Dean Parisot Set To Direct “RED 2”

Dean Parisot (“Galaxy Quest,” “Fun with Dick and Jane”) is in final negotiations to direct the “RED” sequel at Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment says Heat Vision.

Robert Schwentke helmed the original 2010 action film which had the likes of Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Mary Louis Parker, Karl Urban and Morgan Freeman starring the story of over-the-hill special ops agents forced out of retirement. It grossed almost $200 million worldwide.

Much of the key cast are expected to return for the sequel though no deals are yet signed. Erich and Jon Hoeber penned the sequel and shooting aims to kick off later this year.

“X-Men: First Class 2” Is Magneto-Centric

Screenwriter Simon Kinberg is working with Matthew Vaughn over the next few months on the much anticipated sequel to last year’s “X-Men: First Class” and reveals to MTV News that Michael Fassbender’s Magneto and his relationship with James McAvoy’s Charles X. Xavier will take on more prominence in the follow-up.

“That’s what was so cool about the first one and what we want to continue. Magneto becomes the villain ultimately of the franchise but he’s a much more complicated character as a young man. He’s someone you sympathize with, you care about you root for even though might not necessarily agree with his methods, you understand his philosophy” says Kinberg.

In terms of turning Magneto into more of an outright villain, Kinberg says “We’re still figuring that out. I think the truth is ultimately that because Michael [Fassbender] is such an interesting actor, he’ll never be full-on anything. He’ll have a villainous side and he’ll have a sympathetic human side you’ll be able to relate but you’ll also be afraid of him. He becomes Magneto, he says ‘Call me Magneto’ at the end of the first movie.”

At present the title hasn’t been settled on for the follow-up as the production is still in extremely early stages.

Liebesman In Talks For “Ninja Turtles”

Jonathan Liebesman (“Battle Los Angeles,” “Wrath of the Titans”) is in talks to direct a live-action reboot of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” franchise at Paramount Pictures and Platinum Dunes says Reuters.

Liebesman is one of three directors who had been under consideration for this new take on the popular comic book and television series which Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec (“Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol”) are scripting.

Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form will produce. The film would mark the fifth feature involving the characters following three live-action films in the 90’s and the 2007 CG animated film “TMNT”.

Two Dracula Films Return From The Dead

Two gruff Australian actors, two takes on Dracula – both making headlines today.

First up comes word via Deadline that Universal Pictures is dusting off its ambitious “Dracula Year Zero” project which previously had Sam Worthington attached to star and Alex Proyas set to direct.

The film explored Vlad the Impaler and his lust for blood which inspired the mythology behind Bram Stoker’s classic novel. The film came close to production a while back when the studio shut it down due to the budget being too large.

Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless have written a new draft of the screenplay while Gary Shore is now in negotiations to direct. Michael De Luca will continue as producer, it’s unknown if Worthington remains attached.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Pictures is in talks with Russell Crowe about starring in “Harker”, a reimagining of the story which Leonardo DiCaprio will produce reports Vulture.

In this take Jonathan Harker becomes the protagonist and is not a lawyer. Instead he’s a Scotland Yard detective investigating the Count’s string of grisly murders in England.

Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy penned the script. Jaume Collet-Serra (“Unknown,” “Orphan”) was attached but the project lost steam when he was transferred over to the “Akira” remake. With that project now stuck in the mud due to financing issues, the plan now seems to make “Harker” happen first.

Crowe’s availability however will depend on his schedule as he’s just begun shooting “Les Miserables” and looks to be following that with Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah”.

“Watchmen” Gets Moore-less Prequels

Not exactly film news but this is a big deal in another industry that ties back to it.

DC Comics is going back into the universe of “Watchmen” this summer with the launch of “Before Watchmen”, seven new limited series that will serve as prequels to the acclaimed 80’s comic series.

The projects will mark the first time that characters such as Doctor Manhattan, Rorschach and the Comedian have appeared anywhere in comics since the original 12-issue series – one of the most influential comic books of the past quarter century and the most popular with more than two million copies sold.

The project is polarising a lot of people as the original creators – legendary writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons – are not involved. Moore himself tells The New York Times that “I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago.”

Instead various other famed writers and illustrators will expand on the back stories of the costumed vigilantes. Brian Azzarello will pen both the “Rorschach” and “Comedian” titles, J. Michael Straczynski will handle “Nite Owl” and “Dr. Manhattan”, Darwyn Cooke will do “Minutemen” and “Silk Spectre”, and Len Wein will do “Ozymadias” and the mini multi-part story “Curse of the Crimson Corsair”.

Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man 3 News

The Avengers
Marvel has released five photos from the superhero team-up film, some higher res versions of previously released scans along with some brand new ones – mostly of Nick Fury. Click here to check out the gallery.

Meanwhile writer/director Joss Whedon and cast members Tom Hiddleston and Clark Gregg will be participating in a Global Twitter Chat on Tuesday, January 31st 2012 at 11 a.m. US-PST.

Fans around the world will be able to participate in the Q&A on Twitter by using the @Avengers handle and the #Avengers hashtag. There will also be a 10-second tease of the 30-second Super Bowl spot.

Captain America: The First Avenger 2
Neal McDonough, who played Dum Dum Dugan in “Captain America: The First Avenger”, says that the sequel could shoot this year:

“They’re planning [to go into production] for the end of this year, because Marvel does one film at a time. So they’re going to do Thor 2 and as soon as Thor has wrapped, they’ll do Cap 2” he says.

