There hasn’t been a genuine outer space sci-fi drama flick on the horizon since last year’s Pandorum, which is why I’m really excited about Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. With films like Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men under his belt, Cuaron has certainly proved to be an excellent director and one to keep an eye on. While Gravity, his latest venture, was on the back burner for some time, it looks like the project is full-steam ahead.

Gravity will be about a woman fighting to return to Earth after being separated from the Hubble. While casting for the lead role is unknown, Blake Lively and Scarlett Johansson are rumored to be fighting for the part. Though his role is currently unknown, Robert Downey Jr. is a confirmed cast member in the film.

The film is planned to be released in 3D, and will feature one of Cuaron’s amazing long takes, with a rumored 20-minute opening shot similar to the amazing scene at the end of Children of Men. The movie will also be almost entirely CGI, as it sounds like it’ll take place almost exclusively in outer space.

After Azkaban it’s clear that Cuaron can handle a film with a lot of CGI and imagined landscapes, and Children of Men proved him to be a master of taking a futuristic premise and creating a very realistic film. I think he’s the best person to undertake this project, and it’ll be exciting to see what the film becomes as casting is decided and production begins.

For any fans of the sci-fi genre or any kind of survival dramas, this certainly sounds like a film for you. We’ll keep you posted on Gravity and any other exciting flicks on the horizon.

With the upcoming big screen adaptation of Green Lantern now finished with principal photography and onto the lengthy post-production stage, it was only a matter of time before info from the film started to leak out. We’ve already seen some stuff, including Ryan Reynolds as the main character and him working on the set, and now we’ve got a picture of another character fans have been looking forward to seeing: Kilowog.

Courtesy of our pals over at ComicBook Movie comes the first image of Hal Jordan’s mentor and I have to say it looks pretty good. Much like his comic counterpart, the character seems to have all the necessary gravitas to be such a respected member of the Green lantern Corps.

Sure, the picture doesn’t show much else than a head and shoulders and we can’t see the character in action, but it does seem like the filmmakers have adhered pretty closely to the character’s appearance from the comics. Or, putting it another way, he doesn’t seem much like a Poozer. Unless, of course, it turns out to be fan-made — which can happen.

Authentic or fan-made, check out a larger pic after the jump. Green Lantern hits theaters on June 17th, 2011.

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Ben Affleck may get a pretty bad rap for his acting, but that was certainly redeemed (mostly) when he stepped behind the camera for the first time to direct Gone Baby Gone. The film was nominated for tons of awards, including Best Actress for Amy Ryan.

Affleck is at it once again with his latest directorial effort The Town. You can tell that he’s got some recurring themes, much like his buddy Kevin Smith, such as a gritty town in Boston and female abduction. This time, Ben himself is stepping in the male leading role, instead of casting his brother Casey.

The movie is based on the Chuck Hogan book Prince of Thieves about a bank robber who becomes infatuated with a witness that his gang is convinced will talk. The movie also stars Blake Lively, Jon Hamm, and Jeremy Renner.

Check out the new trailer after the jump. Catch Ben Affleck’s The Town in theaters on September 10th.

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No sooner did we get a first look at Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern costume then we now have some more photos from the film featuring the man himself, the lovely Blake Lively, Tim Robbins, Angela Bassett, Peter Sarsgaard and a floating ring. These pics (scanned and uploaded by the very nice team at iFanboy) are from the upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly that had the Ryan Reynolds in costume cover.

These new pics give us additional view of Reynolds as Hal Jordan, Blake Lively as Carol Ferris and Tim Robbins as Senator Hammond. Plus, Sarsgaard’s not so healthy looking Hector Hammond and a floating ring of power. Pretty cool.

These photos only serve to build fan’s expectations for the film. I know they do for me. Expect more pics and whatnot to surface next week during San Diego Comic-Con. Until then, check out the pics after the break.

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So here’s what we know about Green Lantern, the upcoming film from DC and Warner Bros. The story follows Hal Jordan (not Kyle Rayner or John Stewart, as speculated), Mark Strong is playing Sinestro, and Peter Sarsgaard is playing the evil Dr. Hector Hammond. Given those two roles, you would think that the main villain would be one of-if not both of-these two characters, right? Think again.

We’re just now getting word from Warner’s official one sheet synopsis of the film that the main villain will be an evil universal force known as “Parallax.” We know this name too, as it’s the creature that inhabits Jordan in the comics, forcing him to go nuts and practically wipe out the rest of the Green Lantern Corps.

The film also stars Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller, Taika Waititi (Flight of the Conchords) as Abin Sur, and Tim Robbins as Hammond’s father, Senator Robert Hammond.

Check out the full synopsis after the jump, and be sure to check out our coverage this year’s San Diego Comic-Con as we expect plenty more news about the movie and maybe even some scenes too.

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About a month ago, we first told you that Ryan Reynolds wouldn’t be donning any spandex or leather for his upcoming superhero blockbuster Green Lantern. Instead, Warner Bros. and director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) made the executive decision to make Hal Jordan’s suit completely computer generated.

With that said, we’re getting the first set pic of Reynolds walking around in the motion-capture suit he wears when shooting so that the visual effects team knows what to replace with the futuristic and shiny Green Lantern costume.

We are still not completely sold on the idea of a non-practical suit for the film, as it looked in the comics, but it will always beat the decision to give the X-Men black leather suits, so we’re OK with it for now.

Check out the image of Reynolds on set in the motion-capture suit, and see if you can imagine what the suit will look like in the finished film. Thanks to our pals at MTV Splash Page for the heads up on the pic.

