Ghost Rider

Synopsis

In order to save his dying father, young stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze (Nicholas Cage) sells his soul to Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) and sadly parts from the pure-hearted Roxanne Simpson (Eva Mendes), the love of his life. Years later, Johnny's path crosses again with Roxanne, now a reporter, and also with Mephistopheles, who offers to release Johnny's soul if Johnny becomes the fabled, fiery Ghost Rider, a supernatural agent of vengeance and justice. Mephistopheles charges Johnny with defeating the despicable Blackheart, Mephistopheles's nemesis and son, who plans to displace his father and create a new hell even more terrible than the old one.


Cast

Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Sam Elliott, Peter Fonda, Donal Logue, Matt Long, Raquel Alessi, Mathew Wilkinson, Joel Tobeck, Daniel Frederiksen.

Director: Mark Steven Johnson

Production

In May 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival, Marvel Studios announced an agreement with Crystal Sky Entertainment to film Ghost Rider with actor Jon Voight attached as a producer. Production was scheduled to start in early 2001 with a budget of $75 million, with actor Johnny Depp expressing interest in the lead role. The following August, Dimension Films joined Crystal Sky to co-finance the film, which would be written by David S. Goyer and directed by Stephen Norrington. In June 2001, actor Nicolas Cage entered talks to be cast into the lead role for Ghost Rider, and by July, had closed a deal with the studio. According to producer Steven Paul, Cage had found out about Depp being a possibility for the role and contacted the director to express his own interest, being an avid Ghost Rider fan. In the following August, Norrington abandoned the project due to a scheduling conflict, leaving to film the action flick Tick Tock starring Jennifer Lopez. Cage eventually left the project as well. By May 2002, the studio Columbia Pictures sought to acquire rights to the film in turnaround from Dimension Films following the success of Spider-Man. In April 2003, under Columbia Pictures, director Mark Steven Johnson took over the helm for Ghost Rider with Cage returning for the lead role. Both had been drawn by a script written by screenwriter Shane Salerno. Johnson, rewriting Salerno's script, was set to begin production of Ghost Rider in late 2003 or early 2004. With production delayed into October 2003, Cage took a temporary leave of absence to film The Weather Man. Ghost Rider production was slated to tentatively begin in May or June of 2004. Ghost Rider had again been delayed to begin in late 2004, but the lack of a workable script continued to delay production. In January 2005, actor Wes Bentley was cast as the villain Blackheart, having been introduced to Johnson by Colin Farrell, who had worked with the director in Daredevil. Actress Eva Mendes was also cast opposite Cage as the Ghost Rider's girlfriend. On February 14, 2005, Ghost Rider commenced filming in Australia at the Melbourne Docklands film studios. Then in March 2005, actor Peter Fonda was cast as the villain Mephistopheles. Johnson originally planned to film before an audience at the Telstra Dome, but instead opted to create a crowd using computer-generated imagery. The director also chose to film in the motorcycle district of Melbourne. By June 2005, principal photography had been completed for Ghost Rider, which was set for a summer 2006 release. In December 2005, musical composer Christopher Young was announced to score Ghost Rider. In addition, Spiderbait, a band that Johnson befriended during filming in Australia, will perform a track for the film. In April 2006, the cast and crew performed last-minute reshoots in Vancouver. Ghost Rider was originally scheduled to release on August 4, 2006, but the date was moved three weeks earlier to July 14, 2006. Sony changed the film's release date once more to February 16, 2007 to help relieve the studio's crowded 2006 calendar.

