel Comics

Watch David Hasselhoff’s Uber ’70s Video for GUARDIANS INFERNO

Well, it’s settled, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 has found the very best way to announce something. They could’ve sent a press release, constructed a tweet, or had any number of the characters just talk about it. But no. James Gunn has been hinting at some news over the last few days and today proved they went so above and beyond to announce the Blu-ray release of the movie by putting out this glorious music video.



The video for The Sneepers featuring David Hasselhoff’s song “Guardians Inferno” is–without a doubt–one of our favorite things on the internet today. It features the illustrious “Hoff” in a very glittery ’70s setting that doesn’t feel too far off from his actual music career. With him are some familiar faces from the Guardians team along with James Gunn and his brother Sean. And like most Marvel properties, there’s even a Stan Lee cameo. Seemingly absent from the music video are Groot (Vin Diesel) and Bradley Cooper (Rocket Racoon) but considering a certain dancing robot reveal toward the end, who knows if they’re really just in disguise.

In addition to the video forever overwriting David Hasselhoff’s name to “Zardu Hasselfrau” in our minds, it also has us a bit too excited to see the costumes in this video show up future conventions in cosplay form. It’d be an automatic win in any contests as far as we’re concerned.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 is available on digital August 8th and gets released on Blu-ray and the new 4K Ultra HD on August 22nd.

What’s your favorite part of The Sneepers’ music video? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: Marvel Entertainment

Disney Food Takes the Cake in This Charming Art

When you think about food at theme parks, you might imagine mediocre hamburgers and chewy soft pretzels. That is not the case at Disney Parks. The snacks and drinks at places like Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Disneyland have devoted fanatics who center their theme park visits around trying the newest food and beverage offerings.

Spoilers: I am one of these fanatics and I have a Disney food-themed Instagram to prove it.

Artist Donna Yan is also enthusiastic about the many edible offerings at the parks, specifically the parks at Disneyland Resort (Disneyland and Disney California Adventure). Her work came to our attention through The Disney Food Blog. She is such a fan that she’s created an extensive series of illustrations showcasing delicious snacks such as churros, popcorn, the ever popular Dole Whip, and much more.

Pardon me, I’m drooling.

Yan’s art stars the food, but with the additions of Mickey Mouse ears, balloons, and other details (sometimes the snacks are sharing other snacks with each other!), she captures the fun of Disneyland and joy of a day in the parks. I mean, look at that pizza from Pizza Port hugging the BB-8 sipper. It just puts a smile on your face.

Please do yourself a favor and hit the gallery below to see more Disneyland food inspired art by Yan. You’ll find secret menu drinks from Disney California Adventure’s Cove Bar, food dressed as Haunted Mansion cast members, and more. Then, go to Yan’s website to see tons more food art and purchase prints (I’m envisioning covering my kitchen with these) and hit up her Etsy shop for stickers and postcards. You can also keep up with her work on Instagram.

Which snacks at Disney Parks are on your must-eat list? Tell me in the comments or come share recs on Twitter.

Images: Donna Yan

James Gunn Says He Fought For One of GUARDIANS VOL. 2’s Teaser Scenes

Earlier this summer, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 upped the game for Marvel post-credits scenes with five additional moments that pushed the narrative forward. And while director James Gunn kept his promise to ensure that his sequel wasn’t simply a teaser for Avengers Infinity War, it definitely set the stage for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But according to Gunn, he had to fight to keep in one of the additional scenes.

There are spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And if you haven’t yet, then what are you waiting for?

The scene in question was the one where Ayesha, the high priestess of the Sovereign, revealed her ultimate weapon to get revenge on the Guardians: a biologically engineered humanoid whom she called “Adam.” That was clearly a reference to Adam Warlock, one of Marvel’s most prominent cosmic heroes and a key player in the Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, and Infinity Crusade storylines from the comic book universe.

“I had to fight for Adam in the post-credits sequence,” explained Gunn during an interview with CinemaBlend. “Because I really thought that’s where that should go. And I thought one of the main reasons to have the Sovereign in the movie was to give audiences the hint that Adam Warlock is coming. That was one of the reasons for them to exist. And I wrote that post-credits sequence in the first draft of the script.”

