Last week when I spoke about the looming doom that is Man of Steel I might not been clear what I was so worried about. I was not convinced Man of Steel itself was going to be a bad film, I was more worried about what the creative choices of the new Superman movie would mean for the immediate future of the DC cinematic universe.

It looks as if those fears have just been given an unfortunate boost. Rumors are flying that Warner Brothers is about to toss out their current Justice League script because it apparently sucks. Badass Digest is reporting that new writers are on order as the current script is as good as trash:

I’ve now heard from multiple sources that the Will Beall script for Justice League has been scrapped. The story from each source is the same: it’s terrible. Some sources seem to think the whole movie is going to fall apart and never happen, while some believe that Warner Bros will keep moving forward, unwilling to lose the superhero arms race.

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Assassin’s Creed became a major player once Ubisoft put a huge marketing and development budget behind it to help create one of their AAA titles. It was no surprise that they would attempt to bring it to the big screen like they did with Prince of Persia and plan to with Splinter Cell. But while Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell have had and will have seasoned writers feature film writers at the helm, a virtual unknown to Hollywood is being given the reigns of Assassin’s Creed.

According to Heat Vision, Michael Lesslie will be taking on writing duties for the Assassin’s Creed film. British, there isn’t much else known about Lesslie aside from a few short films. While some may see it as a risky endeavor for Ubisoft to give a multimillion dollar franchise to a virtual unknown, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time proved that even with a more veteran writer the success of a movie based on a gaming franchise wasn’t a guarantee.

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There are few actors as ‘hot’ as Ryan Gosling right now, the man has the work load of Ryan Reynolds with the industry cred Micheal Fassbender. Now he is looking to capitalize on that sizzle by making his directorial debut with How to Catch a Monster.

The film is neither a gritty noir about catching a serial killer, or a light-hearted sequel to How to Train Your Dragon, it is actually a dark fairy tale. Variety has the story, along with a former Gosling co-star who has been tapped for the lead:

Ryan Gosling will make his directorial debut with the dark fairy tale he wrote “How to Catch a Monster,” with Christina Hendricks set to star… [The] Story is set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city and centered on a single mother of two being swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town.

Wow, not at all what you might expect from the normally very serious actor. Conceptually it sounds a bit hectic, but if Gosling is half as good of a writer as he is an actor than there is a fair shot he can pull it off. A film like this will hinge on tone, so we will know very quick what kind of directing chops Gosling has. Also any film that casts the lovely Christina Hendricks as the lead already gets a +1.

This project is one we will be keeping a close watch on as it develops, so keep tuned to The Flickcast for any new updates.

Of all the ‘Phase 2′ movies Marvel is pushing out in the next few years, none is as risky as the Guardians of the Galaxy film. Not only is it the most exotic of any Marvel film yet produced, it also has to set a cosmic tone that The Avengers 2 will likely launch from.

So Marvel Studios really needs to get this one right, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, they have tapped a hot-shot new writer to take a crack at the script:

Chris McCoy is being tapped to rewrite Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Studios’ space adventure movie… McCoy is considered to have a lot of heat as a writer. The scribe has had three of his specs land on the Black List: Get Back in 2007,Good Looking in 2009 and Good Kids in 2011. His scripts have been praised for their quirky comedic bent.

Sounds like the right angle for a script that features a bad ass talking tree and raccoon. Speaking of, the Hollywood Reporter also added some clarity to the team that Marvel is putting together for this version of the Guardians.

Aside from the already alluded to Groot and Rocket Raccoon, the team will also include Drax The Destroyer, Star Lord and Gamora. Phase 2 ‘big bad’ Thanos is also likely to play a big part in this film in advance of him menacing The Avengers in their own blockbuster sequel.

We at The Flickcast will keep you updated on all the various ‘Phase 2′ projects as they progress forward.

Universal has been trying to keep the Jurassic Park franchise alive for a while. Despite being relatively mishandled from the moment the first film was a hit, the original classic still holds enough respect and love to warrant a fourth trip into that world.

One of the great urban legends of modern Hollywood is the bug-nutter Jurassic Park 4 script that included an elite squad of talking, super intelligent dinosaurs who were hunting down the normal dinosaurs in the people world. Given the two JP sequels we did get, you understand why people were inclined to believe that.

All signs point to that idea being scrapped, as Deadline reports Universal brought on a quality writing duo to work on Jurassic Park 4:

Universal is setting Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver to write the script for the fourth film, which will be produced by Steven Spielberg and Kennedy/Marshall’s Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Spielberg won’t direct this one.

For those unfamiliar with Jaffa and Silver, they were the writers behind last year’s excellent Rise of the Planet of the Apes. That film’s blend of science and disaster make them a seemingly great choice for the Jurassic Park franchise.

