Gordon's Alive? Brian Blessed may play Odin in Thor

I am really looking forward to Kenneth Branagh's adaption of Marvel's Thor. Now this news has got me even more excited.

Rich Johnston over on Bleeding Cool had this to say:

I understand that British actor Brian Blessed has been cast in Kenneth Branagh’s THOR movie, based on the Marvel Comics title, as the character Odin.

Blessed is best known for his roles as Caesar Augustus in I CLAUDIUS and King Of The Hawk Men in FLASH GORDON as well as being a charity campaigner and mountaineer.

He has appeared in a number of Kenneth Branagh productions, including HAMLET and AS YOU LIKE IT, famed for his booming voice.

I still haven't found any official confirmation on this, however he apparantly confirmed it at a recent public appearance in York. I will keep looking for official confirmation on this, so at the moment count it as a rumour.
The fact that Branagh as previously worked makes even more sense as he has also worked with Tom Hiddleston who was recently cast as Loki. Chris Hemsworth is Thor. Now we just need to find out what characters Natalie Portman and Josh Hartnett are playing.

I personally think this is a brilliant piece of casting and hopefully it is true.

How would you feel with Brian Blessed as Odin?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

HOME

Mandrake the Magician is heading to the big screen

Hayden Christensen (Jumper, "Star Wars" prequels) and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, Amistad) will star in Mandrake, the adaptation of Lee Falk's comic strip "Mandrake the Magician" according to ComingSoon.net

Mimi Leder (Deep Impact, The Peacemaker) will direct the film, written by Josh Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly, JV Hart, and Ian Jeffers. The film is based on an original story by Kevin Bernhardt.

Jackson Mandrake lives life on the edge. Working as an underground magician and escapologist, his act has grown increasingly dangerous. Following a daring escape from an SUV that has been dropped out of an plane at the Burning Man Festival, he is coerced by the CIA into breaking a deep-cover agent named Xi Shing Lung out of a maximum security jail. Hypnosis, contortion, distraction and technical wizardry all come into play as Mandrake breaks the agent out from the inside within a 24-hour deadline.

But back on the outside, Mandrake learns that it was all a set-up. Xi is a CIA agent gone bad. He offers Mandrake the chance to join his crime ring. When Mandrake refuses, he's a marked man. He must escape his would-be-killers and also the real CIA who accuse him of being in league with Xi. His quest to clear his name leads him into all sorts of dangers, which he must overcome with daredevil escapes that require all his conjuring skills. And along the way, Mandrake is forced to confront his past and the girl he left behind...

I only really know Mandrake from the old Defenders of the Earth cartoon where he was joined by Flash Gordon, The Phantom, Lothar and others The above synopsis sounds nothing like the top hat and tails character from that and the comic. To be honest the film sounds like a mix of xXx, Shooter and Jumper. Chock full of cliche and not much else.

At the moment I'm not that excited. Hayden Christensen is a bit of a non-event for me, but Djimon Haunsou is usually pretty cool. I wonder if he will be playing Lothar? Interestingly IMDB shows Jonathan Rhys Meyers is to play Mandrake, but again that casting doesn't do anything for me. IMDB also says Criss Angel and Randy Couture are in the film. Make of that what you will.

Are you a fan of the original Mandrake? Do you like the sound of this take on him? Do you want Christensen or Meyer to play the part? If not them who would be the perfect Mandrake now that David Niven is no longer with us?


Discuss in the forum

HOME

The Mercury Men - The trailer is out

I've been following the development of the web serial, The Mercury Men, for a while now (I first mentioned it back in February). It is old school Saturday Morning Serial action in the same vein as Flash Gordon and King of the Rocket Men.

Edward Borman, a lowly government office drone, finds himself trapped, when the deadly Mercury Men seize his office building as a staging ground for their nefarious plot. Aided by a daring aerospace engineer from a mysterious organization known as “The League,” Edward must stop the invaders and their doomsday device, the Gravity Engine.

The new web series, written and directed by Christopher Preksta (Captain Blasto) stars Mark Tierno (Day of the Dead, The Road) and Curt Wootton (Captain Blasto), starts in Autumn on mercuryseries.com and iTunes.

This looks fantastic. I can't wait to see more.

Leave a comment on this post below.

HOME

Breck Eisner to remake Flash Gordon and The Creature from the Black Lagoon

Breck Eisner is currently busy directing the remake of George Romero's The Crazies.

It looks like he has got a taste for remakes as Arrow in the Head chatted to him about Flash Gordon and The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Flash Gordon has always been a character I've enjoyed. The old comic by Alex Raymond has some beautiful artwork, as does the work by Al Williamson. The Buster Crabbe black and white serial was always fun to watch (loved the spacecraft designs in that one) and the Sam Jones Flash Gordon film was a camp masterpiece - Max Von Sydow was Ming the Merciless. The less said about the recent TV series the better.

Here is what Eisner had to say about his version of Flash Gordon:

"We broke story with the writers [Matt] Sazama and [Burk] Sharpless for the last five or six months or so. They went to draft just as we started shooting, and they're going to get to me a draft at wrap. I'll read it and do notes and we'll do a polish on that and give it to the studio a couple months from now. Hopefully the studio will like it and we'll go forward. It's a big movie and the studio has got to love the script."

