The Flickcast

Tony Stark to find the bottle in ‘Iron Man’ 3?

Posted on January 12, 2010

Iron Man, Demon in a Bottle As soon as Iron Man hit the movie screen comic book fans began speculating as to whether Tony Stark would turn to booze. This, of course, comes from the highly praised Demon in a Bottle storyline in which Stark falls into a depression, forsakes his Iron Man alter ego, and becomes an alcohalic. With Marvel Studios casting Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, someone who has battled similar demons, it only bolstered the idea that this story had to be addressed at some point.

Neither Marvel nor Downey Jr. have said much about Demon in a Bottle. The party line thus far has been little more then acknowledging they know the story exists, but have never committed to its inclusion in the films. Now, thanks to comic book artist Bob Layton, we’re beginning to hear more about how Demon in a Bottle may play out in the films to come:

“I think they’ve come up with a terrific segue to the third film, which I think is going to be fairly powerful,” he said. “My understanding is that the third film could very well be the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ story mixed in there with everything and I’m kind of looking forward to that, if that’s where they wind up going.”

Stuart Townsend Exits ‘Thor’

Posted on January 12, 2010

I don’t know what it says about Stuart Townsend or Marvel’s upcoming Thor movie, but he has walked off of the project citing “creative differences”. Townsend (who also walked away from the role of Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films) was signed to play Fandral, one of the “Warriors Three”, an Errol Flynn-esque Asgardian.

The question now becomes: with Townsend’s absence, will Thor become a new classic, much like the Rings trilogy, or will it fall by the wayside much like films that he originally signed up for such as League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Queen of the Damned.

Thor, which started filming this week, didn’t lose a second over the loss as newcomer Joshua Dallas has stepped into the role. Dallas recently had a role in the still-unreleased stateside horror sequel The Descent 2 and in the George Lucas-produced story about the Tuskegee Airmen, Red Tails.

Thor is being directed by Kenneth Branagh, also stars Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek), Natalie Portman, and Anthony Hopkins, and is slated for May 6th, 2011.

Next ‘Spider-Man’ Film To Be Reboot With New Cast and Director

Posted on January 11, 2010

As first reported via Deadline Hollywood, things are going in a completely different direction in the cinematic world of Spider-Man. According to the report, the fourth film featuring the web slinger won’t star Tobey Maguire or be directed by Sam Raimi. In fact, none of the creative team from the first three films will be returning and the next film will be an entire reboot of the franchise.

This news comes after recent reports of script and villain problems and delays in filming in order to reach a projected release date in 2012. In addition, Sony released a statement today and we’ve got that for you right here:

Culver City, CA (January 11, 2010) — Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012. Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced today they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.

The new chapter in the Spider-Man franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.

‘Star Trek 2’ Gets A Release Date

Posted on January 11, 2010

While folks over in the J.J. Abrams camp are revving up for the final season of LOST, there’s still something to look forward to on the horizon. News has just hit that a release date for the sequel to last May’s Star Trek has been announced…and that date is June 29th, 2012.

So before we start joining in the debate on whether the next villain should be Kahn, Klingons, The Borg, or Tribbles, realize that we still have over two years before we’ll get to “boldly go…” once more in theaters.

No word has been stated on what the plot will be, but last we heard from the cast and crew, just about everyone will be returning for the sequel (with the exception of Nimoy as Spock Prime). The film will at least be getting a prime box office slot, as it’s the weekend before Independence Day, which is primarily a hot ticket weekend for theaters.

Just think, between now and the time the film hits theaters, we’ll have already seen two Iron Man films, a Thor movie, and another six films starring Miley Cyrus. Isn’t the anticipation overwhelming??

DGA TV Nominations Announced

Posted on January 11, 2010

directors-guild-awards-dga-logo The DGA, which unveiled the small-screen nominations in eight categories last Friday, will announce the winners Jan. 30 at its 62nd annual awards ceremonies at the Century Plaza Hotel. AMC’s Mad Men received three Directors Guild of America TV nominations for drama series and HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Fox’s Glee each got a pair for comedy. The nominations included a trio of season finales in Mad Men, Curb and ABC’s Lost. In the comedy category, two shows — the pilot for ABC’s Modern Family and Glee — also received nominations.

Thomas Carter scored a nomination in the TV movie-miniseries category for TNT’s Gifted Hands — The Ben Carson Story along with Bob Balaban for Liftetime’s George O’Keefe, John Kent Harrison for CBS’s The Courageous Heart of Irene Sandler, Ross Katz for HBO’s Taking Chance and Michael Sucsy for HBO’s Grey Gardens.

