Twilight’s Ashley Greene proposed for Teen Titans role

Ashley Greene and Starfire

By David Bentley – CoventryTelegraph.net

Among the many proposed comic book adaptations in the holding pen at Warner Bros is the junior superhero team Teen Titans.

The line-up has until recently included Starfire, a princess from the planet Tamaran who can harness ultraviolet radiation and use it to fly and to create destructive bolts of energy. She also has superhuman strength and can assimilate other languages through physical contact.

On some forums, fans have put forward the name of Twilight actress Ashley Greene – who plays Alice Cullen in the vampire film franchise – as one possibility to play the character.

Greene isn’t a bad choice for the role. The 22-year-old’s Twilight credentials would also boost the profile of any Teen Titans movie.

Megan Fox has also been suggested for Starfire – although she seems to be a fan candidate for every available female comic book role – along with Jenna Dewan.

But it doesn’t look like the Teen Titans film will get made anytime soon. A live-action movie adaptation was announced back in May 2007, with Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster producing and Mark Verheiden writing the script. However, nothing has been heard about the project for a long time.

The Teen Titans comic first appeared in 1964 as a junior Justice League, comprising Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Wonder Girl and Speedy, the respective sidekicks of Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow.

In the 80s, the team was relaunched with the characters as college-age adults and new members including Cyborg, Starfire and Raven, while Robin matured into Nightwing.

Most recently, the comic was adapted into an animated TV series that ran from 2003-2006.

Verheiden had said of the proposed film: “One thing I can tell you is that there will be a Nightwing story and Robin is in it, too”, implying that Robin’s character arc would see him take on the Nightwing persona.

Heroes actor Milo Ventimiglia has said he would love to play Nightwing, as I reported last year.

A new comic book line-up for the Teen Titans is soon to be unveiled following the departure of Starfire, Cyborg and Wonder Girl.

The new team will be led by antihero Deathstroke, while former members Beast Boy and Raven are set to return.

Robin/Nightwing is no longer with the group, having now become the new Batman after the apparent death of Bruce Wayne.

We can only hope that Warner Bros’ new DC Entertainment division, tasked with bringing more DC Comics’ heroes to the screen, gives us some official news on the Teen Titans movie soon.

‘Alien Trespass’ takes its inspiration from 50s scifi films

Jenni Baird as Tammy in ALIEN TRESPASS

Rick Bentley – McClatchy Newspapers

When actress Jenni Baird was cast in “Alien Trespass,” the campy science-fiction film released on DVD Tuesday, she was given homework.

Director R.W. Goodwin told her to go home and watch the original versions of “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” ”War of the Worlds” and “It Came from Outer Space.” He wanted Baird to get familiar with the movies that were the inspiration for his salute to the 1950s creature features.

Goodwin’s film looks likeit was shot in the ’50s, when movie monsters were often made of scraps of material and had exposed zippers. The task of the beautiful woman — fellow scientist, secretary, spouse — was to scream bloody murder.

Baird’s character is different. She plays a waitress who won’t back down to any little green men in flying saucers.

“I was told that my character does not exist in the original form,” said Baird during a break from meeting with WonderCon conventioneers earlier this year. She’s joined fellow actors Eric McCormack and Dan Lauria, plus Goodwin, to drum up interest in the movie at the comic book/movie/television event.

Goodwin, who grew up in Los Angeles, has seen countless old monster movies. He would take a bus to Inglewood, where a theater played double bills of ’50s science-fiction movies.

“It was important that we make an original movie and not do a remake. The story idea is an amalgam of a bunch of the real classic ’50s movies. Combine that with going back and looking at the films and realizing how funny they are today, I figured if we stuck to our guns and made an authentic ’50s movie, it could be charming and scary and fun,” Goodwin says.

McCormack’s biggest adjustment was how he delivered dialogue. These days, it’s not unusual for actors to pause, stutter or misspeak. Back in the ’50s, everyone delivered flawless lines of dialogue.

“It is hard to get in that frame of mind that it is not a good take until you have said everything just perfectly and not sound human at all,” McCormack says. “I think there are times in this movie where the alien sounds more human than the actual humans.”

McCormack worked on “Alien Trespass” just after working on the updated version of “The Andromeda Strain.” Before the films he spent eight years starring in the situation comedy “Will&Grace.”

As for his range of roles, McCormack says, “I have artistic A.D.D.”

Effects Crew for Alien Trespass:

Make Up Department
  Jill Bailey … makeup assistant
  Ian C. Ballard … key hair stylist
  Julia Bors … extras makeup artist
  Susan Boyd … hair stylist
  Rachel Griffin … special makeup effects artist
  Michael Nickiforek … creature fabricator
  Michael Nickiforek … creature sculptor
  Connie Parker … key makeup artist
  Jessica Rain … hair stylist

Special Effects Department
  Agnieszka Echallier … creature effects
  Joel Echallier … creature effects
  John W. Fisher … special effects assistant
  Chris Flemington … special effects assistant
  Rachel Griffin … creature creator
  Tony Lazarowich … special effects coordinator
  Robert Yeager … special effects best boy

Visual Effects Department
  Eric Chauvin … visual effects supervisor
  Andrea Chlebak … digital intermediate colorist
  Lars Simkins … digital compositor

Amazon Specials!

