…After being turned down by virtually every comedy director in Hollywood (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration), Marvel Studios has finally secured a replacement for Edgar Wright on Ant-Man, with Peyton Reed (The Break-Up) signing on to direct the studio’s first Phase Three movie and Adam McKay (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) contributing to the script originally penned by Wright and Joe Cornish. In addition to the news, Marvel also dropped the first official synopsis ahead of filming next month: “Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, con-man Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world…”
…We’re still waiting to hear from Edgar Wright following his Ant-Man exit, but the British filmmaker’s good buddy Simon Pegg has shared his thoughts on Wright’s Marvel split, with the Cornetto trilogy star stating that: “I get why perhaps it’s happened. Maybe they want a particular thing in line with a particular other thing, but if you hire a director who has a particular vision, you’ve got to expect him or her to make a such and such film. An Edgar Wright film. That’s what that script was and it was interesting. The characters had a real journey. I can’t really say too much about it because obviously it’s not my thing, but it’s their loss…”
…With just under seven weeks to go before it hits cinemas, Marvel Studios has stepped up the promotion for Guardians of the Galaxy by releasing a series of character posters featuring Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) [see here, here and here], while we’ve also got a new TV spot for the cosmic superhero ensemble, as well as a video featurette…
…With Thanos confirmed for an appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy – where he’ll be voiced by Josh Brolin (Oldboy) – actor Damion Poitier (Dollhouse) has spoken about his experience portraying the Mad Titan during his mid-credits scene in The Avengers: “I found out when I was in the makeup chair what I was doing. They kept it super quiet because they didn’t wanna put any spoilers out. So they kept it super quiet what I was doing, and I didn’t found out until they were casting my face to do the sculpt. I thought I was gonna be the Super Skrull, because the whole rumor was that the Skrulls were going to be in Avengers… It was a pretty simple audition process. They just really wanted someone to stand up, turn around, and smile, which is what was necessary. It just so happens I know Joss Whedon and everyone, so things kind of [worked]… I’m in the makeup chair, and I knew a couple of the guys, but I didn’t know everybody, so I had to keep my cool. I was really excited, but then I was really horrified because I couldn’t tell anybody…”
…Sticking with the Avengers and a new batch of images have arrived online from the UK set of Avengers: Age of Ultron giving us a look at Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark), Chris Evans (Captain America) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor), while reports from the set indicate that we might see a couple of familiar faces from the MCU making surprise appearances in the eagerly-anticipated sequel. We’ll not spoil them here, but if you’re keen to know, then you can find out the details here (or just skip the text and go straight to the set photos…
…After the recent news that British actor Charlie Cox (Stardust) is set to play Daredevil in the first of Netflix’s Defenders miniseries, Marvel has now found its nemesis for the Man Without Fear, with Vincent D’Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket, Law & Order: Criminal Intent) signing on to portray Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin. With production on Daredevil set to get underway in NYC next month, expect plenty more casting news over the coming weeks…
…We’ve got a couple of Marvel Cinematic Universe-themed op-eds on Flickering Myth this week that you may be interested in checking out if you’ve not done so already – see Anghus Houvouras’ ‘Will Ant-Man End the Marvel Success Streak?’ here, and Gavin Logan’s ‘Doctor Strange: A New Direction For Marvel?’ here…
…After giving us a teaser trailer a couple of weeks ago, Disney has dropped a pair of new posters for its upcoming animated Marvel movie Big Hero 6 which we have for you here, as well as a short World Cup-themed promo that you can watch here…
…During a promotional interview for their latest film 22 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller expressed their interest in adding Marvel characters to the line-up of the animated sequel, although with Warner Bros. – parent company of DC Comics – producing the film, it does seem like a pipe dream at present: “It’s really hard to convince a company, especially business affairs, to do something, because it would be cool or fun. It takes a lot of effort,” said Lord. “We hope [to include them]. Hopefully it will be like another Who Framed Roger Rabbit? situation where, ‘Of course, we’d love to be a part of this,’ but who knows?” With The LEGO Movie 2 not due until 2017, there’s plenty of time to arrange a deal, although you’d have to imagine there’s more chance of Spider-Man and the X-Men joining The Avengers than there is Marvel and DC’s characters sharing the screen together…
…Having become the highest-grossing instalment in the X-Men franchise after just two weekends on release, the Bryan Singer-directed X-Men: Days of Future Past crossed the $600 million mark globally last weekend, and is currently sitting on a solid $624 million by close of play on Thursday. Meanwhile, Sony’s superhero sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has hit $700 million, and is closing in on Captain America: The Winter soldier’s $710 million haul, which would make it the highest-grossing movie of the year so far (although it remains the lowest earner of Sony’s Spider-Man series and still has some work to do to catch The Amazing Spider-Man’s $757.9 million)…
…And finally, Sony is looking to get in on the small screen superhero act, with Brian Michael Bendis announcing this week that an adaptation of his and Michael Avon Oeming’s comic book series Powers is heading to Playstation Network in December courtesy of Sony Pictures TV. Bendis will be joined on the creative team by novelist Charlie Huston and producer Remi Aubuchon (Falling Skies), and you can watch him announcing the series premiere here.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
