Star Chris Pine explains how J.J. Abrams's second Star Trek movie finds time to tell the small human stories in its big blockbuster setting. Co-writer Alex Kurtzman says Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch is the perfect villain to challenge the fully promoted Captain Kirk!
All that plus new TV spots for The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man.
A Transformers star joins George Miller and Tom Hardy's Mad Max: Fury Road.
And casting updates for True Blood, Mockingbird Lane, and American Horror Story!
Spoilers from here on out!
Top image from the Star Trek sequel.
The Dark Knight Rises
Here's a TV spot. [First Showing]
The Amazing Spider-Man
Here's another TV spot. [Coming Soon]
And here's a conversation between director Marc Webb and the sensational Stan Lee. [Coming Soon]
Star Trek 2
Co-writer Alex Kurtzman offered some high praise for Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch's work as the sequel's still unidentified villain:
"He's a genius. There are certain actors who have the ability to take a line of dialogue and add a ring to it that you didn't even know you put into the dialogue, into the line... Sequels are about your bad guy. Because your first movie is always about the becoming of [the hero] and your bad guy has to test that hero in a very significant way. And he's an incredibly formidable presence. He's amazing. Are you going to be scared of him? Shit yeah!"
Tons more at the link. [Cinema Blend]
Captain Kirk actor Chris Pine discusses how the sequel transcends its blockbuster roots:
Oh, it's good! What am I going to tell you? Those big films are scary things. There's so much money behind those things. There's that hype. You enter a machine. I'm just happy that the people behind it were such good, welcoming types. J.J. [Abrams] runs that ship. J.J. is a wonderful guy. What they bring to this kind of film is a small character-driven story, matched with robots or aliens or spaceships. That's a very hard thing to do, and a lot of people don't pay attention to that. It's really interesting that, in The Avengers, the character that people relate to is The Hulk, and I think the reason why they relate to The Hulk is because he's fragile and human and faulty.
He expands on that a bit later in the interview:
With J.J. and company – Alex [Kurtzman], Bob [Orci] and Damon [Lindelof] included – what they're really, really good at and what sets them apart is that they know how to do the action, and they know that if you don't give them the small character-driven drama, you can blow up anything you want and no one cares. People will leave the theater because we've all seen it, a million ways. With the second one, people will find that it's the mythic structure, done really well. The character journeys are just perfect mythic structures. They do it so well. The journeys with the characters will be really great, and the explosions and set pieces are going to knock people out of their seats.
He also says J.J. Abrams chose some scenes that will "really pop" for the movie's IMAX sequences. [Collider]
Total Recall
Mad Max: Fury Road
After delivering a performance in the third Transformers movie that could best be described as, "Yes...she was in that film", Rosie Huntington-Whiteley will reportedly have another opportunity to physically appear in a major motion picture. Specifically, she is reportedly set to play one of the so-called "five wives" in George Miller's fourth Mad Max movie, in which Inception star Tom Hardy takes over for Mel Gibson. She joins X-Men: First Class actress Zoe Kravitz and The Runaways actress Riley Keough in parts that Kravitz has helpfully described as, "a group of five women being taken from one place to another place...so they call us the five wives...there are five women who are five wives." [Just Jared]
Kick-Ass 2
Star Aaron Johnson discusses writer-director Jeff Wadlow's sequel, which he confirms will again be R-rated:
It's pretty much set to go, this Fall. I think now Chloe [Grace Moretz] and Chris [Mintz-Plasse] are on board. I'm certainly set up to do it. Jeff Wadlow is to direct. Yeah, I think it's going to happen.
Are you surprised at how much people have been asking for a sequel to that film, really since the release of the first one?
Yeah, and I think that's why [original director and now producer] Matthew Vaughn has got his name all over this one, as well. The only way he was ever going to make a sequel was if it could be anywhere close to the first one, and keep that class and that quality, and just maintain something original and new and refreshing. And this script delivers all of that, right now. I'm excited to get back in the suit.
[Collider]
Carrie
Dark Shadows star Chloe Moretz discusses how she is approaching the title role in Boys Don't Cry director Kimberly Peirce's new adaptation of the Stephen King novel:
"I am changing everything about me - my hair, my look. I'm doing my own take on [the character]. The script is totally different from the [original]. It's more like the book. It's a more Black Swan version — it messes with your mind. You'll see things, and you don't know if you've seen them."
Brave
Released to celebrate Father's Day, here's a new clip focusing on the relationship between the young heroine Merida and her father the king, who are voiced by Boardwalk Empire's Kelly MacDonald and well-known Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, respectively. [First Showing]
The Mummy and Van Helsing
Alex Kurtzman discusses his work alongside writing partner Roberto Orci developing rebooted versions of these Warner Bros. properties:
There's been such a tonal shift, in the way audiences go to movies, particularly these big movies. I think a lot of that had to do with The Dark Knight and the success of The Dark Knight. Suddenly, it became about, "We want The Dark Knight version." But, whether you end up doing The Dark Knight or not, I think what's cool about that is that it's only grounded superhero stories, or big mythological stories in more reality. That's really what The Dark Knight did, and that was the turning point there. We try to do that on Trek. It's exciting, doing Van Helsing and The Mummy. They're both exciting, for those reasons.
[Collider]
True Blood
The T-1000 himself, Mr. Robert Patrick, has been cast as Alcide's werewolf father Jackson Herveaux. The character will be introduced in episode nine during a flashback to Alcide and Debbie's teenage years, and he will appear in the present day in at least two additional episodes. While Alcide and Jackson have a fairly good relationship in the flashback, that has obviously long since fallen apart by the time we get to the present. [TV Guide]
Once Upon a Time
Ginnifer Goodwin teases the big reunion between Snow White, Prince Charming, and their now-remembered daughter Emma:
"Oh my gosh, honestly, it's the thing I'm most excited for. I can't wait to develop the relationship between parent and child (played by Jennifer Morrison) - especially now that we're all the same age. It's the creators' choice and Jennifer Morrison's choice, but I would assume that there would be some kind of resentment there on the part of our daughter because of what she went through after we gave her up. I'm anxious to explore that."
[TV Line]
The second season premiere will reportedly introduce two new recurring characters. The first is Anastasia, who is a princess — because really, what else could a person called Anastasia on a show like this possibly be? - while the second is Magnolia, described as "a fierce Asian warrior who feels a connection to the earth and its creatures." I'm kind of shocked they didn't just go ahead and call that character Mulan. Speaking of shockers, both of these characters' stories involve love. [SpoilerTV]
Mockingbird Lane
Cheyenne Jackson will move on from having absolutely nothing to do on 30 Rock to a guest star role in Bryan Fuller's gritty Munsters reboot. Specifically, he will reportedly play Scout Master Steve, the leader of Eddie's scout troop who falls for Portia de Rossi's Lily. [TV Guide]
Meanwhile, Beth Grant, a mainstay of previous Bryan Fuller shows like Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls, will reportedly play Maryanne, described as "a fortysomething woman who uses a wheelchair and is very suspicious of her creepy new neighbors." [TV Line]
American Horror Story
Britne Olford, who played Cadie on MTV's short-lived Skins remake, will reportedly play Alma in season two. There's no description for the character, but given the show's mid-century Northeast mental institution setting, she is probably playing either a patient or a nurse, and either way she probably is going to have some serious issues. [TV Line]
Beauty and the Beast (CW)
Here's an extended preview for the upcoming remake of the 1980s Beauty and the Beast show. The new version stars Smallville's Kristin Kreuk. [CW TV]
Additional reporting by Marykate Jasper and Charlie Jane Anders.