Tue, March 10, 2009 As things get under way for Iron Man 2, director Jon Favreau has released a picture of Tony Stark's house, which currently is under construction.
Favreau linked to the new picture through his Twitter account, adding the following description: "Matty and me in Casa de Stark, under construction."
Favreau, left, is shown with cinematographer Matthew Libatique.
Iron Man 2 is scheduled to be released May 7, 2010.
Tue, March 10, 2009 Coming up with new ways to market a movie can't be easy, but every once in a while, one comes along that grabs my attention.
Coming on the heels of the viral campaign for "The Dark Knight," the makers of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" have embarked of a "viral campaign" of a different sort.
In the movie, which is based on a comic book series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim (played by Michael Cera) must defeat the seven "evil ex-boyfriends" of delivery girl Ramona V. Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in order to date her. Among the actors portaying the exes are Brandon Routh, Chris Evans and Jason Schwartzman.
For the past several weeks, director Edgar Wright has released a photo every day through his MySpace page of something to do with the movie. Some of the shots are as mundane as photos from the set or the title page of the script, but the best ones have been the cast shots.
Wright has taken pictures of the cast members, typically one at a time, holding a picture of the character they are playing.
The idea of releasing a photo a day is ingenious in its simplicity. Every day, Wright posts a pic on MySpace. Then, that pic is posted on message boards throughout the world. Which equals a ton of free publicity. The possible downside is that audiences could be tired of the very idea of the movie before it even hits the theater (which will be sometime in 2010). But, at least for now, it's a fun idea.
In addition to actors I already have listed, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" also will feature Mae Whitman ("Arrested Development"), Kieran Culkin ("Father of the Bride") and Anna Kendrick ("Twilight").
For those interested, here is a link to all of the photos released so far from the movie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/edgarwright/sets/72157612796619700.
The newest picture to be released from "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" shows: Brandon Routh as Todd Ingram, a rock star with vegan psychic powers, at left; Brie Larson as Envy Adams, who fronts the band The Clash at Demonhead, at right; and an unnamed actress as drummer Lynette Guycott.
Tue, March 10, 2009 
Could Alexander Skarsgård be in line to wield Mjöllnir for Marvel Studios?
For my money, Thor might just be the most difficult out of all of the superheroes to cast.
The match of massive brawn with credible acting chops would seem to be an extremely difficult combination to locate in an actor.
However, "Thor" director Kenneth Branaugh may have found just such a candidate.
Latino Review ran the following letter from one of its readers:
Hey Mayimbe,
Long time reader, finally with something juicy. I had a first hand eyeball witness of Kenneth Branagh eating dinner at Blairs today accompanied by a young Blonde actor who i recognized from HBO's awesome miniseries Generation Kill that was on a year or so ago. I had no idea what his name was but I got home today and Googled him, his name is Alexander Skarsgård. I have no idea if he actually is Thor or not, maybe he's being considered, maybe he and Kenneth are just friends. However, it seems likely he is being considered since he's a young Blonde actor and seems to fit the description of the character. Two other men were with them but I didn't recognize either of them. I know it's speculative at best, even so I thought you'd wanna know.
Latino Review has confirmed the meeting took place.
I have heard Alexander Skarsgård's name brought up in conjunction with the role before, and while this lunch doesn't exactly confirm he will be hired, Skarsgård as Thor makes a lot of sense.
The actor is 32 years old, 6-foot-4 and simply looks the part. Skarsgård, whose father is the outstanding actor Stellan Skarsgård, currently appears on the HBO vampire show "True Blood."
Here is Alexander Skarsgård in a scene from "True Blood":
"Thor" is scheduled to be released July 16, 2010.
Sean Gerski
IESB is reporting that Josh Hartnett is "really interested" in playing Loki, Thor's brother and the villain of the movie.
IESB says the 6-foot-3 Hartnett is "on a very short list for the role."
Additionally, IESB is saying it also has heard Branagh wants Alexander Skarsgård for Thor, but that other actors, including Channing Tatum, may be in the mix.
Mon, March 9, 2009 *** SPOILER ALERT ***
As has been widely reported, "Smallville" recently was renewed for a ninth season. Another season had been in doubt until Tom Welling put pen to paper and signed on to play Clark Kent for at least one more season.
