Marvel's Ant-Man movie could start sooner than anyone dared hope. Steven Moffat reveals why a Doctor Who movie will only happen with his permission. Misha Collins explains why Supernatural will be more mature. Plus Game of Thrones and American Horror Story set photos!
Spoilers from here on out!
Top image from Game of Thrones.
Ant-Man
Marvel Studios is reportedly gearing up for the film to start shooting as soon as Thor: The Dark World completes its own principal photography in Marvel's London studios. That would suggest the film would start shooting late this year, which would seemingly leave director Edgar Wright very little time to film The World's End, his third film collaboration with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. As such, this seems possible but not necessarily plausible, so I'd advise taking this with a grain of salt until we learn more. Either way, it does seem likely Marvel wants this to happen sooner rather than later. [Latino Review]
Dredd
Star Karl Urban, otherwise known as Star Trek's rebooted Dr. McCoy, explains how he approached the character of Judge Dredd, and the acting difficulties that never taking off the helmet entail:
The way I wanted to approach this character was not to have him be a posturing, bellowing character that was grounded in ego. That wasn't the Dredd I knew. I thought it was far more interesting to have a character with this inner rage who was struggling to contain it rather than letting it all explode. That's the direction I was going in. I decided that what I wanted to do was to find the humanity within Dredd because he is just a man. It's his heroism that defines him; he's the guy always walking into the building when everyone else is running out. He does the things most people wouldn't dare to do in real life, and that was the challenge for me. It was a huge challenge especially for me to convey all of this without the use of my eyes. The character oscillates from being a protector to being incredibly violent to having this wry, sardonic humor to displaying compassion at times. There are a lot of aspects to this character. The challenge for me then was to make all of that happen from behind the helmet.
He also discusses how reading the original comics helped inform and deepen his performance:
The real wonderful thing was that I discovered a whole lot of new stories with Dredd that I wasn't aware of initially when I used to read Dredd back when I was a teenager. Origin stories, the dead man's walk into America, those sorts of things; and they were all really great stories to find. There's also a wonderful maturity that happens with Wagner's writing as the stories go on where this seed of doubt is implanted in the character, which I thought was just fascinating. Dredd's story starts off where he's just this guy who is doing his job. But then, after 20 years later, he begins to question things, and I thought that was a wonderful complexity to build into this character. That's what I wanted to try and plant the seeds for in this movie, too, that weariness.
There's tons more at the link, including what Lena Headey brought to the role of the film's villain, Ma-Ma.. [Bloody Disgusting]
Here's a little bit more from Urban on how he developed his performance without his eyes:
Your voice becomes extremely important. In my research I discovered a passage in one of the comic strips that described Dredd's voice as a saw cutting through bone. Other tools were the physicality. What can I express with my movement? It's also really important to identify where the humor lies. That's one of the things I really loved in the comic is just the really dry, dark humor.
Total Recall
Doctor Who
Steven Moffat once again discusses the possibility of a Doctor Who film, offering what I think has to be his absolute strongest denial yet of Harry Potter director David Yates' claims that he was working on a rebooted movie project. Basically, Moffat isn't just the showrunner — he also has final say about the Doctor Who franchise for as long as he's in charge:
There isn't a film. That was all some weird fantasy going on somewhere. Look, we hopefully will do a Doctor Who film someday. It will be absolutely run by the Doctor Who production office in Cardiff. It will feature the same Doctor as on television. It will not be a rebooted continuity. All of that would be insane. So that whole proposal was not true, did not happen. I can say that with authority because, as far as the BBC is concerned, I'm the voice of Doctor Who. So if I say it, it's true. The BBC own Doctor Who and, for the moment, I run it for them. So I can assure you definitively that was all nonsense — not the idea of making a film, we'd love to make a film, but the idea of a rebooted continuity, a different Doctor. That's writing the book on how to destroy a franchise. You don't behave like that with it. Not ever.
He also specifically addressed David Yates's involvement, or apparent lack thereof:
I don't think he was ever signed to it. I never signed him, so he's not. But I think he's [expressed] an interest in doing it and he's a very fine director and I think he'd certainly be someone that would be on the list for directing such a project. I'm a big fan of his. But the project as he describes it would not happen. It was all a bit more off the cuff than it seemed to be.
Honestly, I'd still assume Moffat isn't the absolute deciding vote when it comes to all things Doctor Who. But even assuming some other party's preliminary conversations with Yates about a Who film ever actually happened, it would seem Moffat has been able to squash them more or less completely. [EW]
Game of Thrones
Here are some set photos that show what appears to be Riverrun, the seat of House Tully, under construction. [HBO Watch]
Revolution
Derek Webster, who had a starring role on the recently cancelled Harry's Law but is probably about a thousand times more likely to be remembered round these parts for his role as Senior Airman Brown in the Stargate movie, has reportedly been cast in the recurring role as Nicholas on NBC's post-electricity sci-fi series. The character is described as "a strong rebel leader who faces off against Billy Burke's character Miles, who's on the run from a militia." [EW]
Supernatural
Misha Collins previews what's ahead for Castiel and the rest of the characters in the upcoming eighth season:
"We're seeing him in flashback form first, and I think the Cas that we're seeing is more the Cas we got to know in season four and season five. He's a little bit more worldly, a little bit more weary, a little bit more worn than he was before. Frankly, my impression this season is that all of the characters are more mature. It kind of makes sense. This show started now eight years ago, and you look at photos of Jared [Padalecki] and Jensen [Ackles] eight years ago, and they look very baby-faced! The actors have matured, and so it makes sense that the characters have matured, too."
There are a few tidbits at the link. [Examiner]
American Horror Story
Here's the first set photo of Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, who plays one half of a pair of characters known only as "The Lovers" in the show's institution-set season two. [SpoilerTV]
Warehouse 13
Here are descriptions for the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth episodes of season four:
Episode 4.03 - Personal Effects
All hands are on deck to prevent a small town from being wiped off the map when a box of artifacts is accidently unleashed.Episode 4.04 - There's Always a Downside
Pete and Claudia reunite with Hugo to track down a deadly artifact at his nephew's prep school; Myka and Steve investigate an artifact that is killing a musician in New Orleans.Episode 4.05 - No Pain, No Gain
Pete and Myka investigate a hockey player who is miraculously recovering from his injuries; Claudia is invited to a mysterious lunch with Mrs. Frederic; Artie and Steve has discovered that someone is stealing artifacts from the warehouse.Episode 4.06 - Fractures
The team discovers someone has stolen Lewis Carroll's mirror from the warehouse.
Alphas
Here are short summaries for episodes four, five, and six. It looks like the last one will see the return of Summer Glau's technical mega-genius Skyler:
Episode 2.04 - Gaslight
An Alpha loses his mind and kidnaps Rachel while visiting the hospital.Episode 2.05 - When Push Comes to Shove
While investigating a string of crimes, the team realizes that they are looking for Nina, who had gone AWOL, and try to stop her before she hurts herself.Episode 2.06 - Alphaville
Rosen enlists Skylar's help to decode Parish's Alpha technology and endangers her life and the life of her daughter.
Arrow
Canadian actor Michael Rowe — no, not the Dirty Jobs dude — has been cast in his first role of note, as he will be playing the DC Comics assassin Deadshot in the third episode of the CW's Green Arrow series. Executive producer Greg Berlanti strongly implies that the part will be a recurring one. [TV Guide]
Additional reporting by Rob H. Dawson and Charlie Jane Anders.