Thomas Hayden Church Set For ‘John Carter’?

Source: /Film / ReelTalk

Thomas Hayden Church recently stopped to talk with Jeffery Lyons on ReelTalk and when speaking his choice of roles, dramatic vs. comedic, Church said he was “probably going to do a huge science fiction drama at Disney called John Carter of Mars.” If anything, Church is at least in negotiations to play a role in the Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation alongside Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins who were announced earlier this week. The film is being directed by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) and begins shooting this November in Utah as Stanton is going for a more “naturalistic” style than Star Wars.

Based on the novel “A Princess of Mars”, the movie follows Civil War vet, John Carter, who is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a savior.

Whedon Talks ‘Dollhouse’, ‘Buffy’

Source: PopWatch

Geek messiah, Joss Whedon, recently spoke about his preliminary plans for the second season of Dollhouse. Facts gleaned: Whedon finished Cabin In The Woods with Drew Goddard May 29th, then entered the Dollhouse writing room June 1st. They’re currently two weeks into breaking stories for season two. “We really understand the show now,” Whedon says. “We understand what works, and what didn’t work so well or what we weren’t so thrilled about. We don’t have the onus of trying to be a big hit sitting on our shoulders. We can just be ourselves. And so the stories we’re breaking are pure, and exciting, and everybody’s on-board in the room, and it’s never flowed better.”

Expect season two to be more like the second half of season one. “I’m really proud of the second half of season 1, and we’re just expanding on that in a huge way: Finding out the different things that Eliza [Dushku] can be, at the same time as extending our mythology,” Whedon says. “Really, just every meeting is like, ‘What’s the most fun we can have with this actor?’ about the whole cast. All I can say — ’cause I’m gonna be Mr. Un-Spoiler — is that we’re having a crazy amount of fun, and usually, that tends to translate onto the screen.”

Echo, who last murmured the name “Caroline”, in the finale will follow that thread into the second season. “Echo wants to find not just Caroline, but what’s going on behind everything. She doesn’t have all of the skills. [Laughs] But she does have this weird super power of becoming a different person all the time, so she might start using that more specifically to find out who Caroline was and what happened to her and why this place exists.” EW asked if Echo still had all her past imprints? “Well, they’re supposed to have wiped them out of there. But we’ll see how well that went…”

Dollhouse castmembers Alan Tudyk and Amy Acker have joined V and Happy Town, respectively, as regular cast members. So what exactly does that mean for their roles on Dollhouse? Well, since season two picks up a bit later and not right after the finale he hopes to use the castmembers sparingly. Also, Summer Glau has NOT signed on to the show. “I adore Summer and she’s phenomenal, but I have to service the cast I have first. If something comes up that’s good enough, my God, I’d hound her. But the rumors of her becoming a big part of the show are greatly exaggerated.”

Last but not least, if you were sincerely hoping Whedon would be involved in the Buffy feature/abomination being planned, well: “I believe [the producers] did ultimately reach out to my agent after the news broke,” Whedon says. “I think that’s something better left untouched by me. So, I wish them luck.”

In a poll at PopWatch, 3% said they’d go see the Buffy film. I smell bankruptcy!

Weinsteins Want 40 Minutes Cut From ‘Basterds’?

Source: FirstShowing

Alex at FirstShowing reports via Sharon Waxman’s column, The Wrap, that the Weinstein Brothers wants Quentin Tarantino to cut forty minutes from his upcoming film Inglourious Basterds. The Weinsten Company have been the subject of rumors of imminent collapse, but those rumors were given credibility this week when the Weinsteins hired consultants, Miller Buckfire, to help restructure their finances.

Tarantino was given final cut as long as the film came in under an agreed-upon 2hrs and 40mins. His Cannes cut of the film came in a full 19 minutes shorter than was needed, so Tarantino headed back to the editing back to add footage back into the film. The Weinsteins want the film at a brisk two hours as opposed to the current runtime. Apparently, it’s too long for American audiences. Apparently, I don’t care. Your average American can barely sit a full ten minutes without getting fidget. However, The Weinsteins need a big hit soon. With Rob Marshall’s (Chicago) Nine, a musical remake of Fellini’s 8 & 1/2, Rob Zombie’s Halloween sequel H2, and the aforementioned Basterds, the Weinsteins are hoping to strike gold with at least one of these.

