Method casting? Robert Downey Jr. signs up as troubled alcoholic billionaire Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, for director Jon Favreau.
Category: Fanboy
Phoenix Rising.
WB releases several high-quality stills from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, including one of the eponymous Order and several of new headmaster Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). (And, since it’s wartime at Hogwarts now, it looks like the late ’70’s haircuts of Goblet have gone by the wayside as well.) Update: More here.
We Still Think of You, Jim Henson.
Alas, today would’ve been Jim Henson’s 70th birthday. In honor of the occasion, my sis-in-law sent along a scan of this sad (and arguably deeply disturbing) comic, which originally appeared in Cerebus back in the day (and which I used to have on a T-shirt, before it disintegrated.) Happy birthday, JH.
Dark Globe.
By way of my sister-in-law Lotta, the chocolate-covered cinema buffs at M&Ms have put out a decently entertaining diversion for film folks: Find the fifty hidden horror movie names in this Halloween-themed painting. I eventually got ’em all after staying up too late with it last night…for what it’s worth, it helps to [a] broaden your conception of “horror film” and [b] take some of the images at face value. (I’m looking at you, you gaggle of circle-toting fiends.)
Beware the Melting Aardvark.
Via LMG, two bizarrer-than-most comic book creators get in the blog game: Dave Sim and Bill Sienkiewicz.
Children of Men, Elves, and Dwarves.
By way of a former member of the program here, Christopher Tolkien announces that, after thirty years of work, he’s completed and is publishing an unfinished 1918 J.R.R. Tolkien manuscript entitled The Children of Hurin.
Tolkien or Termeraire?
As MGM announces it’s planning The Hobbit as a tentpole release (with New Line, and hopefully with Peter Jackson at the helm), PJ contemplates optioning the Termeraire books by Naomi Novik. Get back to Bag End, Pete!
No Joking Matter.
“It’s definitely going to stump people. I think it’ll be more along the lines of how the Joker was meant to be in the comics, darker and more sinister.” Brokeback Mountain‘s Heath Ledger says all the right things about his upcoming turn as the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. “I wouldn’t have thought of me, either. But it’s obviously not going to be what Jack Nicholson did. It’s going to be more nuanced and dark and more along the lines of a Clockwork Orange kind of feel. Which is, I think, what the comic book was after: less about his laugh and more about his eyes.” And, in related news, Bob Hoskins hasn’t heard he might be playing the Penguin, so scratch that one off the rumor list for now.
Royale with Cheese.
Layer Cake‘s Daniel Craig earns his license to kill in the brand new trailer for Casino Royale, which seemed pretty decent even in tiny, pixellated dial-up form.
A Long-Expected Party?
Is something stirring in Middle Earth? While Peter Jackson announces he’s producing a remake of The Dam Busters (to be directed by Christian Rivers, WETA’s head animatic guy from LotR and Kong), very vague rumors emerge from the head office at New Line of a July 2007 start date for filming of The Hobbit. Let’s hope they at least give PJ the right of first refusal…Giving this property to somebody like Ratner would be absolutely criminal. Update: Another intriguing LotR link (albeit from the Mises Institute), via Dangerous Meta: Tolkien v. Power.