"Ironclad" International Trailer

The year is 1215. King John (Giamatti) has been forced to sign the Magna Carta, a document that will ensure the freedom of men and form the basis of common law in England. Furious at having been forced to sign it, King John raises a vicious mercenary army and begins a rampage across the country to regain total power. But as the King’s army is on the brink of reaching London and taking back control of the country, one last castle stands between him and inevitable victory: Rochester.

Gathered together by Baron Albany (Cox), a small band of rebel warriors gather inside Rochester intent on holding off King John until reinforcements arrive: a Templar Knight (Purefoy) whose soul is wracked with guilt over the atrocities he has committed during the crusades and his burgeoning feelings for Isabel (Mara), the beautiful lady of the castle and lonely wife of the aging Reginald de Cornhill (Jacobi); battle-hardened mercenaries such as Beckett (Flemying), who fight not for God and country, but for money and bloodlust; and young soldiers like Guy (Barnard), who’ll taste blood and battle for the first time – and perhaps the last.

Fanboy: "Levitt Is Teh Jokerz!"

I don't know about you guys out there in "The Land Of Geek", but I felt as though it was almost inevitable that Joseph - Gordon Levitt ended up in "Dark Knight Rises" in some capacity. After they cast Tom Hardy in the role of "Bane" it seemed as though his chances might have diminished. Then yesterday the story breakers over at TOLDJA! dropped that bomb that Levitt would indeed be in the next installment of Batman but as a yet to be identified character. All over the forums and blogs the speculation started to rear it's sort of ugly head.

Much of the first reaction from fanboys involved Levitt taking over the mantle of The Joker from the now not with us anymore Heath Ledger, based off internet rumor spurned by comments from producer Chuck Roven from many moons ago.

"People need to separate the actors from the role. The character was never tied to the actor. On a personal level, Heath was a friend of mine, we had worked together before The Dark Knight, but I still think that The Dark Knight is its own thing, and we have to separate them.”

Tough act to follow if you ask me, but I would be fine with it. That being said, I don't think there is any chance in hell of that happening. Although, I also said there was no way Cavill would be cast as Superman, how's that working out for me? Nolan himself said that The Joker would not continue, and you know it is out of the respect Nolan has for Ledger and his historical performance. That being said, Nolan and company could be protecting their investment.

So if not Joker, maybe The Riddler or The Penguin? Anything is possible I guess. Talking with friend and writer here on TMT Matthew Rapier this morning, he has a different idea of what might be happening with Levitt and Dark Knight Rises. Here is what he had to say:

"What if Joseph Levitt is Dick Grayson but they bypass him as Robin. Bane literally breaks Bruces back paralyzing him and Bruce in turn trains Dick to become the next Batman. Thus Bruce may be finished but Batman will never die. I doubt that's where nolan is going but it would be cool to see. Its hard to tell what Nolan will do. He's great at keeping secrets and throwing everyone for a loop it seems like a route he would take but who knows. I just feel like Bruce is going to be finished as Batman in this movie but Batman will continue on."

Also spoke with friend and Co-Owner of TMT Jamie Williams this morning and he believes that Levitt will take over as the new District Attorney in Gotham, which is also an interesting idea. I'm wondering if he will be playing the dective version Edward Nygma found in Detective Comics as written by Paul Dini and Gotham Underground.

What do you guys think?

The New Charlies Angels!

I'm not quite old enough to have seen the original TV show when it aired but I did watch the re-runs, it was a glamorous and fun detective show with three beautiful leads.  In truth the two McG movies were a pretty faithful modern update of the formula.

Now words comes from Entertainment Weekly that the three leads have been cast for a reboot of the TV show, and while I'm not familiar with much of their work all three Ladies are beauties, hopefully this will be done as well as the Hawaii Five-0 update currently riding high on CBS.

 ABC’s Charlie’s Angels has its trio female leads: Former Friday Night Lights star Minka Kelly’s will play a former Marine and weapons expert and Transformers star Rachael Taylor will play a con artist.

The duo have been near-deals for the roles this week and are now official on the Sony Pictures TV project. Kelly and Taylor join the previously cast General Hospital star Annie Ilonzeh.

The new modern-day version of the show will be set in Miami and is from with Smallville writer-producers Miles Millar and Al Gough, Leonard Goldberg (who produced the original version), Drew Barrymore, and Nancy Juvonen. Remakes have traditionally struggled to find viewers on broadcast, though CBS’ showed with Hawaii Five-0 that you can pull off a primetime hit with a classic title. And Angels is certainly on-brand for a network that has a strong female following with shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.

