Kenneth Branagh In Talks To Direct CINDERELLA, Cate Blanchett Still Attached

Vulture reports that Kenneth Branagh (Thor, Jack Ryan) is in talks with Disney to replace recently exited Cinderella director Mark Romanek. Ken recently finished production on his new Jack Ryan film which stars Chris Pine and himself as the villain. They also say that Cate Blachett is still attached for a role. The title role hasn't been locked in but Saoirse Ronan had been in the mix. Ronan had been cast as the lead in Snow White inspired The Order of The Seven until it got the axe.

Director Mark Romanek Exits Disney's CINDERELLA

A lot of folks saw this coming as Deadline reports Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go) has left Disney's live-action Cinderella film. He was set to direct and seemingly had a falling out over his dark vision for the fairytale movie. Romanek previously did a similar move when he exited The Wolfman over production/creative problems with Universal. Joe Johnston was brought in and try to salvage the project with little time to do so. Cinderella is currently in pre-production/casting phases so it's possible Disney can move on without too much issue. Cate Blanchett has been attached for the evil step-mother role.

Saoirse Ronan, Alicia Vikander And Gabriella Wilde In The Running For CINDERELLA

Variety reports on young actresses in the running for the title role in Mark Romanek's (Never Let Me Go) Cinderella from Disney. They include Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, Byzantium, Lovely Bones, Hanna, The Host), Swedish actress Alicia Vikander (Anna Karenina, A Royal Affair, The Seventh Son) and British actress Gabriella Wilde (Three Musketeers, Carrie). Ronan's Hanna co-star Cate Blanchett is in talks for the villain role of the evil stepmother.

Saoirse had been attached for Disney's Snow White film The Order of The Seven which was axed when Snow White And The Hunstman turned out to be successful. Oddly enough, Alicia had been in the mix for the Snow White role in Huntsman which ultimately went to Kristen Stewart. Wilde had been linked for testing for the female lead in Transformers 4, playing the daughter of Mark Wahlberg's character.

Cate Blanchett Could Play Evil Stepmother In CINDERELLA

TheWrap reports that Cate Blanchett (Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, Hanna) is in talks to play the evil stepmother in Disney's live-action Cinderella film. She would be the first actor attached to the project from director Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go). It's yet another film in the trend of fairy tales blockbusters. Previously, we seen Snow White, Alice In Wonderland, Red Riding Hood (not successful) along with upcoming adaptations of Hansel And Gretel, Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) and Oz, The Great And Powerful.

'THE WOLVERINE' Will Shoot On Location In Japan With Japanese Cast

Recently it was announced that production on The Wolverine will be heading to Sydney, Australia. It seemed like the Australia would be doubling the land of the rising run. The new film is based on the famous Japanese-saga where Logan discovers the samurai warrior code along with his signature fighting skills. Fox's Tom Rothman confirms to MTV that's not the case. As the expensive stage work will be done in Australia while location scenes will be filmed in Japan. Not to mention confirming the cast will include many Japanese actors. Not much is known about the character lineup but it's been confirmed that Silver Samurai and Viper will appear.

"It’s set in Japan. A great number of Japanese actors will be in it and it’s based on the very famous run of the comics… I can just tell you on behalf of [Jackman], his goal is to make the ultimate, bad ass, berserker rage Wolverine."

This makes sense considering how close the two countries are and seemly makes more sense than have stages in Canada or the states. Japan is a notoriously expensive country to shoot a movie so to have the entire production done there I'm sure isn't in the budget. Australia offers tax breaks and incentives to productions filmed in the country while Japan doesn't offer the same incentives to foreign projects.

First Poster For The Total Recall Remake

Mark Romanek's Cinderella Gets New Writer

HeatVision reports that "A Better Life" director Chris Weitz has been hired by Disney to add a write to the Cinderella script. The live-action adaptation already has a draft written by Aline Brosh McKenna (Devil Wears Prada) but seems like they needed a little more added to it. Currently Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go, One Hour Photo) is set to direct but if he sticks around till the end of the production is another matter.

A few years back Romanek butted heads with Universal over the production of the Wolfman which had Mark back out and had Joe Johnson stepping in without being involved very long with the pre-production. The film was ultimately hurt by Mark's exit and it's unknown if he'd be willing to allow another studio make creative changes to his vision. That being said Disney is on a roll with their fairy tale films with Oz, The Great And Powerful (Wizard of Oz), Snow And The Seven (Snow White) and Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) also on the horizon.

Fox Unleashes The Wolverine For July 2013

It's official HeatVision reports 20th Century Fox has set July 13th 2013 as the release date for The Wolverine. The stand alone film that features our favorite Canadian mutant is expected to go into production this spring/summer. James Mangold (3:10 To Yuma) directs the film with a script by Christopher McQuarrie (Usual Suspects) and Mark Romanek (Total Recall). The film is a priority at Fox which makes sense considering how well First Class and the indie Chronicle have performed. The film's villains are expected to be Silver Samurai, The Yakuza, Viper and the ninja clan The Hand.

Directors Out Of The Running For The Wolverine?

It looks like Fox has had quite a mess on their hands since Darren Aronofsky exited The Wolverine. The promising film written by Christopher McQuarrie (Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) and based on Frank Miller Japanese saga hasn't had much traction since. The studio still aimed at shooting on location in Japan seems to have been waiting to see how the recovery was going before proceeding with the production. Pausing the production date doesn't seem to be a problem but finding a new director however is. 

Recently it was reported that the studio had a list of hopeful directors that included Duncan Jones (rumored), Jose Padilha (Elite Squad 1-2, Robocop), Doug Liman (Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, All You Need Is Kill), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Brooklyn's Finest), Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go), Justin Lin (Fast Five, Highlander, Terminator 5), Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), James Mangold (Cop Land, Knight & Day, 3:10 To Yuma, Walk The Line) and Gary Shore.

Mark Romanek, Doug Liman and Antonie Fuqua have seemingly taken themselves out of the running.  Romanek states "That's just one of those stories that floated around. I was on their list, I received the script months ago. It didn't seem like my kind of thing...That script was a terrific version of that kind of thing, but not something I felt really passionate about." While Liman (Luna) and Fuqua (South Paw) are pursing other projects.

Jones had been the most promising name linked and confirmed meeting with the studio out of politeness. Jones has been trying to get money together for Mute and his Blade Runner homage. So it's likely he's been talking with major studios like Fox to get the films financed. Justin Lin is also linked for the film but has a three projects currently in development which includes Terminator 5, Fast Six and Highlander.So it looks like the only current directors in the running are Jose Padilha, Gavin O'Connor, James Mangold and Gary Shore.

8 Directors In The Running For The Wolverine

ShowBlitz is reporting that 20th Century Fox is circling eight directors for The Wolverine. It originally had Darren Aronofsky set to direct with a script by Christopher McQuarrie. The directors include Jose Padilha (Elite Squad 1-2, Robocop), Doug Liman (Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, All You Need Is Kill), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, Brooklyn's Finest), Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo, Never Let Me Go), Justin Lin (Fast Five, Highlander, Terminator 5), Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), James Mangold (Cop Land, Knight & Day, 3:10 To Yuma, Walk The Line) and Gary Shore.

My favorites of this group includes Mark Romanek, Jose Padilha, Gavin O'Connor, James Mangold and Antoine Fuqua. The likes of Lin and Liman sort of worries me as these two aren't strong visually and aren't as well liked as some of the other candidates. Even more so when compared to the likes of Aronofsky and the rumored Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code). I'd love to see Romanek take on a big genre film as he was originally set to make The Wolf Man before walking and forcing Universal to rush the project.