Coventry Telegraph - The Geek Files

Idris Elba joins cast of Marvel Studios' Thor

2009-11-20T14:43:39Z

IDRIS ELBA has joined the cast of Kenneth Branagh's comic book adaptation Thor, according to Heat Vision.

The London-born star will play Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard who stands on the rainbow bridge (Bifrost) which connects to Earth, in order to defend the gods' realm from intruders.

Elba, 37, will next be seen in heist thriller Taken and is also in comic book adaptation The Losers. His previous credits include The Unborn, RocknRolla, American Gangster, 29 Weeks Later and The Reaping.

Shooting on Thor, based on Marvel's comic book version of the Norse thunder god, is due to begin in mid-January in California. The film is set for release on May 20, 2011.

First look at David Tennant in Doctor Who special The End of Time

2009-11-20T10:24:15Z

TIME LORD David Tennant looks ready for a holiday in the Christmas special of Doctor Who.

The Doctor dons a Hawaiian-style garland, a straw hat and sunglasses, despite the snowy white backdrop.

The picture forms part of a tantalising sneak preview set to air on tonight's Children in Need.

The clip, from the special titled The End of Time, Part One, will keep fans guessing over what is in store as Tennant prepares to bow out, regenerating into Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor.

Viewers have seen the current Doctor realise his time is running out, and characters such as The Master, played by John Simm, will make a return for the story's big climax.

Tennant said: "Doctor Who has always been a big supporter of Children in Need. We're really pleased that this year our very special Christmas story is being exclusively previewed on the show.

"Doctor Who fans are always very generous - I hope you will be too. Please give what you can."

The two-minute exclusive will be broadcast as part of Children in Need on BBC1 at 7pm.

Brad Pitt set to star in adaptation of new game Dark Void

2009-11-20T10:01:03Z

BRAD PITT could star in a planned film version of upcoming video game Dark Void after the actor's production company Plan B and Indian media conglomerate Reliance Big Entertainment bought the film rights from Capcom.

According to Variety, the idea is to develop a big-screen franchise from the game, which is released on PS3, PC and Xbox 360 in January.

Dark Void follows a pilot who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle following a routine mission and finds himself in an alternative world resembling a primitive Earth where aliens with superior technology are planning to take over civilisation.

This is the first project to come out of the partnership between Plan B and Reliance, which had been announced at the Cannes film festival in 2008.

Reliance has also agreed development deals with George Clooney, Nicolas Cage, Brett Ratner, Chris Columbus, Jay Roach, Jim Carrey, Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks as it seeks to establish itself as a genuine global film player.

Plan B is currently filming an adaptation of Liz Gilbert's bestselling book Eat, Pray, Love. Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem and James Franco star in the Sony film written and directed by Ryan Murphy.

The company is also in post-production on The Tree of Life, starring Pitt and Sean Penn and directed by Terence Malick.

Michael Shanks on Hawkman role in Smallville TV movie

2009-11-20T09:44:44Z

MICHAEL SHANKS is best known as archaeologist Daniel Jackson in TV's various Stargate spin-offs including the latest series starring Robert Carlyle, SGU Stargate Universe.

For an upcoming two-hour Smallville movie event, called Absolute Justice, Shanks will once again play an archaeologist but this time with wings as the DC Comics character Carter Hall aka Hawkman.

The special, which introduces other superheroes including Dr Fate and Stargirl, airs on February 5 in the USA and a first look at the character in costume is included above. SPOILERS AHEAD

He told Comic Book Movie: "There are a few scenes involving him flying into various sets. One of them is in Watchtower and we'll also see him on the Daily Planet roof.

"There's no stunt guy, so I need to ace this so I don't make Hawkman look like a goofball. It's traditional wirework that involves strapping on this harness so that large men with giant arms can lift me up and manipulate me. I'm also swinging around Hawkman's giant mace as a weapon.

"When we first meet Carter Hall he's in his museum. We'll learn he's a reincarnated prince from a thousand years ago. There is a reference to The Justice Society's time in the 70s, but we have since disbanded.

"There will be a debate going on about whether we should have formed in the first place, and whether anyone should do it. We came together for the benefit of mankind, but then we were treated appallingly, so there will be a debate as to whether it would make sense for the Justice League to pick up our mantle and do it again.

