Now that we have a relative unknown with Henry Cavill playing Superman in Zack Snyder’s upcoming film for Warner Bros, it seems that Snyder and the studio are taking more of an “over the top” direction when it comes to the supporting cast. Two weeks ago, it was announced that Kevin Costner was being approached as a “person of interest” to play Jonathan Kent. As if that wasn’t a big enough name, The Road star Viggo Mortensen is now being approached to play the Kryptonian villain General Zod in the film.

From Heat Vision:

Mortensen, who is still in negotiations for Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsman, is said to be at the top of the list to play General Zod, the evil and super-powered scientist who was portrayed by Terrence Stamp in 1980′s Superman II.

If Mortensen’s Snow White deal doesn’t close, that would potentially free him up to make Superman. Or Universal and Warner Bros. could work out his schedule and enable him to do both.

So given what we know about Snyder’s previous work with Warners, we know that there will be plenty of slow-motion scenes and that he does tend to go for talent over “names.” Mortensen could just be the talent to take over for Terrence Stamp’s iconic character.

Now that Henry Cavill has been cast as the Man of Steel, there is a good sigh of relief that WB has made a (hopefully) decent choice in casting. But what about the rest of the fictional world? There are still plenty of meaty parts in the Superverse that have yet to be cast, and apparently Kevin Costner is in the running for one of them.

From Deadline.

I’m told that there is heightened interest in Kevin Costner for a key role in the Superman reboot that is being directed by Zack Snyder for Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures. I’m not exactly sure what role Costner is likely to play, but he has certainly been in good guy mode lately.

With films like 300 and Watchmen under Snyder’s belt, we know that he’s no stranger to how picky fans can get about their casting. The only role we can see Costner filling is Jonathan Kent, but maybe Snyder and the brothers Warner have something more “out of the box” in mind. Zod? Perry White?

We’re hoping to have answers in the coming weeks on this and other casting news for the project.

Or at least, that’s the role we think they are casting for. In a recent interview with Sam Jackson, who will play Nick Fury in just about every upcoming Marvel film from Captain America: The First Avenger to The Avengers, the actor spilled the beans on the shortlist of actresses the studio is looking at for a potential “sidekick” role for his character. From THR:

Marvel is conducting screen tests Friday for one of the final roles still looking to be cast in The Avengers, the all-star superhero ensemble being directed by Joss Whedon. Last night Samuel L. Jackson revealed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon it is that of his “sidekick.”

V star Morena Baccarin is on that list. Also said to be vying for the part are Jessica Lucas, Cobie Smulders and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who are still negotiating their test deals for the part of a key member of the espionage agency run by Nick Fury, played in the Marvel movies by Jackson. Some earlier speculation pegged the role to be that of Avengers team member Janet van Dyne/the Wasp, but Marvel declined to comment.

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With all the iPhone/Verizon rumors it’s nice to see rumors concerning another Apple product pop up sometimes. This time around it’s the iPad 2 which, according to Japanese Mac blog MacOtakara, will have a flatter back and smaller bezel compared to the original iPad.

The site also indicates the device will feature larger “wide-ranged speaker” located behind a mesh speaker grille. These will, presumably, offer much better sound quality than current generation device.

In addition, the next iPad will be three millimeters smaller than the original, but the display will stay the same size. That means the bezel surrounding the iPad’s display will probably shrink substantially, improving the devices overall appearance — at least to us. The rear case has been flattened to be more like an iPod touch, which should make it easier to lay on a flat surface. Yeah, that “bump” in the middle has always been a bit of a pain.

No word on if the new iPad will feature a camera, or cameras, but as often is the case, we’ll get more rumors and information as the device gets closer to release. Speaking of that, Apple’s next-generation iPad is expected to begin shipping from manufacturers in January or February, with a release likely soon after.

Tron: Legacy‘s immensely anticipated release is only just a brief week away, so what could be more exciting than rumors about a sequel? Up until this week, the news of a secret (but brief) cameo in Tron: Legacy have surfaced, one that might hint towards a villain in a future Tron installment. Don’t keep reading if you don’t want it spoiled!

According to io9, actor Cillian Murphy appears as Edward Dillinger, son of Ed Dillinger, the former baddie in the original Tron. You can spot him in the “real world” during Tron Legacy, at an Encom board meeting.

