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There's no escaping James Franco. In little more than a decade, the 30-something actor has risen up from relative obscurity to become a worldwide sex symbol and Hollywood leading man with tremendous star power, despite making some career choices — after receiving critical acclaim for his performance in Milk (2008), Franco returned to TV in 2009 with recurring roles on 30 Rock and the soap opera General Hospital — that would have derailed the careers of other actors.
Passed over for several major roles earlier in his career, Franco was chosen to bring Fox's Planet of the Apes franchise back to life and to headline Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful, which is currently the highest grossing movie of the year by a wide margin. How did Franco go from being a TV "geek" to the king wizard of the box office? Just watch the movies on the list we've put together for you and, in under eight hours, you'll be able to dazzle your friends and co-workers with your understanding of the ascension of Franco.
Be conversant in James Franco >> Posted 04.09.13 by BrentJS -
Comic book legend Stan Lee first started working for Marvel Comics in 1939, back when it was still known Timely Comics, eventually co-creating Marvel's most enduring characters, including the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and the Avengers, to name a few. Still going strong at 90 years old, many might be surprised to know that Lee hasn't worked at Marvel Comics for years, as he is still seen as a figurehead for the comic book company. Lee continues to field questions and comments on Twitter, where he has a huge following, and continues his association with Marvel through his many cameos in Marvel movies.
Lee made his first onscreen cameo in the 1989 TV movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and would go on to appear in 2000's X-Men, all four Spider-Man, 2003's Daredevil and Hulk, both Fantastic Four movies, 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, both Iron Man movies as well as 2011's Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger and last year's The Avengers (but not, inexplicably, 2003's X2: X-Men United or X-Men: First Class). Lee's entire, chronological cameo history has been compiled into a single video (via Mary Sue), including most of our ten favorites (sorry, Mallrats doesn't count) and excluding Lee's voice over work from Marvel's animated series.
watch the video >> Posted 01.09.13 by Ryan -
Sony Pictures has been wanting to make a Venom spin-off since 2007, back when the character was still present in our minds after being poorly utilized in the over-stuffed and disappointing 2007 sequel Spider-Man 3. In 2009, Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were hired to adapt a screenplay, with writer-director Gary Ross to provide a rewrite and possibly direct. Ross eventually moved on to the upcoming The Hunger Games instead, and the project has languished ever since. Until now.
more about Venom >> Posted 03.07.12 by Ryan -
So far, not much has been revealed about how director The Amazing Spider-Man different from the trilogy of movies that Sam Raimi directed. With no trailer released yet, anxious fans were recently treated to the first official photos outside of January's first official look at Andrew Garfield in his Spider-Man costume and February's look of Spidey about to use his webshooters.
Of course, there have been plenty of "spy pics" from the Amazing Spider-Man set, some of which just show Spidey running across the street, while others were more revealing. Some May spy photos confirmed that Rhys Ifans was going to play Dr. Curt Connors, a.k.a. the Lizard, a fact that Sony was trying to keep very close to the vest.
Both The Amazing Spider-Man and 2002's Spider-Man cover the character's origin story, which is how the movies will be similar, though Amazing Spider-Man has Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) as Peter Parker's love interest and not Mary Jane, which is more in keeping with the comic book origin. In an interview with The LA Times, Webb says that another difference between his and Raimi's Spider-Man movies is that being a nerd is much different than when the character was first created in 1962.
what did webb say? >> Posted 07.19.11 by Ryan -
Web slinging isn't Spidey's only trick, it seems. He's also quite good at Texas Hold'em.
TMZ reports that Tobey Maguire, who donned Spiderman's red mask in the recent trilogy, is being sued by a bankruptcy trust for more than $300,000. Brad Ruderman was a hedge fund manager who is currently serving time for a Ponzi scheme, and was a regular at Beverly Hills high-stakes poker games. The L.A. Times reported in 2009 that he had lost $5.2 million in investor funds playing Texas Hold'em.
At least $300,000 of that was won by Maguire, as evidenced by a wire transfer of that amount from Ruderman to the actor. The trust is claiming that since the game was unlicensed, any money made from it was ill-gotten gains and should be used to pay Ruderman's debts. The Associated Press reports that the bankruptcy trust is also trying to recover money from other players, including The Notebook director Nick Cassavetes.
