'Scot Pilgrim' vs. Superman & the Human Torch?

Take a look at any of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, and tell me you're not curious to see how director Edgar Wright is gonna pull this off.

Granted, I have faith he will. But it's for that reason I'm looking forward to the film.

Not to mention, it's his first feature-length film that doesn't include Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the cast (Note: I'm a huge fan of them and their collaborations with Wright. It's just important for him to prove he can make a film without them!)

The plot is simple....enough so, at least. The title character (Michael Cera, an actor I enjoyed the Hell out of from TVs Arrested Development and Superbad) falls in love with the girl of his dreams (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but must do battle with her seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart.

Again tell me, you're not curious to see how this film is gonna look!

And now the cast is starting to line up for the project - which begins production this March.

Superman himself Brandon Routh and Chris Evans from the Fantastic Four films have been lined up to play two of the seven perspective exes.

Evans (the only positive note from the other-wise abysmal FF films) will play Ex #2 - a skater turned actor (think Jason Lee!)

Meanwhile, Routh is Ex #3 - a rock-star with vegan psychic powers. Uh, okay.

It'll certainly be interesting to see how audiences react to this film...

Is Joaquin Phoenix The New Michael Moriarty?

I realize that this isn't "film-related" per say. But dammit, this just couldn't be ignored.

If this turns out to be a hoax, then Joaquin Phoenix is just plain brilliant.

The Oscar-nominated Gladiator co-star suddenly decides to retire from acting in the closing months of last year to pursue a country music career. Fair enough (I guess?) I mean he had one Helluva singing voice in Walk the Line. 

Casey Affleck (his brother-in-law) decides to film a documentary chronicling Phoenix's "rise to the top."

Does anyone care to guess how said music is coming along? Check out the videos below.

Furthermore, has anyone exactly seen the guy lately? If you haven't, take a look to your left.

Yup, that's the same actor who graced the silver screens with films like Signs, The Village, Hotel Rwanda and Quills (as well as the ones mentioned earlier!)

And for those souls asking, "Jaime, who the Hell is Michael Moriarty?"

He's best known for playing A.D.A. Ben Stone on the first four seasons of Law & Order, and was widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation.

So what happened? Long story short, the multiple Emmy-Award winner (whose had a well-documented history of mental and substance-abuse issues) quit the popular series, moved to Canada and more or less destroyed his career.

Sound like a possible future for Phoenix?

Let's hope not.

Terry Gilliam Returns to 'Quixote'

To Hell with the latest sequels, reboots or comic-book properties, this is film-news to be excited about, folks!

After years of promises and reassurances, director Terry Gilliam (Brazil) is finally getting back to work on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

For those who don't know (or remember), the Time Bandits helmer began work on the project back in 2000 with Johnny Depp as the lead where damn-near everything that could possibly go wrong on a film set did. After just five days of filming, the project fell apart.

A film-crew was there to document the entire ordeal, and Lost In La Mancha came as a result - a great documentary, and (for my money) required viewing for anyone who wants a career in filmmaking.

Now Gilliam and his writing-partner-in-crime Tony Grisoni have (finally) gotten back the rights to their script and just recently got back to work on it:

"[We] finally got the script back. I re-read the greatest script ever written and realize we gotta get rewriting! I really wanna knock that one out in the next month or so."

Gilliam seems to be going through a real creative second-wind with the release of his upcoming film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and now this.

And we can only assume Depp will return for Quixote as well. I mean he's said quiet a few times he would were it ever to resurface.

Reshoots Confirmed on 'Wolverine'

The good folks over at Collider have received word from sources that director Gavin Hood, Hugh Jackman & Co. are currently underway on extensive reshoots for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Of course, the fact that this is happening mere months before its May 1 release doesn't bode well in the "quality department!"

Granted, the X-Men prequel's quality has been in question for quiet some time - what with reports of Hood having issues with the studio for not letting him make his film, producer Richard Donner being brought on set during production, negative script-reports, and well...that awful looking trailer from last month.

Then again, this is coming from the same studio that rushed a third X-Men film into production as a "Screw you!" to Bryan Singer for jumping ship to make Superman Returns and who were ready and willing to delay (if not possibly out-right kill) Watchmen!

Personally, I think Wolverine will either under-perform (compared to the $234 million box-office of X-Men: The Last Stand) or possibly even bomb.

Keanu Reeves Lined Up for 'Cowboy Bebop'

Don't you just love it when the film-news sites break a story and then it takes months for the "official" trades to catch up?

Case in point: Alex Billington from First Showing ran with some info he got from an insider that Keanu Reeves was attached to star in a live-action film version of the Cowboy Bebop anime series.

So when we heard nothing from 20th Century Fox (the studio behind the film) or Reeves' reps in regards to said rumor, most of us assumed the story was crap.

Well, it wasn't. The folks over at Variety have officially confirmed that indeed The Matrix star (who just recently sleep-walked his way through The Day The Earth Stood Still remake) will headline as the space-traveling bounty hunter Spiegel.

