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"By this hand, I love thee."
Talk about switching gears. After writing and directing the third highest-grossing movie of all time with The Avengers, Joss Whedon decided to take a break and shoot what could now be considered a much smaller movie in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Shot in black-and-white at Whedon's house over 12 days during the Avengers edit period, Much Ado About Nothing stars plenty of Whedon regulars, including Serenity's Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher, Cabin in the Woods' Amy Acker and Fran Kranz, and The Avengers' Alexis Denisof and Clark Gregg.
"The movie’s in black-and-white partially because it’s kind of a noir comedy," Whedon told EW in 2011. "I realized that everybody in it behaves like such a dolt — an articulate dolt, but a dolt. I fixated on this notion that our ideas of romantic love are created for us by the society around us, and then escape from that is grown-up love, is marriage, is mature love, to escape the ideals of love that we’re supposed to follow. So that clicked for me when I realized, oh, I get why it matters everybody goes through the weird machinations we go through."
watch the trailer >> Posted 03.07.13 by Ryan -
Which Actor Should Play the Space Pirate?
Unless you've been sentenced to hard labor in the Spice Mines of Kessel or frozen in carbonite for the past few weeks, then you know that George Lucas has sold Lucasfilm Ltd. and that Disney is pushing for a new Star Wars movie to be released in 2015. The details of Star Wars: Episode VII are a closely guarded secret at this point, but we do know that Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) has been hired to write the screenplay and that Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher have all been approached about it, but whether the trio will be playing older versions of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa or simply signing away their likeness rights for digital proxies is anyone's guess.
As much as we would love to see the original actors come back in some way, shape or form, we would much rather see Disney reboot the characters the way Paramount did with Star Trek. After all, if James Bond, Batman and Sherlock Holmes can survive multiple interations, why not Han, Luke and Leia? We already asked you who you think has the right stuff to play the last Jedi; now, help us choose the space pirate, the scoundrel, the scruffy looking nerf herder.
Rate the Top 10 Actors Who Could Play Han Solo >>
Posted 11.16.12 by BrentJS -
Who Should Play the Ant-Whispering Founding Avenger?
Comic book movie fans were treated to some great news yesterday, courtesy of Walt Disney Studios. In addition to announcing that Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World will be released in 3D, Marvel Studios' parent company finally put co-writer (with Joe Cornish) and director Edgar Wright's (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) Ant-Man adaptation on its slate of upcoming superhero movies, revealing the movie will be released on November 6, 2015, just six months after The Avengers 2 hits theaters.
Despite being a founding member of The Avengers in the Marvel comic books, Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym, a.k.a. Ant-Man, has yet to make an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This could be due to Ant-Man's lack of popularity or because Marvel "reserved" the character for Wright, who has been working on his Ant-Man script for years, but the most likely reason is that Wright's Ant-Man won't be scientist-turned-superhero Hank Pym at all, but some other hero, a "bad-ass secret agent" with size-changing powers. Help us cast the Ant-Man movie by telling us who you think has what it takes to play a mini-James Bond with a kookie helmet.
Select the Top 10 Actors Who Could Play Ant-Man >>
Posted 10.17.12 by BrentJS -
Who Should Ride the Lightning?
For a time, it appeared as if “The Fastest Man Alive” would be the next DC Comics superhero to get his own feature film. After initially commissioning Dan Mazeau (Wrath of the Titans) to pen a script for a live-action The Flash movie, Warner Bros. (WB) ended up passing on Mazeau’s script and hired Green Lantern writers Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim to write the screenplay. That was over a year ago, however, and WB appears to have put the brakes on all of their planned solo superhero movies as they strategize their next movie in the wake of the end of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Some industry insiders have suggested that WB plans to copy Marvel Studios’ formula for The Avengers, but in reverse — first releasing the super-team movie and then spinning off individual characters into solo movies — which would mean that the Flash's first big screen appearance would be in the Justice League movie.
There have been several superheroes called the Flash, but the current incarnation, and the one that WB is likely to go with in the Justice League movie, is Barry Allen, who works as a forensic scientist when he's not circling the globe looking for trouble. Who do you think has what it takes to play a fast-talking speed freak who is also a detail-oriented detective?
Select the Top 10 Actors Who Could Play the Flash >>
Posted 10.15.12 by BrentJS -
UPDATE: Since the news came out about Joss Whedon's new and surprising movie, Much Ado About Nothing, the director put out a press release confirming the movie, which stars Nathan Fillion and Sean Maher and a host of Whedon regulars. We know now the movie is a modern version of Shakespeare's play that Whedon shot in black and white. We also learned that he shot the movie in only 12 days on location in Santa Monica. Whedon said of the project:
The text is to me a deconstruction of the idea of love, which is ironic, since the entire production is a love letter -- to the text, to the cast, even to the house it’s shot in.