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The cast of DC and Warner Bros. upcoming big screen adaptation of Green Lantern, featuring Ryan Reynolds as the titular hero and with Martin Campbell directing, has just grown by two. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Temuera Morrison, best known as Jango Fett from the Star Wars movies, has joined the cast as well as filmmaker-actor Taika Waititi.

According to the trade, Morrison will take on the role of Abin Sur, a member of the Green Lantern Corps who gives Hal Jordan his power ring before dying. Waititi will play Hal Jordan’s best friend. They join a cast that, in addition to Reynolds as Jordan, includes Tim Robbins, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard and Mark Strong as Sinestro.

With the addition of Morrison, who I’ve been a fan of since his earlier work in Once Were Warriors, Green Lantern looks to be shaping up as quit a film. Even if it’s being filmed in 3D, which may or may not be a good thing, I’m still getting pretty excited to see it when it’s eventualy released.

Green Lantern begins filming this week in New Orleans with a release scheduled for June 17, 2011.

It appears the search for Green Lantern‘s arch enemy Sinestro is finally at an end. Amid speculation that is was going to be Jackie Earle Haley and other confirmed casting news about the film, it now looks as if Sherlock Holmes veteran Mark Strong is the clear winner and will definitely be taking on the role — assuming Geoff Johns knows what he’s talking about.

According to MTV’s Splashpage, Johns visited the New Orleans set of director Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern, the upcoming DC Comics adaptation starring Ryan Reynolds, and once there decided to let a few details about the project slip out via his Twitter account.

“Back from an amazing trip to Green Lantern town a.k.a. New Orleans!” Johns said on Twitter. “Ryan IS Hal. And Mark Strong is going to be a brilliant Sinestro.”

Johns also weighed in via Twitter with an opinion about several other key elements of the films including the inclusion of Kilowog, the Guardians, Oa and more. Said Johns:

“Kilowog, the Guardians, Oa…all breathtaking,” he surmised. “The age of Green Lantern is upon us!!”

It would appear the newly appointed CCO of DC is giving his stamp of approval to the film and also managing to confirm several details for fans everywhere all at the same time. Seeing as how Johns is the man pretty much responsible for putting Green Lantern back on the map and probably had a great deal to do with this feature film adaptation moving forward, his thoughts should go a long way to put fan’s worries about the film’s quality to rest.

Personally, I was pulling for Guy Pearce to be cast as Sinestro. Still, Mark Strong could be a great choice. I guess we’ll see soon enough. What do you guys think?

Principle photography for DC and Warner’s newest superhero flick, Green Lantern, starts up this month. With that, we’re expecting to see lots of news on the casting front of the film. On that note, Heat Vision is reporting that Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins will be joining the cast.

Robbins is set to play Senator Hammond, the father of the film’s villain Hector Hammond, played by Peter Sarsgaard. The role will be mostly supporting, but with a name like Robbins filling the shoes, we can expect it to be longer than 30 seconds.

Robbins will join an already hearty cast of Ryan Reynolds, Sarsgaard, Blake Lively, and a rumored Mark Strong as Sinestro. Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) is taking on the task of directing, and he’s already reassured the easily irritable fan community by stating that most of the film will take place off-planet.

Last week, some interesting concept art got leaked online, and may have given us a first glimpse of what the rest of the Green Lantern Corps could look like. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as more information on the film comes our way.

Casting for the upcoming Green Lantern movie has become a little more interesting over the last few days. It was long rumored that the role of Sinestro, Green Lantern’s nemesis, would be played by Jackie Early Haley (Watchmen, A Nightmare on Elm Street).  It even went so far as to being kind of confirmed.  It turns out that Haley’s involvement may have been rumor all along.

According to director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes) is in talks to play Sinestro and discussed the Haley rumor with MTV:

“No, that’s completely wrong,” said Campbell of the persistent rumor, which popped up again recently despite Haley denying any involvement with the “Green Lantern” movie. “In fact, we’re in negotiations with Mark Strong to play Sinestro.”

I have no doubt this will bring another layer to the debate on who would be the best actor to play Sinestro. Even here at The Flickcast, it was discussed thoroughly. While I originally was in favor of Haley, I conceded to Chris’ choices of either Guy Pearce (The Hurt Locker) or Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix).  I wonder how Mark Strong will stack up against them?

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This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt are again joined by Elisabeth Rappe and, as usual, launch into discussions of various topics including Twilight’s vampire baby, that Breaking Dawn may be unfilmable, Conan O’Brian, Jay Leno and NBC and the Spider-Man reboot. They also discuss Stuart Townsend leaving Thor, the casting of Blake Lively in Green Lantern, who should play Sinestro in Green Lantern and a whole lot more.

The trio also made some new picks this week including Matt’s pick of Aziz Ansari’s standup video Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, Elisabeth’s pick of Lesbian Vampire Killers and Chris’ pick of Katherine Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, which is new on Blu-ray this week and also one of Chris’ top ten films of 2009.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

While he may still be technically in “negotiations” with Warner about the role, many sources are citing that Peter Sarsgaard has signed on to Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern to play opposite Ryan Reynolds. The role in question is that of Dr. Hector Hammond, the would-be main villain of the film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision, who originally broke the story, this villain doesn’t seem to be one many remember.

Sarsgaard will play Dr. Hector Hammond, the pathologist son of a senator who is seen as a disappointment in his father’s eyes. He becomes infused with psychic powers when he discovers a meteor. The character was created by John Broome and Gil Kane in the early 1960s.

This puts an end to the rumor that the villain of the film would be Sinestro, which is the Green Lantern’s most obvious villain. An interesting route to take, but it looks like Campbell is casting young for the film. Between Reynolds, Blake Lively (Gossip Girl) as Carol Ferris, and now Sarsgaard, it seems that the cast will be aimed at a younger demographic.

Green Lantern is set to shoot this March in New Orleans.