The Avatar sequels will feature underwater performance capture, because why the hell wouldn't they? At least one Doctor definitely won't appear in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special. Godzilla adds another acclaimed actress to its already overqualified cast. Wang Xueqi explains his role in Iron Man 3, while Hugh Jackman is excited to play Wolverine for the seventh time in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Spoilers from here on out!
Top image from The Walking Dead.
Man of Steel
Composer Hans Zimmer discusses whether writing the score for the new Superman movie is anything like his recent gig doing the music for History's The Bible miniseries:
"Yes. Yes is the answer. Once you see Superman, you'll see how close you are with your question. Both stories are passions about a struggle to do the right thing. For Superman, it was a really simple question for me. What does it take to become a good man? To be good? And what does that mean in our more and more complex society? Do any of these values still resonate with us?"
He also explains his take on the film, which he says helped him create a score that wouldn't be completely overshadowed by John Williams's iconic work on the original Superman:
"I kept thinking of the story as, What if you are extraordinary, and your entire ambition is to join humanity? To become human? What does it mean to become human? What does it mean to be an outsider who really wants to join the human race?... I know America mainly by the big cities, but if you go into the Midwest, there is a people there and there is a country there. And I thought it was important that the decent folk, simple folk be the heart of the story, and a character who is guileless, who isn't complicated in the sort of flawed way our Dark Knight is, and isn't political in any way. He's just striving to become a better part of humanity."
[CNN]
And here are some thoughts from visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri:
I can’t talk too much about Man of Steel yet, and I haven’t seen the whole thing yet, but overall it’s the story that’s most exciting. It’s a nice re-envisioning of the story of Superman leaving his homeworld and coming to this new one. If you look at what Zack [Snyder] has done you’ll see that they’ve abandoned a lot of the pretense that was in the comics and asked “Can we still make this work?” They’re sticking to realism as much as possible. Fantastic elements are still there but a lot of it that been trimmed back to make it feel as though this actually happened.
Iron Man 3
Acclaimed Chinese actor Wang Xueqi discusses his role as Dr. Wu:
And I said to this person contacting me, ‘It wouldn’t do if it’s a character who’s finished off after a few fights.’ I was then assured that, ‘No, you’re going to be the man who saves his [Tony Stark] life.’... It’s not a character which exists in the original comic series. And he’s a very complicated individual: he’s at once a specialist in Chinese medicine and Western medicine, but also a scientist and someone who has an in-depth knowledge of ancient Chinese culture. They’ve really set the bar very high. It’s a very challenging role. I don’t get a lot of scenes, but you have to convince viewers that [Stark and Wu] are friends from way back. It’s not like in other films when you can get to show that through a lot of interaction between the characters.”
He also revealed that he only speaks Mandarin in all his scenes with Robert Downey, Jr.'s Tony Stark, who in turn only speaks English. [The Hollywood Reporter]
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
Star Hugh Jackman says he's excited to reprise the role of Wolverine once more:
They told me the idea and, at the time, it was Matthew Vaughn [directing]. Instantly, I knew it was a winner. It just felt like everything was coming full circle. However, I must admit my stomach and my mind were like, ‘Oh no.’ I owe, in a way, everything to [director] Bryan [Singer]. The first film I did in America was X-Men. Wolverine is a character I’ve loved playing and I can’t believe it’s going to be my seventh time playing it. It just blows me away. It not only feels like the right kind of project, it actually is so exciting that we’ll all be back together again. I don’t want to give away too much but I’m really excited not only to reunite with all those great actors but also to work with some of the other ones.
[EW]
Interstellar
In an article about 2001: A Space Odyssey director Stanley Kubrick's legacy, Christopher Nolan discusses his major sci-fi influences, which are worth keeping in mind as he starts work on his Matthew McConaughey-starring movie about space and possibly time travel:
“I think anytime you look at science fiction in movies, there are key touchstones. Metropolis. Blade Runner. 2001. Whenever you’re talking about getting off the planet, 2001 is somewhat unavoidable. But there is only one 2001. So you don’t want to get too near to that.”
[EW]
Avatar 2 and 3
Producer Jon Landau reveals that James Cameron's Avatar sequels will take performance capture to a whole new place — specifically, underwater:
“We have kept a team of digital artists on from Avatar in order to test how we can create performance capture underwater. We could simulate water [in computer graphics], but we can't simulate the actor's experience, so we are going to capture performance in a tank. We are looking at [techniques including] what we did before with reflective markers,” he said, adding that another important task is “how we record reference photography so that as we are going through the editorial process and the postproduction workflow, we can see what the actors did and make sure that the final performance up on screen represents that... We want to take advantage of the technology that people are putting out there to make the next two movies more engaging and visually tantalizing, and wrap up the story arc of our two main characters."
