Midnight Meat Train Set Visit

Every once in a while you hear the idea for a movie and just say "Holy crap yeah! I'd see that!". Some of these movies work out... some don't. But when you hear "A movie of Werewolves vs. Vampires" or "A movie about The Transformers" or "A movie based on that Frank Miller graphic Novel 300" you get at least a little excited initially. Well how about this one... "A movie with Vinnie Jones as a Subway Serial Killer... and it's going to be called "Midnight Meat Train" based on the Clive Barker story". Hell ya! Sign me up!

The movie is being directed by Ryuhei Kitamura (who also directed VERSUS) in his first North American film. The basic idea of the film reads like this:

Vinnie Jones, Brooke Shields, and Bradley Cooper in "The Midnight Meat Train". Joining the cast will be Leslie Bibb. All of whom will be directed by a director everybody should know, Ryuhei Kitumara (Versus). Jones will play a serial killer who stalks the subways looking for victims. Cooper plays a struggling photographer who decides that tracking down and capturing "the subway butcher" on film will improve his fortunes. Shields plays an art gallery owner who befriends the photog, and Bibb will play his girlfriend.

(John with Midnight Meat Train Director Ryuhei Kitamura)


So off I went the other day to hang out on the set of Midnight Meat Train. Let me just say I got a LOT more than I bargained for. I spent a bunch of time just being shown around, watching them shoot some scenes on the Train itself, looking over some top secret stuff from the film (Stuff that surprised the FUCK out of me... I couldn't believe they were showing me some of this stuff) and learning more about the film.

All I can tell you right now is 6 things:

1) I am legitimately crazy excited about seeing the finished product. It might suck total ass when it's done... but right now the concept, the stuff I've seen, and the direction Kitamura seems to be taking the movie is nothing short of ass kicking goodness. The images I saw had my jaw on the floor. The first thing I saw when I walked onto the set were roughly 20 corpse bodies laying on the floor that look so fricking real i thought they were actors for a split second.

2) I met Leslie Bibb on set. At first I didn't even recognize who she was when she introduced herself to me... because... and I'm not kidding... this woman is 3x more beautiful in person than in any movie she's been in. You think she was hot in Talladega Nights? Screw that... nothing compared to how attractive she is in person. She was looking at the Time Magazine article with me when we met... she laughed and offered to tattoo something on my ass to commemorate the occasion. In retrospect it was a mistake to turn the offer down.

(Midnight Meat Train star Leslie Bibb)

3) I walked through the "Train" with Kitamura and he was telling me about how at first he turned down the offer to do Meat Train because he hates it when Hollywood screws with remakes of either movies or classic books. After reading the script he changed his mind. He also talked to me about how surprised he was at how similar making movies in Japan is to making them here. But he and I filmed an interview and I'll just let him speak for himself when I put that up for you guys to see.

4) The Hammer of Thor has nothing on the hammer of Mahogany (Vinnie Jone's character). It feels sweet to wield it (see pic).

5) The blood... oh my sweet goodness the blood.

6) The Train itself was amazing. They built it (if I understand this right) on this little sound stage and the attention to detail was fantastic. Walking through the train honestly felt kind of eerie. It's almost as if the train is a character itself in the movie. Very cool stuff.

That's all I'll say for now. As I mentioned already... this film might end up sucking Vinnie Jones sized balls when it's all said and done. But for right now, I think it looks amazing and can't wait to see it. DAMN!!!!! I wish I could tell you guys more about some of the stuff they showed me... but I can't!!! Just wait... trust me... this thing is going to be cool.

This movie sounds awesome-tastic, can't wait to check it out. By the way, Kitamura also directed the first Azumi movie, definitely worth checking out.

dude, she was looking at your ass??? man, she is friggin' hawt! good to see you have different looks for the camera :)

Not to sound like a political correct douche but you might want to take down the third pick. It reminds me of a similar picture a psycho took of himself who killed some college students.

hey MKEG i was just thinking the same thing.

John,
The offer still stands to swap jobs. You're tired, and need a vaction. I'll take over for you.

MikeG said "

Not to sound like a political correct douche but you might want to take down the third pick. It reminds me of a similar picture a psycho took of himself who killed some college students."

Oh shit...

Damn, I'd hit that....talking about Bibb, not you John, although....
Also, leave the damn picture up.

Man I saw Versus not too long ago, and let me say what a fantastic fun movie it was. So I'm looking forward to seeing what this movie turns out like. I dig Vinnie Jones a lot as an actor and Bibb is totally HOT HOT HOT! It's awesome seeing you on set for this film!

Congrats on rummaging around the set! Sounds (or looks as text) like a real fun movie-go. Should we anticipate a future of you and movie sets?