"Given his many lives lived, I wanted to build a character with a more fierce quality which involved changing my vocal tone. The way the Hawkman mask fits on me is very Batman-ish, so at one point I passed Smallville's director of photography who used to work with my wife (actress Lexa Doig) and me on Andromeda, and said with a deep Christina Bale voice, 'We are done professionally.'

He added: "This is a fan's dream. Let's say there are lots of memories and paraphernalia that people will be familiar with."

On the other featured heroes in the storyline, he said: "Dr Fate and Hawkman have a long history. Dr. Fate's helmet is possessed by an Egyptian deity, which allows his to see into people's possible futures. He also teleports. Stargirl is brand new to them and I'm not exactly sure what she does. She wasn't part of theSociety with them. And there are some trust issues with Martian Manhunter that are going to need to be dealt with."

And on who the villain will be: "All I'll say is he has a history with the Justice Society, but I'd never heard of him before."

And he said there would be nods to Hawkman's comic book companion Hawkgirl: "There's a lot of referencing to Shayera/ Hawkgirl throughout as his one true love, given the fact that these two have a tremendous history as thousand year-old reincarnated beings who continue to find each other lifetime after lifetime. And we will learn where she is now."

He concluded: "The way things land at the end of it all, there's an open door for Carter Hall to be revisited and possibly be part of further mentoring Clark down the road."

Sigourney Weaver on the mind-blowing, knicker-wetting experience of Avatar

2009-11-19T18:02:43Z

SIGOURNEY WEAVER says James Cameron's upcoming sci-fi film Avatar is so amazing that viewers will need several changes of underwear.

The film, opening on December 18, is a 3D sci-fi epic set about 100 years in the future. It cost a reported $220million to make and is director James Cameron's first feature film since Titanic.

When Sigourney saw a screening of the finished film, she says she and castmate Stephen Lang "were nervous as two kittens."

She added: "About a third of the way in he turned to me and said, 'People are going to piss themselves when they see this movie.' I thought to myself, they're going to piss themselves again and again and again. Because it's just one amazing scene after the other."

Weaver plays botanist Grace Augustine, who's studying the beautiful jungle moon Pandora, home to a species of 10ft tall blue humanoid creatures called Na'vi.

Grace becomes a mentor and mother figure to a paraplegic soldier named Jake, played by Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation).

Grace and Jake each also have an avatar, created for movement on Pandora's surface where the air is toxic to humans, and for interaction with the native Na'vi. The avatars are human-Na'vi hybrids into which Grace and Jake's consciousnesses are projected.

Weaver added: "It was the most ambitious script by far that I'd ever read. And it was really about something very important, which is finding the hero within yourself and finding something worth fighting for.

"My avatar body can do anything. It was so cool. I remember reading the script and going, "How is Jim ever going to do this?" It didn't seem physically possible. All this technology doesn't really worry me. It's just going to give us more fun stuff to do. You're never going to be able to replace the actor, because we're the people who make the special effects work.

"Without Sam and Zoe [Saldana], they play the main love story - if they weren't so good you wouldn't care about being in that rainforest. To see their relationship flower in that world, that's why you want to go there. It's not because the colors are pretty."

She added: "Shooting on the floor with Jim had a kind of guerrilla feeling. He was operating on every shot--he'd invented these cameras and by god he was going to use them. He was unstoppable; it was fantastic. I think the filmmaker [in him] had been pent up for so long over those 12 years [since Titanic] that once he started shooting . . . you know, he's probably still shooting a few things that we don't know about."

Weaver and Avatar director James Cameron had first collaborated on 1986's Aliens, which earned the actress her first Oscar nomination.

Her now-iconic role of Alien's Lieutenant Ellen Ripley was a very unsexy debut in the sci-fi genre compared to today's pouting, pneumatically-chested action babes who sport a killer cleavage as well as an array of deadly weaponry.

"I didn't have to be a superwoman in a tiny outfit doing bizarre things," she told More magazine. "My impression is that [today's young actresses] want to be more glamorous, like, 'Why can't I be smart and powerful and sexy?' Well, to me what was sexy about Ripley was that she was who she was."

She also reveals that her Alien screen test involved "a scene that's not in the movie, where the captain and Ripley have sex. I said to [director Ridley Scott], 'That is so ridiculous. Who's going to have sex with that thing running around?'"

