Valstag, Fandral, and Hogun; finally cast for real!
THOR FILM OFFICIALLY CASTS THE WARRIOR'S THREE!
About a month or so after a round of false casting rumors about the infamous supporting characters to THOR that involved Robert Di Niro and Dominic Cooper, Variety has officially announced that the trio of Jack Kirby created characters have been officially cast for the 2011 film - weblogs.variety.com/bfdealmemo/2009/11/thor-gets-his-posse.html
Stuart Townsend, Ray Stevenson, and Tadanobu Asano have been cast as Fandral ("the dashing"), Valstag ("the enormous") and Hogun ("the grim"), respectively. Townsend is best known as writer/director/producer of 2007's "BATTLE IN SEATTLE", but has also worked on a few episodes of "ROBOT CHICKEN" and "NIGHT STALKER". Stevenson Is fresh off another comic book film, starring as Frank Castle in last year's abysmal flop, "PUNISHER WAR ZONE", but also starred in TV's "ROME". Asano is better known in Japan than in America, but he recently starred in "MONGUL". They naturally join Kenneth Branagh as director, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury from his cameo in 2008's IRON MAN.
Heat Vision has also announced that Idris Elba has been cast as Heimdall; he was most recently seen in "OBSESSED". www.heatvisionblog.com/2009/11/idris-elba-joins-marvel-studios-thor-natalie-portman-kenneth-branagh.html Despite the "Norse" cast, that hasn't limited Branagh, who has assembled quite an international cast thus far.
Meanwhile, Joe Quesada and Brian M. Bendis, Marvel's editor in chief and top selling writer, respectively (although the line blurs at times), visited the set of THOR and gushed about it on TWITTER. Joe Quesada humbly posts about it here - twitter.com/JoeQuesada, while Bendis replied that fans should "start lining up for it" - twitter.com/BRIANMBENDIS. Considering THOR will open a mere 15 days after SPIDER-MAN 4 debuts, it will certainly need all the publicity it can get. In a prior interview, Bendis claimed that the script for THOR was "excellent".
Black Cat; will she or won't she be in SM4?
BLACK CAT CASTING RUMORS CONTINUE! AND WILL THE LIZARD BE GETTING SOME HATCHLINGS?
Perhaps one of the worst kept secrets about 2011's SPIDER-MAN 4 from Sony is that a new female character is being aggressively cast, and this time rumors that the character will be Felicia Hardy/Black Cat seem more persistent than during the build up for SPIDER-MAN 2. It was reported last week that both Rachel McAdams and Romola Garai were auditioning or vying for the part of Black Cat - or whoever the new female lead role in SPIDER-MAN 4 is (www.examiner.com/x-19829-Brooklyn-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2009m11d15-Comic-News-for-111509-DC-rules-Oct-2009-comic-sales-Event-Fatigue-and-Marvel--DC-Movie-Gossip). This week, McAdams spoke to Entertainment Weekly and denied that she was seeking the role of Black Cat, claiming it is "a total rumor" that she only found out about herself while "hanging out" in Canada - hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/11/16/spider-man-4-rachel-mcadams-shoots-down-casting-rumor/. Of course, Sony wants to keep details about SPIDER-MAN 4 under wraps for at least another year so one wouldn't expect anyone to admit any rumors outright now. UGO, to add to the madness, has revealed that Julia Stiles (from the "BOURNE" trilogy among other films) has auditioned for whatever this "mystery role" is for SPIDER-MAN 4 as well (movieblog.ugo.com/movies/exclusive-julia-stiles-in-talks-for-spider-man-4). For a role that apparently doesn't officially exist, it seems quite a few actresses are chasing it. On the other hand, considering the last feline themed heroine who appeared on the big screen was 2004's "CATWOMAN", which earned Halle Berry a "Razzie Award" and BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO a flick they couldn't pay anyone to rent, perhaps Sony is trying to be wise by having mum be the word.
