After a parade of Hollywood A-list actresses openly campaigned for the highly sought after role of Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo book series, a relative unknown ended up being cast. Sony is reporting that actress Rooney Mara has been chosen to portray the prickly, troubled character.

Rooney Mara has worked with director David Fincher before, on the upcoming fall release The Social Network. She appeared in Youth in Revolt and played Nancy in the recent remake of  Nightmare on Elm Street.

Acting runs in the family, sister Kate Mara has appeared in Brokeback Mountain, 24, Entourage, and Iron Man 2. This is a role with huge potential.  The movie will most certainly lead to sequels, as there are three books in the  wildly popular “Girl” series written by Stieg Larsson.  To date, the trilogy of books has sold over 40 Million copies worldwide.

The (anti) herione of the series is a deeply troubled, but brilliant, computer hacker boasting a plethora of tattoos, shorn locks and a seriously hard edge. Mara looks a little too soft and lovely for the role, but I am sure they can toughen her up a bit.

Fincher must be convinced, because everyone has auditioned for the role, including Scarlett Johansson, Carey Mulligan, Ellen Page, and Natalie Portman. This has been referred to as the biggest casting quest since the search for Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. Mara will play opposite Daniel Craig in the film which expects to shoot later this year for a 2011 release.

One of the few documentaries ever to show at Cannes, granted a private screening for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the agitprop activist documentary Countdown to Zero delivers a blast from a collective past when the threat of nuclear annihilation loomed like a gigantic mushroom cloud over the horizon.

Nowadays that threat feels obsolete, something left behind long ago with duck-and-cover drills, double-knit polyester pants suits and Charlie’s Angels posters, existing in the 21st century only as a creaky plot device in action movies. Countdown to Zero flattens that misapprehension to the ground, presenting an all-too-vivid picture of our still insanely nuclear-weaponized world. If that doesn’t sound so appealing, be assured that the filmmakers have sweetened the medicine with incredible access, footage, graphics and visual effects that make the message gripping, even (although one hesitates to use the word) entertaining.

The film begins with footage of Robert Oppenheimer, the director of WWII’s “Manhattan Project,” the brilliant theoretical physicist who let the genie out of the bottle, the eternal bearer of the awful epithet “father of the atomic bomb.” His desolate eyes haunt the film like a specter, bearing witness to his post-war advocacy of nuclear disarmament (which got him the thanks of security clearance stripping and blacklisting).

This gravity is quickly countered by the jubilant celebrations of country after country who thereafter develop nuclear weapon capability for themselves. Crowds cheer, strangers hug, de Gaulle crows, “Our national glory is restored!” Walter Cronkite intones the phrase “membership in the nuclear club,” and it’s a club everyone wants to join. “We will make the bomb even if we have to eat grass,” Pakistani leaders vow, and when they succeed, devout citizens rejoice, “Allah is great!” Sobering and terrifying as it is to see the world map click into the nuclear red country by country, it’s hard to counter with much conviction when Irani president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad argues against western hypocrisy, “Why should only you have it?”

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Last night, a brand new season of Adult Swim’s new irreverent hospital drama/comedy Children’s Hospital premiered, and we’re so excited for the new season, that we’re bringing you an ENTIRE WEEK of exclusive interviews with the show’s cast and creators.

Up first is star Ken Marino, who plays Dr. Glenn Richie on the show. Many fans of comedy know Marino from his start as an original cast member of MTV’s The State. Marino went on to do some other great comedies such as Party Down and The 10. He even wrote 2008′s stand out comedy Role Models starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott.

Ken plays his role as Dr. Richie a little bit like his character in The 10: very loose and very Jewish. We got the chance to talk with Marino about his character, the ill-fated Party Down and the possibility of a State Reunion.

Check out the full interview after the jump, and be sure to keep it here all week, as we celebrate the return of Children’s Hospital on Adult Swim.

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While special editions can often be pricey, they’re worth the money if  they include cool exclusives you can’t find anywhere else. The highly anticipated GoldenEye 007 for Wii sounds like it won’t disappoint, as it will include a golden Wii Classic controller if you purchase the special edition bundle.

Goldeneye 007 is one of the most fondly remembered games of the Nintendo 64 era and can be credited to many as the first time they experienced a first person shooter. Many also will also closely associate that title with the infamous Golden Gun which could kill any opponent in a single shot. Now, being recreated for the Nintendo Wii, Goldeneye 007 looks to bring back that classic split screen madness and has made sure to get itself an exclusive controller only available for release with the game.