Or at least that's what everyone has assumed. No official announcement has been made about Welling signing a new deal, but it is hard to fathom "Smallville" without him. A spinoff would be possible, but another season of "Smallville" would be an awfully tough sell without the man in red and blue.
However, assuming Welling does return, some of his castmates might not. According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, two of the show's "pivotal characters" will not be around for the show's ninth season.
Ausiello wrote, "Multiple sources confirm to me exclusively that two pivotal characters will bite the dust in this May's season finale. And in a bit of a departure for Smallville, both deaths will stick." Ausiello goes on to say his insider insists the characters "will die and they will stay dead. This is the real deal."
Of course, the show's rabid fan base immediately began to debate which characters were on the chopping block.
Further fueling the fire, Ausiello wrote that "one character qualifies as a Smallville vet ... the other one, not so much."
Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), John Jones (Martian Manhunter), Lana Lang, Lex Luthor and Martha Kent would seem to qualify as "vets."
Tess Mercer and Davis Bloome (Doomsday) would fall into the "not so much" category.
And although Smallville rarely shies away from shaking up the status quo of the Superman mythos, it still would be a major shock to see Clark, Lois, Jimmy, Oliver, Lex or John Jones killed off. Lana already has been dispatched from the program and Ma Kent has been a no-show for a while. That leaves Chloe (played by Alison Mack) as the most likely character to take a dirt nap at the season's end.
As for Tess and Davis, either is possible. However, fans of the show have been quick to point out that Davis Bloome (played by Sam Witwer) could die, while Doomsday could live.
Fueling speculation that Chloe and Davis are not long for the world of "Smallville" is the fact that Ausiello previously posted the following: "The Legion will return in the May finale -- in some form. Also, I'm told this season's final two episodes will focus on a manhunt for Chloe and Doomsday."
You can bet Chloe's fans will be watching that "manhunt" from the edge of their seats.
Sean Gerski
Sun, March 8, 2009 The long-rumored addition of Dakota Fanning to "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" is now official.
People Magazine has confirmed Fanning's involvement in the sequel to "Twilight" through a representative from Summit Entertainment.
Filming for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" is set to begin later this month. The movie, which will be directed by Chris Weitz (About a Boy), is slated to be released Nov. 20, 2009.
According to a Summit Entertainment release: "In 'New Moon,' Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), but her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black. Suddenly she finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, and finds her loyalties tested."
Fanning, 15, will play Jane, "a sinister vampire with an angelic exterior who works for the Volturi."
As of March 1, "Twilight" has earned $190,109,313 in domestic box office since its Nov. 17, 2008, opening.
The films are based on the "Twilight" series of books by Stephenie Meyer. After "New Moon," there are two books remaining in the series, with plans to make each of the four books into a movie. In addition to her appearance in "New Moon," the character Jane appears in future installments of the saga.
In the People Magazine piece, actress Nikki Reed said there are plans to make "The Twilight Saga" films consecutively.
"We did just get a script," said Reed, who is set to play Rosalie Hale. "We're shooting the rest of the films back to back."
"Twilight" will be released on DVD and blu-ray on March 21.
Sat, March 7, 2009 The new Joshua Jackson movie "One Week" is getting some glowing reviews from a pretty strange source.
According to the movie's new print ad in Toronto's Eye Weekly, "reviewers" have praised the movie with exclamatory statements such as: "This is a fabulous movie!"; "Would highly recommend it to anyone!"; and "Fantastic! Joshua is an amazing actor!"
Sounds great, right? Well, OK, so the quotes didn't come from any of the industry's top movie critics ... or even any of the minor ones ... or anyone who actually reviews movies for a living. In fact, the quotes came from people who are signed into YouTube -- and those people have yet to see the movie.
In what has to be the lowest point ever for movie advertising, a new movie is being celebrated by using 18 quotes from YouTube users who have only viewed the trailer. That might explain why the quote in the biggest letters exclaims, "This movie looks amazing! Cannot wait to see it!!"
Sadder still is the fact that the producers couldn't even come up with enough quotes praising the trailer to fill the ad, so they padded the page with quotes such as, "Canadian actors, Canadian soundtrack, Canadian road trip -- finally!" by a YouTube user named, and I am not kidding, "FAKENPHONY."
If you somehow choose to take the advice of these YouTube users and see this movie, maybe you can can catch a ride with "AIDANCHICK," who is quoted in the ad as saying, "Hope the weather is nice so I can ride my Norton to the theatre!"
