FIRST LOOK: 30 Minutes Or Less

Ricky Gervais Playing Mole In Wind In The Willows

Variety reports that Ricky Gervais will voice Mole in Weta's Wind In The Willows. I grew up on the books and the short lived stop-motion children show. I expect other big names will also be added to the lineup.

Stephen Sommers Not Returning For G.I. Joe: Revenge of Cobra

LATimes is reporting that director Stephen Sommers will not be returning to make G.I. Joe: Revenge of Cobra. It's not surprising since the stress Paramount got over the expensive experiment. There had been rumors/rumblings from studio insiders the film had been flagged as a disaster during edits. The film ended up a horrible mess but still earned $300 million worldwide even though critics/fan loathed it.

With Sommers' exit I doubt they would replace him with anyone that could do worse. Paramount has potential to make a very exciting sequel with a script written by Hollywood darlings Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland 1-2, Deadpool, Venom). I hope the studio reaches out to up and coming directors that could really develop this fun cartoony world into a solid franchise.

Ron Perlman Talks Hellboy 3

Hellboy actor Ron Perlman spoke with Examiner about his current and upcoming projects. While Perlman seems uncertain of his role (confirmed by del Toro) in Guillmero del Toro's At The Mountains of Madness he does speak enthusiastically about Hellboy 3. 

I hope there’s a third "Hellboy," simply because he always thought of it as a trilogy. And when he set up that [Liz Sherman, Hellboy’s love interest] is pregnant with twins at the end of "Hellboy 2," he kind of sketched out what the third "Hellboy" movie would look like. It’s so theatrical. It’s so epic. It’s so dark.

And also, we have to find out about the Hellboy destiny. It’s written in stone that he’s going to destroy mankind. That’s what he’s been brought to Earth to do. So the whole dialogue between nurture and nature gets to live itself out in the third "Hellboy" movie. But if there’s no third one, then the audience doesn’t get to see any of that.

Sam Rockwell Joins Cogan's Trade

Deadline reports that Sam Rockwell has joined Brad Pitt in Cogan's Trade. The two worked together on The Assassination of Jesse James with director Andrew Dominik. The site also disputes previous reports of Casey Affleck being confirmed for the film. Jackie Cogan (Pitt), a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that takes place during a high stakes poker game held under the protection of the mob.

George Clooney Attached For Monster of Florance

HeatVision reports that George Clooney is set to star in adaptation of The Monster of Florance which Fox 2000 has just acquired. The project which is being scripted by Christopher McQuarrie (Usual Suspects) and Nathan Alexander (Valkyrie) is based on a true story. Tom Cruise had shown interest in the movie back in 2008 when it was at United Artists.


Preston and Spezi's book is an investigation into the murderer (or murderers) known as Il Mostro, who killed more than a dozen people from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s without being caught. In the course of their digging, Preston, who had moved with his family to a villa in Florence, and Spezi, an Italian crime journalist, were themselves then investigated by the police.

Pitt & Casey Affleck Confirmed For Cogan's Trade

Scene Louisiana via (CinemaBlend) confirms that Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck will re-team with Assassination of Jesse James director Andrew Dominik for Cogan's Trade. The story centers on Jackie Cogan, a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that takes place during a high stakes poker game under protection of the mob. Others who are rumored to be interested in roles include Sam Rockwell, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Bill Murray, Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana. Australian actress Bella Heathcote (Now) is the only actress who has been cast in the film so far.

Gareth Edwards To Direct Godzilla For Legendary Pictures

HeatVision reports that Monsters writer/director Gareth Edwards is close to closing a deal with Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. to helm and co-write their reboot of Godzilla. Gareth Edwards gained praise for his film Monsters which he wrote and directed himself. He also worked on the film's special effects on his laptop.