Titled the GoldenEye 007 Classic Edition, this version of the game will come packed with the the gold Classic Controller Pro. From our hands on time with the game at San Diego Comic Con, this control scheme is without a doubt the way the game was meant to be experienced (since we can’t figure out a way to hook up our classic N64 controllers into the Wii that doesn’t cause sparks to fly out of it).

“In addition to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, GoldenEye will also support the Wii Zapper for ‘point and shoot’ gamers, giving players several ways to experience GoldenEye on Wii,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing. “We also couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pay homage to the golden gun with the gold Classic Controller Pro, which looks cool and also gives shooter fans a familiar control scheme to use as they blast their way through the game.”

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Well, Stallone and company have still got it. Score one for the aging action geezers, they dominated the box office with over $35 Million for the weekend. Expendables, a testosterone laden action movie, was a big hit with men, particularly those who grew up seeing members of the cast in iconic 80′s action movies.

Most people I know who saw it admitted that it was not a great movie, but thought that it delivered exactly what one would expect-lots of senseless action.  That is more than can be said for the priv-lit drama Eat Pray Love.

As you read in our review here on The Flickcast, the movie failed to capture what many women fell in love with from the book.  The inner turmoil of the protagonist was glossed over, disappointing fans of the book.  Still, Eat Pray Love, starring Julia Roberts managed to make  $23.7 Million.  This is the best opening Julia Roberts has had since 2001, when she co-starred in America’s Sweethearts, with Catherine Zeta Jones and John Cusack.

Sadly, Scott Pilgrim vs The World (one of my favorite films of 2010) didn’t fare very well at all. The film placed fifth, and only made $10.5 Million, far below expectations.  This is very similar to what happened with Kick Ass back in April.

Kick Ass was widely anticipated in film circles, hailed by critics and fanboys  alike as a great, original  movie, yet it failed to muster much at the box office.  Kick-Ass debuted to $19 million its opening weekend, shocking prognosticators.  After its entire run, the film only made $48 Million domestically.

Now, we have a film that has gotten even better reviews (as of this writing, it has an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes), and has had most  industry insiders cheering for its success, yet it barely registers in the top five for the weekend.  *Sigh*

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On Marvel.com, Activision has revealed all of the unlockable skins for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. By playing through the game, players will have the opportunity to unlock new looks for their favorite wall crawler across the four dimensions of gameplay. Make sure to check out the gallery at the bottom of this post for screen shots of all the new costumes.

At Comic Con, we had the opportunity to sit down with Studio Head over at Beenox, the developers behind Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Dee Brown. In our short time with Dee, he discussed with us the choices behind dimensions of the game.

He also mentions creating new villains for the game as well as the hype that has been coming out leading to the game’s release.

The Flickcast: First question I have, what was the thought process behind the four dimensions Beenox picked?

Dee Brown: Well, what we do when we start a project, we did what we always do when we start a project, a deep dive into the brand and we dug up a lot of the comic stuff of Spider-Man, and we did this big presentation to the team and the entire company.

Everybody loves Spider-Man of course, but nobody knows all the different universes and everything, so we did this presentation and showed shots of 2099 and Noir and all the amazing universes. People, like me for example, I didn’t know about Noir and when I saw it I thought “That’s amazing, that’s so great.”

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The Expendables is a prime example of a “because they can” movie: Why do they have a moment where Jason Statham takes on five guys at a basketball court for roughing up his girlfriend? Why do they have Terry Crews marching down a hallway eviscerating an army of South American militants? Why do they have Mickey Rourke give five-minute monologue of complete incomprehensibility? Why? Because they can.

There’s no pretentious want of consistency or deeper meaning other than Stallone wanting to show you that he can still blow shit up and make people laugh when a man’s head gets twisted 180 degrees around (complete with bone-crunching sound effects). When the first scene of the film shows the top half of a man getting blown up in gooey detail, you know what you’re in for. When the camera lingers for a second on the bloody stump of his lower half, you know you’ve got it.

This is the kind of movie reviewers love because the entire plot can be recapped in one sentence: The Expendables are a team of mercenaries sent to some fictional South American country to overthrow the government. That’s about it. At a time when action movies are overly concerned with psychological depth and ponderous plot complications, The Expendables is like mouth-to-mouth from a humongously well-buxomed lifeguard.

First and foremost, it’s a throwback to the mindlessly fun action movies of the ‘80s that were drenched in blood, muscles, and testosterone. Stallone knows this material well, and delights in showing us the innumerable ways in which he and his five-man army (made of himself, Statham, Crews, Jet-Li, Randy Couture, and, for a time, Dolph Lundgren) can kill.