"The thing about FLASH is, you've got to throw away the 80s version of it. I want it to be intense, aggressive, gritty and real. For me it's about reinventing FLASH - we're still staying true to the adventure origins of it, and the adventurous spirit in that movie, absolutely. It's this man brought to another planet and uniting the disperate groups on Mongo, but there is a gritty, intense, dynamic, active quality to the movie. Very modern. It's not camp."

I quite like the sound of this revamp. Lots of adventure and action is always good.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon is one of those sci-fi horror classics of yesteryear. I was lucky enough to get it in a DVD box set from my wife last Christmas. It is a great film, although some of the dialogue and acting is a bit of its time. The creature suit and underwater filming though is simply stunning even after all these years. What Eisner has to say about this remake sounds promising:

"I want it to be scary. It's a bigger movie, so it's not an R rated scary, it's gonna be a PG-13 scary. CREATURE takes you to a place you've never been before, it's one of the last untamed places on the edge of the Earth where you find this creature that has been living and hiding there forever, basically. It's definitely going for a dark adventure tone, but I want it to be scary."

This is definitely ripe for a remake.

Out of the two I think the Flash Gordon one is the most exciting, yet the Black Lagoon remake may end up being the most satisfying.

Which of the two remakes are you most excited about?

Leave a comment on this post below.

HOME

The Mercury Men - Return of the classic cliffhanger serial!

I think this looks like it is going to be brilliant. Old school Flash Gordon, King of the Rocket Men style web series. Check out the cool photos on the official site. I love the cool Saul Bass inspired poster for it.

Edward Borman, a lowly government office drone, finds himself caught in a nefarious interplanetary plot when deadly invaders seize his office building as a staging ground for the destruction of Earth. Aided by a daring aerospace engineer from a mysterious organization known as “The League,” Edward must stop the invaders and their doomsday device, the Gravity Engine.

The new web series, written and directed by Christopher Preksta (Captain Blasto), stars Mark Tierno (George Romero’s Day of the Dead, The Road, Captain Blasto) and Curt Wootton (Captain Blasto).

HOME - Discuss in the Forum

Superman will be rebooted

Comingsoon.net have news on this.

Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov has told The Wall Street Journal that the studio is going to be reintroducing Superman. We assume this will be similar to how Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk was a reboot of Ang Lee's Hulk. Here is what the article says:

Warner Bros. also put on hold plans for another movie starring multiple superheroes -- known as "Batman vs. Superman" -- after the $215 million "Superman Returns," which had disappointing box-office returns, didn't please executives. "'Superman' didn't quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to," says Mr. Robinov. "It didn't position the character the way he needed to be positioned." "Had 'Superman' worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009," he adds. "But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all."

The article also talks about Warner Bros. adapting other DC properties over the new few years. "By 2011, Mr. Robinov plans for DC Comics to supply the material for up to two of the six to eight tent-pole films he hopes Warner Bros. will have in the pipeline by then," it says. Those projects will likely be about single characters at first, and will be darker much like The Dark Knight:

With "Batman vs. Superman" and "Justice League" stalled, Warner Bros. has quietly adopted Marvel's model of releasing a single film for each character, and then using those movies and their sequels to build up to a multicharacter film. "Along those lines, we have been developing every DC character that we own," Mr. Robinov says.

Like the recent Batman sequel -- which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far -- Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

HOME / FORUM.

The Random

Thanks to SFX Magazine for the following info.

Bioshock - That's right the dystopian vision of the 360 game is currently in development for the big screen. Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) is running the show - he must love the water! Screenplay to be written by John Logan (Sweeney Todd). As long as it is done right the city of Rapture should look amazing. Not sure if it will be following the story of the game or whether it will just be set in the same world. Still should be cool watching the Big Daddy and Splicer fights. I really must finish that game, but it always leaves me feeling nervous!

Highlander - I didn't see this one coming but looks like a remake or reimagining of the Immortal ones is on the cards. The blokes who wrote Iron Man (Art Marcum and Matt Holloway) are working on the screenplay. It's got a budget of $50 Million and rumours of Ewan McGregor or James McAvoy starring in it have begun to creep around the net. They'll have to work on their French accent to blend with their native tongue for it to be like the original! There can be only one.

Flash Gordon - I've not seen any of the recent TV series but I've heard how terribly bad it is. Major suckage apparantly. Still it hasn't stopped Gordon making it to the big screen once more. Breck Eisner (Sahara) is down to direct it.

The Hobbit - Guillermo del Toro is busy on this one (actually two movies). He's said that casting is still a good way away, but rumours abound that James McAvoy (he gets everywhere) will be the titular Bilbo Baggins. However del Toro has said there will be parts for his good buddy Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Cronos) and Ian Holm who played Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings movies. Back to back filming is due to start in 2011.

Spider-Man 4 - Some good news on this one after the disappointment of Spidey 3 (Emo Parker was just rubbish and Venom was wasted). James Vanderbilt (the bloke who did the screenplay for Zodiac) has completed his first draft of the movie. Rumour has it that it sets up a story arc that needs to be told over two films. Tobey Maguire is still down to play Parker, but word is out that Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) could be steeping into the red and blue tights.

Let me know your thoughts on any of these stories and if you have anything for the next Random email me and I'll whack them on the site. If you can include where you heard about it and a name you'd like to go by that would be splendid.