If you are a general movie fan (let’s be honest: if you’re here, you probably are) then you are probably aware how casting works for most films. Directors and producers seeks out the stars, or soon-to-be stars, that they really like for the roles and either build a film around them or make them work into their project.

But what if time and space folded in on itself, causing films like Inception and Drive to get made in the film era of Bela Lugosi and James Dean? Or if John Wayne actually got the part to play Superman instead of George Reeves?

These are questions that digital artist Peter Stults thought would be cool to explore, as he takes popular films and drops them into different eras and genres, with the farthest possible actors taking on the iconic roles.

After the jump, you can take a look at the whole slew of them, which include Sean Connery in The Fifth Element, Fritz Lang’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and our personal favorite: Leonard Nimoy in Die Hard.

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The Dark Knight Rises is one of the most anticipated movies of the year for many reasons, one such reason is the new score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. The previous movie had one of the more subtle, complex and ultimately effective scores for any Super Hero movie ever, so of course anticipation is high for this installment’s music.

While we wait on the upcoming score to be released it can be fun to reflect back on what has come before. A recent YouTube video has popped up with some very interesting revelations about the inspiration for one of the more memorable musical moments from the last film. It appears as if the track ‘Why So Serious’ bears more than a passing resemblance to the score of an early 80′s French film.

Now most people will use this as yet another moment to stand on a pedestal and try to tear down Zimmer as a plagiarizer. Hans Zimmer has a reputation of taking music from his previous films and re-purposing them in future movies, just take a listen to some of the action music in Rango and you will hear more than a little Pirates of the Caribbean.

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Silva Screen Records has recently released two new best of collections featuring two of today’s top names in film music. First up is The Music of James Horner which is a 2 disc set that updates Silva Screen’s previous Horner collection Titanic – The Essential James Horner.

Tracking Horner’s career from the very beginning all the way to his most recent work with The Karate Kid, the collection features all of his very best work, represented by one or two of the best tracks for each soundtrack.

Also recently released from Silva Screen Records is the followup collection to their 2007 release, The Essential Hans Zimmer Collection, entitled Film Music of Hans Zimmer Vol. 2. This set features mostly music from the last decade, including Inception, the pervious three Pirates of the Caribbean films and Sherlock Holmes. Aside from the recent hits, the set also has some choice tracks from Zimmer’s work in the 90′s, going as far back as The Lion King.

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It’s kinda funny. I was just watching Rodney Dangerfield and Keith Gordon in Back to School only days ago and now, some Keith Gordon news pops up. Internets, you’re got my number.

And what interesting news it is. It seems Christopher Nolan, who’s only done this one other time with Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot Man of Steel, has decided to shepherd a project and produce a film for another director. That director? None other than keith Gordon. I know, right?

Nolan’s company, Syncopy, has reportedly set up a supernatural thriller at Warner Bros and hired Gordon to write and direct it. Nolan’s former assistant Jordan Goldberg is apparently the guy responsible for bringing the project to Nolan so he can produce with partner Emma Thomas.

The project is reportedly based on a novel who’s title has yet to be revealed. However, knowing the movies Gordon likes to do (Including A Midnight Clear and Mother Night) I would expect it to be something cool and a little weird. As a fan of Gordon’s work, I’ll be following this one closely.

Even though the premise of the upcoming film Warrior is a bit hard to believe (the two people fighting in the “big fight” at the end of the movie are actually brothers) that doesn’t mean we’re not interested. Especially because we happen to be big fans of actor Tom Hardy around The Flickcast offices.

His previous work in films like Bronson and Inception have proven his ability and mark him as an actor to watch. Plus, he’s playing a signifcant role in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming third Batman film so naturally, we’re going to be keeping track of him.

Next up for Hardy is Warrior, an action drama from director Gavin O’Connor, whose previous film Miracle shows he knows his way around sports action movies. Here’s some info on the film as well as a brand new poster for it after the jump.

Haunted by a tragic past, former Marine Tommy Conlon (Hardy) returns home for the first time in fourteen years to enlist the help of his father (Nick Nolte) to train for SPARTA, the biggest winner-takes-all event in mixed martial arts history. A former wrestling prodigy, Tommy blazes a path toward the championship while his brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), an ex-fighter-turned teacher, returns to the ring in a desperate bid to save his family from financial ruin.

But when Brendan’s unlikely, underdog rise sets him on a collision course with the unstoppable Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront each other and the forces that pulled them apart, facing off in the most soaring, soul stirring, and unforgettable climax that must be seen to be believed.

Warrior hits theaters on September 9th. Judging from the poster they seem to be going for the female audience just a bit. I guess that’s a good way to get them to see this kind of movie.

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Welcome to another edition of 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 during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• Supercut of the week: Every time Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet call out “Jack!” and “Kate!” in 1994′s Titanic. Hint: it’s more than you think.

• Got a free afternoon or 6? Try to hunt down and watch all 50 of the most insane B-Movies out there. Surprisingly, most of them are already on Instant Netflix.

• If you love reading/writing scripts, then you probably don’t have the money for an iPad. If you did, you’d want the FDX Reader, the first-ever script reader for Apple’s tablet.

