The producers of The Amazing Spider-Man go in-depth with their big reboot. A certain True Blood character isn't going anywhere. Anna Torv looks ahead to Fringe's final season. Plus tons of new release dates for tons of big science fiction movies!
Spoilers from here on out!
Top image from The Amazing Spider-Man.
The Dark Knight Rises
Director Christopher Nolan says the Joker won't even be referenced in the final Batman movie, out of respect to the late Heath Ledger. This is probably where that eight-year time jump comes in handy:
"We're not addressing the Joker. That is something I felt very strongly about in terms of my relationship with Heath [Ledger] and the experience I went through with him on The Dark Knight. I didn't want to in any way try and account for a real-life tragedy. That seemed inappropriate to me. We just have a new set of characters and a continuation of Bruce Wayne's story. Not involving the Joker."
[IGN]
And here are the latest viral videos with Rhys Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors. [Coming Soon]
Thor 2
The movie's release has been pushed back to November 8, 2013. [Newsarama]
X-Men: First Class
20th Century Fox has set a release date of July 18, 2014 for Matthew Vaughn's sequel. [/Film]
Prometheus
Charlize Theron discusses her character Meredith Vickers:
Well, it's a tough thing to talk about Meredith without giving the movie away, but I think there is a great quote-and I feel horrible that I don't know who said this-but it was a great quote, it says, "The only difference between all of us are the ones who are loved and the ones who are not." I feel like Meredith falls in that category really well.
The dialogue was delivered in a very specific way. It kind of reminded of "Alien," in a very Kubrick kind of way. Did Ridley give you any direction of how he wanted your character to deliver the dialogue?
We just talked a lot, because when you play a character that is somewhat-there is a power struggle here for her. She is very much in constant need to want to be in control of everything. That's all she's doing. From the moment that the movie kind of takes off, she's up first, she's making sure... There's always something about her trying to control the situation. Ridley and I talked a lot about people, especially women who come from these kind of dynasties that are kinda set up by men, their fathers usually. There might be other sons in the family, but for some reason, the girl just kind of has the DNA of the dad. We wanted to have something of her kind of come across that was reflective of those people that I've seen and know. When I watched those women, there was something very interesting about her almost being condescending and passive-aggressive in the way she talks, you know? It's tricky because you don't want the audience to kind of go, "Euuch." I liked that because it made her a little bit more interesting to me than someone who was just completely confident and they're in control the entire time, or not. I didn't want to play it in the extremities. I wanted it to just be kind of that she was condescending most of the time and she was very passive-aggressive. I think all of that comes from a horrible place of insecurity and vulnerability.
Screenwriter Jon Spaihts discusses how Damon Lindelof changed his original screenplay, as well as his potential role in any follow-up films:
His main contribution honestly is something I can't talk about. He shifted the center of gravity of the story a little bit in ways I can't be specific about without giving too much away. He worked on a few shifts in the mythology, and then inevitably worked to touch on a lot of other things, so wrote a lot of new dialogue to the scenes and modified a few of the character relationships in very interesting ways. It is still very much the story I wrote to begin with, with my cast of characters, my structure and big set pieces. There's a lot of new work in there, there's a lot of Damon in it, but it's still very much a lot of me.
Damon said very early on that they want to do two more movies in this world? So are you involved in coming up with some sort of outline for those other movies?
Yeah, from the get-go, the studio made it plain that they were interested in not just a new film but a new limb for a new franchise altogether. My story development envisioned a trilogy from the beginning.So if "Prometheus" does well, you'll be involved in fleshing out the elements from the outline you think?
It's very possible. There's been talks, the talks are ongoing, but making schedules and creative notions line up in this town is always difficult, so it's very possible, but far from certain.
Catching Fire
Friday Night Lights and John Carter star Taylor Kitsch has sent an email completely denying that he's one of the actors up for the role of Finnick Odair in the Hunger Games sequel. Since Twilight's Robert Pattinson already completely denied the short-lived rumor that he was up for the role, that only leaves Tron Legacy's Garrett Hedlund and The Social Network's Armie Hammer from the rumored short list. [24 Frames]
Snow White and the Huntsman
Stars Sam Claflin and Kristen Stewart praise Charlize Theron's performance as the Evil Queen:
Sam Claflin: I didn't cross paths with her too much in the film. However, pretty much everytime that she walked on set she kind of had this presence-the Charlize Theron, I call it now. She's a very strong-willed, independent woman.
Kristen Stewart: [She's ] super intimidating. We have such completely opposite energies. I mean, I cannot begin to describe to you. I was very curious initially how that was going to go. It's so much fun to find people that you can like really have that push and pull with, especially on a set. And that's what we needed. I think the most surprising thing is when we started actually working, it was so instantly like, 'You! You totally do this. I do this. We should do this together.'