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Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Otherwise, on to the links!

• In honor of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World hitting theaters today, here’s a frame-by-frame trailer replaced with the panels from O’Malley’s comic.

• EW’s Michael Ausiello says that the replacement for Steve Carell on The Office comes down to Danny McBride and Rhys Darby. If we put money on it, we’d say that NBC can’t contain the awesomeness of Kenny Powers.

• Comics meet games in this awesome list of your favorite comic books turned into classic 8-bit video games.

• U2′s Broadway musical about Spider-Man, unfortunately titled “Turn Off The Dark” is back on. Darn.

• Disney is relaunching their Star Tours ride at both parks next year. The new ride offers a tour of Bespin, Alderaan, and Endor. Sadly, you have to pay extra to hunt an Ewok.

• For those of you who missed it, here’s the Bangladeshi Hulk movie trailer that has been sweeping the monitors and hearts of everyone for the past week.

• Your weekly list worth reading: The 9 Worst Children’s Movies of the 1980′s.

• What would an Avengers film from 1952 look like? These guys have it covered.

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Earlier this week, we brought you a review of the true crime documentary Cropsey.  The documentary explores the urban legend behind several unsolved child murders that occurred on Staten Island. Tonight you can catch the movie on the Discovery Channel sister network, Investigation Discovery.

The channel specializes on fact-based investigative content about culture, history and the human condition.  The Investigation Discovery channel will be adding documentaries to their lineup, under the brand ID films. Cropsey: The Urban Legend will be the first documentary to air on the channel, followed by Final Judgement (aka No Tomorrow) in October.

Final Judgement illuminates the role of the media in the criminal justice system, and provides commentary on the death penalty.

A third Discovery channel spin-off, named Planet Green, will be presenting documentaries under the name Reel Impact.  Upcoming documentaries include Sharkwater, No Impact Man, The Cove (Academy Award winner),  and Black Wave: Legacy of the Exxon Valdez.

Cropsey will run tonight, Friday the 13th, @9pm ET on Investigation Discovery.  Check with your cable provider for availability.

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When I think awesome WWII adventure, one group that comes to mind is The Invaders. Really, any comic that managed to combine Captain America, the Human Torch, Namor and more into one super-team was always okay in my book.

Over the years The Invaders have undergone a few transformations and have dealt with many issues. Now, Marvel and Dynamite have teamed to create a brand new comic featuring these mighty heroes and have dubbed it Invaders Now. Created by Alex Ross with writer Christos Gage and artist Caio Reiss, the original Invaders are alive and all active at the same time.

When a mysterious force from the past brings the Invaders together, they must do battle like never before. Never before? I’m guessing they’ve probably battled quite a few times like this before. But still, doesn’t mean I’m not going to pick this comic up when it comes out. Yes, I’m a fan. Sue me.

Be sure to check out the gallery of preview images for this comic after the jump. Invaders Now #1 hits comic stores on September 9th.

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Happy Friday. Happy indeed as we’ve got previews for tonight’s all-new episodes of Eureka and Haven to share with you right now and get you ready for the full episodes.

First up on a Eureka episode entitled “Monstrosity,” the guys set out on a camping trip and all seems to be going well and they are having a great time. Unfortunately, their great time is interrupted by something that not only threatens to ruin their trip but may also mean deadlier consequences.

Next up is a preview for a Haven episode called “Fur.” No, not that kind of fur. Well, maybe. Anyway, in this episode Audrey and Nathan find out that even the animals in Haven are full of dangerous surprises. Wow, first the people, now the animals. But what about the children?

Things kick off tonight at 9/8C with Eureka followed by Haven at 10/9C only on Syfy. Check out the previews for both episodes after the break.

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Accessory maker Power A has announced a new more compact version of the Nintendo WiiMote that they feel will enhance the incredibly popular system’s gameplay experience. With the Wii breaking 30 million units in sales, over 250,000 of those being just in the month of July 2010 according to the NPD group, it is no surprise to see a plethora of accessories and third party controllers come out for the system.

The Pro Pack Mini will feature a smaller version of the Nintendo WiiMote and NunChuk with larger face buttons to ease control and be more comfortable at the same time.

“We are delighted to announce the general availability of the Pro Pack Mini and are confident that Wii enthusiasts are going to love the comfort and precision of these new controllers,” said Eric Bensussen, president of POWER A and BDA. “The Pro Pack Mini has been met with great enthusiasm from the gaming industry and is one of many new gaming accessories that POWER A is bringing to market this holiday.”

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