A little sad that Spielberg is already off the table as a director, but there are many other directors who could breath some new life into the franchise. In the meantime, Jurassic Park fans can get excited about the 3D release, set to hit theaters July 2013.

Paul Verhoeven has been trying to make a biopic on the life of Jesus Christ for years. That is a sentence that feels odd writing, but it is true. After many failed attempts to get the project off the ground Verhoeven published much of his research in the form of a book a few years back.

Well that book might have finally broken the clogged dam that was stopping that project as a screenwriter has just been attached. Coming Soon is reporting that Roger Avary has been brought on to adapt Verhoeven’s book into a feature:

A passion project of his for decades, Verhoeven released a book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” in 2010 that collected his years of research. In it, he attempts to construct a secular view of the religious icon. Deemed controversial by some, Verhoeven’s historical account paints Jesus not as the son of God, but as a remarkable, mortal thinker whose innovative principles are responsible for the creation and spread of Christianity.

Roger Avary and Paul Verhoeven are likely two of the last people anyone would ever expect to be involved with a serious biopic on the historical side of who Jesus Christ was. Both are actually coming off of years of industry silence, with Verhoeven taking most of the last decade off and Avary having been spending serious time in jail for a tragic manslaughter case.

The symmetry of this film being a bit of a redemption for these two filmmakers is not lost on us here at The Flickcast. We will no doubt be keeping a close eye on Jesus of Nazareth so stay tuned for any and all updates as they come in.

Max Brooks’ World War Z is a masterpiece of modern zombie fiction. Successfully merging the traditional zombie tropes with a grand scale and an eerie realism that makes the story of the great Zombie War come alive. So at the height of Zombie popularity it is a natural that the book would be getting the big screen treatment.

On the surface everything seemed good for the film, it had a major movie star, a solid director and studio support. Yet something happened along the way, the movie started to fall apart. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the studio is bringing in some help try to right the ship:

Screenwriter Damon Lindelof has been brought in to save Paramount’s zombie movie World War Z… Its release has been pushed from December 2012 to June, 21 2013, and is awaiting significant reshoots. Lindelof, the Lost co-creator and co-author of Ridley Scott and Fox’s Prometheus, is said to be focusing on World War Z’s third act. The production hopes to begin reshoots in September or October.

The book has a pretty non-film friendly structure so it is no surprise that they are having difficulty on the writing end of things. It is just unfortunate that the problems are only just now being addressed after the main production and not much earlier in the process. Linedlof is a big idea guy, so hopefully he can crack the code.

The Flickcast will retain optimism on the project, keep posted for any new updates as they develop.

You may not know her name, but I bet you have seen one of her videos.

Jessica Mill is the star and creator of Awkward Embraces, a web series about three nerdy girls working their way though the dating world of Los Angeles. The series has become popular among the “nerd” culture. Jessica herself has become a “nerd” icon on Twitter and Tumblr due to her frequent posts and nerdy sense of humor.

It was at WonderCon 2012 in Anaheim that I talked to Jessica. She reveals the details about three new web series she is working on including Damsels and Dragons. A new web series about a girl LARP (live action role playing) group that she is creating with Greg Aronowitz, designer of The Guild.

Watch my full interview with Jessica Mills below.

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There are few long form comic book stories that really feel like a single cohesive whole. It is just hard to maintain total continuity in style and storytelling over more than a half a decade’s worth of single issues.

Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra were able to accomplish that difficult feat with their epic series Y: The Last Man. A tale told over several years and 60 total issues, that details the last male on earth, and his pet monkey. The comic series is one of the great achievements in comic book storytelling, and is ripe for an adaptation.

The problem is that such an large tale needs more than two hours to tell, and that has slowed the adaptation process down considerably. New Line has been reluctant to sign off on a trilogy of films, but they are still very eager to move forward with a single Y: The Last Man film.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that New Line has brought in two new writers to take a new stab at the adaptation:

Writing duo Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia are in final negotiations to write New Line Cinema’s adaptation of the acclaimed Vertigo comic book… The duo is somewhat new to the feature world but are hot out of the gate – Y is the second studio job in five months after booking Sony’s untitled Zorro origin project — but they have plenty of genre TV credits. Federman and Scaia were writer-producers on Charlie’s Angels, Human Target, Warehouse 13 and Jericho.

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While most of the fanboy nation is already waiting with baited breath for May 4th to come and all of us to see Marvel’s super film The Avengers, director Joss Whedon is already thinking about where he wants to go with the proposed sequel to the film.

It turns out that while this Avengers film is going to have plenty of big “splash page” style action, Whedon told Digital Spy he would like the next film to play a bit smaller, and more personal for each character.

“By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself.”

Whedon joked that a sequel could take heed from crime classic The Godfather II ”by having flashbacks to young Michael Andolini escaping Sicily to come to New York, where he will be called Corleone”.