Meanwhile, Spoiler TV uncovers a casting call has gone out for the role of "2-3 year old red headed twin toddlers" being sought to play the role of similarly aged children in SPIDER-MAN 4. There are of course many roles that children could play in a Spider-Man film, from a comedic cameo to some victim of an action set-piece, it is also worth noting that the character of Curt Conners, a.k.a. the Lizard (the good doc at least is being reprised by Dylan Baker) in the comic books technically has a son named Billy (as well as a long suffering wife, Martha). www.movies.spoilertv.com/2009/11/spider-man-4-official-casting-call.html
* In semi-related web-slinger gossip, Voice Actors In The News has published brief interviews with the voice cast of DC and Warner Brothers' announced animated direct-to-video feature, "JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS" (reported on originally here: www.examiner.com/x-19829-Brooklyn-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2009m9d29-Comic-News-for-92909-SupermanBatman-Animated-DVD-Greg-Wiesman-launches-comic--Marvel-Movies), which is due out in "Spring 2010". These interviews seemed to confirm two previously unknown voice roles in the feature - Josh Keaton as the Flash and Vanessa Marshall as Wonder Woman. Both actors play opposite each other as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson, respectively, on SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN (now airing on Disney XD, wrapping up their second season with a repeat showing of the season finale next week). This is not the first time that a voice actor who played Spider-Man on a TV show would later play the Flash in an animated video. Neil Patrick Harris starred as Spider-Man on the short lived 2003 "Mainframe Spider-Man" cartoon that aired on MTV; five years later, he would also play the Flash in JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NEW FRONTIER. That's, of course, just fun geek trivia. Apparently, being able to properly portray one quip-happy hero in a red costume makes you a top choice to play another. The status of whether SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN will be renewed or not is still in limbo and has been for about ten months; the first DVD of the second season is on sale now from Sony. They relinquished all future TV rights to Spider-Man to Marvel/Disney back in September. For more on SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN: www.examiner.com/x-19829-Brooklyn-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2009m11d6-Comic-News-for-11609-Spidey-Toon-Rumors-Ed-Norton-Thoughts-Marvel-Q3-report-and-More
3 Generations of Turtles unite to stop Shredder, once and for all?
TMNT 25TH ANNIVERSARY ANIMATED SPECIAL - "TURTLES FOREVER" - TO AIR TOMORROW ON CW4KIDS!
Mentioned in bits and pieces by Peter Laird and other assorted Turtle figures at comic conventions earlier in the year (before the recent buy-out from Nickelodeon - www.examiner.com/x-19829-Brooklyn-Comic-Books-Examiner~y2009m10d23-Comic-News-for-102309-Nickelodeon-buys-TMNT-Lobo--GL-casting-rumors--Marvel-Movie-News), the 25th Anniversary animated "special" of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set to air on CW 4Kids' Saturday morning block tomorrow, 11/21/09, at 10 a.m. (at least Pacific time). This is the final bit of Turtle animation done with 4Kids since the end of the last season of the TV show, "TMNT: BACK TO THE SEWERS" (which aired it's last original episode back in February). Plot details are not known but the rumor is that this special unites the current voice cast and animation incarnations of the Ninja Turtles (circa 2003-2009) with the Ninja Turtles (designs and voice actors) from the original 1987-1996 series that last ran on CBS (classic April, Shredder, Krang, etc.) as well as even Black and White "Mirage" versions from the original comics. Intended as a big "thank you" to several generations of fans, it is set to run on a one hour block. Considering 4Kids has not released a TMNT DVD or kept any older DVD of the newer cartoon in print for a year, it is unknown whether 4Kids will release this special on DVD or if Nick will do it under their new deal. CW4KIDS has rights to air the Turtle cartoons on their network until next summer. A link to the trailer for it via YouTube can be had here: www.youtube.com/watch. The main 4Kids website offers sneak peaks at character designs for this special, which include renditions of the 80's-90's characters with superior animation budgets here: www.4kids.tv/show/tmnt/blog. Considering that Nick wants to make their own TMNT cartoon in the next few years, this may be the last time the 2003-2009 cast get to reprise their roles.
*Sprite Comics, by this Examiner:
(Sprites from Capcom as well as Scrollboss/Prime OP)
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