Retract them claws

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months and have missed the close to shameless advertising campaign, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is out tomorrow. Yes, I realise tomorrow is a Wednesday (April 29 to be precise) and new movies usually only ever come out on a Thursday. But Hugh and the team are trying to do The Dark Knight thing and get a bit of extra business by opening a day earlier. Don’t mistake me, The Dark Knight and X-Men Origins: Wolverine are both movies adapted from popular comic-book characters and I did mention them in the same sentence. HOWEVER I’m not expecting the Wolverine movie to be anything close to the brilliance of The Dark Knight which, in my personal opinion, is one of the best movies ever made (send me angry letters later folks). I’m looking forward to X-Men Origins: Wolverine because I love the X-Men comics, I love the idea of starting at the origins of an iconic character and it looks like a frolicking good time at the movies. Plus, unlike the X-Men movie franchise this film features my favourite X-Man: Gambit in a starring role (hooray!) For those of you, like myself, who are trotting on down to see the first of what is sure to be many X-Men Origins movies, I hope we get what the trailer promised: a fun, action-packed, adventure film with little to no depth. In times like these I think a bit of escapism is just what the pointy-clawed mutant called for. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is screening everywhere, literally everywhere, tomorrow.

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Insy, winsy Scarlett

It seems every day there’s news of another comic book movie being made for the silver screen with more explosions, more stars and more money being thrown at it than a stripper with beer flavoured nipples. Here’s some goss on an already successful superhero flick and soon-to-be franchise Iron Man. Mark this as strictly rumour for the moment. You may remember a while back I reported British actress Emily Blunt had been cast as villain/heroine Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow in Iron Man 2. However, the pom’s commitment to Twentieth Century Fox and the studio’s upcoming Gulliver’s Travels movie may prevent her from taking on the role. While Blunt’s reps are working furiously to reschedule her shooting dates, EW has said Marvel has been in talks with several other actors to take over the role, most notably Scarlett Johansson. Phoar! If anyone would be perfect to play Black Widow, it would be Scar-Jo! For those of you unfamiliar with the Marvel character, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow is a Russian super spy who has featured in several comics such as Spiderman, X-Men and Iron Man to name a few. The character is stereotyped as a femme fatale and Scar-Jo has already proven she can nail that archetype, most recently as Silken Floss in The Spirit. Plus how could they think of casting Blunt over someone like Scar-Jo in the first place? Blunt is a prude and Scar-Jo is a fox, end of story. For a completely frivolous reason it would be awesome if Scar-Jo was in this flick because then she and hubby Ryan Reynolds would have both been in super-hero movies (him in X-Men Origins: Wolverine). In the meantime we can only hope that casting directors make the right choice and sign up Scar-Jo while Blunt’s team keep trying to make both projects work (unlikely given Gulliver’s is further along with a start date of April 15 while Iron Man 2 doesn’t have a shooting script or a start date yet). Stay posted for more info.

Below: Scar-Jo as the Black Widow.

Just joking folks! This is actually what the Black Widow looks like . . .

. . .and this.

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Taking the Strait path

Every now and then Movie Mazzupial finds a new actor, director or film to obsess over. This time it's none other than the delicious Steven Strait who is, for lack of a recognised word, yum yum yum. The 22-year old first came to my attention as Warren Peace in the highly underrated action adventure Sky High. From there I've pretty much followed his career from film to film. Next he appeared in The Covenant and then backed up with another blockbuster 10, 000 BC. Taking a turn away from big budget flicks Strait then appeared in the Kimberley Pierce's critically acclaimed Stop-Loss. Although his films haven't been that popular with critics his performances in them have been "stand out" leading said critics to tag him as a "star to watch". His next projects should showcase his talent more with leads in City Island and Priest alongside Gerard Butler. Unfortunately he's married to some 29-year old chick called Lynn Collins who is playing Silver Fox in the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. Ho-hum. Here's some juicy picks to fill your appetite none the less .
As Warren Peace in Sky High, complete with red hair streaks and smokin' powers. Strait as the lead brooding witch in The Convenant.

Strait as D'Leh in 10, 000 BC and still looking hot with dreads.
Strait just being himself - delicious.

