In a super bizarre casting report from The Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx is reprising the role of Spider-Man villain Electro in the untitled Spider-Man 3 from Marvel Studios.
Foxx played the character is horrible received Spidey film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 the film’s poor reception led to the MCU reboot and casting of Tom Holland. He wouldn’t be the first actor from another incarnation of the Spider-Man franchise to return as J.K. Simmons has returned to play J. Jonah Jameson.
This would be the first casting for Spider-Man 3 reported by a trade.
Before Amazing Spider-Man 2 become a disaster of sorts there had been plans of a Sinister Six movie written and directed by Drew Goddard (The Martian, The Cabin In The Woods), there was an expectation that Jamie Foxx’s Electro would be part of that lineup alongside other characters that were being teased in that second Andrew Garfield film.
There is a chance that they might attempt to fully realize the Sinister Six or at least the MCU version of it. Michael Keaton’s Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming showed up in the Morbius trailer, which could help to establish that Jared Leto’s villain may crossover into the MCU.
Jon Watts is directing again and Tom Holland is set to reprise the Peter Parker role.
Sony Pictures bumped Spider-Man 3’s release date to December 17th, 2021.
Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed to Watch Time India that Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness, directed by Sam Raimi, will begin filming at the end of October or early November.
CUMERBATCH: “I’m in pre-production with the second Doctor Strange film, which is very exciting. We will start filming in late October or early November. And I’m in post-production with two films.”
That production start will likely depend how the United Kingdom tackles the second wave of COVID-19 over the next month as a nationwide shut down would directly impact productions like Doctor Strange 2 aka Stellar Vortex. Yesterday, the UK saw the largest single day for new cases at 7,100 and there could be measures to slow down the spread with a shut down.
Confirmed by myself it will shoot on the stages of Longcross Studios in Surrey, England.
The Ronin also recently confirmed that Logan cinematographer John Mathieson joined the film’s production team.
The Doctor Strange sequel will feature confirmed actors Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, Benedict Wong as Wong, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as villain Baron Karl Mordo. There is some strong evidence that America Chavez (aka Miss America) will appear in the comic book film as well, that character’s casting has yet to be announced officially by Marvel.
Marvel has set the film’s release date for March 25th, 2022.
Filming on Amazon’s new Lord of The Rings series finally kicked-off on Monday according to a report from Deadline and while most Tolkien fans like myself are eager to see what they’re cooking up it is starting to sound like the new series might not look as familiar as we had hoped.
There are some signs that Amazon could be going a slightly different route with how they want to tackle their version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth for the series and might deviate from the Peter Jackson trilogies.
One of the main issues for me is that while they’re filming in Auckland, New Zealand there haven’t been any grand announcements that either Weta Digitial or Weta Workshop would be returning to work on the series. This doesn’t mean they 100% aren’t helping out but you’d think they would want to make everyone aware of their involvement if they were and the longer they do not mention them the more likely they just aren’t working on it.
It’s worth noting that Stone Street Studios in Wellington has been busy with the Avatar sequels and could be a reason why they opted to shoot in Auckland instead.
However, Jason Smith is listed as the visual effects supervisor on a couple of episodes which is a little odd given that Smith came from ILM and could be another sign that Weta Digital is sitting this one out.
Smith previously working on Bumblebee, Transformers: The Last Knight, and Warcraft. The latter did have work from Weta Workshop so there is a glimmer of hope they have the sense to at least have them come back even if Weta Digital isn’t.
If they ultimately change from Weta Digital to ILM there is going to be a difference stylistically between the two groups of artists given you’ll likely have different people calling the creative shots as well that may want to do something new for Amazon.
However, another division at Amazon might give us some clues.
Here is a job description from Amazon Games Studios, specifically, for their upcoming Middle-Earth/Lord of The Rings game. The language here would outline that a Character Concept Artist would be aiming to create a “fresh” take on the world from the previous games and movies. We’ve been mostly in the dark about how Amazon ultimately plans to connect to the Peter Jackson films, if at all.
This position will work with the Art Director and the rest of the Concept team to build a visual library of the characters and creatures that inhabit Middle-Earth.
We’re seeking an art style for our game that is “different at a glance” from the games and movies that have come before us. We need an artist with bravery and artistic skills to help us do something new.
In this role you will have the huge responsibility of bringing a fresh interpretation to Tolkien’s work. You work will bridge between the vision of the Art Director and the implementation team of character artists, tech artists and animators.
If they are planning on a new look for the game, why wouldn’t they do the same for the series?
I’ve also heard some rumblings behind the scenes that they are indeed changing certain looks from how they were done in the Jackson films for the new series. We’ll have to see set photos, stills, concept artwork, or the final version of the series to make any real judgments on how different they have gone.