 Entertainment Weekly also had these further details on the new Angels.

 EW has fresh details about ABC’s Charlie’s Angels reboot: Unlike the original 1970s series, where the team of private investigators were disgruntled graduates of the police academy, the update currently has the crime-fighters as a trio of not-so-angelic criminals. In the pilot, Charlie brings them together and offers an opportunity to redeem themselves — by working for him, of course.

One major character is still being tweaked, however, and keep in mind pilots tend to undergo plenty of changes before they air. One of the trio has been previously reported as a con artist, while another is an ex-Marine and weapons expert.

Though the recent feature films were light-hearted (and, like the new series, executive produced by Drew Barrymore), sources say the new show will be a “fairly serious, non-campy” take on the concept.

But ABC’s Angels will match the original series in at least a couple key respects… Angels will consist of self-contained episodes — a new adventure each week, rather than having a serialized storyline. (There are some serialized elements, of course, like with all shows, but it’s mainly episodic).

Also, Charlie will remain a voice in a box — no video at least, when talking to the Angels –  and the story will explain why, in the age of iChat and Skype, he’s still using such low-tech communication. (81-year-old Hart to Hart star Robert Wagner is near a deal to play Charlie.)

The pilot begins shooting in March, which gives stars Minka Kelly, Rachael Taylor and Annie Ilonzeh time for some specialized training for the physical demands of the show.

The script is being polished by executive producers Al Gough and Miles Millar, and then, like all pilots, could get tweaked more in the coming months. ABC will decide in late
April or early May whether to pick it up to series for fall.

Warner Bros Is "Wilde" For Lois Lane

A lot of WB/DC news is filtering out lately. Led by Henry Cavill being cast as the new Man of Steel in the Superman Reboot and Anne Hathaway clawing her way into the role of Catwoman in "Dark Knight Rises", Team Nolan is having their time in the sun, or the snow and rain depending where you live.

Just after some internet buzz from What's Playing that Kristen Stewart, Malin Akerman, Dianna Argon, Jessica Biel, and Rachel McAdams were on the minds of WB executives, the scoop juggernauts over at Latino Review are at it again with a new candidate for Lois Lane.

According to Latino Review Olivia Wilde of "House", "Tron: Legacy", and Cowboys & Aliens" fame has also tested for the role and their source is saying that this could effect her scheduling on "Kin", but of course "Kin" will accommodate if she is indeed cast as Lois.

If it's me, going off the names we have, Wilde is a no-brainer. She is a hot actress right now in every sense of the word. She has the acting chops and is more than qualified in the looks department, don't have to do much to make her believable as Lois. Maybe some Prada & Gucci?

It sounds like the Lois casting is heating up and I am expecting we're going to hear something in the next week or two, just a not so educated guess. I would imagine Deadline Hollywood is sitting on something as we speak, since we haven't heard from them yet on the Lois Lane casting front.

If the actresses have already read or been tested, you can bet they are going to come back in to test with Cavill. This is The Brothers Warner did with the finalists for Green Lantern, which ended up going to Blake Lively because of her chemistry with Ryan Reynolds. Her performance in "The Town" and her work on the CW show "Gossip Girl" had something to do with it as well. Speaking of Russell, you wonder if she is in the mix?

We'll find out soon. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel. Wait, wrong hero. Up, Up And Away.

Bridesmaids Trailer

Having done time as both a bridesmaid and a maid of honor, I would welcome a good comedy on the subject...however, this trailer for Judd Apatow's Bridesmaids is leaving me a little cold: 

It looks like every bad wedding movie meets The Hangover.  Oh well...at least Jon Hamm is in it.

Bridesmaids opens in theaters on May 12.

Joseph-Gordon Levitt Joining 'The Dark Knight Rises'

TOLDJA! is reporting Joseph-Gordon Levitt is in talks to join The Dark Knight Rises.  The report states it is not known what role JGL will play in the film, but that he will be there when production begins in May.

Holy crap, can the past few weeks get any better DC comic book movies?  Sound off below on who you think he will play (I have no idea).

Transformers Take on the Superbowl

You can expect a full Tranformers: Dark of the Moon preview during the Superbowl on Sunday night, but in the meantime, enjoy this Bumblebee-invades-a-Chevy-ad that will also be airing during the game, courtesy of our friends at SuperHeroHype:

This latest chapter in the Transformers saga will arrive in theaters in all its 3D/IMAX glory on July 1.

Hugh Jackman Talks 'The Wolverine'

In a great interview with Hero Complex of the Los Angeles Times, Hugh Jackman spoke in-depth about the forthcoming, The Wolverine, to be directed by Darren Aronofsky.  From the sounds of it, they're going to nail this one...big time.