‘Fear Agent’ Creator Rick Remender Says Adaptation ‘Might Be A Giant, $100 Million Movie’

Caleb Goellner – MTV News

When last we checked, word was Universal had scooped up Rick Remender’s “Fear Agent” for a potential motion picture. However, the media onslaught of Comic-Con merited updates on the properties making the rounds in Hollywood — and this gritty space drama was certainly no exception.

“Well ['Fear Agent'] still moving forward,” Remender told MTV News, “The press release that went out was a leak, it wasn’t official and it was missing a lot of details obviously.”

“I met with a couple of the guys involved in San Diego this past weekend and had a really good chat about it,” he expalined. “It looks like the home is going to be Universal. I don’t want to say anything definitive about any of the details yet, but it sounded like ‘Fear Agent’ might be a giant, $100 million movie.”

Remender’s optimism doesn’t seem to be solely the product of a proud creator either, as the current “Punisher” writer pointed to the current comic book-friendly climate in Hollywood and an audience appreciation for science fiction.

“It’s hard to believe, but I think that the status of the comic book industry has definitely helped. I don’t think that movies like the new ‘Star Trek’ hurt either where people can see that sort of high-octane science fiction with velocity and a pair of balls in terms of fun, there’s a large audience for it and it’s not being met,” said Remender.

While Remender said it was too early to officially talk casting, the writer maintained his previously mentioned preference for Jon Hamm or Aaron Eckhart in the film’s starring role as Heath Huston.

“Put either of those guys in [the film] and give them a flask of whiskey and put some Hank Williams on and I think you’ve got a pretty cool [movie] that would film well, potentially creating a franchise with some blockbuster potential,” he said

Len Wiseman to develop ‘Shrapnel’

Len Wiseman

Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit – The Hollywood Reporter

Len Wiseman has signed to develop and direct a film adaptation of the graphic novel “Shrapnel” for Radical Pictures.
Wiseman said was browsing comic-book stores with his 10-year-old daughter, Lily, when he happened upon the comic the day it hit shelves. He quickly had his agent at ICM scout the rights.
The graphic novel, which Radical Publishing teased at last year’s Comic-Con, describes a sci-fi future where humans have colonized the solar system and formed a Solar Alliance to govern the planets. The story focuses on Venus, the last rebellious holdout, and a self-exiled former Marine who teaches the colonists how to fight back.
“I am really drawn to the reluctant-hero story,” said Wiseman, who noted that the last hero he directed — John McClane in “Live Free or Die Hard” — fit that archetypal mold.
Nick Sagan and Zombie Studios chief Mark Long created the property. Radical principal Barry Levine will produce with Wiseman and Mark Gordon.
Josh McLaughlin of the Gordon Co. brought the project in and will oversee “Shrapnel” for the company. Long and Radical’s Jesse Berger will exec produce.
Being developed as a live-action pic, a 3D approach is considered possible. A video game is planned with Zombie Studios.
ICM-repped Wiseman is attached to direct “Motorcade” at DreamWorks from a Billy Ray screenplay and also will helm DreamWorks’ adaptation of the comic book “Atlantis Rising,” penned by Joby Harold, for a summer 2011 release.
Wiseman also plans to direct the video game adaptation “Gears of War” for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. and is producing the original sci-fi action thriller “Nonstop” for DreamWorks.
Radical has several of its comic properties in development, including “Abattoir,” to be written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman; “Freedom Formula,” which Bryan Singer is producing for New Regency; and “Hercules: The Thracian Wars,” which Peter Berg is producing for Spyglass/Universal.

Kenneth Branagh’s casting for Thor

Brian Blessed

From SFX Magazine

 Recently Bleeding Cool posted a story about Brian Blessed being cast as Odin, the big chief Norse God and father of Thor, in Kenneth Branagh’s big screen adaptation of the Marvel Comics character. It seemed like wishful thinking at the times. After all, he’s perfect – loud, large and larger than life, with a CV of fantasy and SF behind him (Flash Gordon, Phantom Menace, Doctor Who to name but a few). He’s also been in a number of Branagh projects before (Hamlet, As You Like It).

However, another report on Comic Book Resources adds weight to the rumor. The site claims to have received “an email from Scott Knowles, who wrote, ‘Brian Blessed was a speaker recently at a business event in the UK I attended (The Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce Business Awards in Derby) and when asked of his future endeavors mentioned that he would be playing Odin in Marvel’s Thor movie directed by his pal, Kenny.

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