Here’s a new feature. Or at least the attempt to start one up! There happens to be a lot going on in the comic book movie world right now, so we figured that the faithful who visit Multiversity on a regular basis might want some kind of update as to what’s going on in the rest of the world. Since we’re not traditionally a news posting site (yet), we figured a round up would be the best way to do it. So here you go, kids: a full round up of all the relevant and/or interesting comic book movie related items I could find. Some of it’s great, some of it’s awful, and all include some form of commentary from yours truly.
Enjoy!
Did you know that Tobey Maguire almost didn’t return to the Spider-Man film franchise? In an interview with the Boston Globe promoting his new film Brothers, Maguire said, “For me, it’s a big process to decide whether or not to do a role. … I have to wake up in the morning and feel like I can’t wait to get to work. I’ve got to feel OK about leaving my kids for 12 or 13 hours a day for five months. It’s a big commitment.” Of course, we all know that he went ahead and decided to come back to reprise the role, stating: “Hopefully I’ll be able to evolve the character in a new direction. He’ll still be Peter Parker, but I hope I can move him forward a bit and take him to a place where there will be new challenges for me as an actor.”
In other Marvel news, looks like us fanboys might get a Hawkeye in the upcoming films! Exciting! According to an interview with Empire, Jeremy Renner has talked to Kenneth Branagh about being Hawkeye both in a cameo role in Thor and a starring role in Avengers. It’s not official or anything, but he has definitely talked to Marvel about it. “If I was a betting man, I would bet that Hawkeye would probably show up in Thor, and then be in The Avengers,” he said. “But do I know for sure? I can’t say. But I’d love for that to happen. It’d be fun.” I personally have nothing against Renner, but as I look at him I don’t see Hawkeye. I’d actually prefer to see Ultimate Hawkeye appear in the movie rather than the normal 616 Hawkeye, if only because I feel the Ultimate Hawkeye would fit better in film. I can’t think of any replacement though, and I’m just happy to have Hawkeye be considered for the big screen.
Update: MTV’s Splash Page interviewed Renner during a red carpet premiere about his talks with Marvel about playing Hawkeye. If you’re interested in his prospects on the role, you can check that out here. He seems enthusiastic for the part, although he does call Hawkeye “Clive.” We can’t expect all our actors to be well versed in comic book lore, though, now can we?
Did you really want to see a second Ghost Rider film? While there are rumors for the sequel, Nic Cage knows nothing about it. In an exclusive interview over with our friends at MTV Splash Page, Nic Cage professes that he literally knows nothing about the new film or what it could contain. He also states he is afraid to say anything in case he “sets the internet ablaze.” So everyone excited for more Ghost Rider? Make your own things up!
You know that guy who is doing a kickass job at Marvel, but no one is talking about him enough? He goes by the name of Andy Diggle. You might know him from his work on a little title called Daredevil. Anyways, a long time ago he wrote a critically acclaimed series called The Losers, with artist Jock, and the film adaptation is finally coming around. In fact, the internet is all ablaze at the release of two new stills from the film! Check them out:
Continued below
And compare them with:
Thoughts? Looks pretty good to me! For more news on the film, check out this still as he talks about what an exhausting experience it has been. Sounds like it should be good.
Here’s something that the internet has been super aflame about: in a portion of his Cup O Joe feature at CBR, Joe Quesada hyped the crap out of Marvel’s next big venture – Thor. To quote,
“We are incredibly confident [about the movie]. And there isn’t much I could say to convince people beyond, “Look at these designs! Look at this script! Look at the moments in this story and tell me it won’t be a huge success.” But, that’s obviously something I can’t do, so the one thing I can say — and I’ve said as much to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige — is that people are going to go into this movie with a preconceived idea about what it will be. If you’re a comics fan, you’ll have a preconceived notion of what you’re going to get. If you’re a non-comics fan, you’ll have another notion of what the movie is all about. And what’s really amazing is that both groups will walk away going, “I’ve never seen anything like this before within the super hero genre.” It’s so cool, and I don’t want to use the word unusual, but it is unusual in the sense that it redefines what a super hero movie can be. It’s not the expected story or settings. That part of it is incredibly exciting to me.”
I have not read the script to Thor, but I read a tiny bit of it just because I was curious. I’ve gotta say – it is pretty epic. While I don’t think that this will necessarily redefine superhero comics as everyone is taking this to mean, I’ve gotta say I’m still pretty excited for Thor. The whole crew looks fantastic, and with Kenneth Branagh at the helm, what could really go wrong? The man does Shakespeare on a regular basis! Thor should be a cakewalk.
You know what we love at Multiversity Comics? Green Lantern. And Ryan Reynolds. Combine the two? Instantaneous nerdgasm. As we all get excited for the new movie, Slash Page talked a bit with Ryan about the upcoming film and what can we expect. “It is [an origin story] to a certain degree, but it’s not a labored origin story, where the movie [truly] begins in the third act,” he explained. “The movie starts when it starts. We find out Hal is the guy fairly early on, and the adventure begins.” He also said, “I think you walk away from this first film, and the moments that you remember and the moments that mean so much to you, not unlike ‘Iron Man,’ are the moments where the guy’s not in the suit.” So, while this particular nerd just wants to see a heap of space battles and non-human related events, I am still none the less excited for the film. Comparing it to Iron Man? That’s a lofty statement, but I’m willing to trust Mr. Reynolds.