Gunn went on to explain that the resistance to that teaser scene was largely about the expectation that Adam Warlock would go on to appear in Avengers: Infinity War and its currently untitled sequel. While that would have been a reasonable assumption, Gunn apparently promised Marvel that he would go out of his way to make sure that no one expects Warlock to appear in those movies. “One of the things I promised — which I do all of the time on Twitter — is letting everyone know that Adam Warlock is not going to be in Avengers 3 or Avengers 4,” said Gunn. “It’s just not going to happen. Because I didn’t want people to have false expectations of what they thought was going to happen with Adam.”

To a certain extent, that is understandable. Adam Warlock is such an important player that if he were to be used effectively in Infinity War, the audience would have to know who he was ahead of time. If there was ever a time to get Adam Warlock ready for that major role, it would have been the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Gunn has previously stated that Warlock almost appeared in an earlier version of the sequel, but he ultimately decided against it.

Fortunately, Warlock appears poised to play a big part of the next Guardians of the Galaxy sequel, which should be out as one of Marvel’s first post-Avengers 4 films.

Should Gunn have included Adam Warlock in the final cut of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Studios/Marvel

Songified GAME OF THRONES is the Real Song of Ice and Fire

This season of Game of Thrones has already brought us a new addition to that world’s song catalog with Ed Sheeran’s recent cameo but I’m praying to the Old Gods and the new that this ditty becomes the next big Westerosi hit!

The masters of all things autotune–The Gregory Brothers/Schmoyoho/Songify folks–bring us this delightfully upbeat pop song about the limited knowledge base of everyone’s favorite bastard. The song’s full title is “The Shape of Jon Snow oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh” which pretty much encapsulates exactly what you’ll have stuck in your head after listening.

As with all their “songified” videos, they’ve cut together bits and pieces from the source material to make a fairly cohesive song. And beyond gathering all the “you know nothing, Jon Snow“s they could find, they also managed to mix in some of the more wise advice Tyrion has given Snow over the years from their first interaction about never forgetting what you are and wearing it like armor to the best advice anyone could ever give (and my general motto), “Everything’s better with some wine.” The song also seems to amplify the general silliness of Daenerys’ ever-growing official title that was part of a rare moment of humor in a recent episode. I feel like her twitter bio and hashtag use would be an annoying mess.

Other than the earworm-ish nature of this Schmoyoho song, it also serves as a reminder for how far the show has come as it contrasts the baby-faced Snow (and Tyrion for that matter) from his first appearance in Winterfell to the grizzled warrior we’d follow into battle.

What’s your favorite part of this song? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: Game of Thrones | HBO

New Video Explores the Art and Science of Laika Studios

Stop-motion animation has largely been abandoned as artform by the major studios. But for the past 12 years, Laika Studios has embraced stop-motion animation from Corpse Bride in 2005 to its most recent film, Kubo and the Two Strings. Many casual viewers may not have even realized that Kubo was stop-motion, as it also utilized CGI techniques to further the illusion of life. Now, a new video from Laika itself is pulling back the curtain on the company’s approach to animation; which is both a science and an art.

In the recently released video, footage from Kubo, Coraline, ParaNorman, and The Boxtrolls is used to illustrate some of Laika’s most compelling animated moments before showing the viewers how some of these scenes were accomplished. The movement of the water was impressive, but perhaps the most compelling part of the video is the way that the facial expressions of their creations convincingly emote. That makes it much easier to accept these characters as “real” within the worlds that they inhabit.

One of the most striking visuals in this video is the man towering over the puppet-sized street that was created for one of the films. As Laika’s Travis Knight and others explain in this clip, they are not opposed to using modern animation techniques to enhance their own work. Everything is a tool that can be used. “We want to make films that push this medium that we love, animation, and push it in new directions,” said Knight, before adding “we don’t have to be limited in the stories that we tell.”

What did you think about The Art and Science of Laika? Can you respond using stop motion animation? Alternately, we welcome your comments, which you can share below.

Image: Laika Studios

OPERATION Board Game Becomes Edible Cake

Operation has been a popular board game for almost six decades. And while there have been variations of the original version, there’s never been an Operation game that you could actually eat, until now.

