A Huntsman Hugh Jackman Won’t Be

By this time, Universal is probably on Plan D or E for Snow White & the Huntsman.

Production on the Rupert Sanders-directed action-oriented "revisionist" take on the age-old fairy tale is itching to start this fall. Problem is they’ve been trying to nab down a Huntsman to Kristen Stewart's Snow White to no success.

Viggo Mortensen didn't work out, and last week, it appeared the filmmakers had a silver lining in Hugh Jackman as the X-Men star was offered the gig. Fresh off The Wolverine pumping the brakes and with nothing else in the foreseeable future (Jackman's plans to star in Lee Daniels' Selma also shit the bed), it seemed like the perfect "right place, right time" case for him to say "Yes" to a big crowd-pleasing, Christmas release that didn't involved the X-Men.

Well, stick a fork in that one says The Wrap. Jackman didn't take a bite at the offer and Universal is left searching again. Doesn't help matters Relativity Media has their own rival production The Brothers Grimm: Snow White gearing up with Tarsem Singh (director of the soon-to-be-flop Immortals) behind the camera, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer and Julia Roberts starring and a June 29, 2012 release.

Plenty of lesser-to-unknowns out there could be suitable. Could easily see one of the (many) Bourne Legacy contenders get the part. But they’re clearly aiming for a "name" to allure asses in seats.

Jon Chu Tries His Damndest Defending Himself on G.I. Joe 2

It's times like these that I love my online movie-news colleagues. Honestly.

Two weeks back, THR reported producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was at odds with Paramount brass over their decision to hire John Chu to direct G.I. Joe 2. So bad was the tension they stated that di Bonaventura is contemplating vacating from the studio after eight years there. I saw little-to-no reporting of this. God bless.

I'm sure there are other reasons behind his possible exit, but those with nerd-rage against Chu from the moment his name was first brought up are using this "proof" of how unqualified he is. "SEEEEEE! EVEN THE PRODUCER DOESN’T WANT HIM!"

Yes, because the guy who let Jon Peter waste hundreds of millions of dollars developing his crazy-ass ideas for a new Superman movie is the person to tell us Chu isn't qualified. Sure.

While talking to The Deadbolt, Chu answers those critics (most of them ten-years-old; mentally or physically we have yet to determine):

"I mean, I can’t ever change what people think. Throughout my whole life it’s been, 'Oh, how can this guy who’s not a dancer do a dance movie? How can this guy who has never done a movie do a movie? How can this guy who has never done 3D do a 3D dance movie? Isn’t that cheeseball? How can this guy who has never done a documentary do a documentary? How can a Justin Bieber concert movie not be a concert movie? And how can it actually be successful when Jonas and all of those others have fallen?' Every step of the way, it's always been that. But even the message in Never Say Never is [how] we like to be the underdog. It gives us something to work for."

As I've stated time-and-time again, Chu deserves as much a chance as Peter Jackson did going into The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Christopher Nolan going into Batman Begins, Bryan Singer on X-Men, etc.

Besides G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra was so bad (in a good way; for me, Phil Gee and others) its director Stephen Sommers was fired for some time during post-production. Not to mention, the 80s cartoon isn't as good as you might think.

Yep, We're Getting a New Krypton in The Man of Steel

Yesterday, we heard Diane Lane spill the beans of The Man of Steel being the origin story for this new Superman film series.

By simple process of elimination, that would mean we're going to see a new version of Krypton and some big-name actor following the tradition of Marlon Brando reading his lines off a baby's diaper as Jor-El. Latino Review says we can expect just that when the Zack Snyder-directed reboot drops next Christmas.

Confirming a scoop originated down-under from Movie Hole, they also state Daniel Day-Lewis was said prestigious thespian being looked for Supes' wise, but doomed, daddy.

