In order to reach the May 6th 2011 deadline release date for Spider-man 4, as much as possible must be ready in time for the first production day, as per usual, this means that the David Lindsay-Abaire penned script should be completed by the end of summer 2009, ‘about three months’ to be more precise. SciFi wire also quizzed Raimi about potential villains for the fourth movie, but he declined to comment.
“We have to make the release date, and on all of these pictures, the ‘Spider-Man’ films–and I’m sure it’s the same as with many of the other bigger-budgeted films–they have release dates far in advance of a screenplay/ [...] So it’s about getting it ready the best you can in time for the first day of production. That’s what we’ve always done, and that’s what we’ll try to do again.”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the villains yet. [...] I think I have to wait till the finished screenplay, and then it’d really be up to Sony Pictures and the producers to determine when they want to release that information. To them, it’s usually a big, a big, big thing, a big moment where they want to present the villain with the proper respect or fear that he or she deserves.”
Raimi has also spoken out about the creative power he would like to wield for the next movie. This comes after the third movie whereby presumably the studio took over some of the creative decisions (is that perhaps what lead to the crazy dancing Peter Parker scene?), via Empire:
“They really gave me a tremendous amount of control on the first two films, actually. [...] But then there were different opinions on the third film and I didn’t really have creative control, so to speak.
The best way for me to move forward on films, is that I’ve got to be the singular voice that makes the creative choices on the film. I love Spider-Man so much that I’d like to continue telling Spider-Man stories. But only under those circumstances where I think I can honour him.”
The Chevy Camaro, Beat and Trax have each made an appearance at this year’s ShoWest in Las Vegas, alongside the enormous robot Bumblebee figure. Flickr user deltaMike has been on hand to captures some shots of the event, view gallery.
Via TLAMB
Transformers and ROTF writers Orci and Kurtzman have spoken with Scifi Wire about their work on Transformers 2. I have taken the liberty of summarizing the interview with some bullet points below:
- Both Sam and Optimus Prime are “tested in a very fundamental way”.
- The theme is based on Sam leaving home two years later and his new responsibilities.
- In searching for villains they went back to the source material; comics and cartoons – “and just started looking for kind of the most elemental bad guy that kind of jumped off the material, and we found one in the Fallen.”
- Some characters were chosen by Hasbro and Bay during writer’s strikes as discussion between the film makers and the film writers was prohibited. Others were taken from a brief 20 page treatment. This was necessary to get the designs rolling.
- Orci says “Jolt” (as seen on the toy) should be named “Volt”.
- Jetfire was in the treatment, whilst the goofy sure to be annoying Mudflap (Chevy Trax) was added later.
- “You’re not going to get to know them all”, with respect to piling new characters into the second movie.
- Some discussion about Nimoy and Frank Welker voicing characters.
Read the full interview at Scifi Wire
This news seems to have hit a couple of stations in the last 24 hours, originally miss-reported as Blink-182 writing a track for Revenge of the Fallen. Blink-182 drummer is a twitterer, and he did tweet:
Listening to a new version of a track I’m playing on for Busta Rhymes for the Transformers 2 soundtrack. Shit is jammin’.
Not hugely newsworthy, we should get the film’s full soundtrack track listing shortly, possibly in April.
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios plan to release the much anticipated Avengers movie on May 4th, 2012 – a delay of twelve months on the original 2011 date. Zak Penn, co-writer of The Incredible Hulk, is penning the movie with inspiration taken from Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s Ultimates version of the team. Iron man director Jon Favreau is set to executive produce and there have been rumors that this delay may also put him inline to direct:
-Avengers is delayed a year because of financing issues but also because the plan is for Favreau to helm it. Everybody here loves the guy and he wants to do it, but it would have been impossible for him to do before the date change given his Iron Man 2 commitments. Also partly the reason why he agreed to do the Stark sequel on such an accelerated schedule was so he could get given first dibs on this. It would still be a punishing schedule for him, so hes not firmly confirmed yet, but he is certainly the presumptive director at this point.
Marvel’s official word on which superheros will appear in The Avengers is currently limited to a small blurb on a press release:
In a movie event, THE AVENGERS will bring together the super hero team of Marvel Comics characters for the first time ever, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and more, as they are forced to band together to battle the biggest foe they’ve ever faced.
Notably the words ‘including’ and ‘more’ are there, so we can be ready for further super hero announcements in the future as development continues.
Who’s in?
Iron Man – played by Robert Downey Jr.
Hulk, presumably played by Ed Norton though this is only rumored
Thor, casting unknown
Captain America, casting unknown
Nick Fury – played by Samuel L. Jackson
From Iron Man:
War Machine – played by Don Cheadle
Black Widow – played by Scarlett Johansson
Marvel press release about Iron Man 2 and The Avengers
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. AND JON FAVREAU SUIT UP FOR MARVEL STUDIOS’ THE AVENGERS AND IRON MAN 2
As part of his four picture deal with Marvel Studios, Robert Downey Jr. is appearing as Tony Stark in THE AVENGERS motion picture, as well as reprising his starring role as the larger-than-life leading character in IRON MAN 2. Jon Favreau will return to direct the sequel to the blockbuster IRON MAN, which to date has grossed over $578 million worldwide, as well as executive produce THE AVENGERS.
DON CHEADLE WILL STAR AS RHODEY IN IRON MAN 2
Marvel Studios is pleased today to confirm that an agreement has been finalized with award-winning actor Don Cheadle to take on the role of Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes in Marvel’s IRON MAN 2 due in theaters on May 7, 2010. In casting Cheadle, Marvel replaces Terrence Howard who appeared in the role of Rhodey in IRON MAN.
Cheadle is also signed on to perform the same role in THE AVENGERS and subsequent installments of the IRON MAN franchise.
“We are very excited about working with the extraordinarily talented Don Cheadle as we expand the role of Rhodey in Iron Man 2. It has already become apparent as we prep the movie for production, that the dynamic between Robert and Don will take Iron Man 2 to new heights,” said Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios.
Insider Nikki Finke and her site Deadline Hollywood Daily has speculated about the possible casting for Thor.
She comments that there is a big push to cast Josh Hartnett as either Thor or the antagonist Loki; whether this turns out to be the case is questionable, especially considering Hartnett’s previous refusal to play Superman. There is also an equal force wanting a relatively unknown actor to play the role; other actors inline include brits Charlie Hunnam and Tom Hiddleston, Alexandar Skarsgard, Liam Hemsworth and Joel Kinnaman.
Meanwhile, quite surprisingly, Natalie Portman is the current top choice as the female lead. /Film speculate that this could be either of:
1. Amora the Enchantress, Thor’s Asgard love-interest and antagonist.
2. Sif, Thor’s wife who is also a Goddess in Asgard.
3. Jane Foster, Donald Blake’s nurse who eventually develops feelings for him, without knowing that Blake is Thor
Do you see Portman as a Goddess or Enchantress?
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