Taking place during The Second Age does give them some wiggle-room concerning trying new things, but there are also locations, characters, and creatures from Peter’s films that are expected to inhabit this era as well. The Dark Lord Sauron is a looming force during the entire Second Age and there are plenty of elves from the original films that are alive during this time too.
It remains to be seen if any of the original actors will be involved.
Despite unconfirmed rumors that his character Elrond would be in the upcoming series, film franchise actor Hugo Weaving recently stated to Variety he had zero intention of reprising the role again.
WEAVING: “Matrix might have happened. But Lord of the Rings, no, I would never — I’m not interested in that at all. Look, I loved being in New Zealand with all those great people, and it was like going back to a family but actually, to be honest, I think everyone had more than enough of it.”
“They have to be something really interesting, with a different twist to make me really keen to do it.”
“I’m not saying ‘no’ [to those kinds of tentpole films] because I’m sort of open to anything,” he says. “But I suppose my interests have always lay with this country and trying to find really interesting projects out here. That’s my primary focus.”
Amazon wanting to do their own thing would be certainly commendable from a creative standpoint but that seems like a huge risk given how large the Tolkien fandom has become and their expectations that the series will look like the live-action incarnations they have become familiar with.
We’ll have to wait and see if set photos reveal a drastic change between the Jackson trilogies and this new series.
Deadline reports that Canadian newcomer Iman Vellani has been hired by Marvel Studios to play the role of Kamala Khan in their Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.
Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager living in New Jersey, a Carol Danvers super-fan that discovers she has superpowers. In the comics she is part of The Inhumans and eventually joins the Young Avengers.
The show directors are said to include Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Meera Menon. Bisha K. Ali is also writing the series.
There had been rumblings that filming could begin as early as November in Atlanta. However, filming will be heavily reliant on where the United States and Georgia will be concerning the second wave of COVID-19.
The Ms. Marvel role will lead to Iman making the jump the movies and most likely will appear in stuff like Captain Marvel 2.
Deadline reports that a new series version of Conan The Barbarian based on the classic Robert E. Howard sword and sorcery hero is in development at Netflix. They also point out that Netflix can make new movies as well.
Netflix has put in development an epic live-action series based on Conan, the iconic sword-and-sorcery character created by writer Robert E. Howard, I have learned. I hear the project, from Fredrik Malmberg and Mark Wheeler’s Pathfinder Media, is the first in a deal between Netflix and Conan Properties International, owned by Malmberg’s Cabinet Entertainment. The pact gives Netflix the exclusive option to acquire rights to the Conan literary library and develop works across TV and film, both live-action and animated.
A feature film titled The Legend of Conan was in the works with Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising the role and later on a reboot series at Amazon had been in development before it was killed.
Schwarzenegger made the role famous in Conan The Barbarian and the sub-par sequel Conan The Destroyer. A series titled Conan The Adventurer starring Gladiator actor Ralf Möller had been made before Jason Momoa took a crack at the character in the 2011 remake of Conan The Barbarian.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN – Orphaned boy Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is enslaved after his village is destroyed by the forces of vicious necromancer Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), and is compelled to push “The Wheel of Pain” for many years. Once he reaches adulthood, Conan sets off across the prehistoric landscape of the Hyborian Age in search of the man who killed his family and stole his father’s sword. With beautiful warrior Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) and archer Subotai (Gerry Lopez), he faces a supernatural evil.
A Conan The Barbarian series would fit nicely among The Witcher series, a string of Polish fantasy novels that owe a lot to Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories. Netflix being the home of the series should allow all the sex and violence that the franchise is known for.
Yesterday, Karl Urban the star of the comic book series The Boys took to Instagram to announce that his Lord of The Rings co-star John Noble has taken a meaty role in Season 3 of The Boys. The pair were previously seen in the Best Picture Oscar-winner The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King.
The photo was seemingly taken in Toronto where the last two seasons of The Boys were shot and is expected to take place for Season 3 as well.
John is an Australian character actor known for the series Fringe, Elementary, and playing Denethor (Steward of Gondor) in Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings trilogy.
Supernatural’s Jensen Ackles also recently joined the show’s cast as Soldier Boy.
Collider is reporting that Zac Efron has landed the role of Andy McGee in Blumhouse’s remake of the sci-fi action thriller Firestarter based on the Stephen King novel. Andy is the father of Charlie a young girl with telekinesis powers that include the ability to create fire out of thin air. Keith Thomas will direct a script penned by Halloween Kills screenwriter Scott Teems.
Zac Efron’s Netflix series Down To Earth turned heads when the actor revealed his “dad bod” which has led to him now playing dad roles.
The original 1984 film starred Drew Barrymore as Charlie.