I can't believe I haven't heard anything about this movie until now. Kitamura has been kind of hit and miss for me, although with arguably more hits than misses. Kitamura + Barker + Vinnie = very interesting

And on the subject of John's pose in the photo I'd say if you're drawing any parallels to anything it should be the original Oldboy shot.

i love Ryuhei Kitamura - Versus is quite simply the shit

i officially can't wait

John, you are jammy bastard

What a shockingly insensitive and vulgar pose to do after recent events. Poor form John. Poor form.

FinalJoe,

I don't think that is what John was thinking with the pose. And I doubt those families of the tragedy are surfing the net to see if someone is mimicking poses of famous movie murder scenes. The post clearly entails what the discussion is about. John owes no apologies.

This is a movie site, not a tribute site to horrible real life murdering cowards with brain dysfuctions.

I am sure that John didn't mean to be insensitive.

Awesome John. Uhh to the people saying the pose is vulgar, no. Seriously, that pose has been around WAY longer than since the killer struck it, and his isn't exactly the same. Calm down please. He isn't modeling his pose off of the killer at all man.

I can't beleive how stupid some people are. Holy shit, the Oldboy pose is classic, why should we let some fucking idiot who kills people take it? Shame on you guys who want to give that pose to the moron. Keep the picture up John, ignore people who want to find fault with anything they want to.

Looks like an interesting movie.

Side note: Anybody besides me think that this political correctness crap is getting out of hand? What's next? They going to change the name of the black crayon to african american? Free speech isn't going to be free much longer if this keeps up.

Ha. The oldboy picture cracks me up. Good One.

I remember seeing Versus at the Toronto Midnight Madness screening back in 2000 or so. The whole cast did a fight demo on the Uptown Theatre stage. Awesome!

But seriously, Kitamura needs a good editor, hopefully that will be so on this film, because it hasn't happened too much on his Japanese films (Versus and Alive being the worst two offenders!)

I dont know if this is the correct forum to post this is in but what in the hell happened to the Monday Roundtables? I like the live set up and all but I miss Bruxy and Darren and all of the antics. I realize that Campea is busy now but dont forget about the uncut listeners from the "ole days" of the audio edition!

John Campea! I envy you so much for going on the set. I'm a big Clive Barker fan and the Midnight Meat Train is one of my favourite short stories. To top it off, I really enjoy the work of Ryuhei Kitamura. They're ALWAYS a blast. I'm going nuts. Need to leave the computer.

The Monday roundtable didn't happen this week because of scheduling conflicts due (I believe) to John's new-found celebrity status in L.A. When John decides to come back we'll have the roundtables running without a hitch again. Previous roundtables were ditched because of technical issues involving Skype, bad sound-setup, or lack of high-quality internet access at the "Hooters" hotel in Vegas. Go figure.

There is a time for everything. Of course John can take the picture for his own personal collection, but posting it on a website so soon, when the events are still in the headlines, IS poor form.

A lot of people used to have a square short mustache too, but some guy named Hitler ruined it for everyone. Trench coats used to seem cool too and some kids at Columbine ruined those too. Trucker hats were cool for truckers until some guy named Ashton Kutcher ruined it for them. And now taking a photo of you holding a hammer like your about to bash someone's head it is ruined because of a Virginia Tech incident.......get it now?

To Mike G and Final Joe

I'm sorry gentlemen, but I personally think your reasoning here is quite off.

You're talking as if the Virginia Tech murderer killed people with a hammer, as if this picture somehow reflects how murders were committed. May I respectfully remind you the guy shot people, he didn't kill them with hammers.

The guy taking a picture of himself holding a hammer was totally unconnected to the murders.

By your logic, we would say that since he took a picture of himself at some point looking at a camera, means anyone who takes a picture of themselves looking at cameras is "poor form". Oh, and he wore a shirt in unrelated pictures too. Therefore now anyone who wears a shirt in a picture is showing "poor form".

I respect all opinons, but you trying to make an issue out of this is really quite disturbing.

I think some of you are way off. The pose is pure coincidence. Nothing more.

I actually thought of Hannibal Lecter in the cage scene from The Silence of the Lambs myself.

being a Clive barker fan I am very interested in seeing this film, However I do NOT worship at the altar of Kitamura like everyone else.

I have really liked a couple of his films but most I am not a big fan of. Azumi was very good, but I think Versus is very overrated. Alive was terrible and what he did to Godzilla: Final Wars was one of the biggest cinematic violations in film history. However I blame the producers for hiring him in the first place, he was the wrong director for that film.

Kitamura is great with visuals and style but not so much at storytelling or pacing. he seems to do his best directing someone else's story with strict producer and editorial control.

The films where he is given complete free reign over everything have not been good to me and just seem like complete messes.

There John goes again, hanging with the hot chicks. Lord, I can't wait to see him meet Jennifer Garner.....

Judging from John\'s \"physique\" though, I\'m thinking he would have trouble handling himself, let alone Jennifer Garner.

Am I the only one who thinks Jennifer Gardner looks like a Tranny?

Nord

Nord..Dead On..I just replaced my Tranny so I've seen it and agree to some extent!