Via Foodbeast, Ann Reardon has posted a new video on her How To Cook That YouTube channel that reveals how she created an Operation cake that not only approximates the board game, it actually works! This means that Cavity Sam will really speak while parts of his body are removed with tweezers. This isn’t an official release from Hasbro, of course, but we wish that it was. For the truly adventurous cooks, Reardon’s video is a very thorough how-to.

Fair warning: if you’re going to try to make this at home, don’t get too frustrated. Reardon clearly has a lot of skill, and it takes a lot patience and hard work to create the different parts of the Operation cake. It’s more of a work of art than something that can be easily reproduced by a novice. It’s especially impressive to see how Reardon made the game’s signature audio clips work without wiring the entire cake. It turns out that Twizzlers can complete the electric circuit with the wires!

This culinary masterpiece is almost too good to eat, although we certainly wouldn’t mind a chance to play and devour this Operation game. To see more of Reardon’s food creations, you can check out the rest of her videos.

What did you think about Reardon’s edible Operation cake? Leave a response without touching the sides of the comment section below!

Image: How To Cook That

Adam Savage Shows You How To Make The Perfect EXCALIBUR Replica Sword

You may have already forgotten, but there was a King Arthur movie this summer, called King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Chances are, based on its box office results, you didn’t see it. Not a whole lot of people saw the previous retelling of Arthurian legend either, 2005’s King Arthur. People speculate that this is because contemporary folk can’t connect to old, creaky stories about knights and dragons and whatnot, but I’d say the success of Game of Thrones throws that theory in the circular file.

The greatest version of the Arthur myth already exists in film, and no one is ever going to top it. I speak now of John Boorman’s 1981 film Excalibur. Why is Excalibur so amazing? Well, instead of stretching one tiny portion of the legend over two and half hours, Excalibur gives you the whole story — Arthur’s birth to his death — in the same running time. It’s filled with awesome performances from “before they were famous” actors like Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, and a badass Helen Mirren. What’s not to love?

On top of all that, the titular sword was the coolest on-screen version of Excalibur yet put to film. Now Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame — not to mention all his previous work as a special effects designer/fabricator — has posted another “One Day Build” to show fans how to make an exact replica of the sword from the classic ’80s film. Savage is such a huge Excalibur fanboy, he even went to Comic-Con in San Diego incognito as that film’s version of Arthur, with sword and full armor.

You can check out the entire half-hour video down above, and learn how to create the perfect accessory to the ultimate King Arthur cosplay.

 

What do you think of Adam Savage’s amazing recreation? And are you now inspired to do the same? Let us know in the comments.

Images: Warner Brothers

Nerdist Podcast: Jane Lynch

Last Sunday night on AMC’s Talking with Chris Hardwick, our illustrious founder, Chris Hardwick, played host to a three-time Emmy winner and the former star of Glee: Jane Lynch! Jane’s got a ridiculously long list of previous credits, including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, For Your Consideration, Wreck-It Ralph, The X-Files, Desperate Housewives, Friends, Arrested Development, Two and a Half Men, Veronica Mars, Weeds, Gilmore Girls, and Psych.

In today’s special episode of the Nerdist podcast, we’re sharing the extended and extended conversation between Chris and Jane, including the origin story of their friendship from Jane’s gig as the host of Hollywood Game Night. Speaking of origin stories, Jane looks way back at the early days of her career with Second City in the late ’80s and her original ambitions as an actor. She and Chris also discussed the difference between stand up comedians and improv players.

Jane goes even further by sharing her experience in high school, how she hid her sexuality at the time, how she told her parents, and how she became comfortable with herself after working in theater. Additionally, Jane offers advice for young people who are searching for their own sexual identity.

After Jane shared the story of how she  was cast by Christopher Guest in Best in Show, Chris inevitably shared the tale of his disastrous encounter with Guest. Additionally, Jane offers some very cool stories about hanging with Jennifer Coolidge and working with Meryl Streep, as well as what she would do if she wasn’t an actor.