Did you see and love Iron Man like the rest of us? Yeah, I thought you did! Here’s something neat – the cast and crew are HUGE Iron Man fans, to the point that Robert Downey Jr, star of the film, had a very involved part in working on the script. When Empire talked to Jon Favreau, director of the hit film and the sequel, he said, “Robert is a real partner in the process. He’s been very involved in the screenplay. When he went away to do Sherlock Holmes he was still part of our creative process. Even in the first film, where he was originally a hired gun playing the role, he really stepped up to rewrite scenes – he’s a great writer, too. So we really are sharing the responsibilities.” Looks like Iron Man could easily top the first film, seeing as how everyone involved really loves the project and the character. Although I should point out that the same could be said for The Incredible Hulk, Watchmen, and Wolverine, and the general public seemed to not care about any of those movies. Huh.
Oh, and did you see that amazing poster?
Sleek and simple, and with enough War Machine to bate all the fanboys. Sweet deal.
Ever hear of a guy named Josh MC? No? Too bad. You’ve probably seen his work. What a lot of people on the internet know him for is his creative imaginings of superheroes as they could appear in their upcoming films. The earlier image of Ryan Reynolds? That was him. And now, along with that, I present to you his imagining of Chris Hemsworth as Thor!
Not bad, right? I could see this happening pretty easily. Josh, you have my approval to go into the studio as the new costume designer.
Here’s something that will make Gil cry many tears. While Smallville probably isn’t going to leave us any time soon (note: I’ve only ever seen two episodes), I don’t think we’ll be seeing another Superman movie after Returns. This has been going on from quite sometime now, as legal issues between the heirs of Jerome Siegel and Warner Brothers put any new movie in indefinite hiatus. While legal mumbo jumbo has never been my strong suit (and, really, neither has Superman!), you can read more about the whole situation and what could or could not come from it over at /film. Personally, I’d love to see Mark Millar’s crazy Superman trilogy come to life, but I don’t count it.
In June, Robert Rodriguez optioned a graphic novel called The Insiders with Jessica Alba, of course with her in mind for the lead. Well, Rodriguez is too busy right now working on films like Sin City 2 and Predators, so someone else is going to have to direct. Someone like Mabrouk el Mechri, the director of indie-hit JCVD. Considering I haven’t read The Insiders or seen JCVD, I have no real comment on it, but comic-related news is news.
Hey, do you read Jonah Hex? I hear great things about it, but haven’t touched it myself. However, I’m still interested in seeing that film adaptation going on, so guess what? Not only is there a poster for it that has been recently released (and garnering little to no news for some reason), but a still has been posted of Josh Brolin as the title character. You get to see – …well, not much. It’s dark and ill-lit wherever Hex is standing, but you get the basic idea. Check out the new still and the poster below.
Warren Ellis has read the script to the film adaptation of his Wildstorm mini, Red. What did he think of it? “Not bad. Not the book, but not bad. Funny. Especially when you know the casting. Very tight piece of work. Talked to the producers last week. They’re all kind of giddy over the casting coups. Who wouldn’t want to see Helen Mirren with a sniper rifle?” Take that for what you will. He flat out states that it’s not the book, so already I’m put off a bit. I’ve always been of the opinion that when you have a straight graphic novel/trade, you can just follow the story without diverging from it. It’s like any book adaptation. So when he says not the book, I’m picturing Wanted in my head. Of course, artist of Red Cully Hamner had this to say in regards to the changes:
“I understand the fact that, when you translate a comic to a movie, there are going to be some things that are either not going to make the translation or are going to add to it and become more than what you did. And with a comic like this that was three issues long – I mean, we’re talking 66 pages – it has to be fleshed out a little bit. So I’m totally cool with that. I am looking forward to seeing it.”
So I suppose if the creators are fine with it, we should be do. Another note of contention though: when Ellis calls it funny, this could mean “comedy” or “so bad it’s amusing.” I won’t put words in his mouth or anything, but I won’t lie – I’m a bit confused to if he actually liked it. Of course, the movie stars the crazy cast of Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, and Brian Cox, so chances are you’ll still catch me seeing this one in theaters. As he said – Helen Mirren and a sniper rifle? Who DOESN’T want to see that? (Heck, we could re-title the movie The Queen 2: Queen Harder).