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It's what all the cool kids are doing . . . edition #6

Seed ProductionsRun down:

Hugh Jackman formed this company a few years back with wife Deborra-Lee Furness and long time assistant John Palermo. The company has a deal with 20^th Century Fox and has head quarters at their studios in Los Angeles and Sydney. It’s great see Jackman and his Australian partners taking on Hollywood with their own concepts and big budget productions aimed at pulling in the revenue.

Released films:

Deception (2008)

Up and coming films:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) – see the bottom of the `Avenge is Sweet’ post for a ridiculous amount of info on this film.

Drive (2009) – once again Jackman stars in this action drama about a Hollywood stuntman who discovers there’s a hit on him.

Wooden Spoon Productions

Run down:

The brainchild of Kirsten Dunst and her mother, the company names was inspired by her grandmother and symbolizes women and creativity. The company was only recently formed and hasn’t released any films as yet. Clearly Dunst’s rehabilitation for depression as taken priority.

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Avenge is sweet

After the astounding success of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk (the first two films from newly created Marvel Studios) it’s no wonder there are already two more films in production for the Iron Man franchise. Robert Downey Jnr has signed on for three more films as billionaire Tony Stark aka Iron Man and Terrence Howard’s character of Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes is now being played by the talented Don Cheadle for the next three films. But wait, “three films?” I hear you say. Yes, that’s right THREE FILMS. Two more in the Iron Man franchise then Downey Jnr and Cheadle will reprise their roles in (drum roll please)
THE AVENGERS MOVIE!!!
There have been rumours circulating since Marvel created their own studio to independently produce their creations and those rumours appeared to have some substance when Downey Jnr had a cameo in The Incredible Hulk. Marvel Studios today confirmed The Avengers movie is in pre-production and Jon Favreau is on board to direct. Favreau did a stellar job of directing the first Iron Man film and is also set to direct the rest of the franchise. Sounds like a hefty work load for the writer/director/actor but he’ll be backed up by an awesome support team in the form of Louis D'Esposito, Stan Lee, David Maisel and Denis Stewart. Phew. Admittedly I’m getting really sick of comic book to film adaptations and it seriously feels like every second movie was originally a comic or graphic novel. Be original folks and create some new shit! But (and there is a but) I’m looking forward to The Avengers mainly because it’s a classic and one of the most recognised comics of all time. Those of you unfamiliar with The Avengers, here’s a quick run down. First created in 1963 by the legendary Stan Lee, The Avengers features some of Marvels key characters who unite to create a unique crime fighting unit. Originally founded and majorly funded by Tony Stark other characters in the unit include The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, The Black Widow, Spider Man, The Fanatstic Four and more. Whether some of these characters will appear in the film adaption is yet to be known but other team members in The Avengers have included Wolverine, Storm, Daredevil, Electra, The Punisher and tonnes of other lesser known characters. Only Edward Norton’s version of the Hulk, Captain America and Thor have been confirmed to be in the film version which is scheduled for release on July 15, 2011. The Iron Man sequel will be in theatres on May 7, 2010. Both will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
On a related topic, I’m extremely pleased at the produce coming out of Marvel Studios and am glad they were able to make enough money off the rights to the characters they sold (i.e. Spiderman, The Punisher, Daredevil, X-Men) to start their own studio. After all, who can handle the Marvel subject material better than the people who created it? No one, that’s who. And with the animators, writers and creators at the forefront of the company (i.e Stan Lee, Don heck) it truly sounds like they have the characters best interests at heart when creating the films. Unfortunately Marvel Studios don’t have anything new coming out in 2009 as the highly anticipated X-Men Origins: Wolverine is from 20th Century Fox as they own the rights to the X-Men franchise. Hugh Jackman will be back to reprise his role as Wolverine and
Liev Schreiber (aka Naomi Watts’ hubby) will play the famous Sabertooth, the `always hot right now’ Ryan Reynolds will play Deadpool, former hobbit Dominic Monaghan as Beak and up and comer Lynn Collins will play Silver Fox, Wolve’s old flame. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was shot entirely in Sydney and will be released in Oz on April 30, 2009.

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