USA Networks’ new series Covert Affairs doesn’t premiere until July 13, but The Flickcast was invited to Toronto to check out the set and talk to some of the cast.  There’s too much content to put in one post so we thought it was best to break this up over several articles.  Getting things started is this interview with Covert Affairs Executive Producer Doug Liman.

Even if you haven’t heard of Liman but are into the spy genre there’s a high probability you’ve seen one of his films.  Liman directed the first of the Bourne trilogy films and produced the other two.  He also produced Mr. and Mrs. Smith and is currently working on Fair Game; the true story of CIA spy Valerie Plame Wilson whose identity was revealed by the White House to allegedly discredit her husband.

With all that on Liman’s film resume it’s no surprise he was drawn to a TV series about spies.  Ultimately, however, it was working on Fair Game that became the driving force behind Covert Affairs. According to Liman:

“…in doing the research for Fair Game, we got access to a lot of current and former covert officers with the CIA. And most of the material that we were learning about had no place in the movie, unless I wanted the movie to be 10 hours long. And so we had this huge treasure trove of just sort of cool factoids.

And you know, that stuff is, you know, it was just like the perfect timing to be developing a TV show in the same arena at the same time, because we’ve just taken all the research that, you know, wasn’t appropriate for Fair Game and just channeled it right into Covert Affairs.”

While at their core Covert Affairs and Fair Game are about the CIA both spin the material in completely different directions. While Covert Affairs plays to the strengths of the CIA and what they do to protect the nation, Fair Game definitely represents the Agency in a moment of weakness.

This distinction was not lost on Liman as he explained the differences:

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It’s no secret that we at the Flickcast are looking forward to the musical onslaught of new mixes being brought to the XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii with the upcoming DJ Hero 2.  One of the biggest announcements to the DJing world for the game is the inclusion of deadmau5 (pronounced “dead mouse” in case you were wondering).

While his name isn’t what one would consider household yet, you may have heard the work of the Canadian house DJ without even knowing it. deadmau5 was one of the guests at Activision’s star studded pre-E3 party to help promote DJ Hero 2. Also, in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS, PSP and iPhone, there was a radio station dedicated to the giant red headed deceased rodent.

An award winning DJ, deadmau5 will be a selectable avatar in DJ Hero 2. In addition, his track “Ghosts ‘N’ Stuff” which won the International Dance Music Award for 2010′s Best Electro Track will be mixed with Lady Gaga’s just dance. Take a peek after the jump at a :30 clip of the song.

Make sure to also take a look at some of the screens of deadmau5 in action as well. See it all after the break.

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As you undoubtedly know by now, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment has sailed without Gore Verbinski. The director has kept himself busy with Rango, but hasn’t seen any of his live action projects come to fruition.

But now Variety reports that Verbinski is in talks to direct a remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  The classic 1947 film has been making the remake rounds for decades, with Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Chuck Russell taking the helm at various times.  Now it may fall to Verbinski, as 20th Century Fox is determined to get it cast and shooting by next spring.

Walter Mitty is based on James Thurber’s short story. Mitty is a book editor who spends more time in heroic daydreams than in making his own life a success.  The film took great liberties with the source material (much to the dismay of Thurber) and became a story where a daydreamer becomes a real life hero. There’s no talk of the Mitty remake returning to the source material, so I imagine the update will be filled with similar elements of zaniness, especially since Jim Carrey was once attached to star.

Verbinski is also still involved with the bigscreen adaptation of Bioshock. Though budgetary concerns caused him to lose the director’s chair to Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, he remains attached as producer.  Rumors have swirled that Bioshock is dead in the water, but Verbinski told IGN that he’s still hoping to inject it with a plasmid or two.

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