On his excitement about using the Japanese storyline and being able to work with Aronofsky:

I’m really, really pumped about it. I feel like all the planets are finally aligned to make a great movie. We finally have the character and with this mythology — ever since [the 2000 Bryan Singer film] “X-Men,” when I was kind of hanging around and reading all these comics,  because I was cast before I ever read any X-Men comics, so I was trying to get my hands on everything. I remember saying to [producer] Lauren Shuler Donner, “Lauren, I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen this Japanese story, and I think it’s so good. It’s just genius, it’s brilliant.” And we kind of always talked about it from there on. I sort of even wanted to do that in the third X-Men movie at first, but we thought, no, we really need to establish who he is at first, and we did that [with "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"], and now this is  sort of the cherry on top, to finally do it and have Darren Aronofsky direct it. I love his gung-ho attitude toward it and great vision. Straight off, it’s not a sequel, it’s a stand-alone, and I think we’re going to make one that people will describe as the best of the bunch.

On the level of talent involved in the making of this film:

Right, absolutely, and Chris McQuarrie has done a script that is just phenomenal. I read a story once that said that he wrote “The Usual Suspects” in 15 days, and with this one he said to me, “I just knew what I wanted, and it came out real easy.” And he’s done an unbelievable job with it, and with Darren it’s just really exciting. I’m as excited as anybody to see what we come up with. I know we’re going to be met with huge expectations. The expectations will be high, but he’s one of the great filmmakers out there. I worked with him before [on "The Fountain"], and I knew as soon as I met him that he should be doing movies like this. He’s been looking a long time, and I’ve asked him to do other ones, and this time it worked out. I’m beyond thrilled.

On Darren Aronofsky's request for him to get even bigger than the 190 he was at for the last film:

Yeah, right, I was 190, something like that. I don’t know how much I want to give away about it, but Darren said with the last one, ‘Hey you looked great, but you’re so tall that in those long shots you looked kind of like Clint Eastwood, and that’s not Wolverine.” He said that Wolverine, in the comics, is powerful, stocky, you know, he’s short and thick. So he said, ‘I want you to go there, get bigger.’ He’s going to come down after he gets done with all the black-tie events over and done with.

Click the link above for more as Jackman also discusses his current 6,000 calorie a day diet, and jokes how he's likely to die of a heart attack before filming begins.

WB & CBS Films Developing Stephen King's The Stand

Been a Stephen King fan dating back to my high school days (which I can't believe was 10 years ago – Christ, I feel old) and The Stand remains my favorite of his works. Don't know what the general consensus is on the television mini-series from 1994, but I enjoyed it. Some of the casting choices felt like the characters as written by King brought to life, especially Gary Sinise as Stu Redman, and the changes made for the small-screen versus what went down in the novel I felt were adequate.

According to Heat Vision, Warner Brothers and CBS Films think it's time for a big-screen update.

The two will produce a theatrical version of King's novel. Although not graved in stone, it's altogether possible they go in the same direction as King's own Dark Towers, set up at Universal with Ron Howard to direct, and make this a series of films. With all the "Weelllll, the book is so expansive. We couldn't possibly just it into one movie!" explanation/excuse/bullshit from the Harry Potter and Twilight people, it's a valid point for The Stand.

Also to be determined is securing a director and writer(s). That matter should be addressed in the coming weeks as meetings are expected to take place with various helmers and screenwriters.

Tyler Perry's House of Cross

Unlike others working here at TMT, I like and respect Tyler Perry. The man is front and center at a vast empire of popular films, sitcoms and plays that boils down to the classic "man in drag" routine. I think. OK, so I've never watched any of his stuff. He's worked his ass off and earned every penny he's made over the years.

But him as Alex Cross?! No, no, no, no, no, no.

If you haven't noticed from my subtle reaction, I don't like this one bit. "TOLDJA" says the planned reboot Cross (originally to be directed by David Twohy and to star Idris Elba, in what could have been a star-making role for the longtime character-actor) has morphed into I, Alex Cross. Perry will follow in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman, who played James Patterson's literary hero in two not-so-good movies; 1997's Kiss the Girls and 2001's Along Came a Spider.

Adding further "What the fuck?" fuel to this fire is the inclusion of cheese-mister helmer Rob Cohen (who’s craft-friendly filmography is better suited for that G.I. Joe sequel Paramount is adamant to have out for next summer) in the director's chair.

Don’t know if I have the heart to break the news of no Elba as Cross to my buddy Dustin Rowles, the big cheese over at Pajiba.