Firestarter was a huge influence on the Netflix series Stranger Things.
Universal Pictures hasn’t given the film a release date.
FIRESTARTER – As youths, Andy McGee (David Keith) and his future wife, Vicky (Heather Locklear), participated in secret experiments, allowing themselves to be subjected to mysterious medical tests. Years later, the couple’s daughter, Charlie (Drew Barrymore), begins to exhibit the ability of setting fires solely with her mind. This volatile talent makes the youngster extremely dangerous and soon she becomes a target for the enigmatic agency known as “The Shop.”
Deadline reports that John Wick and Atomic Blonde actor Daniel Bernhardt will return to the Matrix franchise as he’ll reprise the Agent Johnson role for Matrix 4, currently shooting in Berlin, Germany.
Daniel Berhardt as Agent Johnson in The Matrix: Reloaded
Daniel is close with both directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, who are said to be helping with crafting the action sequences alongside Matrix 4 director Lana Wachowski. Chad and David had been integral to the action of the previous three films.
There is a good chance that Daniel’s Agent Johnson is taking over the role originally meant for Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith, before Lana changed her mind about having Weaving return.
Bernhardt’s most recent credits include Netflix’s Altered Carbon, HBO’s Barry, and the DC Comics film Birds of Prey.
The sequel’s cast includes Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Priyanka Chopra, Jessica Henwick, Ibarra, Neil Patrick Harris, Toby Onwumere, Brian J. Smith, Eréndira Ibarra, Andrew Caldwell, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Ellen Hollman.
The Matrix 4 is expected to be ready for a release date of April 1st, 2022.
There seems to have been some major script issues on Indiana Jones 5 that has been key to the film’s hiccups and delays. Den of Geek was able to speak with screenwriter David Koepp, who revealed he was brought back to work on the sequel after Lucasfilm hired Solo: A Star Wars Story screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan to tackle some rewrites before focusing on his Willow sequel series.
Adding that the third go-around seemed to have led Steven Spielberg to exit the film with James Mangold being hired in February to replace him and then Koepp mentioning he stepped aside too.
KOEPP: “I tried a couple different versions with Steven and they all had some good stuff about them and they all had some stuff that didn’t work, which happens. But it was just very hard to have everybody come together and have all the elements — Steven, Harrison (Ford), the script and Disney — come together at once. And it didn’t.”
“When James Mangold came in and Steven stepped out, that was a pretty logical breaking point,” Koepp says. “It’s a gracious time to step out the door because I think the last thing a new director wants is the old director’s writer. I mean, that’s a drag. The last thing you need is some guy sitting around with his arms folded saying, ‘Well, the way Steven would have done it is…’ I had one nice friendly conversation with him and then I’m sure he wanted to be able to move on anyway. Everybody was pretty polite, I thought.”
The outlet speculates that the reason we haven’t heard about a new screenwriter is likely because new director James Mangold (Logan, Ford v Ferrari) is most likely tackling it himself, although, this is not confirmed. I wish James all the luck to get the project across the finishing line.
Back in February, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy confirmed to the BBC that Indiana Jones 5 was still having script issues and reaffirmed it would be a continuation after there had been persistent rumors of a franchise reboot.
KENNEDY: “We’re working away getting the script where we want it to be and then we’ll be ready to go…Oh, Harrison Ford will be involved, yeah. It’s not a reboot, it’s a continuation…He can’t wait he absolutely is.”
The film’s current release date of July 22nd, 2022 would suggest that Lucasfilm is aiming to begin shooting sometime in 2021.
Despite all the internet rumors of Alden Ehrenreich reprising the role of Han Solo in film sequels and various Disney+ shows the actor himself seems to be moving on to other projects like his new science fiction series Brave New World.
While promoting the Peacock original series based on the classic Aldous Huxley novel, Alden suggests to UK outlet the Independent that he is moving on his life beyond Star Wars saying “it’s not a huge part of my life anymore”.
EHRENREICH: “It’s not a huge part of my life anymore. But my sense is that there was a really clear disconnect between the way it was really received and then the stories that came out about it. That we had a troubled production or whatever. And it’s not really a story that the movie did totally fine. It didn’t make a billion dollars but it did fine and people liked it – but that’s not interesting. What’s interesting is: ‘This is the biggest movie of all time and it was absolutely a disaster’.”
“I knew, no matter what happened, that I was putting myself in a situation where people would be saying things about me. But honestly, that whole experience felt like this huge, high-seas adventure.”
I’m not sure these comments will quell fan speculation of him returning to the role in the future, even though, he’ll eventually age-out making it impossible for him to return.
Despite recent rumors over the summer of Donald Glover getting his own Lando show I don’t know if they’ll be able to wrangle Alden back.
THE RONIN 