Denzel Washinton is in talks to star in yet ANOTHER Tony Scott film. This one is Unstoppable, in which he’d play a train engineer trying to catch-up to and stop a runaway train carrying toxic chemicals. Although Crank is essentially Speed in a human body, this sounds like Crank on a train. [Screening Log]
In some more casting news, Matthew Macfayden will play The Sheriff of Nottingham in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. Although I said I liked the first pic, I think I liked the original idea of the film better, when The Sheriff was the good guy. [Filmonic]
Yesterday, we mentioned Robert Rodriguez will direct a reboot of the Predator franchise in the form of Predators. He had a chat with [Aint It Cool News] and answered a bunch of questions about the project. Turns out, he wrote a treatment for the film back in the 90′s.
Also yesterday, we mentioned Joseph Gordon-Levitt was joining a great cast for Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Today, we’re mentioning Michael Caine has also joined. [Flicks News]
Okay, I swear this is the last time I’m mentioning yesterday‘s post. We told you about the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer debuting April 29th in front of some screenings of the original Transformers. Well, now you can get tickets.
Gore Verbinski opted to direct BioShock instead of Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Haw-haw. Now BioShock in on hold due to budget concerns and may go the way of the Halo movie. I said, “Haw-haw.” [Kotaku]
That damn “Empire” is at it again, this time with multiple behind-the-scenes pics from James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar. I look forward to not being suprised at all when I get to pick up the magazine for myself next week. [Market Saw]
Finally, stay after the credits when you see X-Men Origins: Wolverine next week, as it apparently has mutiple endings afterward. [Sci Fi Scoop]
Have a great weekend, everybody. I hope your NFL team drafts the guy you want.
Welcome to a wonderful new week in film. We have a bunch of first looks for you today. I feel it’s a good way to get it going.
[The Movie Blog] has the first shot of Russell Crowe in Robin Hood garb from the set of the new Ridley Scott film. Although I don’t particularly like the guy as a person, he’s a great actor. He looks pretty hard in this pic. It should be sweet.
For those hyped about the new Star Trek film, you might be interested in checking out the virtual press conference what was held earlier today. Director J. J. Abrams and others were on hand to answer questions. It’s a pretty interesting concept. It looks like they used the graphics engine from “The Sims.” You’ll see what I’m talking about. [Star Trek XI Blog]
[Film Gecko] has the first clip from the animated film 9. You might remember the trailer from a few months ago with the dope Coheed and Cambria soundtrack. This thing looks crazy.
Channing Tatum is blowing up this year with roles in Fighting, Public Enemies and G.I. Joe, but he apparently regrets not being able to play Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. You may not have formed an opinion yet, unless you watched the bootleg version of that film, but do you regret him not being in it? I’m sure I’m happy with the current state. [Filmonic]
One of our most anticipated films of the year, Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones has its first two pics online thanks to [Ace Showbiz]. Ever want to see what heaven looks like outside of the 1998 Robin Williams film, What Dreams May Come? There are some words from Jackson about the project, as well.
Angels & Demons comes out in just a few weeks and Sony/Columbia has announced a third film in the series is on its way. Dan Brown, writer of two Robert Langdon-starring novels “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons,” just finished the third book in the series, titled “The Lost Symbol.” It will focus on the secret society of the Freemasons. The book is due to be released September 15, 2009. The movie, much later. I’m down. [Fused Film]
Just as we began, we end today’s news with another first film image. This time it’s the Peter Jackson-produced Neill Blomkamp-directed District 9, which has been soaring below the radar, but will be released toward the end of this sumer. [SciFi Cool]
So, while the plethora of yesterday’s April Fools jokes were primarily meaningless and pointless exercises in stupidity, there were a few that were funny (still pointless, mind you) and yet I’m still not entirely sure we are out of the dark yet. The latest movie news is below.
The full list of Transformers robots that will appear in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is officially made public. [USA Today] has the entire list.
More Megan Fox news drops as she is “a slender beauty with wings” in Passion Plays, opposite Mickey Rourke. [Risky Business Blog] Might this be the perfect woman opposite Mickey? How happy is he? I am sure he will do everything he can to get in her pants too.
[The One Ring] claims that there might be a third Hobbit film, meaning the original two planned by Del Toro need expansion. Not sure if this is a joke or not, but other sites have also reported on it, so we’ll leave the guesswork to you.
