Thursday, July 26, 2007

And so it begins...

Perhaps wanting the trades to still get their exclusives just as fans are queuing up for the relevant panels, studios have started releasing some of the big Comicon news.

- the Watchmen cast has been announced, and the fansites were right on the money, although one name is new:
Rorschach - Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
Nite-Owl - Patrick Wilson (Little Children, Hard Candy)
Dr Manhattan - Billy Crudup (Almost Famous)
Laurie Juspeczyk - Malin Akerman (uh... see other posts)
Ozymandias - Matthew Goode (Match Point)
The Comedian - Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural)
Fairly good choices, none of which scream "WRONG!" except for the big question mark of Malin Akerman and to a lesser extent Morgan and Goode. Here's hoping that Snyder is creatively happy with these choices.

- although exact specs aren't yet out, the Blade Runner Final Cut DVDs have essentially been announced, appearing in December in 2-, 4-, and 5-disc editions preceded by a Venice Film Festival berth in September and a limited US theatrical release in October (please go international, please go international...). There's a terrific article summing up the intent of the project at Variety and some likely cover art for the three editions at Zona DVD (the Variety article gives us a look at the innards too). Full specs will hopefully be released after today's panel.

- Harold Perrineau is confirmed as returning to Lost next season as Michael! No word on whether he'll be regular or doing guest spots, but that may emerge at today's Lost panel. It only came out early because TV critics at press tour were pissed off that a fan convention was getting all the news and they got nothing. Apparently the ABC President called Damon Lindelof to ask if he could tell them and he got the OK. Unexpected power dynamic there, unless it's just spin.

- Zachary Quinto seems sewn up as Spock in Star Trek XI. Hate to be harsh, but casting a TV actor in a major role in what is supposed to be the rebirth of a TV-based franchise in movie-form doesn't exactly send the right message. And just because he looks a little like Nimoy doesn't mean he should get the part. Hell, if you're daring enough to recast those characters for the first time you might as well be adventurous - you'll be attracting fan bile whatever you do.

- talk of the devil, they've released a Beowulf trailer! I hope this becomes more than a feature-length video game cut scene, as certain portions of this trailer unfortunately indicate. Other parts are very impressive though.

Stay tuned for more.

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