[NOTE: despite the detail in which Lost is discussed, there are NO spoilers for the third season, so read on safely. You've got about as much idea as those of us who've seen the finale about where these characters are coming from.]
- TV Guide's Michael Ausiello reports that The Wire's Lance Reddick (seen above as the rather dour Cedric Daniels) will be joining the cast of Lost next season! He'll play the recurring part of Arthur Stevens (Daniels, Stevens... trippy), an intimidating corporate recruiter, whatever that means in Lost terms. A Dharma recruiter perhaps? Regardless, casting anyone from The Wire is a decision in a show's best interest, as that group of actors is uniformly excellent. Reddick should be a good foil for Michael Emerson, if they share scenes together, although hopefully his role here will be a bit looser than that of Daniels.
Lost has been demonstrating a lot of casting savvy in the last couple of seasons, casting nearly all the women of Deadwood in supporting roles, Oz's Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Mr. Eko, stage actor Emerson as Ben/ry, and the hypnotically cool Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet. Long may it continue.
Alas though, Kristen Bell will NOT be joining Lost. Instead, she'll be on Heroes, bizarrely enough. Although I would take issue with why on earth she would pick the lesser of the two mainstream genre shows, this is a finite role of around 13 eps versus the likely open-ended Charlotte role on Lost and she's allegedly in major demand post-Veronica Mars, so a shorter role is more viable (and Hawaii is quite a move/commute).
She'll be playing Elle, a superpowered personage with ties to HRG/Noah Bennett and Peter's disappearance. Bell is a stellar addition to any cast, . She speaks to Ausiello about her Heroes role and why she turned down Lost here.
Finally, Rush Hour and X-Men 3 actor Ken Leung will join Lost in a mysterious recurring role that current Lost scoop magnet Ausiello claims is known only to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. He turned heads with a deep yet occasionally manic guest starring turn in the final season of The Sopranos, and is likewise a solid addition. It's a relief that even without the cachet it enjoyed in its first season, Lost can still attract quality actors.
Still to be cast are Charlotte and a mathematician named Russell.
- the Justice League movie is gaining rapid steam. IESB says that George Miller is locked in as the director, and that casting begins as early as next week. Here's the thing though... this isn't Justice League as a showcase for second-tier DC superheroes. Batman and Superman are front-and-centre in this movie, yet Christian Bale and Brandon Routh WON'T be playing them. Moviehole reports that although they will continue to essay those roles in their solo films (implying that a JL film is NOT cancelling out a Superman Returns sequel), the roles will be cast anew for the Miller film.
Say what?!! This is sorta like Sean Connery playing James Bond in Never Say Never Again, except these will be new actors and all the films are from the same studio, which is both less and more baffling. I'd rather they leave Bats and Supes out entirely, and of the three options, recasting them while they are still in their own film series must be the worst.
At the 3:10 to Yuma junket, Bale appears frustrated with the Justice League project, wishing that they would wait until Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is complete. He unambiguously states that he has not been approached for the film, nor is he interested. There has been speculation about whether Bale and Routh's multi-film contracts include an option for a crossover film, but Warner Bros. look to not be even bothering to exercise it.
Also, Ryan Reynolds (Blade Trinity, Smokin' Aces), speaking to MTV, seems to know more than he's letting on about the project. He was the favourite for the role of The Flash when David Goyer was attached to write and direct, and he wanted it to boot. The film has since been assigned to the hacktastic Shawn Levy (A Night at the Museum), but Warner may be looking to Reynolds again for the Justice League film, which, like Thor, is being fast-tracked for a summer 2009 release.
Expect a lot of news on this in the coming weeks. Leaving aside concerns regarding the existing films, a Justice League film could be very impressive, as long as they don't rush it. Like Thor, this could have a dazzling, mythological scope, but given how quickly the script was bashed together, we have reason for caution. I'm no DC man, but Grant Morrison's run on JLA was a conceptual hyperdrive of spectacularly inventive and staggeringly epic story. If they draw on that run, and can balance the multitude of solo-movie-worthy heroes in a satisfying fashion, then this could be great. Miller (the luckiest surname in Hollywood, BTW) is certainly a stellar director, and Reynolds would make a tremendous Flash, so fingers crossed.
[Incidentally, a Justice League movie would inevitably feature Wonder Woman, especially if it's going to the lengths of including the already cinematically-established Batman and Superman. I wonder how all this ties into the studio's rejection of Joss Whedon's take on the character...]
- Frank Miller scores again with Eva Mendes (Hitch, Ghost Rider, Training Day) joining The Spirit as the love of the hero's life, and Samuel L. Jackson confirmed as the villain. Sin City has obviously done a great deal for the man's cred.
- IGN reported a while ago Russell Crowe is allegedly being courted for the villain role in JJ Abrams's Star Trek film. Fat chance, really, but stranger things have happened. IGN is usually a lot more reliable than, say, the English tabloids. At the 3:10 to Yuma junket yesterday, Crowe was inscrutable about the proposition. Big surprise.
- director Jon Favreau reports that the Comicon Iron Man footage will soon appear online in HD quality, although some of us saw a videotaped copy on YouTube before it was promptly yanked by the studio. I normally avoid such recordings, but Iron Man wasn't a huge priority for me and I was curious to see what all the fuss that weekend was about. After that (blurry) footage, knowing that every action shot but one were achieved practically, ie. without CGI, I'm much more excited, although Robert Downey Jr. in the lead and the rest of that cast meant I was fairly keen already, really.
- occasionally Australia gets damn lucky in the DVD department, and it's a pleasure to discover that Blade Runner is one of those times. We'll not only be getting the Final Cut release on December 5, a full 13 days before the American release, but the complete 5-disc set will be available both with and sans briefcase, meaning that about $100 can be lopped off the price for those like me who don't give a crap about toys and collectible shite, whereas American fans must make do with a 4-disc set or fork out for the briefcase. Thank you Warner Home Video Australia for not dicking us around.
- Wizard of Oz "re-imaginings" are everywhere. First Gregory Maguire's witch-centric novel Wicked! and the resulting stage show, then the forthcoming Sci-Fi Channel mini-series Tin Man starring Zooey Deschanel and Alan Cumming ("a sometimes psychedelic, often twisted and always bizarre take on The Wizard of Oz", according to the IMDB), and now the in-development feature film produced by Todd McFarlane based on his rather demented Twisted World of Oz range of action figures (thanks to CHUD for the info).
McFarlane's meritless involvement (his creative record has not been stellar, or existent, over the last decade) is countered somewhat by the very talented Josh Olson (A History of Violence) writing the script. Tentatively titled Oz (although that will almost certainly change if HBO has anything to say about it), the film may, interestingly, be more of a sequel than a remake, according to Olson. Another stab at Return to Oz, perhaps? Oh, that twisted nightmare from our childhoods is a source of much joy for the nostalgic among us....
- news from ages ago that I forgot to report. Chris Mulkey (Twin Peaks's Hank Jennings) will be joining the cast of Friday Night Lights for its second season. Not sure whether it's in a regular or recurring capacity. HANK!
- the trailer (24 MB), at last, for Todd Haynes's Bob Dylan biopic, I'm Not There, featuring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Ben Whishaw, and Marcus Carl Franklin, all as Dylan. Fascinating.
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