Sheriff of Nottingham Cast in 'Robin Hood'

After a lot of speculation (okay, maybe some speculation), it has been revealed that the Sheriff of Nottingham in Russell Crowe's "Robin Hood" movie will be played by ... Matthew Macfadyen.

Macfadyen's agent, Christian Hodell, confirmed the news to Macfadyen's fan web site. According to the site, Macfadyen is slated to be on the set in May and June.

The 34-year-old actor has been working since 1998, but has yet to appear in a single thing that I have actually watched. Maybe you will have better luck -- here's his acting resume.

Either way, consider me underwhelmed.

At one point, the role was set to be played by Russell Crowe, who would have played both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. I was never that crazy about the dual performances, but I kind of figured the role would go to someone with better crendentials.

At any rate, Macfadyen will have his hands full following Alan Rickman's highly-praised (and BAFTA-winning) turn as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Kevin Costner's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." Luckily for Crowe, however, the bar for portraying Robin Hood was set somewhat lower by Costner in that movie. 

"Robin Hood" is scheduled to be released May 14, 2010.

Some previous stories on the movie:

First image of Russell Crowe as Robin Hood!

Nottingham now called Robin Hood

Russell Set To Direct Wahlberg, Bale In 'The Fighter'

"The Fighter," a movie about boxer "Irish" Mickey Ward, a former world lightweight champion, and Dicky Edlund, Ward's half-brother and a boxer of somewhat lesser stature, has gone through several phases of casting and several directors.

The one constant in the casting process has been Mark Wahlberg as Ward. Other actors, such as Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, have been eyed for Edlund, but the role has gone to Christian Bale, who may even be more bankable than Pitt or Damon at this point.

Directing the movie will be David O. Russell ("Three Kings").

Not Surprisingly, 'Terminator' Series Likely To Extend Past Next Movie

With the release of "Terminator: Salvation" little more than a month away, two new posters have been released and director McG revealed he already has planned two more sequels.

The two new posters for the movie (which will be released May 21 in the U.S., May 22 in Canada and June 3 in the U.K.) are shown at right.

As for the sequels, McG said he would like to make two more -- provided audiences want to see them.

"I would never presume there would be another picture -- that is up to the audience," McG told MTV Movies. "But if the audience jumps up and likes it and wants another one, Christian [Bale] and I have been talking about it and we’ll see what happens."

McG said "Terminator: Salvation" sets the table for more movies.

"There’s an arc of story [in the new sequels]. This arc will be left open with the ending of Salvation, which will point to a Terminator 5 film. The ending is indeed elliptical and it challenges the audience," he said. "It’s not a happy little bow of an ending at all. The ending is tough and requires reflection, and in some degrees it bifurcates the audience. You walk back to the car and one person thinks it means this, and the other person thinks it means that."

In addition to Bale, "Terminator: Salvation" also stars Helena Bonham Carter and Bryce Dallas Howard. And, in an odd twist, the movie features Sam Worthington, Common and Anton Yelchin, three actors who have been rumored to play Green Lantern on screen.

And finally, what would a Terminator movie be without Arnold Schwarzenegger? Apparently, audiences want have to find out just yet as Schwarzenegger is set to make a cameo appearance in the movie.

However, it's a tightly-kept secret as to what that cameo will entail. So secret, in fact, that Schwarzenegger's co-star Terry Crews has no idea what it is.

“I don’t know; I haven’t seen it. They only gave out pages of the script,” said Crews. “It was crazy. It was very, very secretive."

'Date Night' Should Be Set For Big Pay Day at Box Office

Tina Fey and Steve CarellYou know those movies that sound like a hit the moment you hear about them? I think you can safely file "Date Night" under that category.

The movie is about a couple on a date night from Hell and stars Tina Fey and Steve Carell as the couple (and are you as surprised as I am that it doesn't star Ben Stiller?).

And aside from that superstar pairing, the movie will feature Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Leighton Meester, Kristen Wiig and Common in supporting roles.

According to Variety, Wahlberg will play a "successful and crazily buff securities expert who flirts with Fey's character." Franco will play "a not-too-bright conman and petty criminal." Meester wil be the couple's babysitter, Common will play a villain and Wiig will portray Fey's best friend.

Directed by Shawn Levy ("Night at the Museum"), "Date Night" is slated to be released in 2010.

Will Woody Harrelson, Jack Black Drink the Kool Aid?

Ken Kesey, left, and Woody Harrelson in 2001.It's somewhat surprising that a movie has never been made of the book "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." However, Gus Van Sant plans to rectify that with a new feature film being planned for release in 2010.

Van Sant will be working off a script from one of the hottest writers of the moment -- Dustin Lance Black, who just won an Academy Award for his "Milk" script.

"The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," written by Tom Wolfe in 1968, tells the story of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters on a cross country drive in a DayGlo-painted school bus, as they reach "revelations" by using LSD and other psychedelic drugs. The book also chronicles early performances by The Grateful Dead and Kesey's exile to Mexico.

According to an interview with Rolling Stone, Van Sant (who was friends with Kesey in the 1970s) had been eyeing Heath Ledger for the lead role. Due to Ledger's untimely passing, Van Sant has shifted his focus to Woody Harrelson for the role.

Van Sant also envisions a role for Jack Black in the movie. Black likely would play Owsley "Bear" Stanley -- AKA "The Mad Chemist," an infamous LSD impresario and early sound engineer for the Grateful Dead.