“Sequels are always better when that happens,” he quipped.

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With the “found footage” movie Chronicle making so much money at the box office, especially in relation to how much it cost, it was pretty much inevitable a sequel was going to be made. Fortunately, Fox seems to be playing this one smart and has brought back Max Landis, the writer of the first Chronicle, to pen the sequel.

In case you’re not familiar with Chronicle, it featured actors Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan playing three high school friends who gain superpowers. Unfortunately, as cool as that may sound, things don’t go exactly as they hoped.

Soon, the trio find their lives going out of control and friendships tested as they explore the dark side. Didn’t they ever see Spider-Man? Great power, great responsibility, that kind of thing? Kids today.

Anyway, Landis will reportedly be working on the sequel as his next project after recently selling projects to both Ron Howard and Disney. Fox is looking at a 2013 release for the Chronicle sequel.

Woody Allen is a talented writer, director and actor. He is generally very funny, and often provides a very unique perspective that feels familiar but is undeniably his own. Now he will finally achieve the final peg for total life victory, he will play John Turturro’s pimp.

Turturro’s next project as a writer and director is Fading Gigolo, and he has been able to pull in a very impressive cast.

Variety is reporting Allen will co-star in the film with Turturro with Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara likely to sign on in supporting roles.

Turturro and Allen [play] cash-strapped best friends who decide to go into the gigolo business together and subsequently attract the suspicion of the Hasidic Jewish community in which they live. Duo take on the pseudonyms Virgil and Bongo, with Allen pimping out Turturro’s character until he falls for a Jewish widow.

The movie sounds incredibly interesting, and pulling in Woody Allen just as an actor likely speaks volumes about script.

This will be Allen’s first project since winning this year’s Academy Award for best screenplay, for his film Midnight in Paris. Turturro has recently been seen fighting giant robots in a certain loud and explodey trilogy, so this next picture is an interesting change of pace for the both of them.

There has been talk of a third Bill And Ted film for quite some time. A few weeks ago it was stated by Alex Winter that the script has been written, by the original writers no less, and is waiting on a green light. Winter intially made this proclamation at a screening of his cult classic film Freaked, but it didn’t really register.

Yesterday Winter actually re-affirmed the news via a twitter back and forth:

@kelly_carlin: is it true? Bill & Ted’s 3? > Hey Kelly. -Script done? Check. -We love it? Check. -Green light? Working on it!

That’s so totally awesome! Knowing that there is a completed script, written by the guys that did the originals, and loved by at least half of the original Wyld Stallyns is most excellent news indeed.

Part of what makes this story so fun, beyond the reaffirmation of a completed script, is that Kelly Carlin, to whom Winter was responding, is George Carlin’s daughter. There is an awesome symmetry to the impetus of this story comes from Rufus’ daughter herself.

Here’s hoping that the powers that be decide to put a little money down and give us a chance to take another wild ride with the saviors of humanity. San Dimas High School football Rules!

The Muppets was one of the best films of last year. An amazing mix of nostalgic respect, unrelenting optimism and brilliant songs that rank among the very best in the franchise. A sequel to such a successful film is inevitable.

The Vulture is reporting that the deal for said sequel has already been made, but one key element of the first film is thus far absent:

[Jason Segel] won’t be returning to the keyboard. Segel, a star of How I Met Your Mother — now in its eighth season — has a burgeoning film career, and Disney insiders tell Vulture that between his commitment to the CBS sitcom, his other feature-writing efforts, and promotional work for Five Year Engagement (due out this coming April) and Judd Apatow’s This Is Forty (in December), there won’t be time to collaborate on a Muppets sequel.

This only means he might not be apart of the writing stage, but with Nicholas Stoller (his original co-writer) and director James Bobin signed on the original flare should still be present. The news also doesn’t mean Segel couldn’t star in the sequel either, so it is possible this is only a minimal, semantics based departure.

So good, potentially great, news for Muppet fans out there, but we hope once they move forward with the movie they bring back Bret McKenzie too. His song stylings fit the Muppets perfectly.

The original Vacation movie is a bona fide classic. The film was made during the primes of Chevy Chase, John Hughes and Harold Ramis, three of the most prolific names in 80s pop culture. It spawned a hit and miss franchise that most people remember fondly to this day. So this news was inevitable.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that the guys who wrote Horrible Bosses, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstien, have turned in a script for a new Vacation movie and New Line is keen to give the duo the chance to direct too.

Daley and Goldstein’s Vacation script, first set up in 2009, plays like both a sequel and a reboot of the franchise that began with the 1983 Harold Ramis-directed comedy National Lampoon’s Vacationand continued with European Vacation, Christmas Vacation and Vegas Vacation.

A now grown-up Rusty Griswold, the son of the Chevy Chase character in the original series, experiences a misadventure with his own family.