Plus, Russell Crowe seemingly contradicts a major rumor about Zack Snyder's Superman movie. Damon Lindelof explains what debt Star Trek Into Darkness owes to The Wrath of Khan. How does a familiar face fit into The Wolverine? Plus the official description and cast list for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes! Spoilers now!
Top image from The Wolverine.
Star Trek Into Darkness
Stars Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, and Benedict Cumberbatch offer some hints about their characters:
Quinto: There's a deep connection between Kirk and Spock. I think, historically, it is the engine of this franchise. It's the heart of the story, and this movie highlights that in a lot of ways.
Pine: [Kirk realizes] humility is a necessary part in leading people into battle. If you go in with absolute hubris, you're gonna get knocked to your knees.
Cumberbatch: You know he's a homegrown terrorist, he comes within Star Fleet and your levels of empathy should be toyed with at some points with this guy.
Co-writer Damon Lindelof explains how The Wrath of Khan influenced this sequel, even if he's not yet ready to discuss any concrete connections between the two films:
Certainly in the sense of all the ideas that it represented and I feel like one of the reasons that Star Trek doesn't have a lot of iconic villains is because of just the fundamental design of the franchise. It's not like when there's a new Iron Man movie you're asking ‘who's the bad guy?' I think there's the Klingons and then there's Khan. Those are the greats. And then in the Next Generation there's the Borg. But the Klingons and the Borg are both races of people, there's only really one individual. And I think that for me coming out of that movie, firstly naming a movie ‘the Wrath of Khan' and not really knowing who that was and he had a Wrath! So it was obviously going to be a bad thing! And that just sort of infused it with a power.
There's some more at the link. [Click Online]
Man of Steel
Jor-El actor Russell Crowe sent out this tweet, seemingly contradicting recent rumors that this movie's version of Krypton survived its destruction:
Ahem... as I was saying... my name is Jor-El, of Krypton, as my planet dies I send to you my son, Kal. So he may live. He will arrive June 14
Star Henry Cavill explains why his Superman doesn't need Kryptonite to be vulnerable:
"Again, it comes back to the human element; because he's alone and there's no one like him. That must be incredibly scary and lonely, not to know who you are or what you are, and trying to find out what makes sense. Where's your baseline? What do you draw from? Where do you draw a limit with the power you have? In itself, that's an incredible weakness."
He also discusses producer Christopher Nolan's input into the film, or lack thereof:
Chris Nolan wasn't there during the production itself, although I'm not sure how much work was done behind the scenes. I'm sure Zack [Snyder] had a phone call or two with him, but this is definitely Zack's baby. He was the man in charge, and we created the character together, as opposed to having too many outside influences.
[F*** Magazine via Comic Book Movie]
Mackenzie Gray, who appears in the film in an undisclosed role, discusses the Superman suit:
"Oh yeah, amount of detail on Superman is unbelievable. Superman's costume, is a three-layer costume; there's a body-skin layer and then there's a muscle layer that was molded to Henry's muscles – it's a silver, metallic rubber – and then over that is a mesh skin so whenever he turns into light it looks like he's made of steel....It's just incredible, the design of the film is fantastic. All the concepts and the designs is just remarkable and they didn't have to build fake muscles for Henry because he's really built."
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Anthony Mackie says his character the Falcon, alias Sam Wilson, is a major part of the film, even though he was omitted from a recent synopsis:
"He's very involved. I'm in about 60 percent of the movie. Captain America, the Black Widow and The Falcon take down the Winter Solider together, and they solve the crime at hand and take down the Winter Soldier. So this movie, if you look at the cast, with everybody in (the fictional crime-fighting group) S.H.I.E.L.D. and (co-stars Robert) Redford and Sam Jackson and everybody who's in the movie, it's kind of turning into 'The Avengers Part 2' because the cast is so big."
Guardians of the Galaxy
British actor Enzo Cilenti, whose credits range from In the Loop to Kick-Ass 2, more or less confirmed via Twitter that he has a role in James Gunn's Marvel space opera. It's not yet known what role he will play — while he could theoretically be the voice of Rocket Raccoon or Groot, it's probably more likely that it's some other supporting role. [@EnzoCilenti]
The Wolverine
Famke Janssen confirms she is reprising her role as Jean Grey, though this doesn't mean the character is being resurrected after her death in X-Men: The Last Stand:
"I couldn't tell you [how much I'm in it]. It's a flashback sequence, but that's all I can say. You'll just have to wait until July!"
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
20th Century Fox has put out a press release to confirm the start of filming for the Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel from Cloverfield director Matt Reeves. It offers a brief plot synopsis that pretty much confirms the previously rumored plot summary, plus a complete cast list:
A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species.
Andy Serkis, celebrated for his performance in the last film, reprises his role as Caesar. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes also stars Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Public Enemies, The Great Gatsby), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Rises, The Harry Potter film series), Keri Russell (The Americans, Mission Impossible III), Toby Kebbell (The Prince of Persia, Wrath of the Titans, Rock N Rolla), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In, ParaNorman), Enrique Murciano (Traffic, Black Hawk Down), Kirk Acevedo (The Thin Red Line) and Judy Greer (The Descendants, Three Kings, 13 Going on 30).
The Crow
Immortals star Luke Evans talks some more about his newly confirmed appearance in the Crow remake:
"It's going to be great, it's a brilliant film and it was poignant for my generation. Brandon Lee's performance was solid and emotionally connected. The whole storyline is incredibly powerful. It was 20 years ago, a long time ago. This one deserves a reboot, there are many things that are rebooted, but this one is a fantastic story, which is why there is a cult attachment to it. It deserves to have a fresh pair of eyes on it. [Director F.] Javier [Gutierrez] has powerful work, he's really special. We've been talking quite a while about the choices we're going to make. It's going to be cool to have a new generation check out The Crow."
Dracula
Luke Evans also discusses his starring role in one of several Dracula projects currently in development:
"It has been a while since a Dracula movie has been made. It's the origin story, not the old Dracula story we're used to seeing, which is great and incredible. But this is about the origin, Vlad the Impaler who lived in the 1400s - this man whose family and people are under threat, the decision that he makes and the outcome of the decision that he makes which changes his life and the life of his family and people he's king over. It's an interesting tug of war because he's turning himself into this dark, dark creature, essentially, that will never be able to turn around and go back."
Monsters University
Here's a Mother's Day-themed promo for the Monsters, Inc. prequel.
Doctor Who
Here's a promo clip from this Saturday's episode, the Neil Gaiman-penned "Nightmare In Silver."
The Vampire Diaries
Here's a sneak peek at tomorrow's episode, "The Walking Dead."
Haven
Erstwhile Eureka star Colin Ferguson has reportedly joined another Syfy show, as he will have a season-long arc on Haven as William, described as "a mysterious stranger whose secret agenda leads him to FBI agent-turned-cop Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) in the small town of Haven, Maine." [Deadline]
Additional reporting by Katharine Trendacosta and Charlie Jane Anders.