Were they able to secure the two-time Oscar winner (quite the accomplishment if pulled off, given his renowned pickiness), he would have truly been the first actor to get "Holy shit!" reactions from people since Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton's Batman and, you guessed it, the afore-mentioned Brando in Richard Donner's Superman. That kind of news would have gotten my old man to call me up, "Did you hear they got Daniel Day Lewis for a new Superman? Then it must be good if he's in it!"

Additionally, they've received word that General Zod's "right hand bitch" (Kelvin's words, not mine; although it made me laugh) isn't Ursa as we all assumed but in fact Faora. A villainess from the comics...who was the influence of Ursa in the Donner films. So, basically they're trying to have their cake and eat it too?

"Whaaaaaat? We're not just remaking the Dick Donner Superman movie! We're gonna use Faora, instead of Ursa. See, that's totally different!"

Taylor Lautner Goes All Bourne in Abduction Trailer

Will Taylor Lautner prove himself to be more than just hype and have a thriving career beyond the Twilight series?

Even if he doesn't, the kid deserves an A for effort with all the projects he's been hovering around – regardless of if they sound like the dumbest ideas imaginable (a 3D Stretch Armstrong movie, really?) He and his representation are trying to bank on the Twilight-mania and get him in as many big commercial films as possible while he still has the chance. Something his co-stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson don't appear to be as concerned about with their crop of non-Twilight endeavors.

MTV has the trailer for his first-starring role since he rocked the abs, and became the object of lust and desire for many a young teenage girl...and their moms, Abduction.

I'll admit the John Singleton-directed action/thriller has an intriguing hook and a good casting centered around Lautner (Maria Bello, Jason Isaacs, Alfred Molina, Michael Nyqvist, Sigourney Weaver). But it's trying way too hard to be the teen-answer to Bourne. As much as Lautner seems like a nice kid who's really trying to improve himself on-screen, he ain't Matt Damon.

The Monkeyocalypse is Upon Us – Rise of the Planet of the Apes Trailer

Briefly here, the trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Terrible title...) is up and I'll say one nice thing. The effects-work from the WETA wizard are jaw-dropping when you consider that is 100% CG/motion-capture work rendering the apes (including the lead ape Caesar, played by Andy Serkis) to photo-realism.

Everything else, on the other hand, is just plain silly. Sorry, but looking at apes running amok across modern-day San Francisco and seeing James Franco, of all people, is the culprit doesn't do anything for me. Except make me laugh, and, as I've said before, I'm quite the fan of the first four Planet of the Apes films.

Peter Jackson Goes Back to the Future - First Hobbit Video Diary Posted

It is very cool to see cameras rolling on The Hobbit and seeing everyone happy that after all the turmoil with bankrupt studios, vacating directors, constant delays in the start-date and releases, etc.

Peter Jackson has posted the first, of what will be many, video diaries during the near two year shoot. We won't go out of our way to detail every single on them. But since this is the very first, and given the history behind these films (will make for a Helluva good book one day), we'd be chumps not to do so for this.

While I won't budge from my stance on its release date or uneasiness of seeing Jackson essentially being forced to direct, I have to admit this first video entry works. Brings back all the nostalgia when The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring first opened 10 (!) years ago. Seeing all the new faces in action (Martin Freeman) as well as the old ones (Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis) and the recreated sets from the original Rings trilogy.

It really does feel like they've stepped back in time.

Old News Made New Again: Sally Field Joins Spielberg's Lincoln

Sally Field has been attached to Lincoln for the last four years, and not two as I thought.

Thus we're not talking about a casting item coming out of nowhere. Surprised I've yet to hear anyone comment out loud about how this is old news. (Correction: I see Latino Review noticed too! Thank God I wasn't the only one!) That said after Liam Neeson left the planned biopic and the near radio silence of the project after the genuinely surprising casting of Daniel Day Lewis as our nation's 16^th President, I was starting to wonder if Lincoln was headed towards the same path as Trial of the Chicago 7.

So DreamWorks sending out a press release this afternoon re-confirming Field as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln is ultimately a good thing. It appears everything is still on schedule for the Beard to start filming this fall with a "fourth quarter of 2012" release. Translation: next Christmas.