“That was little tit-bit we didn’t need slipping out early,” said Brigham Taylor, Production Executive on Tron: Legacy. “He’s a character that fits into the mythology of Tron. He’s connected to one of the characters from the past and we’re really excited to have him involved.”

While the cameo is rather short, the fact that this was kept such a secret until now means that this character is going to be big to the Tron universe in the future. After all, they wouldn’t have casted someone as well-known as Murphy in the role, had they not had plans for Edward Dillinger.

In the meantime, charge up your lightcycles and race to the theater next Friday, December 17th, when Tron: Legacy is released in theaters and IMAX 3D.

I don’t know about you but I never get tired of Verizon iPhone rumors. Maybe because I wish for it to happen almost more than anything. Don’t get me wrong, I do like my Android powered HTC Incredible. I just miss the iPhone but I won’t go back to it as long as it’s only on AT&T’s network.

So, if I could have something that combines the amazingness of the iPhone with the awesomeness of the Verizon network, I would be a happy person and could then go about my life in blissful contentment . . . until then next version comes out of course.

The rumor this week is about Apple’s search for engineers to work on some new projects. The info, dug up by the gang at Fortune, is about a job for a full-time Cellular Systems Performance Engineers who will deal with protocol issues and field test hardware. They are also looking for people with experience in GSM, GPRS, EDGE, and more to the point, CDMA technologies.

In case you don’t know that last one, CDMA, is the kind of network Verizon uses. That bit of info is made all the more significant by the fact that no currently shipping hardware from Apple — including the iPhone 4 — uses that technology. So, just another piece of the puzzle that when finished will hopefully reveal a shiny new iPhone for Verizon users.

I’d wait in line for that if. . . and I bet some of you would too.

We’ve seen a lot of mock-up PSPs in the past. Whether they were imitation PSPGos, PSP Phones, or PSP2s, these were either very good, or very bad, models of the gaming system we all know and like.
However, the supposed PSP2 pictures that have recently leaked onto the internet don’t look like mock-ups.

Perhaps that’s due to the crappy image quality, but it’s definite these weren’t thrown together on Photoshop by a fanboy. From what we can see, this PSP slides like the PSPGo, but looks much bigger. It’s also got two analog sticks, a microphone, touchpad, and camera.

We’re unsure whether this model will ever see the light of day, as Sony has stated they’ve designed several different variations of the PSP2, but it’s definitely interesting to see what they’ve been thinking about for the device.

According to Kotaku‘s report, the images have been confirmed by a development source. You can make your own conclusions after the jump.

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During the month of October, there are a smorgasbord of horror movies to watch on cable and network television.  One of the best parts about this is that we get to revisit perennial favorites, including horror anthologies, which have dwindled in the last decade.

Now comes word that the horror anthology might be making a comeback.  Arrow in the Head is reporting that a powerful slate of international horror directors might participate in a new anthology based in Paris.  The film is tentatively titled Paris, I’ll Kill You.

Joe Dante, Paco Plaza, Vincenzo Natali, Xaviern Gens, Christopher Smith, Ryuhel Kitamara, Julien Maury, Alexandre  Bustillo, and Joern Heitmann will all be contributing stories for the film.  That is exciting news indeed, as these are the talented  men that brought us Gremlins, Rec, Splice, Frontiers, Midnight Meat Train, and more.

It is possible that this film could be the first in a franchise, each movie honing in on a certain “horror city.”  This could certainly be an exciting way to infuse the horror world with fresh blood, so to speak.

Outside of the Three Extremes franchise, we can’t recall many anthologies as of late.

Now that the dust has settled, and we’ve adjusted to the fact that Guillermo Del Toro is not taking the director’s chair, as Middle Earth native Peter Jackson is taking the reins back, it’s time to look to the film as, well…a film. That means finally casting some of the characters we’ve treasured since first reading the book decades ago.

Last week, news came forward that Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy star Martin Freeman will fill the very big feet of Bilbo Baggins, and now Jackson has decided to let us in on the rest of the cast, and who exactly they’ll be playing. Here’s the full list from Deadline.

Jackson has cast several other significant Dwarf characters. Richard Armitage (MI-5 and Captain America: The First Avenger) will play Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the Company of Dwarves which sets off to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from a thieving dragon. Aidan Turner (Being Human) and Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders) will play Kili and Fili, members of the Company of Dwarves. Graham McTavish (Secretariat) will play Dwalin, John Callen (Power Rangers Jungle Fury) will play Oin; Stephen Hunter (All Saints) will play Bombur, and Mark Hadlow (King Kong) plays Dori, while Peter Hambleton (The Strip) will play Gloin.