Gemma Arterton To Play Gretel In Witch Hunters

HeatVision reports that Gemma Arterton has landed the role of Gretel in Tommy Wirkola's (Dead Snow) Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Arterton beat out other high profile actresses such as Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds), Eva Green (Casino Royale) and Noomi Rapace (Dragon Tattoo, Sherlock Holmes 2). The film is expected to start production in Berlin on March 7th so it seems that Wrath of The Titans won't start filming until that one is finished.

The R-rated horror action film will be produced by Will Farrell and Adam McKay (Step Brothers). It picks up with the fairy tale siblings years after the traumatic childhood incident has turned them into bounty hunters. Jeremy Renner has long been attached for the role of Hansel and he could end up shooting it between Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Avengers.

FANDOM: Fan Made Avengers Poster

I've been following the whole culture of fan made artwork and this new Avengers poster by The Mad Butcher is one of the best I've seen.

MOVIES I'M DYING TO SEE IN 2011: March

March starts to pick things up giving us more genre type films that look like they could be blockbusters.

Battle: Los Angeles is a film that could go either way while footage is impressive and comparisons to Aliens might be aiming too high.



Paul is just one of those films that has all the right ingredients great writing, director and actors. It doesn't hurt that it also mixes the road trip film with an offensive little alien. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and the voice of Seth Rogen look to give us a solid comedy for 2011. One of the only films of the genre I'm excited for.



Sucker Punch is my most anticipated film out of the bunch and if you've seen the trailer you know why there is so much hype for this one. While the film's plot seems fuzzy and it's an original concept from director Zack Snyder it still seems like it could be one of the most fun films of the year.

MOVIES I'M DYING TO SEE IN 2011: February

Like January, February is another slow month for my taste of movies. The comedy Cedar Rapids and Drive Angry 3D are the two that are on my list.

Cedar Rapids is the first solo outing for Hangover actor Ed Helms (The Office, Daily Show). I'm more interested to see if Ed will be the next big thing and this film will be the proving ground. It doesn't hurt that John C. Rielly is in the mix who is one of greatest comedians ever. It still keeps a familiar setting with office types but it seems to be funnier than most comedies that have been released in the last year or so.



Drive Angry 3D like the Mechanic is a balls out fun action film. This one mixing horror elements and even adding the 3D gimmick which seems a perfect fit for the content. Nicolas Cage is entertaining even in a horrible film and hopefully this could bring us more Big Daddy type epic-ness. 

Jodie Foster Joins Damon & Copley In Blomkamp's Elysium

Deadline reports that Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver, Panic Room) has joined Matt Damon and Sharlto Copely in Elysium. The science fiction horror film is the follow up to Neill Blomkamp's District 9 but has no connection to the previous film. Media Rights Capital is currently helping the director shop the secretive project to potential studios.

Has A New Actress Already Been Cast In Avengers?

The HollwoodReporter just came out with some interesting news that Marvel is looking to add another female character to The Avengers. While I've gone over what this role could be. There just might be an actress already locked in. During the casting process for Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America many high profiled actresses tested for the films and didn't end up roles. I assume Marvel Studios might have found actresses to fill roles in other films like Avengers.

Emily Blunt was originally hired for the role of Black Widow. She then had to leave as 20th Century Fox used their contract with the actress to cast her in Gulliver's Travels which conflicted with Iron Man 2. Blunt would later do testings for Captain America reportedly for Peggy Carter. Haley Atwell would eventually be cast in the role. Others who tested for Peggy included Kiera Knighley and Alice Eve. It's expected that Emily was looking for a role that would be continued in future films. Since the young Peggy would only be used in the first film.

After not getting the role in Captain America Alice landed the role of Emma Frost in X-Men First Class. After reading the script and noticing how small the part was she left. Later it was rumored that Eve had left First Class for Avengers the possible role included Sharon Carter, Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) and Enchantress.

