We got a whole lotta suphero nuttiness to welcome you back from your weekend in today’s Movie Morsels, including the latest casting rumors on Doctor Strange, confirmation on who will be directing Avengers: Infinity War, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s thoughts on playing Black Adam in Shazam. Plus we have Tim Burton talking Beetlejuice 2 and the year’s weirdest trailer for you to watch!
Doctor Strange
Wondering who might be playing the Ancient One — Doctor Strange’s teacher — in Marvel’s first film featuring the Sorcerer Supreme? (Man, if Taco Bell doesn’t rebrand its entire menu for this one, it will be a hugely missed opportunity.) Latino Review has apparently gotten hold of the studio’s short list, which holds three prominent names: Morgan Freeman, Bill Nighy, and Ken Watanabe. Watanabe would be the most obvious choice, since the character is typically portrayed as Asian (though not Japanese, as is the Godzilla star). But all three have portrayed mystic mentors of a kind before: in, respectively, The Lego Movie, the Underworld movies, and Batman Begins (pictured above).
Avengers: Infinity War
The Sony hack continues to spew forth information on all sorts of films, both Sony’s and those of other studios. The latest such news on the superhero front is that Captain America: Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo have told Sony chief Amy Pascal they will be directing the two-part Avengers: Infinity War (a/k/a Avengers 3 and 4) after they complete work on Captain America: Civil War. Of course this means that much-loved Avengers: Age of Ultron helmer Joss Whedon helmer will not be returning for a third Avengers film. The changeover has been anticipated by a number of folks, but this is the first time we’ve had confirmation on it.
Shazam
Meanwhile, over at DC… We’re still at least four years away from the premiere of Warner Brothers’ Shazam movie, but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is already pretty fired up about it. He’s tweeted his thoughts on playing the character, who will apparently be more akin to his current comic book incarnation — that of an antihero — than his original role as a villain for the Big Red Cheese, Captain Marvel.
Can’t wait to play BLACK ADAM. We’ll find that anti-hero balance of ruthless rip your throat out w/ wonderful charm.. #ROCKTALK @Dosteguin
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) December 12, 2014
Beetlejuice 2
While promoting his latest film Big Eyes (out on December 25th), Tim Burton has given an update on the status of his long-gestating Beetlejuice 2, and says he wouldn’t dare consider making it without Michael Keaton. “It’s a character that I love and I miss and I miss actually working with Michael. There’s only one Betelgeuse. We’re working on a script and I think it’s probably closer than ever and I’d love to work with him again.” Here’s the video interview with Burton…
MoonQuake Lake
Now this is certainly…different. Phil Lord — co-writer and co-director of the 21 Jump Street movies and The Lego Movie — has unveiled, via Twitter, the parody trailer for the Twilight-like MoonQuake Lake, a faux young adult film starring Mila Kunis as a girl who cries blue tears, her real-life paramour Ashton Kutcher, a blue mermaid, and Rihanna (who apparently has the ability to turn into a dragon). It’s unclear if Lord wrote and/or directed the trailer, which is just as batshit crazy as it sounds. It features in Sony’s Annie (opening this Friday, December 19th), in a scene in which the titular orphan goes to a movie theater.
[Deadline]
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What do you think of today’s top stories? Let us know in the comments below!
I was hoping that the news for Dr Strange would be that they had changed their minds about benedict cumberbatch, but alas…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… J.J. Watt for Captain Marvel!
What’s interesting is how many charcters in this picture are now ‘dead’ at the moment or had their core character screwed with- sorry ‘deconstructed’ to a point where there aren’t recognizable at the moment in Marvel comics.