Now personally, I don't give a damn about Cowboy Bebop - just never into the whole anime scene, to be honest.

Let's just hope this doesn't turn out like the upcoming Dragonball Evolution - which not coincidentally was also made by 20th Century Fox.

Sweet Jesus, does that look God-awful!

Is Samuel L. Jackson Not Nicky Fury Anymore?

For those of you hoping to see Samuel L. Jackson put on the eye-patch again as Nick Fury in Iron Man 2, The Avengers or any of the other properties Marvel Films is currently developing, brace yourselves.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Jackson revealed that talks between him and the studio have ceased:

"There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don't know. Maybe I won't be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], 'We're not making that deal.'"

First, Terrence Howard is shown the door, and now possibly Jackson?!?

An Update on 'Mars' from Andrew Stanton

Director Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) had a chat with the good folks at Sci Fi Wire where he revealed that things are coming along with John Carter of Mars, the long in the development big-screen adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels:

"[I'm] deep into it. I'm on my next draft of it. We're in preproduction art-wise, and we're starting to talk to actors. So it's full bore.

The Finding Nemo helmer also confirmed that the film would be live-action:

"Yeah, I think that's the only way. I mean, there are so many creatures and characters that half of it's going to be CG whether you want it to be [or not], just to realize some of these images that are in the book. But it will feel real. The whole thing will feel very, very believable."

Considering this is the same filmmaker who got audiences emotionally attached to a little trash-compressing robot this past summer (which was the best film of 2008, for my money), I'm willing to give Stanton and his team the benefit of the doubt.

Although I'm still damn curious as to how this thing is going to look!

Terminator: Salvation Updates

Say what you will about McG, but the man knows how to sell himself and his projects.

I mean, sure James Cameron really didn't give his blessing for the upcoming Terminator: Salvation nor did he personally recommend his Avatar lead Sam Worthington to play the character of Marcus Wright (aka the new Terminator!)

But still, it worked - i.e. we're talking about it.

And said talks continued last night as the We Are Marshall director presented new footage from his Terminator sequel (due in theatres May 22) in a special "Road Show" event.

Among the tidbits revealed include the possibility of Linda Hamilton (aka Sarah Connor from the first two James Cameron-helmed Terminator films) doing a voice-over narration to open the new installment.

Also, McG revealed that he and Salvation writer Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight) have already begun working out the story for two additional sequels - the fifth installment being currently scheduled for a Summer 2011 release (which may or may not be helmed by McG depending on his commitment to Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo).

When pressed for further details, McG revealed that "time travel has yet to be explored" and will be a major theme in Terminator 5.

Will Harvey Dent & Joker Return for Batman III?

Another day, and another set of Batman III rumors for us to dissect.

Last week, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight producer Chuck Roven spoke to the MTV Movies Blog at the People's Choice Awards.

When asked about the identity of the villain(s) for the eventual Batman III, Roven explained:

“We have to separate the actors from the role. On a personal level, Heath was a friend of mine. We had worked together before 'The Dark Knight,' but I still think that 'The Dark Knight' is its own thing, and we have to seperate them."

Do anyone really think Christopher Nolan & Co. are going to re-cast the Joker so soon after the iconic performance from the late Heath Ledger - especially when you consider a decision like that could possibly hurt his chances of winning the "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar he will, no doubt, be nominated for next week? (Note: It doesn't feel like it, but it's been about a year since Ledger's passing! Weird.)

Oh, but the rumors don't stop there, boys and girls. The Dark Knight co-star Aaron Eckhart has something to say too.

At last night's Golden Globes ceremony, the Thank You For Smoking star was corned by MTV Movies Blog (Damn, those guys sure can get around) and asked about the possbily of his Harvey "Two Face" Dent returning:

"I think Harvey - if he's not dead - is in a serious coma, and I'm not sure he's coming out. They might pull the plug on him.

Personally, I wouldn't put too much thought into those remarks. More likely than none, he was simply playing around with the interviewer. At least, that's how I read into it.

Eckhart and Nolan have both said Dent is flat out dead. Hell, it's even stated in the screenplay of The Dark Knight!

To be fair, these rumors are certainly worth-mentioning. But at the end of the day, it sounds like B.S. in order to give Batman III even more attention than it already has...

Eva Longoria Shoots Down Avengers Rumors

If you'll remember a few months back, Eva Longoria was seen at the offices of Marvel Studios with a handful of comic-books including the Avengers.

And thus began the rumors that the Deseperate Housewives star was in the running to play super-heroine the Wasp, one of the original members of the team which will include Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man and whomever is cast as Captain America and Thor for their stand-alone films.

Since then, we haven't heard a peep from Longoria's camp or Marvel...until now.

While attending last night's Golden Globe ceremony, Longoria spoke with E! Online's Ryan Seacrest who quickly asked the actress about the Avengers.

Longoria said any and all rumors regarding her participation in the film (due out July 2011) are "not true!"

So I guess she was carrying around those comics because she's a fan(?!?)

What, no love for DC Comics?