Cillian Murphy Joins I'm.mortal

One property I’m really looking forward to Andrew Niccol's I'm.mortal is locking down its cast.

Heat Vision reports Cillian Murphy (coming off the wild success of Inception) will join Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in the sci-fi action/drama.

The film is set in a future where the aging process has become a commodity where upper class society pays for their youth and immortality. The main story involves Timberlake as a poor schmoe entangled in a murder mystery and on the run with an heiress (played by Seyfried).

Murphy will play a member of the Timekeepers, those chaps who keep tabs on the aging and presumably billing as well.

Spider-Man Versus the Jew-Hunter?

Can’t be the best feeling in the world to know your tombstone will read "The Jew-Hunter." Granted, that was a one-in-a-lifetime kind of role and the film itself was quite stupendous in its own right. It’s miles above the alternative "Villain from Green Hornet" written instead too.

So how could Christoph Waltz possibly top Inglorious Basterds? He can't. But if he did being the heavy in a Spider-Man movie could come plenty damn close.

Production Weekly (via The Playlist) says Sony has their watchful eye on the German actor for Marc Webb's 3D reboot. He has a pre-established working relationship with the studio (in the afore-mentioned Green Hornet) and, the Oscar-winner has probably been offered every villain role in town. Whether this amounts to more than just interest on their part remains to be seen – I myself seriously doubt it.

Ving Rhames Returns for Mission: Impossible 4

Ving Rhames appeared on Lopez Tonight (as per Coming Soon) to pimp Piranha 3D. When the subject of Mission: Impossible 4 arose, he confirmed he'll be back for this fourth Brad Bird-directed, J.J. Abrams-produced installment.

This revelation was something all of us were expecting. It's certainly news-worthy to bring up, but then again we knew it was coming. Rhames is the only adherence to continuity tying the M:I flicks together besides Tom Cruise. Simon Pegg is expected to return as well.

Rhames not showing up would be like a Bond movie without M.

Marvel & Jon Favreau Won't Be Exchanging Christmas Cards

This is serious, people! They've blocked each other from Twitter and stopped being Facebook friends!

In a very good post over at Cinema Blend, they paint a grim picture of the working relationship between Marvel and director Jon Favreau (whose Iron Man single-handedly started the studio's boom). The results of which involve the two never working together again.

Favs seemed like the most logical choice to bring Earth's Mightiest Heroes together and by all accounts very much wanted the job. But after those intense negotiations to helm the fast-tracked Shellhead sequel, Marvel threw up their hands and metaphorically said, "If this dude thinks he’s doing The Avengers after this shit, fuck him!" Hence the drastically-cheaper (yet 100% Grade-A Fanboy-approved) Joss Whedon was hired instead.

The House of Ideas is also said to be responsible for the "subtle" Avengers references in Iron Man 2. You know like stopping the movie cold just to slap Captain America's shield onscreen. I know this sounds more blame-gamey, but I can't imagine anyone thinking Favs and his stock-company cooked up those ideas. Even Shellhead himself Robert Downey Jr. appears to be exiting the Marvel branch after this contractual commitments are made with The Avengers and a third solo Iron Man.

Funny how the tides turn like the snap of a finger. Fanboys were nerdgasming at the prospects of Marvel developing one big cinematic universe ever since that Nick Fury cameo at the end of Iron Man. Those same fans are getting increasingly iffy given the final product in Iron Man 2 and God knows how Thor and Captain America will turn out.

Tom Cruise Takes Paycut for M:I 4 - A Nation Mourns

I thought people were done this "Tom Cruise is over!" crap? Yes, Knight & Day under-performed on our shores. Those who are continuously harping on that need to get their heads outta their asses and aim their guns at Fox's shitty marketing on the spy action/comedy and less on Cruise. Look at its overseas numbers – they’re good as everyone expected them to be. Oy vey.

Adding diesel to that never-ending fire is a new report from Vulture.

According to their spies, Paramount (already counting their eggs) is hedging their bets on Cruise's bankability for Mission: Impossible 4. As a means for the studio to tighten their belts, Cruise will receive substantially fewer bucks upfront (the original reporting said he’s being paid scale versus his reps who say it’s not that low) with "a nice back-end after cash break-even."

What does this mean for you and me? Dick. The best us regular schmoes will get is another kick-ass Impossible installment (produced by J.J. Abrams and directed by Brad Bird for a December 16, 2011 release) and Cruise will still be a rich-guy laughing it up eating his caviar out of his wife's ass while sailing in one of his dozen or so yachts.

I'm Outta Fock Puns - Dustin Hoffman Might Show Up After All!

No amount of negative press of last-minutes reshoots, pick-ups, additional hirings, etc. will change this simple fact. Little Fockers is going to make a lot of dough this Christmas.

The mass movie-going public will eat it up like they did the admittedly-funny original and its atrocious sequel. Ben Stiller will get into another "zany putz"  routine, Robert De Niro gives him shit for whatever Three's Company-style scenario they cook up and an animal/small child either farts, shits or pukes. Please just go ahead and greenlight Ow My Balls!: the Movie.