Godzilla
Because apparently a cast that already included Juliette Binoche, Elizabeth Olsen, David Strathairn, and Bryan Cranston just wasn't quite highbrow enough, the new Godzilla movie has reportedly added Sally Hawkins, best known for her critically lauded role in British filmmaker Mike Leigh's character drama Happy-Go-Lucky. Hawkins will reportedly play a scientist in the film. [Deadline]
Doctor Who
Here are two promos for the next episode, "Cold War," featuring the return of the Ice Warriors. [Blogtor Who]
The BBC has officially announced that Christopher Eccleston won't be returning as the Ninth Doctor for the 50th anniversary special. Responding to British tabloid rumors that Eccleston had agreed to appear and then pulled out at the last minute, the BBC included this statement making it clear his decision hadn't somehow disrupted the ongoing production:
Chris met with Steven Moffat a couple of times to talk about Steven's plans for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode. After careful thought, Chris decided not to be in the episode. He wishes the team all the best.
The Walking Dead
Star Norman Reedus previews what's ahead for various characters in season four:
“I think [the governor's] evolution of a bad guy is not dead yet. To reach the comic book status, like in the comic book, the guy is so ferocious, he’s on the precipice of becoming that guy. So the last episode wasn’t about the war, it was about who is becoming what in that world. Carl, what he has become, Rick what he has become, what Daryl has become. That’s the intro into season 4... [Carl's] dark right now. I think he’s going to get much darker. I think all of us are real dark right now... I think having these people relying on [Daryl] is something he’s never had before and he has this new sense of self worth that he never thought he could ever have. So through these people, that’s the glue that’s keeping him around. I think he’ll go hard again after [killing] Merle. I think Merle is going to shut him down for a minute.”
Executive producer Gale Anne Hurd discusses why the main characters haven't seized control of Woodbury heading into the fourth season:
Who knows? The Governor is still out there with Shumpert and Martinez. They’ve still got significant firepower. If they go to Woodbury, at this point, Woodbury’s not as protected as it used to be. I think everyone was traumatized by what happened, and I think they feel safer in the prison.
Is the whole population now in the prison, or are there still people left in Woodbury?
I couldn’t tell you that, to be honest. I think that’s a decision we’ll come to find out in the new season.
She also discusses whether the zombies themselves will be more heavily featured next season:
Yeah, I don’t think that in a show that goes from season to season — we are living in a zombie apocalypse, we’re living in an apocalypse where we know that unless someone has brain trauma, they’re going to come back. Regardless of how they die, they’re going to turn into a zombie. So I think it would be a good bet to say that the zombies become more threatening in seasons to come.
There's more at the link. [IGN]
True Blood
Joe Manganiello discusses what's ahead for Alcide in season six:
"Alcide is now the pack master, which means he has lots of dating options. It's good to be the pack master! I remember I asked the producer, ‘What do pack masters do all day?' And they're like, ‘They get all the were-bitches!'... [The pack is an] unruly bunch; they're werewolves. So keeping them in line is a difficult job that Alcide never wanted."
Anna Camp will reportedly return this season as anti-vampire fanatic Sarah Newlin. [TV Line]
Revolution
Here's a sneak peek at tonight's episode and thirteenth overall, "The Song Remains the Same."
Here's the description for episode fifteen, "Home," which airs April 22:
MILES AND MONROE FACE OFF WITH DEADLY CONSEQUENCES WHILE RACHEL AND AARON ENCOUNTER OBSTACLES IN QUEST TO REACH THE TOWER- When the past catches up with Miles (Billy Burke) and Monroe (David Lyons) in the form of mutual heartthrob, Emma (Annie Wersching) all hell breaks loose for them physically and emotionally. Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and Nora (Daniella Alonso) are the ones who rescue Miles this time. Meanwhile Aaron’s (Zak Orth) life is turned inside out while accompanying Rachel (Elizabeth Mitchell) on her tenacious trek to the mysterious Tower where she plans to restore the power.
Grimm
Here's the description for episode nineteen, "Endangered," which airs April 26:
NICK FACES AN OTHER WORDLY MYSTERY THAT MAKES HIM QUESTION WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT THE WESEN WORLD — Mysterious cow mutilations and reports of glowing creatures put Nick (David Giuntoli) on a case that forces him to question the existence of aliens within the Wesen world. He also meets a strange UFO expert who seems to know more than he’s letting on. Meanwhile, Nick digs further into the key, and Juliette’s (Bitsie Tulloch) romantic memories of Nick start coming back in a big way.
Defiance
Dexter and No Ordinary Family's Julie Benz discusses her latest starring role on Syfy's post-apocalyptic alien western:
The show is on an epic scope and the special effects are truly cinematic. Jamie Murray’s performance is amazing, and you’ll want to look particularly for her “bathing” scene.
Can you talk about Amanda and Nolan’s relationship?
They don’t know what it’s about! (laughs) He’s a newcomer and their relationship gets complicated. She comes to rely on him to help run the town when he becomes the lawkeeper. It’s a very complicated relationship and neither of them knows how to define it.
Do you think your character would shut down the Need/Want to better serve Defiance even though it’s her sister running it?
Kenya and Amanda have a very complicated relationship. A brothel is an integral part of every frontier story. It’s a core element and it’s necessary because of the need for human relationships. Maybe if the Need/Want got violent and turned into a fight club or something. It certainly does complicate their relationship.
Additional reporting by Katharine Trendacosta and Charlie Jane Anders.