Make sure to watch Talking with Chris Hardwick Sunday nights at 11pm on AMC or on amc.com/talking! The extended audio will premiere as a podcast here every Friday after a new episode makes its AMC debut. 

Figures and Speech: The Biggest TRANSFORMERS Decepticon Ever, Plus Kurt Russell’s Ego

Welcome to Figures & Speech, Nerdist’s regular column by, for, and about grown-ups who still play with their toys but might want to know more before they buy.

In the 1988 movie Big, 12 year-old Josh Baskin, embodied by a magically grown-up Tom Hanks, is famously confused by a transforming robot toy that becomes a skyscraper, proclaiming, “I don’t get it!” and proceeding to pitch the idea of a robot that transforms instead into a dinosaur. Adults in the movie and in the audience laughed at the obvious disconnect, while kids realized that two years prior, there actually had been a Transformer that became both a futuristic building AND a dinosaur. His name was Trypticon, and he recently beat out Omega Supreme and Skorponok in a fan poll to determine the next titan class figure to be revamped for the new Transformers line. Obviously, fans DO get this massive triple-changer, whose shipping was delayed to reviewers like myself because Hasbro didn’t have sufficiently big boxes on-hand. At 20 inches tall, he is now the largest Decepticon figure ever made.

Check out the image above for a comparison with the 6-inch Nova Marvel Legends figure.

I thought, given the triple-change, that he’d be super complicated. I was actually quite wrong. First of all, the assembly is super easy. Though I will note that if you’re a mint-in-box collector, there’s no way to display this guy visibly. Unlike some previous Titans, he does not come in a window box. But he is well packed.

The initial transformation to spaceship is simple: snap on the legs, fold down the wings, et voila, there you have it.

A word of warning–the wings only connect at the very front, by the “toes,” so you’ll want to hold them in tight if you plan to vroom-vroom around the room. But if you’re wondering if a figure can sit inside the cockpit…yes, they can. Just pull up the front end…

…and in you go! 6-inch figures work great.

To turn it into a city/base, you essentially have to pull out the legs and turn them into platforms. Then it becomes a bit of a ramp/car launcher.

While this works as a staging ground for Transformers, it can also serve as an action diorama piece for other figures.

For example: the brand new Ego action figure from Guardians of the Galaxy, who utilizes the revolutionary new face scanning print process…and has it turn him into a drunk uncle with a toupee.

Also, what’s up with the loose torso joint?

The details on Ego are nice, but the face scan might be too computer-reliant. Compare, for example, to a recent Mattel Gal Gadot head, and you tell me which looks better.

It’s a good start, but could use a human touch afterward.

Ego comes with two heads, and in a package with Star-Lord, who’s basically a repaint of this year’s GOTG series one Star-Lord, but with walkman and a lighter T-shirt.

Yes, his head is the Chris Pratt sculpt and not the ersatz Beck Bennett one. My review sample of Ego was provided by Entertainment Earth, who sell the two-pack for $39.99. But back to Trypticon…

Be careful in play, as even my patio caused some scuffing on the translucent parts.

He comes with a sheet of foil stickers and YEAH CRAP THERE ARE TOO MANY.

I tried. I did. But after deciding this wasn’t really an improvement, I stopped:

That top chamber, by the way, is his stomach. Which is where smaller figures land after he EATS THEM!

Right, I forgot to mention the dinosaur transformation. Super easy. The front spaceship end becomes a tail, the head comes out of the rear, and the arms pop out of the sides.

His purple chestplate is a separate Transformer named Full-Tilt, who’s basically a Christopher Nolan Batmobile in purple with a driver–Necro–who becomes the head in robot mode.

Not the most exciting Deluxe Class Decepticon ever, but he transforms easily enough.

I guess the big question is whether or not the figure is worth $150 to you. An extra feature that’s cool is all his little corridors and storage areas:

I’ve paid over $100 for a NECA 18-inch figure. This has some cooler features than that, and it has personality. If you want to buy it just to be a diorama, I’d say maybe not. If you want to buy an awesomely huge Trypticon, I’d say they did him pretty well.

Plus it’s pretty unimpeachable to say that robot dinosaurs are cool. They just are.

Images: Luke Y. Thompson