THE DUDE GETS HARD

A cast photo of the upcoming Iron Man movie! Check out Bridges, what a fascist - the Dude would disapprove, man.

OH, DR. BANNER! YOU TEASE!

The teaser poster for the new Hulk movie shown at the Licensing Show in NYC this past week; the movie apparently smashs into theaters on Friday June 13th, 2008!

WHO WATCHES INDEED

Watchmen casting news via AICN:

Let’s Talk A Li’l Bit About WATCHMEN Casting!

Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

Okay... it was about a month ago that we broke the story that Keanu Reeves, Patrick Wilson, and Jude Law had all been offered significant roles in WATCHMEN. Since then, Keanu Reeves passed on the film, and the stories online make it sound like it was a simple matter of him not wanting to do it.

Not quite. Actually, Keanu priced himself out of the film, and Warner is (wisely) banking on the idea that Zack Snyder and the material are the real stars of this movie, the way they were for 300. As a result, they’re looking for actors, not movie stars. The Keanu stories confirm that we were right about Dr. Manhattan at the time we went to print, and Snyder’s also said in other interviews that we are right on the money about the other roles we’ve reported on. So where are things now with the movie?

Well, CHUD.com has a very interesting story up today, and it seems that they’ve got it confirmed thanks to an actor who isn’t in the film, but almost was. Paddy Consadine was a heck of a good choice for Rorschach, but I’m thrilled if it turns out to be true that Jackie Earle Haley’s going to be wearing the mask in the film now. Sure, it makes this a wee bit of a LITTLE CHILDREN reunion, but that’s fine. Both Wilson and Haley are great choices for their respective roles.

And now that Keanu’s not playing Dr. Manhattan, who is? Well, I know they flirted with Billy Crudup for a time, but my sources tell me that the favorite for the role now is Jason Patric, which I think is a hell of a good choice. In fact, that’s probably the best suggestion I’ve heard yet for Dr. Manhattan in all the years the film’s been bouncing around. Patric always seems to be slightly disconnected from the world, but he doesn’t come with any of the baggage that Keanu had.

The Comedian’s still up for grabs, too, but they’ve looked at everyone from Ron Pearlman to Nathan Fillion for the role. Right now, it sounds like there’s one actor who Snyder likes for the part, but I’m not at liberty to divulge his identity yet. Let’s just say it’s a “punishing” choice, and the actor brings a lot of comic book credibility to the role if he ends up playing it.

I’m sure we’ll start hearing more concrete news in the weeks ahead, but for now, I think it’s obvious that Snyder’s casting a wide net, and he’s determined to put together one of the best casts any comic book film has ever had, which is only fair considering the source material.

ONLY 2 DAYS TO THE AWESOME!!

Robot Chicken Star Wars - Adult Swim - Sunday June 17 @ 10 PM

RUNDOWN UP!

The latest Rundown column is up now over at Forces of Good!

Check it out, so you don't look stupid the next time you are hanging at The Alien's Dungeon and Comicbook Guy asks you your thoughts on Forerunner!

MARY, MARY, WHY YOU BUGGIN?

My latest contribution to FOG! is up and is a
Mary Marvel History - head over an learn more than you ever thought you could ever know about one of comics' oldest female heroes!

DANIEL ROBERT EPSTEIN, 1975 - 2007, RIP

Click over to FOG! for a note on the passing of Dan Epstein - one of the best contributors to web-based entertainment/pop culture interviews ever.

SURFER FLIES SOLO; THOR GETS DIRECTED

So, reports in the LA Times today state that the Silver Surfer will be spinning off into his own film. With Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer only a couple of days away, it looks like the studio behind the summer blockbuster are putting the cart before the horse, but who knows. The report also states that J. Michael Strazynski (Amazing Spider-man; Silver Surfer: Requim) will be turning in the first script.

More importantly though, the same article reports that Marvel is going forward with a planned Thor film and links director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake; Stardust) to the production. I loved Layer Cake and the previews of Stardust look amazing, so if there is any truth to this rumor, I am definitely on board. As long as Thor gets to lay the smackdown on some Frost Giants!

F*&!@IN AWESOME

Thanks to Kevin

THE RUNDOWN GETS A PAGE!

My latest COUNTDOWN RUNDOWN column is up over at FOG!. But there's more! The Countdown Rundown now has its own page at Forces of Good - so, if you've missed the first 3 columns, or just need a recap, click here for the Official Countdown Rundown Page!