After a brief hiatus and re-tooling (what is this, NBC’s Up All Night?), iGR’s Film Nerd News is back! As you’ll notice, we’re still playing with format a bit so please just bear with us as we try and figure out the best way to get you the week’s film news!
Since it’s been a couple of weeks since our last report, I’m just going to highlight the ten best stories of the past couple of weeks.
#1: 2/19 - Jason Clarke is the lead of THE DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
- Clarke is a talented actor so it’s nice to see him finally land a leading role. He’s led a few TV shows but never a big film like this. His supporting roles in 2012′s Zero Dark Thirty and Lawless certainly helped propel him to this spot. With Matt Reeves (Let Me In, Cloverfield) at the helm and star Andy Serkis returning, this is shaping up to be a pretty intriguing sequel.
#2: 2/22 - Matthew Vaughn to produce the FANTASTIC FOUR reboot
- What Vaughn has been up to the past few months has been the subject of a lot of rumor and debate. After he departed the ambitious sequel to 2011′s X-Men: First Class, it was rumored that Vaughn was being eyed as the guy to bring Star Wars back to the screen in 2015 but that gig eventually ended up in the hands of JJ Abrams. Now, Vaughn boards yet another Marvel property as a producer (he stayed on as producer for Days of Future Past). While I eagerly anticipate what he’ll do next as a director, there’s no denying Vaughn’s success as a producer. In fact, he began his career as a producer, producing Guy Ritchie’s hits Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, as well as his directorial efforts Kick-Ass and Stardust. Let’s hope that this reboot that has Josh Trank (Chronicle) at the helm is nothing like the previous versions, i.e. terrible.
#3: 2/25 - Is James McAvoy THE CROW?
- They’ve been trying to reboot The Crow for seemingly forever now so it’s no surprise to hear another rumor about it. However, I’m not so sure McAvoy would be the best choice. While he was very good in X-Men: First Class, the rest of his career hasn’t been that great. At least this casting rumor is a lot better than the previous one that had Bradley Cooper rumored to be playing the titular character. Now that would’ve been bad, Best Actor nomination notwithstanding.
#4: 2/26 - Guillermo Del Toro to pitch his own idea of a JUSTICE LEAGUE to WB
- No, Del Toro’s not putting his hat in the ring for Warner Bros. & DC’s upcoming answer to The Avengers but rather something else entirely that focuses on a different superhero team-up, one that would include John Constantine, Deadman and Zatanna just to name a few. I am a huge fan of Del Toro’s work so anything new from him peaks my interest but the idea of him doing something with those type of dark superheroes definitely peaks mine even more. WB and DC may want to wait until they’re able to get Justice League proper figured out but either way, they would be wise to put Del Toro’s talents to use someplace in the DC universe.
#5: 2/27 - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 finds its Norman Osborn in Chris Cooper
- Chris Cooper (The Bourne Identity, The Town) is an extremely underrated actor and it’s nice to see him get a huge role like Norman Osborn in the upcoming sequel to last year’s The Amazing Spider-Man. It’ll be interesting to see how the Osborns (Dane DeHaan was previously cast as Peter Parker’s friend and eventual enemy, Harry Osborn) figure into the rebooted Spider-Man universe but one thing’s for sure, they’re definitely putting together an impressive cast that already includes the returning Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Joining them are new additions Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti, Felicity Jones and Shailene Woodley.
#6: 2/28 - Gary Oldman to fight those dirty apes in THE DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
- I mentioned that this movie was shaping up to be pretty interesting and this definitely adds to that interest. Oldman is one of the best actors going right now so it’s always great to hear he has another project lined up. He’ll be playing the leader of the human resistance against the apes that have taken over the world since the first film. Let’s just hope this role isn’t as thankless as the one as Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight trilogy.
#7: 2/28 - Daniel Radcliffe boards FRANKENSTEIN reboot as Igor
- Radcliffe has worked extremely hard to try and distance himself from the Harry Potter franchise as much as possible, mostly succeeding by doing nothing of note since the franchise ended. Having never actually seen any of the Harry Potter films I can’t exactly tell you what I think about Radcliffe but I am definitely intrigued by this project since it was written by Chronicle screenwriter Max Landis. Landis is one of the hottest writers in Hollywood right now and any news surrounding the myriad of projects he has in development right now is intriguing.
#8: 3/1 - TRANSCENDENCE comes in 2014; Paul Bettany to co-star
- Since Christopher Nolan is hard at work on putting the script together for his next directorial effort, Interstellar, we’ll have to get by with things he’s merely producing like this year’s Superman reboot Man of Steel and now Transcendence next year. Landing a major star like Johnny Depp to headline the film was a smart move but adding an actor like Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Margin Call) is just as smart. Bettany might not be the star that Depp is but he is incredibly talented and it’s nice to see him getting bigger roles. As if Nolan’s endorsement wasn’t enough, the fact the film also features the directorial debut of longtime Nolan collaborator Wally Pfister makes the film all the more intriguing.
#9: 3/1 - Chris Rock to poke fun at some of his friends in FINALLY FAMOUS
- I’m a huge fan of Chris Rock’s standup the news that he had a new film in the works was definitely good news to me. What’s even better is that said new film will focus on something Rock knows a thing or two about: trying to parlay success as a comedian into serious film roles. I’m sure this is an area rife with material from Rock and his friends so I’m sure he won’t lack any ideas. Regardless, it’s nice to see Chris Rock making things again.
#10: 3/2 - Omar Sy is the latest to join X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
- Sy impressed a lot of people with his work on last year’s French film The Intouchables so it will be interesting to see what kind other kind of roles that buzz leads to but there’s no doubt this role could propel him even further. He’s just the latest of many to be added to Bryan Singer’s ambitious sequel to X-Men: First Class.
That’s all for this week’s edition of Film Nerd News! Be sure to lookout for another brand new segment tomorrow called Trailer Tuesday where we go over the best trailers of the week!
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