A new image of Robert Downey Jr. in the upcoming “Iron Man 2” has been unveiled. Nothing much to see, might as well as be a paparazzi shot of the actor at some event but the image is from the sequence at the Monaco Grand Prix which features an angry Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in the trailer.
Speaking of “Iron Man” related news. Samuel L. Jackson says his casting as Nick Fury in Kenneth Branagh’s “Thor” was as much news to him as it was for everyone else. “I was reading the trades last week and I saw the cast list. My name was in it, so maybe I am doing something that I don’t know about and I’ll hear about it soon.”
Dial-an-action-star Sam Worthington is rumored to be set to lead fellow Australian Alex Proyas’ “Dracula: Year Zero.” The project is said to be one of Universal’s big 2011 films with a reported $100 million plus budget and will be period retelling of the Dracula story. Sam Worthington is also rumored to be the lead in going to the grocery store for Bounty towels this afternoon, don’t fret or put too much stock into it. His name is dropped for everything.
Here’s a photo of Megan Fox classing it up in Mitch Glazer’s upcoming film “Passion Play” where she’ll play a winged circus freak. We don’t see wings in the image though, nor clothes for that matter. The film co-stars Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray.
Warner Brothers are looking at reviving the “Mortal Kombat” franchise recruiting Black List scribe Oren Uziel. Yawn.
Can South African director Gavin Hood survive the diastrous career blemish that was “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”? Absolutely, he can. It might have been a critical bomb, but at the box-office it raked in a handsome $373 million worldwide and judging by the picture itself the special effects only came in at a bargain-basement price. So now he’s evidently eyeing an Alaskan adventure pic, based on the book, “The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic.” Best of luck with that. Maybe he can remind us why his 2006 film, “Tsotsi,” won an Oscar for Best foreign-language film in 2006.
Before he runs off to reboot “Spider-Man” director Marc Webb has been roped into directing the pilot episode of the Fox TV series, “Midland.” Speaking of movie people and TV, Forest Whitaker is in final negotiations to star in a “Criminal Minds” spinoff for CBS. The guy won an Academy Award for Best Actor for crying out loud, what is wrong with this picture??