Mad Max: Fury Road
Prometheus star Charlize Theron confirms she is headed to Namibia shortly to film George Miller's fourth Mad Max movie, which will feature Inception's Tom Hardy taking over for original star Mel Gibson. She further discusses what appeals to her about the movie:
I think that just like this that's an interesting world. I feel that I have a real interest in this world, and I think people will have an interest in this world because "Alien" kinda set that up for us. I feel like the original "Mad Max" created such a vivid world, that to go back and re-imagine it and kind of replay in that sandbox sounds like fun to me. George really created a female character that I've never read anything like this. I mean, I'm scared shitless, yeah.
What is it he's asking of you? Is it something you've never done?
No, it's a really challenging piece of material. I think for me originally when they were like, "Oh, ‘Mad Max.'" I was like, "Uh, I'm not going to play the fucking girl for ‘Mad Max.'" Then I read it and I was like, "Oh, ‘Mad Max.' I feel sorry for you." (Laughs) That rarely happens. It's just really, it's two great characters. It's not the original "Mad Max." It's the revamped "Mad Max." It's Tom Hardy, who's incredible. So, the whole thing is just exciting, very, very exciting.
She also says the movie's violence is probably too awesome for a PG-13:
I can't say. I mean, ultimately it's going to be up to George Miller, but it feels like...There's some bad-ass violence in it. I mean, if we do what the script is, I don't know how you can do, but then I feel like PG-13 is pushing a little bit, too, which is good. It feels like-I don't know. I remember being like, young watching "Alien" and loving it.
[/Film]
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Rupert Wyatt's sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes now has a title and a release date: May 23, 2014. [Shock Till You Drop]
Robopocalypse
Steven Spielberg's adaptation of a book about — and I know you'd never guess this, given the title — a robot apocalypse has had its release date pushed back from 2013 to Apri 25, 2014. [/Film]
I Killed Adolf Hitler
Iron Sky director Timo Vuorensola discusses his next film, an adaptation of the Norweigan graphic novel about a pair of time-travelling assassins sent to 1927 to kill...well, you can tell from the title:
To be honest, I had no intention to do another Nazi-topic film as the one right after Iron Sky, but hell, you rarely get a script that good, and I instantly fell in love with it. It uses the scifi element of time travel in a very innovative manner, and I got excited about the idea to create the most realistic Hitler in film history, to create him as a full-CG face reconstruction. The story is a great, action-packed drama with bunch of deadpan comedy moments, but underneath it all it produces an epic love story which was the thing I really fell in for with the film.
[/Film]
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
The Percy Jackson sequel will be released August 16, 2013. [/Film]
Frankenweenie
Here's a poster from Tim Burton's stop-motion remake of his 1982 short. [Shock Till You Drop]
The Good Dinosaur
Up co-director Bob Peterson discusses his upcoming Pixar project set in a world where humans and dinosaurs coexist:
"It's time to do a movie where you get to know the dinosaur, what it's really like to be a dinosaur and to be with a dinosaur."
His co-director Peter Sohn adds that, "The title is deceptively simple. It has more meaning than it seems." [24 Frames]
Fringe
Star Anna Torv confirms that the show will be returning to the Observer-ruled 2036 in its final season, and she's hopeful Olivia will show up alive and reasonably well in that timeline:
"I'm not sure where Olivia is. I don't know if they'll go for it, but I would love for her to have not been put in amber [like her team mates], but for her to have been hanging around…. sitting on the sidelines and teaching [daughter] Etta the ropes, sort of pulling the strings from behind, where the Observers can't get her...People are like, ‘But what about you aging?' And I'm like, ‘She's been on cortexiphan!' Then I would be able to work with Georgina [Haig, Etta]."
She also says she would be happy if the producers decide for Olivia to die a hero's death in the final season. [TV Line]
True Blood
Alan Ball confirms what I think everyone kind of figured was inevitable, whether they like it or not - Tara isn't going anywhere, even missing half her head:
"Tara is still a part of the show. I'm sure fans have a lot of different ideas of how that could be possible, and one of those ideas is correct. I can tell you that Bill and Eric can't come running to the rescue. They just killed a member of the Authority, so they're going to have a big mess to clean up themselves, so Sookie's going to have to figure this out on her own. But, you know, she's strong and resourceful and doesn't need a man to figure out her problems."
[TV Guide]
Veronica Mars costar Tina Majorino has reportedly been cast as a member of the Vampire Authority's support staff. She is set to first appear in the third episode of the season. [TV Line]
The Walking Dead
Here's a promo photo for season three. [SpoilerTV]
Defiance
Here's a behind-the-scenes video for Syfy's new alien Western from Farscape creator Rockne S. O'Bannon. [TV Equals]
The Vampire Diaries
Here's an interview with star Ian Somerhalder from the Welcome to Mystic Falls 2 convention, in which he says he hopes dark Damon returns, and the older Salvatore brother stops moping so much. [Wet Paint]
Additional reporting by Jennifer Griffith-Delgado and Charlie Jane Anders.