Posted 06.22.11 by Mandy -
With Spider-Man 3 expectations were high because ... well, why shouldn't they have been? The first movie was good, the second one was great, and assuming that a pattern was forming it looked like the franchise's third movie was going to be awesome. Yeah. Let's just say the actual Spider-Man 3 didn't meet our expectations — hell, it didn't meet our expectations for the Chipmunks movie. Our hopes are still high for the Spider-Man reboot. But just in case, we've charted out the problems with the last movie in hopes that Marc Webb and Co. are paying attention.
See Rewind: Spider-Man 3 >>
Posted 01.19.11 by reelz -
Bryce Dallas Howard has been building a nice resume joining popular movie franchise sequels lately; playing Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3, and Kate Connor in Terminator Salvation. Apparently, Spider-Man and Terminator were nothing compared to the intensity of joining the Twilight universe. Howard admitted to MTV that making Eclipse was more intense than the others.
Eclipse pressure too much for howard? >> Posted 07.02.10 by Ryan -
It's been four months since Sam Raimi's departure and the Spider-Man 4 reboot were announced, and fans are still hotly debating what this means for the series. Those months have also been filled with lots of conjecture and rumor about what Marc Webb would do with the origin story. We're now getting closer to finding out, with the announcement from THR that Alvin Sargent has been hired to rewrite the script started by Jamie Vanderbilt.
is this good news for the fans? >> Posted 05.17.10 by reelz -
Even though director James Cameron said only a month ago that he would not direct the rebooted Spider-Man movie because it would be "a little bit sloppy seconds," apparently he is willing to discuss the movie with the director ultimately chosen for the job, Marc Webb. According to MTV, Cameron's producing partner, Jon Landau, confirmed that the two directors met and that the topic of discussion was shooting the Spider-Man reboot in 3-D, a technique Cameron mastered in directing Avatar.
Last [week] we met [with Webb. He] wants to do the next one in 3-D, which they've announced that they want to do. So, we want to try to support that as much as possible.
What's interesting about this meeting is less the fact that Webb sought out Cameron for his 3-D knowledge than that Cameron has long been associated with Spider-Man as a movie property. Cameron drafted a script for a big-screen Spider-Man adaptation for Carolco back in 1991, more than a decade before Sam Raimi's Spider-Man broke box-office records and helped to entrench superhero movies as a summer box-office staple. Cameron's plans were crushed beneath the weight of legal actions over character rights and contract disputes. Carolco and Marvel Comics both declared bankruptcy in 1996 and the rights to Spider-Man, including Carmeron's script, went to MGM, who later traded them to Columbia Pictures for the exclusive rights to 007.
In light of Cameron's history with Spider-Man, it's easier to understand the underlying bitterness in his "sloppy seconds" remark, but it only makes his decision to meet with Webb all the more surprising. But, Landau said that Cameron agreed to the meeting because he "loved" Webb's latest movie, (500) Days of Summer, and because of their shared belief that the right way to release a movie in 3-D is to shoot it in 3-D, rather than to have it converted to 3-D in post-production.
Other movies are turning to [3-D] now, some of which I agree with, some of which I don't agree with. Clash of The Titans is coming out in 3-D; they're converting it very hastily into 3-D. I'm not in favor if that. If you want to shoot a 3-D movie, shoot it in 3-D.
The currently untitled Spider-Man reboot is being written by James Vanderbilt and produced by Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin for Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios. Though no cast announcements have been made yet, Sony Pictures has already announced that the movie will be released in 3-D on July 3, 2012.
Posted 02.17.10 by BrentJS -
Only one day after Logan Lerman, the star of the upcoming movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, told Billy Bush of Access Hollywood that he was in talks for the lead role of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in the rebooted franchise, the 18-year-old actor appears to be going back on his words. Or, perhaps, his earlier statements were true, but he's been asked to "zip it" by Sony's reps.
Either way, his latest comments to MTV about the subject make the news of his involvement with the movie far less intriguing. In the previous interview, he spoke of having a "few discussions" with the studio about playing the role, now he simply says that he is "hoping to be considered" along with "millions of actors out there." And, his comment about wanting to "focus on the human element a little bit more," has been replaced with the very bland statement, "I'm just a huge fan, that's all I can say."
Can say? Does that mean that Lerman actually does knows more than he's telling, but the studio execs have put the clamp down on him? Watch the video below and decide for yourself.
Posted 02.06.10 by BrentJS