Neil Young to release comic book
TORONTO (CP) - Outspoken musician and political activist Neil Young is putting his anti-war and environmental convictions into a graphic novel.
The book will be an adaptation of Young's 2003 disc "Greendale," a 10-song concept album that was turned into a film of the same name in 2003 and also spawned an art book and multi-media tour.
The legendary artist, renowned for his strong anti-George W. Bush sentiments, has made it clear that the project will be just as biting politically as the rest of his artistic catalogue, said writer and collaborator Joshua Dysart.
Dysart, who describes his own political leanings as "left of Lenin," says the graphic novel's theme is decidedly anti-war and pro-planet. The story is set in the fictional town of Greendale on the eve of the Iraq invasion in 2003.
"It's just sort of a smorgasbord of the political reality of that moment of 2003 when we went into Iraq," Dysart said Thursday in a telephone interview from his home Los Angeles.
"Greendale is a fictional town but it's in northern California and the politics and concerns of northern California are going to be very prevalent and that's: anti-war, environmentalism and the raping of the California resources by major corporations in the pocket of the Bush administration."
The novel has been two years in the making and will be published by the DC Comics subsidiary Vertigo. Dysart said he's only completed a sketch of the storyline so far and hopes the book could be completed next year.
The idea for the novel came from Young himself, he adds, but so far the Canadian rocker has taken a largely arms-length approach to directing the narrative.
Major elements, however, are drawn directly from his disc "Greendale," said Dysart, also behind an Avril Lavigne graphic novel released earlier this year called "Make Five Wishes."
Young's album "Greendale" told the story of a tragic event and its effects on three generations of an American family.
The graphic novel focuses on the story of Sun Green, a teenager and burgeoning activist whose life is changed when a mysterious stranger pays a visit to her small town.
It also places great significance on her family's unique ability to connect with nature, an aspect referred to only casually in the art book, said Dysart.
"I just clued into that because it hadn't been explored in other mediums and the last thing I wanted to do was just kind of regurgitate the storyline," Dysart explained.
A big challenge for Dysart will be just how to capture Young's unconventional persona.
"There is this sort of low-fi, loose E-string humming Americana rock-n-roll about that album and about a lot of his work," he notes.
"I want to find that (feeling) inside of our medium. And part of that is going to be what (artist) Sean (Murphy) brings to it, obviously. I think, for instance, the way he uses ink is going to very much have that sort of a strong intensity. He can be a splatterer when encouraged with his ink and I think that will help a lot."
Those who know the album well will likely recognize a few song lyrics Dysart hopes to insert into the text.
"I'm sure there will be many because there are some great storylines in there," he said. "I will probably be altering them so they do not rhyme. That's not really the kind of piece we're going for. It's not a music video on paper."
As for Young himself, Dysart was coy about whether the music great would make a cameo.
"In the film, a sort of a supernatural entity arrives in town who is like a white blues man, basically all dressed in a red suit and a red fedora and patent leather shoes," he says. "Now, that character is going to be in the piece and if that character looks strikingly similar to Neil Young, then I don't know what to say."
"Rush Hour 3" in driver's seat at theaters
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There's no statute of limitations on sequels, but "Rush Hour 3" will be pushing the envelope this week as it launches in North America six years after "Rush Hour 2."
Even so, the New Line Cinema buddy action flick starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan is in line to pick up the baton from Universal Pictures' "The Bourne Ultimatum," which dominated the previous weekend and should hold down the No. 2 spot this frame with a $30 million-plus haul.
By contrast, the weekend's other new wide arrivals aren't looking to hit any home runs as Paramount Pictures unveils its fantasy film "Stardust" and Sony Pictures rolls out the family sequel "Daddy Day Camp."
Still, it should make for another upbeat weekend for Hollywood compared with the same frame a year ago, when Sony's comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" led the field for a second weekend with sales of $22.1 million.
Despite the wait between "Rush Hour" films, the key creative components of the fast-talking action franchise have reunited: Brett Ratner is again at the helm, and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson, who penned the second installment, also is on board as Tucker and Chan this time around take their mismatched buddy routine to the streets of Paris.
The first "Rush Hour," released in 1998, opened to $33 million. Three years later, "Rush Hour 2" bowed to $67.4 million, a record for an August opening until "Ultimatum" grabbed $69.3 million last weekend.
One of the challenges that the $140 million-budgeted "Rush Hour 3" faces is that Tucker hasn't appeared onscreen since "Rush Hour 2." Expectations are that the movie could open somewhere in the $50 million-$60 million range, but given how many films have surprised the handicappers in recent weeks, it could break $60 million if it can gather enough support from younger males and black audiences.
"Stardust" is looking at more terrestrial returns. In a change of pace, British director Matthew Vaughn, who most recently shot the gangster drama "Layer Cake," has taken on the fantasy tale based on the novel by Neil Gaiman. Newcomer Charlie Cox plays a young man who goes in search of a fallen star, embodied by Claire Danes. Something of a modern-day "The Princess Bride," the film is courting fantasy fans as well as younger women and is expected to surface somewhere in the teen-million-dollar range.
"Daddy Day Camp" might be a sequel to 2003's "Daddy Day Care," but mostly in name only. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Paul Rae have taken over the roles that Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin played in the original -- that of the stay-at-home, pratfall-prone dads who open a day care center (in the new movie, they move on to a summer camp). Fred Savage of "The Wonder Years," now an established TV director, is making his feature directorial debut. But where the first film opened to $27.6 million and went on to gross $104.3 million domestically, this "Daddy," which opened Wednesday, likely will be relegated to the $5 million-$10 million range for the weekend.
Scialfa Album Beats Springsteen's To The Punch
Patti Scialfa admits the prospect of releasing her third solo album just in front of husband Bruce Springsteen's next project is "challenging."
"It's just the way it worked out," Scialfa, who releases "Play It As It Lays" on Sept. 4, tells Billboard.com. "When we came off 'The Seeger Sessions,' I had already started this record and had three or four things cut. I was dying to get back to work and I stared working and (Springsteen) started working ... and then we knew we were coming close together and he wanted me to be able to put mine out before his. When I was younger I would probably have wanted more room to myself, but at this point it doesn't matter."
What it has meant, Scialfa says, is that "it's been an exciting time at home because we're both pretty busy. It feels like a great, creative time. It just feels very positive."
As part of the E Street Band, of course, Scialfa appears on Springsteen's album, which is expected out in October, while Springsteen plays guitar and organ on four "Play It As It Lays" tracks, including the first single, "Town Called Heartbreak."
Scialfa wrote all 10 songs on the album, her first since 2004's "23rd Street Lullaby," and co-produced it with Steve Jordan and Ron Aiella. Besides Springsteen, players include E Streeters Nils Lofgren and Soozie Tyrell, as well as Jordan, bassist Willie Weeks and keyboardist Clifford Carter.
Scialfa has a number of TV appearances set for the week of the album's release, but she says her own concerts will have to wait until "maybe in the new year," during a break from a Springsteen tour that's expected to be announced shortly.
She said his new songs "are going to be a lot of fun to play live," but she plans to carve out time to give her material a live airing, too.
"I went out with '23rd Street Lullaby,' and I had so much fun," she says. "It was a really liberating experience for me. It's fun after working alone on a record to take it out there. I'd like to do that with this one, too."