As if these names weren’t enough, there are rumors that David Tennant (Doctor Who) and James Nesbitt (Jekyll) will make an appearance, and also possible speculation that Andy Serkis and Sir Ian McKellan will reprise their roles.

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There’s been a bit of a Hollywood delay on this news, as nobody has been able to confirm whether or not director Darren Aronofsky will direct the sequel to last year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It’s been up in the air for quite some time but it looks like the film’s star, Hugh Jackman, put the rumors to rest and confirmed it for us.

In a recent impromptu interview at Elton John’s Enduring Vision gala on Monday night, Jackman announced that he’s getting physically ready to start shooting next year, alongside director Aronofsky. From NY Mag.

“Expect to see four chicken breasts and a whole pile of steamed broccoli on my plate,” he told us. “I’m starting; I’m having my six meals a day.” With Darren Aronofsky directing, he says that Wolverine 2 will not be a “usual” X-Men movie: “This is, hopefully for me, going to be out of the box. It’s going to be the best one, I hope,” he said, and then paused. “Well, I would say that, but I really do feel that, and I feel this is going to be very different.”

Also, Jackman doesn’t think that Aronofsky’s penchant for dark drama is at odds with the big-budget action franchise. “This is Wolverine. This is not Popeye. He’s kind of dark,” Jackman said. “But, you know, this is a change of pace. Chris McQuarrie, who wrote The Usual Suspects, has written the script, so that’ll give you a good clue. [Aronofsky’s] going to make it fantastic. There’s going to be some meat on the bones. There will be something to think about as you leave the theater, for sure.”

So there you have it. The star could be way off, but chances are, being the face behind this multi-million dollar franchise, he knows his stuff. Expect to get official word in the next few days, and expect to see more about casting as the film readies principal photography early next year.

Ever since The Dark Knight was released, rumors have been circulating about the cast of the unnamed Batman 3 project. From Johnny Depp as The Riddler to Phillip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin, fanboys and film lovers alike have been speculating endlessly about who would take up the mantle as Nolan’s next villian, especially after Heath Ledger’s fantastic performance as The Joker.

While nothing’s confirmed yet and Batman 3 is still very much in the preliminary stages, Ain’t It Cool News has reported that Tom Hardy will play a “lead role” in the next chapter of Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

This news is pretty plausible, because Nolan is known for working with the same cast members over and over again. Hardy is no stranger to Nolan’s films, having played the part of Eames in this summer’s sci-fi thriller Inception. While it’s a little soon to speculate, many are hoping that Hardy has been cast to play Edward Nigma, aka The Riddler, but at this point he really could be playing any part, villain or hero.

You can be sure that if this and any other rumors for Batman 3 are confirmed, you’ll hear about it right here  because we’re honestly just as excited for this movie as you are.

Earlier this month, we brought you a host of new product announcements from Apple, including news that Apple would be releasing a highly-updated version of their Apple TV. Unlike the new iPods which went on sale shortly after the news event, the Apple TV was slated for pre-order status and Apple claimed it would ship later in September.

Well, it appears that either Apple has a production issue with the new device, or the Apple TV is attracting a whole lot more pre-orders than were expected. Flash-forward to today, and a quick perusal of the Apple Store reveals that the updated Apple TV will now ship in 2-3 weeks, easily pushing things into Mid-October.

Lending credence to a potential ship date snafu, Apple Insider is reporting that some pre-order customers who specified rush shipping, are now starting to receive an email from Apple claiming that these rush shipping charges will be refunded due to a ‘possible delay.’

“Our records indicate that when you placed your order you paid for upgraded shipping,” Apple wrote in the emails. “Due to a delay, we may have not been able to meet our delivery commitment.” The email goes on to say that Apple has “processed a refund for the shipping charge on your order. Please contact your card-issuing bank for information on when the credit will be posted to your account.”

Curiouser and curiouser. While Apple has insisted that their new streaming media device would ship in September, and even the company’s online store is reporting a status of “Ships: September” for pre-orders, it’s simply not clear at this time if first Apple TV shipments will be pushed back into mid-October.

It will be interesting to see if Apple ends up citing a hiccup in production or whether crushing demand for the new device is to blame. Either way, we’ll be bringing you all of the latest news from Apple and from around the web as it breaks.