(December 31, 2002 -
January 1, 2003) 2002 YEAR-END REVIEW
In 2002, Paul Hunter took a break from directing videos to
concentrate on his upcoming movie Bulletproof Monk (starring Chow
Yun Fat, Seann William Scott & Jaime King). The movie was shot
from March to June of this year, in Toronto, Canada. I was
fortunate enough to get a visit to the Toronto set of the movie, and got
to meet Paul Hunter in person (click here
for more info). 2003 brings the release of the movie
(reportedly in April 2003).
(December 21, 2002)
AALIYAH CD COMES WITH BONUS VIDEO DVD
Aaliyah's
new album of new & old material, I Care 4 U,
was released in stores 2 weeks ago. Packaged along with the CD is
a bonus DVD which contains 9 music videos as well as a animated promo
clip & behind-the-scenes feature. This is the first and only
collection of Aaliyah's videos that has been released to the
public. The Paul Hunter-shot videos for One In A Million
& We Need A Resolution are included in the disc.
The behind-the-scenes feature includes interviews with Aaliyah and
behind-the-scenes footage from the Paul Hunter-directed We Need A
Resolution video. The bonus DVD is only available with initial
shipments of the Aaliyah CD, and is available all across the U.S. &
Canada.
(November 23, 2002)
BULLETPROOF MONK SITE OPENS; TRAILER ONLINE
A small 2mb Quicktime format trailer for Bulletproof Monk was
posted on the apple.com
website late last night (Friday). Earlier today (Saturday), the
official BulletproofMonk.com
website launched. The site contains links to the apple.com trailer
as well as links to the trailer in Windows Media format; a synopsis of the
film, and 5 production stills from the movie.
click here to view the trailer at apple.com
Visit the Bulletproof Monk section
for screen caps from the online trailer
(November 22, 2002)
BULLETPROOF MONK TRAILER PREMIERES WITH 007
The first trailer for the Paul Hunter-directed Bulletproof Monk
(and first-ever footage of the movie released to the general public) has
premiered tonight, showing in cinemas across North America during
previews of the new 007 movie Die Another Day. (Both movies
are released by MGM Studios).
(I'm not 100% sure that the BPM trailer is attached to ALL showings
of 007, but I'm pretty sure it is attached to most)
As of Friday night, the trailer has not
made it online, but I expect it to be available at apple.com
by early next week. Hopefully the official movie website will also open
in the coming weeks.
click
Bulletproof Monk News for more info on the trailer
(October 22, 2002)
***FIRST TEST
SCREENING REVIEWS OF BULLETPROOF MONK***
Ain't-It-Cool-News
has posted reviews from the first test-screening of Bulletproof Monk
which were held this past Saturday night. The participants who
attended the screening were told they would be watching a movie called
Silver Bullet, which in fact turned out to be the first official
test-screening of Bulletproof Monk! Note that a "test
screening" is not the final cut from the movie. It is merely
a rough cut of the movie to see how the audience reacts to it. The
music, special effects, and editing are not completed in this version.
The reviews posted on the movie site provide extensive scene-by-scene
descriptions of the movie, including major plot spoilers and character
descriptions. Among the three reviews, the first one (which was
the most extensive review) was pretty negative, citing problems with the
movie's storyline, special effects, and action sequences. However,
the reviewer admits that this WAS a rough cut of the film (ie:
incomplete special effects & editing), and says that the movie has
potential. He also makes some suggestions on how it could be
better. The second and third reviews were more positive.
Rather than repeating points from the reviews here, click on the
following link to read the reviews for yourself.
PLEASE NOTE: THE FOLLOWING REVIEWS CONTAIN MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS!!!
click
here to read reviews from the first test screening of Bulletproof Monk
(thanks to Roderick T. for the info)
(October 1, 2002) IMAGE: ON SET OF
BULLETPROOF MONK
Chinese online news-site AppleDaily
has posted on-set images of Bulletproof Monk, including the
following one of Chow Yun-Fat & director Paul Hunter. (click
here to view more images from Bulletproof Monk)
(September 30, 2002) CORRECTION: CHRISTINA
AGUILERA VIDEO NOT DIRECTED BY PAUL HUNTER
The new Christina Aguilera video Dirrty premiered last Friday
and contrary to what was posted on the Official Christina Aguilera
Website, the video was NOT directed by Paul Hunter. The video
ended up being shot by David LaChapelle.
(thanks to Cihan for the info)
(September 24, 2002) CHRISTINA AGUILERA
VIDEO TO PREMIERE ON MAKING THE VIDEO
The Paul Hunter-directed video for the new Christina Aguilera
video Dirrty will premiere at the end of the month on Making
The Video. The video will premiere on September 30 at 10:30pm
on the MTV show.
(thanks to Jay for the info)
(August 30, 2002) DR. PEPPER COMMERCIALS
We reported last month that Paul Hunter is getting back to directing
videos & commercials after completing filming Bulletproof Monk,
and was getting ready to shoot commercials for Dr. Pepper. Shots.net
reported on Wednesday that "Hunter will shortly be shooting a
job for Dr. Pepper in New York."
(August 8, 2002) UPCOMING: CHRISTINA
AGUILERA VIDEO
Paul Hunter is getting back to what he does best... videos.
News was posted this past Monday on the Official
Christina Aguilera Website that Paul Hunter will shoot the video for
the Dirrty, the lead single off Christina Aguilera's
upcoming (not-yet-titled) sophmore album (Billboard.com
lists the track as Let's Get Dirty). The video, which will
also feature Redman (who guest-raps on the track), is scheduled
to be shot later this month in Los Angeles. Expect the video to
premiere sometime in mid-September.
(July 22, 2002) DR. PEPPER COMMERCIALS
Weeks after completing filming of his first movie Bulletproof
Monk in Toronto, Paul Hunter is back in the U.S. editing the film
for a possible early 2003 release. Word has it that he is also
working on a new television commercial campaign for Dr. Pepper.
(June 25, 2002) MTV VMA 2002
It's around the time of the year when the nominations for the annual
MTV Video Music Awards are announced. The nominations are
usually announced every summer in mid-July. MTV has recently
opened its MTV
VMA 2002 section with listings of all eligible videos according
to genre (ie: Rock, Hip-Hop, R&B, etc.). Due to Paul Hunter
branching out into more commercial work and filming Bulletproof Monk in
the past 12 months, he has only 1 video that is eligible for this year's
awards: Michael Jackson's You Rock My World. Although the
video was a high-profile "come-back" video for MJ, and had
gained much attention, the video itself was not received well and did
not get much airplay after the initial hype. But who knows.....a
video by the "King of Pop" is certainly all it takes to get at
least one nomination... The awards are traditionally held on the 2nd
Thursday of September, but this year it will air on August 29 (so it
would not interfere with any 9/11 memorials in early September).
click here
to view list of eligible nominations for the 2002 MTV VMA's
(June 10, 2002) NIKE FREESTYLE COMMERCIAL
WINS AWARD FROM AICP
| *** MY SET VISIT ***
On June 3, the Association of
Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) unveiled the 11th edition of
The Art & Technique of the American Television Commercial,
their annual showcase of the best commercial spots of the year.
The Paul Hunter-directed Nike "Freestyle" commercial
was the big winner of the night, capturing awards in the categories
of advertising excellence, editing and sound design.
I was fortunate enough to visit the
Toronto set of Paul Hunter's Bulletproof Monk a few weeks ago.
Filming of the movie was completed this past week. Read my set
report at the Bulletproof Monk section
(news).
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