For some reason Gemma Arterton went under my radar for being involved with both Iron Man 2 and Thor. She had been rumored to be considered for Black Widow and Jane Foster in Thor. The only problem is that she's beginning production on Wrath of The Titans soon and could also be involved with Ridley Scott's Alien Prequel. Gemma is better sounding than other ladies who also tested for Widow including Jessica Alba and Jessica Biel.

Now why didn't Marvel announce this person during the big Comic-Con promo? Well there could be a few reasons mainly that they never locked down which female role was going to join the lineup. Whedon hadn't completed the script at that point and was still gestating with the writer/director. Another reason is that they didn't have that actress fully committed to the project at the time. Lastly Marvel loves their secrets and surprises keeping news like this sort of close to their chests until production actually begins.

Ant-Man Rumor Roundup

 Ant-Man isn't Marvel Studio's highest priorty project as it's been in development for years now. Joe Cornish (Tintin, Attack On The Block) and Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of The Dead) have been working on the film's script but it's unknown when it could start production.

The assumption is that as soon as the script is done Marvel/Disney will see if they want to move forward with the project. There had been talk that Ant-Man could be the follow up film to Avengers in 2012. This is backed up by the shut down of Runaways which was expected to start shooting winter/spring 2011. It's also likely it was put on hold because of the resources and money needed for Avengers.

 Ant-Man writer and director Edgar Wright has come out and debunked the rumor of Alan Tudyk playing the lead role. He previously knocked down other rumors of Nathan Fillon which had him perplexed. Even Simon Pegg had to come out and flat out discredit his chances for a role.

There has also been talk of Pym having a cameo or bonus scene in Avengers. Over the summer Edgar killed any expectations of seeing his hero in Avengers by saying his introduction is an important part of his film and will be kept there.

" I talked to Kevin Feige about that a while back where we just discussed about whether he would be in The Avengers. The thing is, the script that I've written, you know, whether it's next or not I don't know, the chronology of it or the way it works wouldn't really fit in with what they do. And my film is very much an introduction to that character, and so it wasn't something where it felt right to introduce him in that film. Maybe if I do the solo Ant-Man film and maybe there's a later Avengers then they could draft him in later. But it didn't work with the kind of the angle that we were going to do with the origin that I'd written."

MY THOUGHTS

There are three major roles up for grabs which include Dr. Hank Pym, Scott Lang (2nd Ant-Man) and Janet van Dyne (Wasp). One of the actors who keeps coming up during Marvel casting is Chuck's Zachary Levi. He had to drop out of Thor where he would have played Fendral to focus on his TV show. Then was confident about his chances for a role in Captain America possibly playing the lead or his sidekick Bucky Barnes. His Fendral competitor Dominic Cooper did however land a role in Cap as Howard Stark.

Levi seems to have good relations with Marvel Studios and I think he would definitely be on Edgar's radar. So would Zachary make a good Ant-Man? Perhaps, but he seems more heroic than Pym should be and could be a better fit for Lang instead.

So who could play Pym? I still think Simon Pegg could be great in the role but seems way too busy with Star Trek 2 creeping up soon. Jason Schwartzman would be another excellent candidate and has a history with Wright along with a strong presence with audiences.

On the other hand Marvel could hire someone on the brink of becoming a big star. That person is Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons who is the soul of that show and is rising fast. If there was anyone who I can picture as the eccentric scientist it's definitely Parsons. I don't normally focus on TV actors but Jim and Zachary are exceptions to this.

Now comes Janet who eventually becomes The Wasp. My favorite for the role is Anna Kendrick this actress is beyond talented along with being able to keep up Edgar's fast-paced witty dialog. Perfect examples include her films Rocket Science, Up In The Air (Oscar Nominated role) and her scene stealing role in Wright's Scott Pilgrim. Kendrick is a perfect addition to the Marvel universe and I believe keeping the Ant-Man cast slightly younger would help it's success.

Do You Think Marvel Should Make Ant-Man Their Next Film?? Who Do You Want To Star In The Film?? Leave Your Comments!