FIRST LOOK: Johnny Depp As Tonto And Armie Hammer As The Lone Ranger

Gael Garcia Bernal Is Zorro Reborn, A Director Is In Talks

Variety reports that 20th Century Fox is in talks with Ricardo de Montreuil to direct Zorro Reborn. The project places the classic swashbuckling vigilante in futuristic setting. Currently the studio has set actor Gael Garcia Bernal in the role of Zorro with a script from Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy. Ricardo hasn't made a feature film but got a lot of exposure when his sci-fi short The Raven made the rounds online recently.

Jake Gyllenhaal Replaces Dominic Cooper In Motor City

Variety reports that Jake Gyllenhaal (Source Code, End of Watch) is in negotiations to replace Dominic Cooper as the lead in Motor City. The thriller from Albert Hughes (From Hell, Dead Presidents, Book of Eli) focuses on an ex-con who hunts down the man that framed him and stole the love of his life. Gary Oldman is set to play the villain and Amber Heard (Pineapple Express, Drive Angry) will play the female lead of the film.

UPDATE: Multiple sources are revealing that Gyllenhaal has backed out of talks. So it's looks like the project has lost it's second lead.

Chemical Brothers To Score Now You See Me

ThePlaylist is reporting that the British electronic duo The Chemical Brothers will be creating the score for Louis Leterrier's (Incredible Hulk, Clash of The Titans) Now You See Me. The film focuses on a group of illusionists who are playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the FBI as they pull heists during their magic shows. It stars Mark Ruffalo (Avengers), Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network), Morgan Freeman (RED, Dark Knight Rises), Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers), Melanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds, Beginners), Woody Harrelson (Zombieland), Dave Franco (21 Jump Street) and Common (American Gangster, Wanted).

Most recently the group provided the song Don't Think for Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan which was used in the club scene. This lead to them getting hired by Joe Wright to create the entire score for Hanna which was a highlight soundtrack of 2011. It will be interesting to see if they're able to recreate the intense ambience they were able to with Hanna.

Cinematographer Wally Pfister Will Make Directing Debut

Deadline reports that post Dark Knight Rises cinematographer Wall Pfister will make his directing debut with Alcon Entertainment. The production company aligned with Warner Bros. worked with Wally on Christopher Nolan's Insomnia. It's unknown the plot, title and genre of the project but considering his eye for detail it will be one project to watch out for. Wally has previously worked as a cinematographer on films that include Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige, Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rise, Moneyball and Inception which earned him an Oscar. I would assume that Nolan has been teaching Wally the ropes during their time together as a team.

Chronicle's Josh Trank Could Direct Venom For Sony

24Frames reports that Sony is in talks with Chronicle director Josh Trank to replace Gary Ross (Hunger Games) on their Spider-Man spin-off Venom. It had been originally setup with Ross set to direct along with a script from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland, Deadpool). However, there were many rewrites and Gary eventually dropped out to focus on the Hanger Games franchise at Lionsgate. Josh was rumored to be in the mix for Fox's Fantastic Four reboot. He would later deny the rumors a couple of times. It's unknown if this is just wishful thinking but Trank is likely getting a bunch of offers.

At one point the studio's plan was to have a completely reboot of Venom, ignoring the events of Spider-Man 3. Perhaps, making this an Ultimate version of Venom to compliant Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man. There also had been talk of darker toned film than any of the Spider-Man films. It makes sense considering the anti-hero does end up becoming a hero of sorts even if he seriously hurts and kills the people who cross his path. Topher Grace won't be returning as the studio would be looking to find a new Eddie Brock. I personally think that Liam Hemsworth or someone of his size would make a good Brock.

Olivia Williams Joins The Seventh Son

Deadline reports that British actress Olivia Williams has joined The Seventh Son. Olivia is best know for her roles in Wes Anderson's Rushmore and more recently in Roman Polanski's Ghost Writer. It will be interesting to see if she'll end up playing a villain in the film. The rest of the cast includes a decent mix of vets and newbies with Ben Barnes, Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Antje Traue (Man of Steel) and Alicia Vikander. The film is aiming for a February 15th 2013 release date.

Fares Fares Joins Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty

Everyone involved with Safe House seems to be scoring some prime gigs recently. THR reports Fares Fares best known for roles in the previously mentioned film has landed a high profiled part in Kathryn Bigelow's (Hurt Locker) Zero Dark Thirty, formerly known as Kill Bin Laden. It's been stated while his role is unknown he'll be playing one of the "good guys". While he did play an excellent antagonist in Safe House he was definitely playing a military man.