X-Men Franchise Aiming to Stick with the Past

It's that special time for a tentpole.

When its release is inching closer and you start to hear the actors and filmmakers already bring up that magical word: sequel. You'll probably hear them talk about how this forthcoming sets it up for another one, and there's a very-high probability rate they'll compare it to say Star Wars to The Empire Strikes Back, Batman Begins to The Dark Knight or whatever other great first-and-second movies examples. Please stop doing that, filmmakers.

Our latest example comes from Total Film (via Screen Rant), and the folks behind X-Men: First Class.

It's all smiles from everyone (Smiles I'm guessing hiding what a bitch it was making this movie, says Latino Review – which I believe, by the way) talking about how they're totally gonna do more retro-themed X-Men adventures for the 70s and 80s:

"'That's an idea that's been discussed,' admits producer Bryan Singer. 'How the characters go through time. But only to a point – they can't age too fast!'"

You know I bitch, but I love the idea of looking into history from the perspective of this franchise and I have a feeling First Class will be the best of the comic-book properties dropping this summer. Imagine an X-Men set during the Woodstock period or have one set during the late 70s/early 80s and do it like an old-school Spielberg adventure or Walter Hill action-fest.

I'm just not going to get invested to seeing more beyond this one. Sorry, but First Class is going to duke it out with Thor as the lowest grossing comic movie this summer. These films have burned the general public with the last two installments that they won't show up as much as they did for the earlier ones.

Sounds Like The Man of Steel is an Origin Story

I know many of you were hoping for The Man of Steel to feature Henry Cavill in the red-and-blue suit the first minute into Zack Snyder's reboot with all the characters and that world already established.

Sorry to be the messenger of bad news of those cats, but it looks like we're in for another full-on origin story. By no means is that a bad thing; it's just a tad on the amusing side when you factor all the comments about how "innovative" and "fresh" this new Snyder/Christopher Nolan/David Goyer take was on the Big Blue Boy Scout.

Chatting it up with E! Online, Diane Lane discussed the process of her reading the script and inadvertently blabbed of the origin story nature:

"I read the script under lock and key. I was locked in a room with the script and was only allowed three hours with it. I nailed it into my memory. I'm really excited. I'm really not allowed to talk much about it, I think, but it does cover the entire range of years, from infancy on."

During our daily bullshit-a-thons, Peter has chatted up how he thinks this will be a kin to Superman: Year One and less on it being a re-do-over of the Richard Donner film. That could be the case here. For all we know the bits when Lane and Kevin Costner discover the rocket-ship could simply be a flashback a la the manner done in John Byrne's The Man of Steel comic.

Either way, it sounds like we're getting another "hero's journey" story as we did with the Donner film, Batman Begins and most recently J.J. Abrams' Star Trek.

People You’ve Never Heard of Before Join Dark Knight Rises

Some miscellaneous Dark Knight Rises casting nuggets for ya because what movie-news site would we be if we didn't talk about Batman at every waking moment?!

I kid, yes I'm looking forward to how Christopher Nolan wraps up his (so far, excellent) Batman series. But it's astounding to look at the stupidity of how some will run with any news-item related to Batman. Even if, and at times especially if, it sounds incredibly fake.

We're not talking about the big reveal that Liam Neeson is returning as Ra's Al Ghaul (Honestly...aren't we all expecting it at this point?) or "change your life overnight" unknowns in lead roles like Henry Cavill or Chris Pine. But working-class character-actors most of you have never heard of before in supporting roles.

The Tracking Board (via /film) say Daniel Sunjata (best known for his turn on FXs Rescue Me) is up for "an important character to the story." Elaborating on that, Variety states the part in question is "a courageous special forces operative."

The trades also add Diego Klattenhoff (who's biggest profile job prior is NBCs defunct "Ya, Nurses!" drama Mercy) is up for "a rookie cop who is looking to make a difference" and Burn Gorman (from Torchwood) for an unspecified role.