Joss Whedon Talks Avengers Age Of Ultron
Joss Whedon continues to slowly leek more details about superhero sequel Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Fresh off the back of official confirmation of the title, director Whedon has confirmed that Scarlett Johnasson will be playing a major part in the sequel as S.H.I.E.L.D. superspy Natasha Romanov aka Black Widow.
Talking about the decision to focus on Johansson’s character this time Whedon explained:
“Natasha is a huge part of the sequel, because you do want to concentrate on the people who don’t have their own franchises. Although she’d in Captain America 2, [and] she’s great. She was the most fun for me because she’s not a hero, you know? And it’s something that I read—and I feel bad that I can’t remember who wrote the book—but it’s in one of the books explaining, ‘These guys are heroes, you are a spy. It’s a different thing—it’s a different skill set—and you don’t have their moral high ground or any of that good stuff. And that just makes her so interesting to me. So yeah, the stuff I’ve got going on with her in the second one is killer.”
Whedon has already previously confirmed that Jeremy Remmer will be getting increased screen time in the second Avengers adventure as bow wielding assassin Hawkeye. This news combined with Whedon’s recent S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series marks a clear determination not to neglect the less obviously super powered members of the Avengers ensemble of heroes.
Avengers Age Of Ultron is due to arrive into cinemas to save the world yet again on 1 May 2015.
Till then, our video interview with Joss Whedon below from the recent UK premiere of his Shakespeare passion project Much Ado About Nothing, Joss talks about the secret of make a great ensemble piece and more:
Marc Web Already Planning Spider-Man 4
The Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb has admitted that he think the rebooted marvel Studios franchise has the potential to go beyond the currently planned trilogy and that a forth film in the new series could already be on the cards.
With the second film starring Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx as new villain Electro already on the way, Director Webb has openly shared his hopes that the forth film could potentially expand beyond just being a Spider-Man film, to focus instead on the wider universe of Marvel characters.
“I think this was conceived of as a trilogy,” says Webb, “so there was a defined architecture to the story we were telling and we had sort of a rough outline of what was going to happen. I think [for] the fourth movie, what we’ve discovered is there are so many ancillary characters, that have enormous, cinematic potential that there may be other ways to exploit those characters, in a way that is exciting and fun and worthwhile. It might not just be a Spider-Man movie.
You know, what was fun about the comics is that there’s an entire sort of encyclopaedia of characters and stories and histories and nuances and idiosyncrasies and off-shoots. I think that that is something that seems to be really successful and has a lot of potential.”
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be web slinging its way into UK cinemas on 18 April 2014.
Vin Diesel Talks Guardians of The Galaxy Groot
Vin Diesel has spoken about his recent Facebook hints that he’s joining the cast of new marvel franchise Guardians of the Galaxy, potentially playing Groot. Although stopping short fo an official confirmation the Fast & Furious star has gone a long way to suggesting he will indeed providing the gruff voice of one of Marvel’s most unlikely heroes.
“As an actor, not everything has to be the most obvious choice and sometimes, the best thing you can do — as far as Steven Spielberg and his advice — is to defy expectations. So if everybody thinks you’re going to go for this one thing and you flip it entirely and go for the strangest Marvel character, it’s interesting. And when something is interesting, it’s inspiring.”
Groot would certainly be an unlikely choice for the star, given that he’s a giant tree like alien who only communicates in the comics by repeatedly shouting his own name. Explaining his decision to post an image of the character to his Facebook page the star added:
“I get inspired by things. So if somebody sends me a book of conceptual art that’s the best character design work I’ve ever seen, I see that and I want to be a little cryptic and I want to say something positive.”
Whilst Marvel might usually be less inspired to see major casting news leaked by a potential star, the famously protective studio might also be happy to see Vin Diesel’s 45 million Facebook fans already excited about the prospect of the star joining their latest franchise.
James McAvoy For Frankenstein
James McAvoy looks set to play deranged scientific genius Victor Von Frankenstein in 20th century Fox’s upcoming big screen re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s Gothic classic. Diminutive Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is already confirmed to play Frankenstein’s long suffering assistant Igor.
Directed by Paul McGuigan the latest version of the timeless horror tale will actually focus on Igor as its main protagonist, obviously looking to immediately distinguish the film from all the countless re-telling’s already committed to cinema history. Screenwriter Max Landis has described the project as “fun, sad, scary and moving.”
Regardless of whether McAvoy does sign up or not, the studio already has a release date set of 17th October 2014.
Bret McKenzie Making Fantasy Puppet Musical
Flight of The Conchords star Brett McKenzie is going to follow his work on the soundtrack for eagerly awaited sequel The Muppets Most Wanted with more puppet themed movie adventures. The Oscar winning musical star has revealed plans to make a fairytale musical comedy described as a spiritual successor to Labyrinth.
Explaining the inspiration behind the project the songwriting funnyman described it as a mix of the Muppets and cult classic The Princess Bride. He also revealed he’s collaborating with the Muppets director James Bobin on the exciting project. Here’s what Bret McKenzie actually had to say:
“I’m in the middle of a script for a kind of – it hasn’t got a name yet but it’s a fairytale comedy musical, sort of akin to Labyrinth or something like that. James Bobin’s helping me. I’m the official writer but we’re developing it. I want to make a comedy musical with singing dragons and monsters and stuff. [It's] live-action, so it would be a mixture of The Muppets and The Princess Bride.”
McKenzie looks well set to continue his astonishing Hollwywood rise. Having won an Oscar his musical work on the first Muppets film he now has a role in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. The New Zealand star actually had a tiny cameo in Lord of The Rings and is now reprising the role in a more noticeable way for the continuing Middle Earth adventures.