Disney and Marvel presently have two 2014 release dates set aside for currently unspecified titles. It’s not looking like “Doctor Strange” and “Captain America 2” will probably fill those slots. [Source: The IMDb]

Iron Man 3
Filming on the third “Iron Man” could start a few weeks earlier than previously planned, with the shoot beginning in Wilmington, North Carolina during the last week of April or first week of May. [Source: Comicbook.com]

“Elfquest” Movie Dead, “The Goon” Dying?

The long-gestating adaptation of the cult comic “Elfquest”, which has been in development at Warners for four years, looks to have been dumped.

Rawson Marshall Thurber was previously attached to direct the story of a tribe of elves trying to find others of their kind while avoiding humans and trolls. Comic co-creator Wendy Pini gave the following statement on the title’s Facebook page:

“After close to four years of suspense – and longer than four years of your much-appreciated interest and support – the word has come down from Warner Bros. And the word is “no.” Their simple explanation is that they don’t want to compete with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This was a possibility, among several, that we were prepared for. It is a relief, at last, to know.”

Meanwhile another project that began life back in 2008, a CG animated adaptation of Eric Powell’s “The Goon” comic which David Fincher optioned, looks like it might have died on the vine.

Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown voiced the characters of Franky and The Goon in a test footage reel in 2010. IFC spoke with Giamatti at Sundance this week and asked him how the film was progressing.

“I have no idea what the hell happened. I asked and no one knows. I guess they just ran out of money” he says. This matches comments from Fincher last year who suggested getting a project like this financed was extremely difficult.

Casting News Could Be “Dead” SPOILER

In a world filled with zombies, the life expectancy of many on The Walking Dead probably isn’t very long. But a new casting story circulating could give away a SPOILER about the fate of a character from the hit AMC drama.

If you don’t want to know, stop reading now…

Actor Jon Bernthal—who plays Shane—is in talks with TNT to star in their new 1940s crime drama, L.A. Noir. The news comes from “sources close to the situation,” who made sure everyone knows that these negotiations are very, very new and nothing is certain yet. But the job is a starring role on a brand-new drama series, which would leave no spare time for zombie battling.

L.A. Noir has a pilot order from TNT, which doesn’t guarantee that it gets to be a full series, so even if Bernthal does end up with the gig the timeline for Shane’s departure is rather fuzzy. Still, he’s also got a new movie—Snitch, with co-stars Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon—on the way, which could mean that even if he doesn’t take this show, another offer could be right around the corner.

Cage Talks “Ghost Rider” Inspiration

Actor Nicholas Cage says that part of what he tapped into to play Ghost Rider was his love of the original source material. And part of it was tapping into something older: magic.

“It was the first time that I played Ghost Rider. Blaze was easy; I knew he was a man who had been living with a curse for eight years of having his head light on fire, and the tone that would take,” Cage said. “I compared him to a cop, or a paramedic who develops a dark sense of humour to cope with the horrors he has seen. But Blaze has also caused the horrors, so he’s hiding out because he doesn’t want to hurt anyone else.”

“Ghost Rider was an entirely new experience, and he got me thinking about something I read in a book called The Way Of Wyrd by Brian Bates, and he also wrote a book called The Way Of The Actor,” said Cage. “He put forth the concept that all actors, whether they know it or not, stem from thousands of years ago—pre-Christian times—when they were the medicine men or shamans of the village. And these shamans, who by today’s standards would be considered psychotic, were actually going into flights of the imagination and locating answers to problems within the village. They would use masks or rocks or some sort of magical object that had power to it.”

“It occurred to me, because I was doing a character as far out of our reference point as the spirit of vengeance, I could use these techniques,” said Cage. “I would paint my face with black and white make up to look like a Afro-Caribbean icon called Baron Samedi, or an Afro-New Orleans icon who is also called Baron Saturday. He is a spirit of death but he loves children; he’s very lustful, so he’s a conflict in forces. And I would put black contact lenses in my eyes so that you could see no white and no pupil, so I would look more like a skull or a white shark on attack.

“On my costume, my leather jacket, I would sew in ancient, thousands-of-years-old Egyptian relics, and gather bits of tourmaline and onyx and would stuff them in my pockets to gather these energies together and shock my imagination into believing that I was augmented in some way by them, or in contact with ancient ghosts. I would walk on the set looking like this, loaded with all these magical trinkets, and I wouldn’t say a word to my co-stars or crew or directors. I saw the fear in their eyes, and it was like oxygen to a forest fire. I believed I was the Ghost Rider.”

Check Out The Ass On Catwoman

The U.K. is in the midst of Toy Fair with various tie-in merchandise for this year’s major film tentpoles on display. These include prototype action figures and statues of Christian Bale’s Batman, Tom Hardy’s Bane and Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman (via Bad Ass Digest).

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD

Speaking of ‘Knight’ another bit of scoopage related to the film has come up. A while back Liam Neeson was spotted on the set of the film which led to speculation he might be making a cameo.

Turns out he wasn’t there long enough to do much of anything, telling Showbiz Spy during press rounds for “The Grey” that he was only on-set “for maybe an hour-and-a-half and the director didn’t tell me anything of what it’s about. So, I’m being very honest when I say I have no idea what’s going to happen.”

Finally some tie-in toys from “The Avengers” are also out, namely the vehicles being used by the heroes in the film including the Quinjet and the Helicarrier. See those at Superhero Hype.