At the end of the second Fantastic Four movie, we got a brief teaser showing us that we might be seeing the Silver Surfer in a future film. We were also told time and time again that the reason the movie copped out on Galactus was because they wanted to put all that into a Silver Surfer movie. Keep the fans coming back for more, if you will. And who was going to be behind all of this? Fan-favorite J. Michael Straczynski! Well, in a recent interview, Straczynski stated that the movie is actually not dead necessarily. Of course, with Fantastic 4 facing a reboot, he really has no idea. “When FF2 didn’t do as well as hoped for, the script was set aside, but that has NOTHING to do with the Silver Surfer script that is NOW under development at Fox with other folks,” he added. “As far as I know, that is proceeding apace. So the hysteria that’s gripped the nets about ‘ohmygod the Surfer movie is dead!’ is not correct, as I was again referring to only that one specific script tied into FF2, NOT what’s being done now.” So we may get some kind of Silver Surfer feature film, but it won’t be a Straczynski piece. And that, all things considered, is pretty lame. Not that I really want a Surfer movie, but Straczynski is a great writer, and I’m sure he could have made this an interesting film. Of course, the last film he wrote was called Ninja Assassin, so who knows! (Note: I haven’t seen Ninja Assassin, but I can assume).
Did you plan on attending San Diego Comic-Con in 2010? Well, you might see me there now. Why? Well, supposedly a Grant Morrison biopic is going to be shown! Yeah, you read that right! Wired recently premiered a couple of clips from the film (directed by Patrick Meaney), and since I am a huge fan, I have of course copied and pasted them for your enjoyment.
I’ve never actually heard Grant Morrison speak, but I’ve read plenty of interviews. Can I just say that I believe this movie is worth seeing for his accent alone? I can? Ok. It’s much more thick than I imagined it would be. Aside from that odd commentary, his statement in the first video is really interesting. I’ve always found him to be fascinating, but I believe the commentary in the first video is really quite brilliant. Of course, the whole movie is awaiting Morrison’s approval, so whether or not it will appear at SDCC is unknown. Either way, this is definitely something I’ll be following.Continued below
Back to Iron Man. Here’s two bits of stuff you may or may not like. It’s kind of a grab bag. Item 1: Jeff Bridges recently did an interview with In Contention to promote his new film Crazy Hearts (which I’ve heard is essentially The Wrestler except starring a musician), and in regards to the making of Iron Man, Bridges stated that they literally had no script for the film. Here’s a direct quote from the article:
“They had no script, man,” Bridges exclaims. “They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn’t know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, ‘You got any ideas?’ Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on.”
Bridges, director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. would literally act out sequences during primitive rehearsals, Downey taking on Bridges’s role and vice versa, to find and essentially improvise their way to full scenes, the actor recounts. Bridges says that the entire production was probably saved by the improv prowess of the film’s director and star.
That’s pretty hilarious, don’t you think? I guess that’s one reason the film felt so amazingly organic.
On to number 2! Do you want to see some new stills from Iron Man 2? Of course you do! Check out new RDJ photos, Mickey Rourke getting ready to become Whiplash, and Scarlet Johansen as Black Widow.
I still wish someone other than Johansen was in this movie as Black Widow (preferably someone actually Russian… steal someone from the cast of Night Watch!), but none the less. Looks good to me.
Here’s something fun! Remember back in the day, when Patton Oswalt ripped into Watchmen complainers? Well, guess what! He’s not done! MTV Splash Page talked to him recently, and guess what he had to say:
“Once the movie comes out and you have a feeling about your experience, that’s fine. But I just got so, I guess, depressed,” said Oswalt. “I am a big comic book fan. Are we always going to be represented as the people that rip into things before they see them and are proud to criticize things that we don’t know anything about? Maybe ‘Watchmen’ sucked for some people, maybe it was great for some people, but you can’t sit there and pass judgment before the thing comes out. That’s so sad.”
“Even sports fans, which in a weird way are even more far gone than comic book fans, they don’t sit there and say, ‘Yeah, the Yankees are gonna suck this season. I haven’t seen them play a single game and I’ve decided they’re gonna suck,'” he explained. “Even they wouldn’t have that arrogance. So that’s all I was trying to point out. Have any opinion that you want. Don’t go off about it before you’ve seen it.”
So guess what? Patton Oswalt hates me. Fair enough.
Summit Entertainment, who you might remember from such AMAZING films as Twilight and New Moon, have optioned a new comic by the name of Alibi, published by Top Cow. The comic enters on a well-known socialite whose public presence establishes a perfect cover for the covert activity of his secret twin brother, a government assassin. The comic was created by Top Cow president and COO Matt Hawkins and Michael Renegar, written by Joshua Hale Fialkov and illustrated by Jeremy Haun. Of course, that’s about it. It was only ever one issue. So… good luck on that adaptation? Supposedly John Hlavin, who wrote for The Shield, is tapped to write it. Like I said – good luck!
Here’s something completely random. So random I won’t even write a full write-up on it. But, just so you know, Quentin Tarentino was offered Green Lantern apparently. Yeah. …could you imagine that? A whole movie of super heroes talking? Haha!
Oh, PS. Did you see that old Iron Man 2 poster? Wanna see a NEW Iron Man 2 poster? Well, ok. But only because you asked nicely.
How about something to make me vomit now? AICN has debuted the new Kick Ass poster featuring McLovin as Red Mist, and I still contend this movie is going to be absolutely terrible. Look for my script review. It’s all in there.
Either way. Haw haw.