And she had to compromise her principles when making the film: "I work for gun control, and I was just appalled, frankly. I had to use not only a machine gun but a flamethrower and a bazooka, often at the same time. But you do a little practice to get ready, and it's very addictive, I'm afraid."

The full interview is in the December/January issue of More magazine, and there's a web-exclusive conversation with Weaver and Cameron on More's website.

Fan dragged away after stripping for Robert Pattinson

2009-11-19T15:36:40Z

ROBERT PATTINSON has recalled the horror he felt after jokingly telling a fan to strip, only for her to do just that.

Fortunately a security man saved her blushes, removing her before the striptease got out of hand.

In an interview for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Twilight star said he had been bored with reciting the same old niceties to autograph hunters.

He recalls: "It happened after a period of signing 500 signatures.

"You kind of get ten seconds with each person and you never really say anything and I kind of got bored of saying, 'Hey, how are you doing?'

"A fan said in her ten seconds, 'What can I do to get your attention?' I was like um, just take your clothes off.'

"She stood there and frantically started taking her clothes off and got dragged out of the room by security. I never felt more terrible... I sound like I'm actually just abusing my position."

The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the second film in the franchise, is released this Friday.

Sam Worthington to star in The Last Days of American Crime

2009-11-19T15:15:16Z

SAM WORTHINGTON is to play the lead in a film adaptation of Radical Publishing's The Last Days of American Crime, reports Mania.

Written by Rick Remender, who's also penning the screenplay, the comic book is a fast-paced crime story set in the not-too-distant future.

The US government is planning to halt terrorism and crime by secretly broadcasting a mind-control signal that stops people committing unlawful acts.

To keep this from the public, the government creates a distraction with a new currency system using digital charge cards.

The media leaks news of the anti-crime signal a week before it goes live, and just as career criminal Graham Brick (Worthington) is planning to steal one of the charging stations, skip the country and live off unlimited funds for the rest of his life.

He and and his team now have just a few days pull off the last crime in American history.

The first issue of The Last Days of American Crime arrives in comic book stores this December.

Worthington, 33, stars in Terminator Salvation - which is out on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday - and in upcoming movies Avatar and Clash of the Titans.

Meanwhile, Mandalay Pictures has picked up the film rights to Boom! Studios' action thriller comic book Unthinkable, reports Heat Vision.

Created and written by Mark Sable, the comic centres on a brilliant man recruited just after 9/11 into a government think tank of America's most imaginative minds. The group is tasked with concocting wild scenarios for possible terrorism attacks.

Years after the think tank has been disbanded, the attacks the man conceived begin to take place and he becomes the only one who can stop them. But the government has become his pursuer, believing him to be the perpetrator.

The comic's writer was reportedly detained by Los Angeles International Airport security guards earlier this year when they discovered the script for one of the issues.

Anne Hathaway 'approached for role in Spider-Man 4'

2009-11-19T12:23:49Z

YET another actress is reported to be under consideration for a possible role in the next Spider-Man film.

This time it's Anne Hathaway joining the queue of female contenders.

Her previous credits include Brokeback Mountain, The Devil Wears Prada and Becoming Jane.

According to a report by Movie Scoop, and subsequently Deadline Hollywood, producers of Spider-Man 4 have approached the 27-year-old actress to star in the film.

No role was specified but fan speculation suggests it's Felicia Hardy aka the villainous love interest Black Cat.

Movie Scoop says, however, that the star is in line to play a character called Valeria while Deadline Hollywood confirms Hathaway won't replace Kirsten Dunst who is already cast to reprise the role of Mary-Jane Watson.

Hathaway is the fourth actress to be linked to the film following earlier rumours centring on Rachel McAdams, Romola Garai and Julia Stiles.

McAdams denied the reports and Garai said she had attended a general audition for an unnamed role but was not going to be cast in the film.

Spider-Man 4 begins filming in March and is set for release on May 5, 2011.

New Moon: How they made Robert Pattinson sparkle and turn into a vision

2009-11-19T10:37:47Z

THE VISUAL EFFECTS supervisor on The Twilight Saga: New Moon has revealed how they created the supernatural imagery for Robert Pattinson's vampire character Edward Cullen.