It's not uncommon for filmmakers to take on multiple projects. Often, directors will start pre-production on their next project even as they're in production or post-production on their current project. But it was pretty surprising to hear that Joss Whedon has another project under his belt as he is putting the final touches on perhaps what will be the biggest and most ambitious superhero project movie ever — The Avengers.
Well, if recent cryptic tweets and an odd website are any indication, it seems Whedon, King of the Nerds, did, in fact assemble a cast of his regulars for a new movie. Nathan Fillion, a Whedon alum (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Dollhouse), along with Sean Maher and costume designer Shawna Trpcic tweeted a link to MuchAdoTheMovie.com, which looks to be Wheadon's adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. The one-page website says principal photography has been completed on the movie. The only image from the movie is of a man in a lake with scuba gear holding a martini.
Looks like this isn't a joke >> Posted 10.24.11 by Chris -
Earlier this month, director Neil Burger (Limitless) took over helming duties on Sony Pictures' adaptation of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune from David O. Russell (The Fighter) after Sony Pictures balked at Russell's unconventional script that turned the Playstation video game from a solo-led adventure to one that included a whole family of antiquities hunters.
When Burger landed the job, what wasn't clear was whether the director would use Russell's script or the initial draft from Conan the Barbarian screenwriters Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly. In a recent interview with Crave Online, Burger was quick to point out that neither script will be used.
who could replace Wahlberg? >> Posted 07.18.11 by Ryan -
Back before Ryan Reynolds was cast in the upcoming Green Lantern adaptation, fans were campaigning for Castle star Nathan Fillion to play the role, even creating a fan-made trailer starring Fillion as the emerald hero. Despite Fillion's similarity to the character of Hal Jordan, the actor lost out on the live-action role, but Warner Bros. has found an alternative for Fillion: voicing the character in an upcoming animated Green Lantern movie.
more on Green Lantern: Emerald Knights >> Posted 02.09.11 by Ryan -
When Joss Whedon announced at Comic-Con that he would direct Marvel's The Avengers, he described the movie as "the very definition of family." The writer-director later expanded on what the theme of "family" meant for the movie in an interview with io9.
It just really just goes back to the very first incarnation of The Avengers. It goes to The Ultimates, it goes to everything about it. It makes no sense, it's ridiculous. There's a thunder god, there's a green "ID" giant rage monster, there's Captain America from the '40s, there's Tony Stark who definitely doesn't get along with anybody. Ultimately these people don't belong together and the whole movie is about finding yourself from community. And finding that you not only belong together but you need each other, very much. Obviously this will be expressed through punching but it will be the heart of the film.
more from Whedon, including what's out >> Posted 07.25.10 by Ryan -
When first announced that Joss Whedon was in negotiations to direct The Avengers, many fans of Whedon's short-lived TV series Firefly and the subsequent theatrical sequel to the series, Serenity, began speculating that Nathan Fillion, who played Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds, captain of the Serenity, might earn a spot on the roster of the superhero movie. Since most of the original members of The Avengers were already spoken for, the character that many thought Fillion could play was Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym, aka Ant-Man.
The rumor flared up again yesterday when Fillion took the stage during Whedon's panel at the San Diego Comic-Con. However, Fillion dispelled the rumor that he might be playing Ant-Man in The Avengers once and for all at Disney's "Comic-Tron" party, held last night in San Diego.
What role would Fillion have the time for? >> Posted 07.24.10 by BrentJS -
The cast of writer-director James Gunn's labor of love Super, currently in production in Louisiana, has been filled out with the addition of 11 more cast members. According to ComingSoon, Nathan Fillion, Linda Cardellini, and nine others join Rainn Wilson, Kevin Bacon, and Liv Tyler in the "super" hero movie. Nine of the 11 additions are actors that Gunn has worked with previously.
These are people I like and admire but with whom I also share common creative goals. It helps imbue Super with an uncommon life, warmth, and energy. Super is an act of love for all of us, and it's wonderful having the people I love the most helping me make it.
Described by Gunn as a "dark, comedic, gritty, very unusual, and grounded" on his personal website, Super tells the story of a regular guy (Wilson) who becomes the costumed hero The Crimson Bolt to win back his wife (Tyler) from a drug dealer (Bacon). Fillion will portray the pop icon who inspires Frank's transformation from "zero" to "hero," while Cardellini will play a potential love interest.
Posted 01.19.10 by BrentJS