[Spike] has thoughts on Robert Patrick’s involvement in Terminator 5, which has already been green-lit. McG and T2‘s Patrick are tight but nothing is confirmed yet.
Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and Cillian Murphy join Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Leonardo DiCaprio is the lead in the sci-fi/psychological film. [Cinematical]
It’s a little older, but [IESB] breaks down a planned Vin Diesel The Chronicles of Riddick sequel. Pitch Black was pretty well done, but Riddick bombed hard, leaving Fast & Furious to prove Diesel still has clout.
[UGO] interviews Quantum of Solace Director Marc Forster to discuss that film, World War Z, and his other films and interests well.
The “Mount Rushmore of Forgettable Actors” is conceived at [MCN] and while I disagree with some of the names on the list, it is a mildly intriguing concept at least.
Since almost everybody knows about this by now, I went straight to the source [Variety] for the news that X-Men Origins: Wolverine has been leaked online. Check the torrent sites to see it early. But I don’t advocate that. I’ll tell you what’s up but leave the ethical/moral part to you.
“X-Men” was one of my favorite comics growing up. I made a ritual to see X-Men: The Animated Series every Saturday morning because it was so cool to finally see characters from the comics move and talk. Wolverine was always the stand out character for me and certainly for a lot of people. He had a no-nonsense, rebel, badass mentality that a lot of people liked. His character was reminiscent of the Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood) character from the Sergio Leone Dollars trilogy. One of the most interesting aspects of Wolverine (whose real name is Logan) is his origin, which is very long and complex. The one part that stands out most is how he received his “adamantium” bones, the metal claws that come out of his hands, which are easily the most identifiable part of his character.
"The least they could've done was blindfold us."
Hugh Jackman reprises his role as Logan a.k.a. Wolverine and it will be the fourth time he plays the part. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set about 20 years before the X-Men trilogy and it chronicles the early life of Wolverine’s beginnings as a child. Since Wolverine’s mutant power is to heal his body at an incredible rate, it also allowed him to stunt his aging process. Through this process, he was able to serve in major armed conflict, like World War II. During his time as a soldier, he served with his mutant half-brother, Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber). After the service, he falls in love with Kayla a.k.a. Silver Fox and decides to live a peaceful life with her. Logan’s life is shattered when Creed kills Silver Fox in a jealous rage. Logan, bent on revenge, joins a Canadian governmental project called Weapon X. While at the Weapon X facility, the head of the project, William Stryker (Danny Huston), offers Logan a chance to extract his vengeance by letting him experiment on him and become a member of a mutant group called Team X. Logan agrees and his bones are fused with a nearly indestructible metal, adamantium. Before the process takes place, he informs Stryker that he wants to be known as Wolverine. When Wolverine discovers Stryker’s intentions are just to exploit mutants for experiments, he escapes the facility. While on the run from the government, he must also find Creed a.k.a Sabretooth and get retribution for the death of Silver Fox.
The movie will feature other characters as well. One hero I’m finally glad to see is Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). He was one of my personal favorite X-Men and I can’t wait to see how he turns out. Other notable characters will be Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), The Blob (Kevin Durand), John Wraith (Will.i.am) and Emma Frost (Tahyna Tozzi).
Dude...Trim. Your. Nails!
Wolverine is directed by South African Gavin Hood, who directed the Oscar-winning Tsotsi (Best Foreign Film). David Benoiff, who adapted the novel “Kite Runner” for the screen, wrote the screenplay.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is definitely one of the more anticipated movies of the year and it promises to be pretty sweet.
I’ve written about this before and I’ll write it again. Wolverine is a sweet character. Second only to Batman in my eyes. I wasn’t really sold on Hugh Jackman portraying him at the beginning, but certainly he’s grown into the role. I expect good things out of this movie, even with the murmurs of re-shoots. Here’s a chance to catch more of a glimpse of what’s to come on May 1st.
Over the past three days, Fox has released a new TV spot for X-Men Origins: Wolverine that tell a slightly successive story. Although they’ve been released a day at a time, I figured it’d be better if all spots were posted at once. So, here they are.
First, there’s a slight promo just to get you charged up for what you’re about to see afterward. Enjoy!
Now, that you’re salivating for all things Wolverine, here’s the trilogy of TV spots:
That’s it! So, what’d you think? Did they whet your appetite further? Ready to see Logan run now?