The growing cast is littered with well known and soon to be well known actors. It includes Jason Clarke (Brotherhood, Public Enemies, Wettest County), Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Animal Kingdom), Jessica Chastain (The Help, The Debt), Mark Strong (RockNRolla), Edgar Ramirez (Domino, Carlos), Kyle Chandler (Argo, King Kong), Jennifer Ehle (Contagion), Harold Perrineau (28 Weeks Later), Chris Pratt (Moneyball), Nina Arianda (Win Win, Midnight In Paris) and Nash Edgerton (Attack of The Clones, Revenge of The Sith).

Joel Kinnaman Is Officially The New Robocop!

Deadline has confirmation that Joel Kinnaman will be the new Alex Murphy in MGM's Robocop remake. Kinnaman is quickly becoming a rather well known for picking great projects starring in AMC's series The Killing, leading Swedish crime thrillers Snabba Cash 1-2 along with supporting roles in hit films like Safe House and Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Joel had previously been up for roles at two different Warner Bros' projects which included Arthur And Lancelot and The Man From Uncle. The new take on Old Detroit's finest robot will come from Elite Squad 1-2 director Jose Padilha.

Variety's Jeff Snider also added that the studio had been looking at other actors for the role as well. Those  names included everyones go-to-guy Michael Fassbender, Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) and Eminem since the studio was working him on the boxing film South Paw. Oddly, there also had been rumblings from Jeff that Russell Crowe was in mix but Crowe himself took to Twitter to shut down the rumor.

First Official Stills Of Cobie Smulders In Avengers As Maria Hill

Marvel Films The Venture Bros. Creators Should Make

At the tail end of last year there was yet another call to Marvel from Venture Bros. creators Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick to allow them to be apart of the Doctor Strange film. It sounded they were more disappointed than anything else. They weren't even contacted considering their cartoon series is a giant homage to the characters of Marvel comics. One hero being a direct wink to Strange himself with Dr. Orpheus. While it looks like their involvement is looking unlikely I have a few other Marvel Studios films they could be perfect for as writers.

IRON FIST: Similar to Doctor Strange, the origin of Iron Fist takes place in a world of mystical mysticism and the occult. There could also be noir elements of classic heroes like the Phantom or the Shadow mixed in as well. It would do the film justice if it took cues from the Immortal Iron Fist including both Daniel Rand and Orson Randall. My take is that it could be a kung-fu version of Highlander if done properly. Spanning a bunch of different time periods would also be a great way to separate the character from Strange.

Originally Ray Park (G.I. Joe 1-2, X-Men) was set for lead with John Turman (Fantastic Four 2, Hulk) handling the script and Kirk Wong (The Big Hit) was set to direct. Wong left the project and Steve Carr (Next Friday, Daddy Daycare) was brought in, luckily the film was again put on hold and he exited. Currently,  Rich Wilkes is attached as the film's screenwriter but there is no word if the studio was happy with his script so far.

BLACK WIDOW: I assume after The Avengers hits theaters in May the studio is going to quickly gear up on the Black Widow spin-off. Marvel has Scarlett Johansson locked in the role and have previously mentioned a new film is in development back in 2010. At one point there was a Widow film setup at Lionsgate with David Hayter (Watchmen, X2) writing a script. He was expected to also direct but the film ultimately never happened. I would hope that while including some elements of the original script they'd be better off scrapping most of it.

Venture's Molotov Cocktease seems to have a slight edge to her that Widow has always been missing. It might be interesting to see the character in more of a hard boiled Bourne styled spy setting. The Venture guys have always written episodes with lots of classic Bond moments and as long as they go more grounded and less Austin Powers I think they could a great job here.

BLADE: Just last year Marvel regained the film rights to Blade from New Line Cinema and I assume all of the characters from Tomb of Dracula. The character rights includes Blade, Whistler, Hannibal King, Morbius The Living Vampire and Dracula's Daughter Lilith. Jefferson Twilight is obviously inspired by Blade and they seem like they could tackle the satirical nature of the world the Day Walker inhabits. In the first two films Stephen Norrington and Guillermo del Toro were able to balance the horror elements with some grounded actions scenes along with the satirical humor you would normally see in movies like Robocop and the original Total Recall. I know beyond a doubt with the reboot already in the works Hammer and Publick would be able to write the hell out of this. Not to mention that Blade has always been more geared to adults and they wouldn't be hindered by the amount of violence and raunchy humor they could include.