• We may have written up something about this in the past, but this fan film about Wolverine Vs. The Hand is pretty spot-on. If only Hugh Jackman wasn’t too busy fighting robots, he could work on a script like this.

• Fox’s Family Guy is tired of being that hot girl who you won’t date. They’re now marketing to fight for an Emmy, of which they currently have none.

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This may be the biggest year for the Academy Awards, as some major Hollywood players are going up against some fresh newcomers. Eyeballs everywhere will be glued to ABC on Sunday, February 27th at 8PM E/5PM P when the awards show goes live. But before that, we decided to do some picking of our own with the staff’s predictions for each award.

For a full list of the nominees, check out our previous article on the subject. Now, on to the predictions.

Best Picture

Shannon Hood-The Social Network. It had early and consistent momentum all year, and the Academy appears to be trying to shake up their stodgy image. This would be the perfect film to put their money where their mouth is.

Matt Raub – True Grit. Not only are the Coens a regular in the “I Have an Oscar” club, but this testament to classic western films is definitely one for record books, between its all-star cast and gritty (no pun intended) visual style, this one definitely deserves the golden statue.

Chris Ullrich – True Grit. Even though this was a pretty great year for movies and there are many excellent choices in this category, True Grit stands on its own as my pick. As an example of pure movie storytelling, this Coen Brothers masterpiece excels on every level and delivers a pure entertainment experience you will want to revisit many more times in the future.

Cortney Zamm – The Social Network. There’s a lot of great films in this category, some of them from my favorite directors and starring my favorite people. But the one that combined all of the essential elements of filmmaking into a truly gorgeous, compelling, and memorable film was The Social Network.

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Today, in what can be considered a pretty groundbreaking move, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution announced it is the first to launch “App Editions” of movies for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Starting with the popular Christopher Nolan films Inception and The Dark Knight, the special edition movies and bonus content are now available for free in the U.S. app store in and more than 30 other countries.

According to the studios, these “App Editions” provide “a fully-loaded, connected viewing experience that gives consumers the first five minutes of a feature film and a portion of bonus content that can include games, trivia, soundtracks and soundboards. The entire feature film can be unlocked via an in-app purchase, which enables downloading and unlimited streaming, as well as access to the entire array of bonus content available within the App.”

With the apps arriving in the iTunes store today, this is something we’re going to have to check out for sure. On the surface it seems like a great way to expose these films to an even larger audience, especially where they may not have been available previously.

Still, for more mainstream audiences who’ve already seen and enjoyed these films, it will probably come down to what new and unique content these apps bring and what they will cost. For even more on these new apps, check out the full press release after the jump. We’ve also included some screens of these apps for you to check out as well. So, check ‘em out and let us know what you think.

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Nerds everywhere thought we could rest easy after years of contemplation and speculation as to who the next villain[s] would be in the Nolan’s third Batman film, and who they’d be played by.

Not long ago, we got word that Selena Kyle would be the film’s main villain, played by Anne Hathaway. Also joining the film would be Inception star Tom Hardy as the secondary villain Bane. Now the door of mystery has opened up once again as Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in talks to play yet another mysterious role in the film.

From Deadline.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in talks to reunite with his Inception director Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight Rises for Warner Bros. I’m not sure what role he’ll play, but I’m told that he will be in the movie when Nolan starts production this spring.

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This week on The Flickcast brings more insight, innovation and innuendo from your favorite co-hosts. That’s right, Chris and Matt are back and discussing all sorts of new and returning topics.

Some of those topics include the Oscars, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Call of Duty: Black Ops Map Packs, the Verizon iPhone, Fantastic Four developments, Smallville’s final season and potential spin-offs, the Dead Space 2 ads and much more.

Chris and Matt also made new picks this week including Matt’s pick of the Sam Raimi film Darkman the and Chris’ pick of the new Starz series Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

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

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the  nominees for the 83rd annual award ceremony this morning. The King’s Speech was the front-runner with 12 nominations. Overall, there weren’t too many surprises.

Many were disappointed  that Christopher Nolan did not receive a best director nod, but as a consolation prize, Inception was nominated as a contender for best picture.
True Grit did quite well, with Hailee Steinfeld nabbing a best supporting actress nod, and nominations for best picture, best director(s), best actor, and best adapted screenplay. Winter’s Bone was recognized for best actress, best picture, and best adapted screenplay. Dogtooth, Jackie Weaver, and Javier Bardem were nice surprises.

Here are the nominees in the order that they were announced.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld True Grit
Jackie Weaver Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale The Fighter
John Hawkes Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner The Town
Mark Ruffalo The Kids Are All Right
Jeffrey Rush The King’s Speech

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Today the Director’s Guild of America announced its nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in feature films 2010. As the DGA nominations are traditionally considered an indicator of who might end up with the Oscar in the same category, these nominations, and the winner, are watched pretty closely.

The nominations are :

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

I’m a little surprised that the Coen brothers were not nominated for True Grit. They’ve won the award before three years ago, for No Country for Old Men, so I thought they may be nominated again this year. I would bet they were choice number six on the list and just didn’t make the cut. Besides, I think Fincher is a lock for this, and probably the Oscar as well, so it’s not such a bad thing.

The winner will be announced at the DGA’s annual awards dinner Jan. 29 at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. Who do you think will win, and who do you want to win?