My bet? Rob Zombie’s H2. It’s perfect for America’s attention span.

Ridley Scott Directing ‘Alien’ Reboot?

Source: The Playlist

According to EW, that’s what 20th Century Fox wants. And why the hell shouldn’t you want it? Entertainment Weekly is reporting via The Playlist that 20th Century Fox may have some qualms about letting Carl Rinsch direct the newly announced Alien prequel, or whatever the hell it is. While the Scotts may have given Rinsch their approval, sources at Fox tell EW that they are only interested in greenlighting the picture if Ridley Scott directs. Is it possible Tom Rothman finally had a good idea? Quite frankly, everyone would love to see Scott direct this himself and not just hand it over. Hopefully, the EW article will go up soon. And maybe we’ll actually get a good, scary Alien movie again.

Shia LeBeouf Officially Signs To ‘Wall Street 2’

Source: NY Post

According to a source at the NY Post, Shia LeBeouf, who has previously in talks, has officially signed on to Oliver Stone’s Wall Street 2. The two met on Tuesday with “six men in suits” at La Bottega in the Maritime Hotel. The source stated that, “they demanded the restaurant shut down” for the top-secret meeting. LeBeouf would star alongside Michael Douglas, who reprises his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gecko, and Javier Bardem will play a Wall Street villain.

‘Scream’ 4: Scream Harder?

Source: EW

Remakes, reboots, sequels galore. The Saw franchise is currently on film number six in it’s series. Saw VI. Remember when roman numerals in movies were restricted to in-film jokes and the Freddy/Jason franchises? Not anymore.

Kevin Williamson, creator of the Scream franchise aswell as Dawson’s Creek, is currently working on a new trilogy that would be bring back all the old characters from the previous films. As absolutely none of them seem to be doing anything right now, I don’t see how that’d be a problem. The originals were directed by Wes Craven and co-starred Neve Campbell, Jamie Kennedy, and Liev Schrieber

EW learned exclusively that Williamson had approached Courtney Cox-Arquette and David Arquette to reprise their roles as Gale Weathers and Deputy Dwight “Dewey” Riley. No deals have been signed, but apparently they’re trying to figure out scheduling concerns as Cox-Arquette’s pilot Cougar Town was recently picked up by ABC.

E3 2009: ‘Avatar’ Sequels?

Source: GameSpot

I never get tired of listening to James Cameron talk about this movie.

Here’s a James Cameron interview from E3 which is pretty much just more of the same from his E3 presentation, but near the end his enthusiasm level jumps a bit as he starts talking about an Avatar sequel and co-generating ideas with lead game designers, Ubisoft. Last week, Guillermo del Toro stated in an interview that the future of storytelling would be told across many multimedia platforms. Looks like Cameron will be at the forefront of that as well.

Anyway, here’s the short interview. Enjoy.

‘Alien’ Remake Planned?

Source: Bloody-Disgusting

Another day, another goddamn useless remake.

BD News is reporting that Fox, all around genre rapists, are prepping a remake/reboot of Ridley Scott’s Alien. Unlike the upcoming Predator reboot, which hopes to include multiple predators, the plan is stick with one Alien on the ship. An update posted from a trusted BD source says that Fox is exploring the idea of an origin story, as opposed to a straight-up remake.

Michael Costigan, Ridley Scott and even Tony Scott are all on board to produce and have tapped commercial/music video director Carl Rinsch to bring a new Ripley to the screen. The film is being produced by Scott Free Productions, which the mysterious Carl Rinsch seems to have worked for. Please take all of this as a rumor until we get confirmation!

In the original Alien, the terror begins when the crew of a spaceship investigates a transmission from a desolate planet, and discovers a life form that is perfectly evolved to annihilate mankind. One by one, each crew member is slain until only Ripley is left, leading to an explosive conclusion.

There is good news in all of this. While it is still being handled by Fox (gag!), Ridley Scott is still involved as producer. I don’t think he’d let someone trash a film this well-respected and loved.