Here’s the complete list of nominations:

MOVIES FOR TELEVISION/MINISERIES

The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Miniseries for 2009 are (in alphabetical order):

BOB BALABAN

“Georgia O’Keeffe” (Lifetime)

THOMAS CARTER

“Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story” (TNT)

Greg Grunberg Says ‘Heroes’ Will Be Back

Posted on January 11, 2010

Greg Grunberg of Heroes Listen up Heroes fans. Mind-reading cop Greg Grunberg is convinced Heroes will be back for another season. This is certainly great news for anyone still watching the show and concerned about the ratings. Keep in mind, this is his opinion, and does not necessarily reflect that of the network.

Grunberg made his renewal prediction while attending the People’s Choice awards, “We wrapped yesterday and the [final episode] is nowhere near a series finale…It is cliffhanger-y and exciting, but it is nowhere near an end to a series that people are so invested in. It does not tie everything up in a neat bow… I don’t have any doubt that the show will be back.”

It’s a bold statement to make. Just because the season finale is “…nowhere near a series finale…” does not guarantee the show will return next season. Let me present Exhibit A: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. That wasn’t a series finale either, and we all know what happened to it (here’s a hint, Fox canceled it).

That said, I hope Heroes viewers do get their show back. Fortunately, Heroes has some other things going for it other than Grunberg’s gut instinct. The series has solid DVD sales and a strong international following. Further, Heroes was the top pirated TV series of 2009. Okay, that may not be the best endorsement given the legalities (or lack there of) involved. Regardless, it is a strong indicator that people are watching the show.

At the end of the day I think as long as NBC can continue to sell ads alongside Heroes it should last. With shows like Dollhouse and the aforementioned Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles getting axed there’s less genre programming to watch. In that, Heroes may find a resurgence in viewers as similar options in programming continue to dwindle.

Bill Paxton wants ‘Twister’ 2

Posted on January 11, 2010

I have a real appreciation for natural disaster flicks. Volcano, Dante’s Peak, 2012, I love them all and it doesn’t matter how absurd they may be. One personal favorite is Twister. This film came with a whole bunch of destruction with a baked in love story between Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. Because nothing says I love you better then sharing the moment of running scared from a category five tornado.

Even with the success of his show Big Love, Paxton wants another Twister film. Some may scoff at the idea but I’d love to see a sequel. Paxton said the inspiration for the the film came to him while retracing the path of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado. This massive tornado left a path of destruction 219 miles wide and killed 700 people. Paxton said:

“There’s actually footage that I found in Murphysboro at their historical society. They had footage from a biplane that the government sent down, just to do aerial footage of all of the destruction and the damage. So we just did that to kind of get some ideas, and from that I kind of extrapolated an idea for a sequel. And I kind of put that together into a format, and now we’re kind of waiting to see if that’s going to move forward.”

One thing to consider about doing a film like this is how it would be accepted by audiences. Until 2012, the disaster film genre kind of disappeared (Cloverfield doesn’t count, it was a monster after all). In that time the real world has suffered some major disasters of its own (e.g. Hurricane Katrina). This is not to say we didn’t have major disasters when Twister was originally released, but I feel there’s a higher social awareness surrounding the tragedy of the events rather than the sensational nature of them.

MTV Making ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ Into TV Series

Posted on January 11, 2010

Dawn of the Dead, 1978 Poster Much like vampires, zombies are having quite the resurgence these days. Not that they ever really went anywhere, but it seems after the success of Zombieland (and video games like Left 4 Dead) everyone in Hollywood wants a piece of the zombie pie (which, while popular, probably wouldn’t taste very good).

Recently, AMC announced they were adapting Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead for the network with Frank Darabont in charge and now, not to be left out, MTV is apparently turning George Romero’s classic Dawn of the Dead into a TV series. Yes, one more non-music program on a channel named Music Television. Don’t worry, it’s doubtful they’ll make the zombies dance. At least in that MTV will preserve the greatness that is Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.

So far MTV has not made any details about the project available:

“They haven’t given away much in terms of details surrounding the show, how it will link to the original film or even when it might hit the air. They have noted the show will feature a mix of the classic, slow moving zombies and the latest fad of turning the undead into Olympic sprinters. It’s good to see so much diversity on television.”

A television series based on zombies may seem unconventional, but one only has to look to shows like HBO‘s True Blood to understand the supernatural appeal. Moreover, I can’t help but wonder if some, if not all, of MTV’s motivation is driven by Zombieland itself. While made into a movie, Zombieland was originally pitched to CBS as a television series. Coincidence? Perhaps not.

No matter how the project started, is anyone really going to complain about more zombies to watch? I didn’t think so.

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