Film News: Partridge will return says Coogan, Clancy Brown talks Warcraft

STEVE COOGAN: "I DON'T WANT TO ABANDON ALAN PARTRIDGE"
Speaking to Digital Spy following his BAFTA win for Best Adapted Screenplay, Steve Coogan revealed that he is far from finished with his most recognisable character, veteran broadcaster Alan Partridge. After the success of the character's first big screen outing in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Coogan is keen to bring the character back to the small screen, he revealed.

Discussing his raft of new projects, which have arisen in part due to the success of Alpha Papa and in part due to his multi-award nominated film Philomena with Judi Dench, Coogan commented: "I don't want to abandon Alan Partridge. I just want to show I can do something else... I quite like the Alan Partridge pony - I like riding it occasionally. I'll do something else with Partridge, but I want to do other things. What gets me out of bed in the morning is to do something challenging that might fail."

Stopping short of actually revealing his plans for Partridge, Coogan discussed the back seat role he would be taking in upcoming productions for his company Baby Cow. The projects he has under development all contain "good, strong roles for women," he says, reminding the interviewer: "and I'm not a woman."

CLANCY BROWN TALKS STARSHIP TROOPERS, BUCKAROO BANZAI, AND WARCRAFT
He has one of the most recognisable faces and physiques in modern cinema - his breakthrough role, as Rawhide in lunatic science fiction comedy The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension, brought him to the attention of SF and fantasy directors, but it wasn't until his memorable turn as The Kurgan in 1986 sword-and-sorcery epic Highlander that he became an iconic figure in cult cinema, after chopping off Sean Connery's head.

Since then, he's had memorable roles in Starship Troopers, The Shawshank Redemption and various TV series, including a memorable turn as a preacher with occult powers, in the short-lived Carnivale. He had a recurring role in medical drama E.R. and has played the voice of Lex Luthor in several DC animated films and shows, He's also the voice of Mr. Krabs in Spongebob Squarepants, but it's his roles in Starship Troopers and Highlander that continue to define him for many fans.

This week, Brown gave an interview to Den of Geek, looking back over the three decades of his career. Speaking about his breakthrough role, Brown says: "Buckaroo Banzai was out there and I was quite young when that came along... It was so crazy and off the wall... it spoke to me. I was kind of along for the ride on that one. I was new to L.A., new to Hollywood, so that was one of the first ones I got cast in having moved here... it was something that maybe should have been made ten years later. I think it was a little ahead of its time and it was a great fun cast."

Addressing his iconic Highlander role, Brown reflects on the plethora of sub-standrad sequels and spin-offs which followed the 1986 film: "It was just a great idea, right? It looked like a franchise. It sort of became a franchise but a kind of ruined franchise, if you ask me. It could have been something much more powerful than it became but I loved the idea behind it."

Brown is also optimistic about the franchise possibilities of the Warcraft movie currently in development under the stewardship of Moon's Duncan Jones: "I've followed the couple of movies that he’s made," says Brown. "It’s an interesting franchise, an interesting thing. If they get it right, if they get the script right and choose the characters to centre the universe around correctly, I think it could be a long-running franchise. You know, it's like Han Solo, Darth Vader, Princess Leia. If they get that right then I think they could be making those for some time to come. We respect the source material and certainly Duncan makes sure of that, but we are also given the freedom to put our own spin on it. So it’s all going to work, I think. If Duncan’s as good as I think he is, and as good as he is, then it’ll be something when it comes out." Read the interview in full at Den of Geek.

TRAILERS: OCULUS, GOODBYE WORLD
Doctor Who's Karen Gillen stars in Oculus, a new horror film from writer/director Mike Flanagan (Absentia). A brother and sister must face the demons of their past as they confront the supernatural force of the Lasser Glass, a haunted mirror which resided in their childhood home. Reality begins to bend and break as the siblings uncover the terrifying history of the Lasser Glass. With top-notch ratings on Rotten Tomaties and elsewhere, this looks like Gillen's most promising big screen role so far. 

Goodbye World asks the question: what would happen if all our devices failed at once? As the 'Goodbye World' virus spreads by text message, a young couple and their daughter living off the grid in a remote location welcome old friends and strangers to their home to seek refuge from the world's crumbling infrastructure. But as new alliances are forged and the military arrive, could the world they are building be more dangerous than the one that is passing away? A smart, challenging near-future SF plot and a cast of talented unknowns make this look like a promising prospect for 2014.