Susan MacLeod worked on making Edward's skin sparkle in sunlight and turning him into an apparition that appears before Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart).

She explained how they devised the look of the hallucinatory image, revealing: "We didn't want anything scary, because he is sort of the romanticised memory in Bella's mind of the love of her life that she's lost. I came at it with wanting a touchstone from the natural world and my first thought was water.

"So I pitched that to [director] Chris [Weitz] and he suggested fire but not fire like an inferno but like a flame, like Bella is holding a torch for Edward. I thought it was a nice metaphor. And flame and water have similar sorts of essences to them - they have a flow and movement, and could hold this dreamy evocative character."

She also enhanced the crystalline effect of the vampires in sunlight that was also seen in the first film: "We sort of stepped back to the written word and Stephenie's description which was like millions of diamonds in the sunshine.

"So we didn't really reference the first movie at all except to say we know that's not what the effect wants to be. We wanted the effect to track in 3D space so it would track perfectly to Rob's face and body, which i didn't think they did in the first movie."

She said they gathered images of diamonds, snow and ice and then found a look they wanted from a sample of marble with light refracting off the surface.

MacLeod, speaking to Sci Fi Now, said the biggest challenge was bringing to life the Quileute tribe's wolf shapeshifters that are the ancient enemies of the vampires.

She said: "They're not just wolves; they're wolves the size of a car. As soon as someone sees something that's not real, then you have to convince them and hold that suspension of disbelief.

"The biggest problem was the transformations. I was really worried about the change in volume from a 260-pound kid to a half-ton creature with fur and we wanted it to be based on Stephenie Meyer's descriptions - quick and explosive."

Terminator Salvation website launched: Win a Ducati bike and play 3D game

2009-11-18T17:34:48Z

TERMINATOR SALVATION, the fourth film in the series, comes out on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on Monday (November 23) and to mark the event, a new official website has today gone live.

You can get information on the Blu-ray and DVD release, including details of the story, cast and crew; production notes; video clips; and a photo gallery. There are also wallpapers, screensavers and messenger icons to download.

The site also allows you to play a 3D game on your desktop and enter a competition to win a Ducati motorcycle.

The first prize is a Ducati Hypermotard 1100 bike, the inspiration for the awesome Moto-Terminator machines in the movie (see picture above). There is a second prize of a Ducati motorcycle helmet and a third prize of a Ducati leather biker jacket.

Visit the website by clicking here.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson talks Shazam! and Captain America

2009-11-18T17:01:37Z

DWAYNE JOHNSON, the former professional wrestler known as The Rock, has long been linked to a role in the film adaptation of the DC Comics' title Shazam!

The comic is named after the magic word - an acronym of the names of six legendary figures from the ancient world - uttered by teenager Billy Batson to transform into the adult superhero Captain Marvel.

Johnson was at one point in talks with Shazam! director Peter Segal (Get Smart) about playing the villain Black Adam, who has the same powers as the hero. Patrick Warburton was the actor linked to the lead role.

Johnson told Moviefone he's still interested and 'would love to' take on the Black Adam role in the Warner Bros movie.

Speaking at the premiere of new animated movie Planet 51, he said: "We have talked about that for such a long time. I am not quite too sure what is happening with that right now. I am still always excited about that."

He also said he'd be interested in playing Captain America in Marvel's planned movie: "As for Captain America, sure, absolutely. If it's entertaining for the audiences, yeah."

The 37-year-old became linked to the Captain America role when Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada spoke about the film at Big Apple Comic-Con and said: "I've seen a couple of outlines and an initial screenplay, and it's going to rock everyone's socks off. It's very unexpected, the kind of movie it is."

The "rock" part of Quesada's comment was perceived by some as a hint that Johnson was in line for the role.

Johnson added: "I was never big into comic books when I was a kid, but I do like comic book movies. I like the way they have gone. The adaptations are generally pretty cool."

Robert Pattinson on his nerve-wracking striptease in front of 2,000 people

2009-11-18T15:15:43Z

FANS of Robert Pattinson will no doubt be melting into pubescent puddles of dreamy desire when the heart-throb takes his shirt off in this weekend's Twilight sequel New Moon.

But Pattinson himself says he found stripping off for The Twilight Saga: New Moon was a nerve-wracking - and also uplifting - experience.