LEGION OF HORROR: The Legion of Horror has never been mentioned as a future film but with the rise of horror based action films and television shows it's likely that it will eventually come up at the studio. The lineup includes team leader Jack Russell (Werewolf By Night), Michael Morbius (The Living Vampire), Santana Hellstrom, N'Kantu (The Living Mummy), Dr. Ted Sallis (Man-Thing) and Manphibian. It could be interesting to see this group being an occult division of SHIELD becoming Marvel's answer to Hellboy's BPRD and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It would also leave the door open for Blade and Doctor Strange crossovers.

Bruce Willis To Star In Five Against The Bullet

Deadline reports that Bruce Willis has taken a lead role in Five Against The Bullet. The action film from writer Alex Litvak (Predators, Three Musketeers) focuses on on a Mexican politician who, after his father is killed by a drug cartel, hires the five best bodyguards from around the world to protect him through a contentious election. Willis of course will play one of the bodyguards tasked on protecting the politician. Here's hoping that other action stars as well known as Bruce take on the rest of the bodyguard roles. Willis has a slew of action films on their way this year with The Cold Light of Day, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and Expendables 2. He's about to start production on A Good Day To Die Hard (Die Hard 5) and then RED 2.

Daniel Espinosa Could Direct Yakuza Film The Outsider, Fassbender Might Star

Variety is reporting some rather large updates on the development of Warner Bros' The Outsider. The WWII era action film takes place in Japan with the backdrop of the notorious Yakuza. They say the studio is in early talks with Swedish director Daniel Espinosa to helm the period action film. It movie focuses on a WWII POW, who is broken out by the Yakuza and forces him to work for the criminal syndicate. Andrew Baldwin will write the script and is also working with WB and director Nicolas Winding Refn on their remake of Logan's Run.

Espinosa burst onto the screen when his Swedish crime thriller Snabba Cash quickly became one of the coolest films of 2011. Cash is now heading towards a trilogy with the second film starring Joel Kinnaman expected to release sometime this year. He would eventually land his first Hollywood gig Safe House directing Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in the CIA thriller that ended up with #1 spot.

Another interesting aspect is that the studio is looking at Michael Fassbender for the lead role. Previously it was reported Leonardo DiCaprio was being eyed for the role but it looks like Warners is hedging their bets with other options. Fassbender has already lined up roles for the spring/summer with Ridley Scott's The Counselor going first than a supporting role in Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave. The Outsider would be excellent film for Michael as he can fire on sides here. I feel like this could be the next Eastern Promises mets Departed if done properly. Also, the move to hire a cast mostly made up of Japanese actors is the best way to go here. The studio distributed the hard boiled Yakuza film Outrage domestically and it would awesome to see those actors in Outsider as well.

Sony Making Bloodshot Without Matthew Vaughn?

We haven't heard much in the development of the Bloodshot film since it was announced that Matthew Vaughn and writing partner Jane Goldman (Woman In Black) were going to put together a live-action film based on the comic book. It looks like the two have left the project as HeatVision reports Sony and producer Neal H. Mortiz have bought a pitch from writer Jeff Wadlow. A director isn't named but since Wadlow has directed a few films I wouldn't count him out.


Bloodshot entered the Valiant universe as mob killer Angelo Mortalli, who enters a witness protection program and then becomes part of a secret experiment to create the ultimate killing machine. His memories are erased and he is injected with microscopic computers called nanites. As he tries to rediscover who he was, he battles both the mob and the police.

Vaughn and Goldman seem to have passed on the project with this news. I assume for more creative and higher paying gigs. Mainly their own ventures and a sequel to X-Men First Class which Fox is quickly fast-tracking. Matthew currently has two other possible directorial projects in development which include The Secret Service and Superior both films based on Mark Millar comics. This said, there isn't confirmation that Vaughn has entirely left the movie entirely. The biggest red-flag in my opinion is that Vaughn isn't mentioned in the article and isn't named as a writer or producer.

Mortiz is gathering a very large resume of genre focused productions with films like Total Recall, I Am Legend, 21 Jump Street, Jack The Giant Killer, Fast Five, R.I.P.D. and the Highlander reboot. I feel like he very well could put some interesting talent behind this project it could end up being at the very least a fun popcorn film.

Fan Poster For Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives