Rumor has it a familiar face will show up in Batman v. Superman as a part of Bruce Wayne’s past. Plus another Wonder Woman rumor. We know a few details about Steven Spielberg’s The BFG and how it differs from the Roald Dahl book. Steven Moffat quashes rumors about a Doctor Who villain’s return. Spoilers now!
Top image: Batman v. Superman
Ant-Man
Even though we’ve heard reports that Janet van Dyne is going to be dead at the start of the film, an interview with director Peyton Reed revealed that another female superhero will be in the film: Cassie Lang, also known as Stature or Giant-Girl. Not that she’s likely to be at the hero point in the actual film. Said Reed to Screen Rant:
Thematic arc really is a sort of passing-of-the-torch movie… Rudd’s character is an ex-con, a thief. It’s also got the structure of a heist movie. And there’s also a real personal dynamic to the movie, too. In the comics, Scott Lang has a daughter, and that’s part of the movie, too.
That certainly sounds like the film will be echoing the comic’s story of Scott Lang, whose crime spree is inspired by his daughter’s sickness and is what brings him into contact with Hank Pym. Fingers crossed that maybe Cassie is part of a long-term Marvel plan. Or that they invent one. [Screen Rant via The Mary Sue]
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
New casting rumor! Oh god, how can this film still have all these casting rumors? Anyway, the latest is that Jeffrey Dean Morgan has shown up in a large canvas painting, which may be Thomas Wayne. So, does that mean we’re going to get Thomas Wayne and a bunch of flashbacks of Bruce Wayne’s background? Or is the painting just an Easter egg from Zack Snyder, who worked with Morgan on Watchmen? Who knows! [Comic Book.com]
Speculation also has Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman working at LexCorp in some capacity, possibly as a double agent or undercover in some other way. This could bring her into contact with Lois Lane, who’s rumored to be investigating LexCorp in the film. [Movie Pilot]
Here are a bunch of videos showing the filming of a car chase. [Coming Soon]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axTbo_yFDRs
Marvel
Josh Brolin joins the ranks of Marvel actors who can only give vague comments about his next appearance, but here’s what he will say:
The actor said he doesn’t have the entire picture of Thanos’ arc, but he does have “an idea.”
Adding, “I know what one appearance is going to be for sure. There’s one or two that I don’t know.”
He also talked a bit about how he got involved:
First and foremost, I have a really good friend who I’ve known for years who’s the co-president of Marvel, Louis D’Esposito. I knew Louis as a first AD, and he’s the one who initially called me, and then [producer] Jeremy Latcham. Then I talked to Kevin Feige, ultimately. But there’s something about them that’s so insular and so geeky and so real. I loved it — because I’ve turned down a lot of those types of movies. Not Marvel, but I’ve turned down a lot of those types of movies. When they started telling me the story about them getting together in Palm Springs, nine of them flipping burgers and talking about what Thanos was going to do and going, ‘What do you think?’ like, ‘Captain America’s going to show up here!’ Then, ‘Oh my God, what if the Hulk came in at that point?’ and all that — I love that sh**. I love it, because those guys are absolutely saturated with that world, and they love story. Another thing that I really loved is, they said that they didn’t use directors that did music videos and all that in the past. They would always look for people who had done stories. If you look at James Gunn’s oeuvre, he’s done even web series, but they’re all stories.
[IGN]
The Foundation
Fox has acquired the film rights to the comic book series The Foundation by Kody Chamberlain, which chronicles the attempts to keep Nostradamus’ unknown prophecies from coming true. Fox has Evan Daugherty on board to write the adaptation. Daugherty’s credits include co-writing this month’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Divergent. [Deadline]
The Last of Us
It’s pretty clear that the film adaptation of the video game will have to cut a lot of stuff from the game, and Neil Druckmann talked about some of the differences:
“I’m in the middle of it now, and it’s been super difficult because there’s so much that happens in The Last of Us – even just in the cinematics – that can’t fit in a film, let alone all the gameplay in-between and dialogue.”
Druckmann went on to comment that the film, which is being created in collaboration with Spider-Man and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi, will retain the core relationship between Joel and Ellie from the game, but may differ significantly in other regards.
“It almost has this novel quality as far as how much content there is,” he explained. “And a film works really well when it’s laser-focused, so the first part of it was like: well, what is this story really about? It’s clearly about Joel and Ellie. What are the most important beats that we can’t lose? Start with those, and cut everything else out.
“It’s been really difficult to cut certain things out, but what I’m starting to get this is really focused narrative that’s about these two characters. Some parts will be similar to the game and some parts will be quite different, but it’s kind of interesting in helping me understand this other medium and its strengths compared to video games.”
[MCV via Coming Soon]
The BFG
Steven Spielberg’s live-action adaptation has a few changes from the book: Sophie is now in a boarding school, not an orphanage, and has a new best friend for Sophie. Also added are a pair of scientist characters who disagree about whether giants are real. Staying in the movie, though, is the fact that the Queen of England appears. [Film Divider]
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Here’s a clip of Marv. [IGN]
The Flash
Welcome Clancy Brown (Sleepy Hollow) to The Flash in the recurring role of General Wade Eiling. He’ll first show up in episode five. Eiling’s going to be pursuing the previously-announced Kelly Frye as Plastique, using a black ops team that wants to use her as a “human weapon.” Eiling will be “fanatically intent on protecting American interests around the world and may have ties to a central Flash character.” [The Hollywood Reporter]
I think we all suspected that we’d see Robert Knepper as William Tockman/The Clock King, but we now know he’s not coming back to Starling. Instead, he’ll appear in episode 7 of The Flash. [TV Line]
Doctor Who
The Sun is reporting that Peter Capaldi, contrary to previous rumors that his season is being planned as a one-off, has already signed on for another year. They quote an anonymous source saying:
“Peter is the perfect Doctor. He’s a life-long fan of the show and a great actor.
“He wanted to do another series and the BBC wanted him back. Even before the premiere, no one at the BBC was in any doubt that Peter was going to be brilliantly received.
“It’s hoped that he’ll play the role for years.”
[The Sun via Doctor Who TV]
Here’s the official description of the premiere, “Deep Breath”:
When the Doctor arrives in Victorian London, he finds a dinosaur rampant in the Thames and a spate of deadly spontaneous combustions.
Who is the new Doctor and will Clara’s friendship survive as they embark on a terrifying mission into the heart of an alien conspiracy? The Doctor has changed. It’s time you knew him.
[BBC]
At a UK showing of the premiere, the cast and Steven Moffat had a Q&A, with Moffat talking about the new feel of the show:
To different degrees, that [slower feel in Deep Breath] carries on throughout the series, in different ways. But that’s not an accident, that’s a very explicitly clear idea. I was starting to think there was a danger we were getting faster every year and soon the episodes would be over in four minutes [laughter]. Not that I didn’t like that, I loved the way we did it, but every idea has its end and there has to be a new one.
He and Jenna Coleman also talked about how a new Doctor affects Clara:
Jenna Coleman: I think the show feels very rejuvenated. It’s thrown everything off kilter and turned it on its head, especially for Clara, because suddenly she’s faced with this man and she can’t figure him out and she can’t control and he doesn’t respond in the same way as she’s used to, so that is really frustrating and confusing for her, how to figure out how this now works because it’s so totally different. It’s been a really interesting story to tell over the series.
[…] Again it’s going from being so safe and comfortable with Matt’s Doctor to somebody who doesn’t even register that she’s a girl, or human for that matter! It’s all these changes and trying to figure out how this is going to work now.
Steven Moffat: The thing about Clara with the Eleventh Doctor was that she was comfortably in control, she really had him quite tame. He was thinking ‘she’s really great and she hangs out with me I’m so cool. I’ll roll over on my back, she’ll tickle my tummy and that will be that’. From the moment Peter’s Doctor turns up she realises she’s in terrible trouble, that he’s just rude to her and whatever he might secretly feel, he’s just being awful. Seeing Clara on the back foot, particularly in this episode, makes her very funny I think. We had the perfect girl and we absolutely messed her head.
Moffat also dismissed rumors that the Master would be coming back this season:
No [laughter]. I accidentally just said the truth. No, not really. I think the story’s sort of done. I thought what Russell did with that was so brilliant, because I did think it was over. Once you’d lost Roger Delgado who was so brilliant, it was tough to keep it… it’s like Moriarty in Sherlock – yes, I know – you think, you’re a great master villain, you know what you do a lot, you lose! You’re always tremendously confident and then you’re humiliatingly defeated and you don’t remember that the next time you pop up with your ridiculous plan. So no, the Doctor doesn’t really need an arch-enemy, so we’ll go for new ones. So, sorry John Simm.
More at the link. [Den of Geek]
Agents of SHIELD
Bolstering the cast this season will be Henry Simmons (NYPD Blue) as recurring character Agent Alphonso “Mac” Mackenzie, “a mechanic in his early 30s.” [TV Line]
Westworld
What was just a rumor is now definite: James Marsden is officially joining the cast. He’ll play Teddy Flood, “a mysterious new arrival to a small frontier town who quickly proves both his charm, and his talent, with a revolver.”
Also added is Eddie Rouse as Kisecawchuck, “Kissy” for short, “an American Indian who deals cards, and contraband, from the town saloon, making him an expert in games both on and off the card table.” [Deadline]
Arrow
Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg gave a little insight into the casting off Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer:
[Brandon] actually did a chemistry test with Emily [Bett Rickards] and we didn’t have any doubt [before], but when everyone saw that, the two of them just jumped off the screen together. It’s funny because we had a picture of Stephen, Stephen’s headshot, and we had Emily’s headshot, and there was a blank on the board. Once you put Brandon’s up there, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, these are two guys.’
Supernatural
While this season separates the brothers a fair bit, Jeremy Carver says that the idea that they meet up again in episode three is “rightish.” He also said:
I know there’s always this concern of one brother having the story, one brother not having the story, but both brothers will very much be having stories. It just so happens that at the beginning of this year, their stories very much revolve around the well-being of each other, which we like.
Outlander
Star Sam Heughan said about whether the show will incorporate the ending of the first book:
Jamie has some just heartbreaking moments near the end of book 1. Without getting spoilery for those who haven’t read the series, how much of that do we see?
Without giving away too much, basically, if it’s in the book, it’s probably going to be in the show. We don’t shy away from anything. The show is very dark, and I think that’s the absolute joy of it, and that’s why I love Ron Moore’s work. Each episode is just so different. You think it’s going one way, and it just turns it all on its head…. There’s some pretty gruesome stuff that happens, and I think that’s what’s going to be really interesting for people to see and for the Jamie character: how he deals with that, how he addresses that, and what that does to his relationship with Claire. Yeah, exciting stuff.
Once Upon a Time
Here’s a video interview with Josh Dallas, where he reveals that we’ll meet an old friend of Charming’s, which he describes as “a friendship that was really important to him, that literally changed the whole course of his life…with a character that you wouldn’t probably normally connect with Charming.”
And here’s Lana Parilla talking about Regina and what she doesn’t know about Elsa. [BuddyTV]
Helix
Joining the cast for season 2 is Matt Long as Dr. Kyle Sommer, “a world-class toxicologist and the newest member of the CDC team.” [Deadline]
The Strain
The show’s already been renewed for a second season. [Global News]
Under the Dome
Here are the titles of episodes 2.10 and 2.11:
Episode 2.10 – The Fall
Episode 2.11 – Black Ice
Haven/Ascension
Season 5 of Haven will premiere on September 11th at 10 PM. Ascension, the alternate history show about a generation ship launched in the 1950s, will premiere the next night, September 12 at 10 PM. [TV Guide]
The premiere of season 5 of Haven starts up right after the season 4 cliffhanger, with victory being fleeting as the characters move into a new crisis, with a new Trouble coming to the town. Duke is dying and “fighting to contain all the Troubles within him.” And Nathan faces the fact that Audrey may be gone forever.
And here are promo photos. [TV Line]
Additional reporting by Charlie Jane Anders and Ryan Plummer