Vulture says Universal may (key word here) bite the bullet and bring Dustin Hoffman in to film new scenes for Little Fockers. The actor refused to come onboard when the producers/studio wouldn't meet his asking price and the standard "scheduling conflicts" excuse was given. But that was said to be for a cameo. If this works out, we're more likely looking at something more than just that. Maybe there'll be a running gag throughout where he farts in De Niro's face?

No idea if the deal will go through. But it doesn’t paint Little Fockers in a positive light if they're turning to Hoffman this late into the game when it could have been avoided early on. But again, what the fuck does it matter? This will be a turd wrapped in pepper-jack cheese and dunked in Chipotle sauce and it's still going to make a killing at the box-office.

Zachary Levi Won't Be Stepping Out of Buy More as Superman

Rest assured to those burning effigies over Chuck star Zachary Levi donning the red-and-blue suit. No woulda, coulda, shouldas. He ain't gonna be Superman. That manip is the closest you'll see to that happening.

It's not a surprising revelation (coming from Levi himself to two separate outlets – Buzz Sugar and IGN Movies) because the initial rumors from last month sounded dubious. Speaking to the latter, Levi elaborated on his reaction to first hearing those reports:

"I start getting these text messages from my friends, saying, 'What is going on? You didn't tell us any of this!' And I'm asking, 'What are you talking about?' I get this link emailed to me from my publicist. She goes, 'Just so you know…' I go check it out, and of course, on the bottom of that article there's all these comments, and every other article that spawned off of that and all the comments on those sites."

Levi wouldn't have been my choice, but I'll say this in his favor. He fits the criteria for who Warner Brothers/Legendary Pictures want as a spokesperson for the character whomever is ultimately cast (something they also had in spades with previous Man of Steel Brandon Routh) – a clean-cut good guy off camera who always a team-player and everyone got along with great.

His tall and lanky physic is a non-issue too. Levi's is about the same body-type Christopher Reeve was when Dick Donner first met (and initially dismissed) him. Li'l thing called "acting" won out and they made him fit into the role.

Quentin Tarantino Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men!

The fact that this isn't coming straight from his mouth gives me hope. We all know how Quentin Tarantino has a long and well-documented history of announcing his latest project, talking up a storm about its progress and then losing interest and moving on to something else. I love the guy and Inglorious Basterds was his masterpiece, but I can't honestly pay them much attention when he does that anymore.

So you'll find me (and everyone else in moviedom) quite surprised by what the rumor-mill says may be his next – The Shadow. The source comes courtesy of our pals at Pajiba and their go-to mole "The Hollywood Cog." Rumblings peg him as the director and, not surprisingly, writer too. Does that mean we'd end up with a script different from the one our very own Peter Georgiou reviewed back during our Inland Empire Strikes Back days?

None of us had any idea he was a fan of the character in any way, shape or form. But that's what I dig about him. There's just no way of knowing where his tastes lie. Remember when his list for the best films since 1992 including Woody Allen's Anything Else shoulder-to-shoulder next to stuff like Dogville, Fight Club and Team America?

Stephen Sommers Directing G.I. Joe Sequel

If you remember those stories from last year of Stephen Sommers being fired from G.I. Joe, locked out of the editing room and eventually brought back to finish it, this can be categorized as a surprise.

The Wrap reports Sommers will helm the G.I. Joe sequel for Paramount and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. No word on when production might get going, but previous remarks from di Bonaventura stated we’d get a follow-up by Summer 2012. So a start-date around a year from now sounds logical.

I'd like to think I'm above giving into nostalgia. I did grow up watching the cartoons on the USA Network, but everything leading up to the movie's release looked terrible. But damn if Sommers' flick wasn’t enjoyable. It was the animated series brought to life – loud, over-the-top and just plain stupid. But it embraced its inner retard (unlike the Transformers franchise) and most of us had kind words walking outta the screening room.

But, I wouldn't expect lightening to strike twice here. Even with Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick writing. My hunch is what everyone found endearing about Rise of Cobra will be frowned up for the next one – especially if they go in the "More of the same" route.

The big question, of course, is will Joseph Gordon-Levitt be dragged kicking and screaming to return as Cobra Commander?

Update: Nicolas Cage Exits Trespass at Zero Hour & Then Returns!

UPDATE: He's had some time to clear his thoughts from vacation and now "TOLDJA" says Nicolas Cage has returned to the production. Nobody seems to know what was running through his head when he initially jumped ship. But that's in the past. He made the right decision and local LA film crews can continue to work.

I take back whatever mean/nasty things I said.

Nicolas Cage must not be doing that bad with his finances. Those castles don't pay for themselves, you know!

Two weeks shy of its start, "TOLDJA" reports Cage has abruptly exited the hostage thriller Trespass. Nicole Kidman is to play his better-half onscreen and Joel Schumacher the director. So you just know with those threads of commercial and creative poison, we can’t expect the best.

Back on point, I don't care how stressed out the dude is. That's a dick move considering the local crews will be on their asses without work if this gets delayed or worse falls apart. Bad, Cage! Bad!