The British actor, who plays vampire Edward Cullen, said the scene was like "a striptease".

"I felt pretty goofy stepping out into the sunlight in front of 2,000 people in a town square, ripping my clothes off," the 23-year-old said.

"I was essentially doing a striptease. But here's the irony, it was also one of the moments where I've really felt closest to people's emotional attachment to Edward. It was quite uplifting and it was also very nerve-wracking."

To satisfy the teenage thirst for the boys and their pecs, "You get a lot of nipple shots in this movie," he laughed.

Co-star Taylor Lautner piled on 30 pounds of muscle for the second movie and it's his physical transformation that's causing a stir.

"I was really terrified," laughed Pattinson. "I hadn't worked out at all and then I saw Taylor at the beginning of the year and I did feel incredibly inadequate."

Aside from wishing to hide what he describes as his "pre-pubescent girl's body", the other reason he prefers to don the layers rather than take them off is so that fans "can't see me hyperventilating".

Bewildered and almost apologetic about his success, he has his family to thank for keeping him so grounded despite the hype. "I don't think they really know what I'm doing," he said. "I still think they have trouble understanding I'm supposed to be an actor, the same way I do."

Vampire comic Nightfall picked up for film adaptation

2009-11-18T14:33:57Z

VAMPIRES show no signs of staying in their coffins and crypts as far as Hollywood is concerned.

Aurora Productions has teamed up with Platinum Studios to develop a feature film of Platinum's graphic novel Nightfall, reports Variety.

The 2007 publication, penned by Scott O. Brown and illustrated by Ferran Xalabarder, centres on a man who is sent to prison only to discover it is controlled by vampires.

Aurora's William Stuart will produce the movie with Platinum Studios' chairman and CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.

Platinum is also planning film adaptations of Cowboys & Aliens, Unique, The Witchblade and Atlantis Rising.

Julia Stiles is latest to be linked to role in Spider-Man 4

2009-11-18T12:00:08Z

JULIA STILES is the latest actress to be caught up in the web of rumour and speculation about a role in Spider-Man 4.

The 28-year-old, whose credits include all three Bourne films and The Omen remake, met with a casting company in New York, according to UGO.

No role was specified, but it's being speculated she is another actress under consideration to play villainous love interest Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat. It's worth adding that we don't yet know if Black Cat is even part of the story.

Stiles had apparently been considered for the role of Susan Storm/Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four, before Jessica Alba landed the part.

Rachel McAdams earlier denied reports that she had met with producers over the Black Cat role. Romola Garai admitted being among hundreds of actresses who had attended open auditions but said she was not going to be cast in the film.

New Moon director Chris Weitz: I thought vampire craze was over

2009-11-18T11:03:27Z

LAST WEEKEND saw Roland Emmerich's global disaster movie 2012 bring in $225million at the box office.

This weekend there is likely to be another series of earth-shaking tremors caused by the stampedes of Twihards to see New Moon, the second film in the Twilight franchise.

It willl be interesting to see its opening ticket sales and how it impacts on 2012's second weekend.

But Chris Weitz (pictured right), director of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, has revealed the public passion for bloodsuckers has taken him completely by surprise.

He thought TV's Buffy show was the stake through the heart of the vampire craze.

He took the reins on New Moon, based on Stephenie Meyer's second vampire romance novel, as brother Paul Weitz started pre-production on Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, an adaptation of the first three novellas in Darren Shan's best-selling teenage vampire saga.

Chris said: "We have talked about how ironic it is because I do remember telling my brother about three years ago - he had always wanted to have a movie with a vampire - that this vampire thing was over.

"I said 'People have done it; Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the last thing. It's not coming back'. How wrong could I be?"

And as an indication of just how wrong, the Twilight sequel has broken records for advance ticket sales.

More film fans have pre-booked tickets to New Moon than they did for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince or The Dark Knight, according to bookings website Fandango.

Movietickets.com, another bookings website, was reporting massive demand with 2,150 sell-outs for the film; it said ticket sales for New Moon accounted for 90 per cent of all tickets sold.

The picture at the top shows Aro (Michael Sheen), the leader of an ancient Italian vampire coven known as the Volturi, in the foreground. Behind him, vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is being restrained by Volturi enforcer Felix (Daniel Cudmore, who was Colossus in the X-Men movies).