'Riverworld,' 'Phantom' Movies May Lead To TV Series

"The Cavern of Souls" from Sci Fi Channel's upcoming movie "Riverworld"The Sci-Fi Channel will air a pair of four-hour movies next year with an eye toward making them into series.

The first movie is "Riverworld," the tale of a war correspondent and his fiancee who are killed, but awaken in a mysterious world populated by everyone who has lived on Earth.

Tahmoh Penikett, best known for "Battlestar Galactica" will play the war correspondent, named Matt Ellman. The fiancee, Jessie, will be Laura Vandervoort, who previously played Supergirl on "Smallville."

Jessie and Matt will be separated in the new world. Determined to locate Jessie, Matt joins forces with a 13th-century female samurai warrior named Tomoe (Jeananne Goossen) and American novelist Sam "Mark Twain" Clemens (Mark Deklin).

Together, they will sail upriver seeking its source and attempting to discover where they are and who put them there.

Also starring in "Riverworld" will be Alan Cumming ("X2: X-Men United").

"Riverworld" is based in Philip Jose Farmer's series of books from the 1970s and '80s.

Concept art for "Phantom," from scifiwire.com.The second movie is "Phantom," based on the popular comics character. The Phantom relies on his wits, physical strength and skill with weapons, not on superhuman powers.

Set in the present, the movie will star Ryan Carnes in the lead role: The Phantom/Chris Walker.

Carnes is known primarily for guest-starring roles on "Doctor Who" and "Desperate Housewives."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Isabella Rossellini will guest star as the movie's villain, Lithia.

Additional "Phantom" cast members include Cameron Goodman ("American High School") and Sandrine Holt ("24"). Goodman will play Walker's love interest, Renny, and Holt will star as the Phantom's trusted advisor, Guran.

Screenwriter Daniel Knauf ("Carnivàle") and his son, Charles Knauf, completed the script last July. Paolo Barzman ("The Last Templar") is directing.

Production is under way on both films, which are being produced by RHI Entertainment.

New Reason To Be Optimistic About 'Public Enemies'

To paraphrase legendary* movie producer Bob Ryan, "What if I told you I had a new movie starring both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale? Is that something you might be interested in?"

To be honest, "Public Enemies" doesn't even have to be all that great and it will still be a huge hit. And from the first trailer, it kind of looked like Depp and Bale were going to have to bring people to the theater primarily on name recognition (and they certainly are capable of doing that -- in the right roles).

Fortunately, however, the newly-released second trailer shows a lot more promise that the first one did:

The first trailer wasn't bad, but it was kind of been-there-seen-that. For my money, the new one shows promise of something more interesting.

Directed by Michael Mann, "Public Enemies" will take over theaters on July 1.

* but fictional

'Green Lantern: First Flight' Has New Trailer, Release Date

As news continues to trickle in about next year's "Green Lantern" movie, the animated movie is generating some news of its own -- and it's all good news.

First up is a change in the release date. Originally scheduled to come out on July 28 of this year, "Green Lantern: First Flight" will hit stores a week earlier. The PG-13 rated movie will be released on blu-ray and DVD on July 21.

The other good news is that a trailer has arrived:

"Green Lantern: First Flight" features the vocal talents of Christopher Meloni, Michael Madsen and Victor Garber.

Hulu Offers More than Just TV Shows

Like not very many people, I'm a big Chris Eigeman fan.

The actor, who has starred in the movies of Walt Sillman and Noah Baumbach, has always had a dry, distinct style. If you don't know the name, you may know his work. Eigeman appeared in "Metropolitan," "Barcelona," "Kicking and Screaming," "Mr. Jealousy," "The Last Days of Disco" and the TV show "It's Like, You Know ..."

Anyway, I make it a point to see his new movies as they come out, but a movie of his that came out in 2006 has been unavailable to me. "The Treatment" played the festival circuit, where it was well received, but it never hit theaters and has been difficult to find on DVD.

Plainly stated, the movie -- despite a top-notch cast that also includes Ian Holm, Famke Janssen and Blair Brown -- has remained elusive to me.

Until now.

In a move that makes me pretty happy, "The Treatment" is one of several movies that have been made available to view for free at Hulu.com. The site, which primarily is known for making TV shows available for viewership, has been adding movies.

A nice feature of the site is that I can embed the movie (such as is done with YouTube videos) and make it available to you here:

It's going to be fun to see how the internet affects movie in the future. How long will it be until movies are released to the internet on the same day they come out in theaters? Or will movies bypass theaters and be released straight to your computer? The answers may come sooner than we realize.

Heck, in some cases (such as "X-Men Secret Origins: Wolverine") the movies are "premiering" on the internet a month before they hit theaters. In the future, that may be more than just a big mistake -- it may be a business model.

Kumar Goes to The White House

No, this isn't a sequel to the "Harold and Kumar" movies. In fact, the future of that series is in serious jeopardy as actor Kal Penn (who plays Kumar) has left acting for a position on President Barack Obama's staff.

The actor, who also recently starred on the TV show "House," will be part of the White House Office of Public Liaison, where he will deal primarily with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and the arts community.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Penn said he hasn't officially retired from acting altogether.
"Not necessarily," he said. "Who's to say where any path leads? I still have a passion for it. But for the time being, I won't be acting."

The April 2 episode of "House" was the last for Penn (who also had featured roles in "Superman Returns" and the "Van Wilder" movies).

Following his departure from the show, Fox set up a web site to honor his character. If you haven't seen the last episode of "House" yet, you don't want to go there.