Character portrayal

Nicolas Cage molded his "hard drinking and smoking bad ass" character Johnny Blaze to have more depth. "I'm playing him more as someone who... made this deal and he's trying to avoid confronting it, anything he can do to keep it away from him." Cage also explained that Blaze's stunt riding was a form of escape and a way to keep him connected to his deceased father, who taught him to ride. Cage rode a Buell motorcycle for Blaze's stunt cycle, and a chopper named "Grace", which transforms into the "Hell Cycle", along with the character. The Hell Cycle's wheels, made of pure flames in the comics, were changed to be solid tires covered in flames in order to give the motorcycle more weight onscreen. To express emotion, Ghost Rider's skull flames were designed to change color, such as being toned down and blue when sad. The film's visual effects supervisor, Kevin Mack, and his team at Sony Imageworks handled the difficult task of creating computer-generated fire on a shot-by-shot basis. Ghost Rider's voice was manipulated by sound designer Dane Davis, who won an Academy Award for Sound Editing for The Matrix. Davis filtered Cage's line readings through three different kinds of animal growls that were played backwards and covered separate frequencies. Davis then amplified the dialogue through a mechanical volumizer. Director Johnson described the sound as a "deep, demonic, mechanical lion's roar".

Promotion

In May 2005, Sony Pictures launched the official website for Ghost Rider. In the following July, the studio presented a Ghost Rider panel at Comic-Con International and screened a teaser for the audience. The teaser, which did not have finalized footage of the film, eventually leaked online. In the same month, Majesco Entertainment Company announced its deal with Marvel to acquire worldwide rights to produce a video game based on Ghost Rider for the consoles PS2, PSP, and Xbox. In December 2005, the studio presented a first glimpse of Ghost Rider in a 10-second footage piece on the official site.

In April 2006, Sideshow Collectibles announced the sale of a Ghost Rider maquette based on the concept art of the film. The following May, domestic and international teaser trailers for Ghost Rider were launched at Apple.

Ghost Rider was commercially released in the United States on February 16, 2007. The film grossed $15.9 million on its opening day. On Rotten Tomatoes, Ghost Rider has 22% overall approval out of 58 reviews from critics and a 27% "Cream of the Crop" approval out of 11 reviews. On February 9, 2007, Marvel producer Avi Arad announced the development of Ghost Rider 2 at a press event.

Ghost Rider! The best comic book ever!

Are you interested in knowing some of the basics of what is the Ghost Rider movie is all about – well, the question is - what all would you do for your love? That is what the movie is all about! Mark Steven Johnson of Ghost Rider asks you – What can you sell for your love- your soul? Can you go through hell?

You can see it all in posters, Ghost rider trailers, ghost rider wallpapers, and of course not to forget the ghost rider comics! Grab the ghost rider comics at the nearest bookshop and get the most exciting ghost rider wallpapers for your room.

The story line leads with a superstar motorcycle stunt rider by the name of Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) who makes a deal with the bad man or the devil to safeguard people whom he loves the most. Among those are his father and his childhood sweetheart, Roxanne (Eva Mendes). Now, the devil has come for his due. By day, Johnny is a die-hard stunt rider... but at night, in the presence of evil, he becomes the Ghost Rider, a bounty hunter of rogue demons. Forced to do the devil's bidding, Johnny is determined to confront his fate and use his curse and powers to defend the innocent.

Based on the popular marvel comic – the movie Ghost Rider directed by Mark Steven Johnson was able to portray a handful of highly experienced bike riders. Do you know that these riders used identical motorcycles and riding gear to confuse Swedish police. The huge machine that Johnny Blaze ( Nicolas Cage ) is riding in the movie is unbelievably polished and ominous up close, with detailed weld-work and one-of-a-kind customization done carefully.

A secret was revealed on the sets of the movie – Joakim Karlsson who died during the Isle of Man TT races was one such ghost rider! However SWT has never been able to find out if this was true or not but since then many such kinds of Ghost rider news have been surfacing up.

In spite of the Ghost rider's reputation of being inevitable, there have been many accidents on the sets of the movie. The director Mark Steven Johnson was a little bit concerned this time because every film on ghost rider seems to be haunted! There have been car crashes, fire alarms, and even a car crashing while crossing the street in the first movie to being busted by cops, (although claimed by the Ghost Rider people that this is not true, there are film clips and witnesses to these incidents and the clip of the bust can easily be found on the internet).

Randell Rogfend is a father of three children who has had a long and fulfilling writing career. His passion is writing and he has contributed to countless newspapers, magazines and books.


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