Neill Blomkamp To Direct New ‘RoboCop’
MGM is developing a new installment of RoboCop and has set District 9 director Neill Blomkamp to helm the picture, which is titled RoboCop Returns. The studio hopes to revive a franchise that began with the Paul Verhoeven-directed satirical sci-fi action thriller that Orion released in 1987. Original writers Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner are producing and exec producing, respectively. Justin Rhodes, who co-wrote the Terminator film that Tim Miller is shooting, will rewrite the script that Neumeier and Miner wrote years ago as a planned sequel to Verhoeven’s hit, an installment that never happened. That duo is creatively involved in moving forward their creation for the first time since the original. The original starred Peter Weller as a badly wounded cop on death’s doorstep who is turned into a cyborg law enforcement officer tasked with wiping out crime in an out of control Detroit, but who is plagued by submerged memories of his previous married life. MGM revived the concept with a Jose Padilha-directed version that starred Joe Kinnaman in 2014. That film didn’t do so well domestically, but grossed $240 million worldwide and was particularly strong in China. MGM exec veep Adam Rosenberg is overseeing the new one for the studio.
The Last Man’ FX Cast Unveiled, Diane Lane and Barry Keoghan to Star
Two months after FX formally announced plans to make a pilot adaptation of the graphic novel Y: The Last Man, the cable network has announced the cast for the highly anticipated drama. Diane Lane (Under the Tuscan Sun), Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk), Imogen Poots (Green Room), Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel), Juliana Canfield (Succession) and Marin Ireland (Sneaky Pete) will star in Michael Green’s adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s comic series. Y: The Last Man ranks as one of the most critically acclaimed comic book series of all time. The DC Comics/Vertigo title was first launched in 2002 and revolves around Yorick Brown — the last surviving human with a Y chromosome — and his Capuchin monkey, Ampersand. The series follows escape artist Yorick after a mysterious plague as he sets out to find what might have wiped out the male chromosome. Y: The Last Man, written and created by Vaughan and artist Pia Guerra, ran for 60 issues and has been collected in multiple graphic novels. Here is FX’s formal description of the potential series: “Y traverses a post-apocalyptic world in which a cataclysmic event has decimated every male mammal save for one lone human. The new world order of women will explore gender, race, class and survival.”
A SPECIAL ‘UNCUT’ VERSION OF ‘DEADPOOL 2’ WILL SCREEN AT SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON
It may be a bummer of a year for Marvel and Game of Thrones fans at San Diego Comic-Con, with both series absent from Hall H. But if you’re a Deadpool fan, you’re in luck. This year’s convention will screen an extended cut of Deadpool 2. As first noted by Entertainment Weekly, the mysterious Deadpool 2: Uncut screening will happen on Saturday, July 21 at 10 p.m at San Diego’s Horton Grand Theatre. Details are scarce on what exactly this “uncut” version will include, but Fox told the site it will be a “super-duper special screening,” with perhaps some surprises. Those surprises will likely included some cast and crew appearances, considering that Fox is holding a Deadpool 2 panel in Hall H earlier that day. It may also be the same extended cut of the movie director David Leitch spoke about earlier this year. While the theatrical version we’ve seen clocks in two hours, Leitch revealed to CinemaBlend his original cut ran 12 minutes longer. He was working to restore those cut scenes, so if that does screen at Comic-Con you can expect to see more Domino scenes, more of Wade’s suicide attempts after Vanessa’s death, and more.
Joaquin Phoenix Confirmed For ‘Joker’ Origin Movie
Warner Bros. confirmed this week what we’ve all known for a while — three-time Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix has officially signed on to play Batman’s arch enemy the Joker in a stand-alone origin film. With a reported budget in the $50 million range, the film is expected to begin production later this year. Todd Phillips — best known for helming the Hangovertrilogy and 2016’s War Dogs — will direct the picture and co-write the screenplay with Scott Silver. Silver previously penned the Oscar-nominated script for The Fighter, as well as writing 8 Mile and The Finest Hours. The casting of Phoenix is a major coup, since he’s mostly known for his stirring character portrayals, most recently in the magnificent film You Were Never Really Here. I’m personally especially excited for the casting, since Phoenix was one of my top two picks to portray the Joker for many years (the other being Cate Blanchett). After The Masterin 2012, I started posting (on social media and at Quora) stills from the film and arguing Phoenix’s brilliant acting talent was matched by a perfect physicality for the Joker.
‘Star Wars’: Billy Dee Williams Reprising Role as Lando Calrissian
Billy Dee Williams is returning to a galaxy far, far away. The actor, who famously played the galactic gambler Lando Calrissian, will reprise the role for Star Wars: Episode IX, the next Star Wars installment from Lucasfilm. Chatter about Williams joining the production, which is set to begin later this summer, increased in recent days when the actor bowed out of an upcoming sci-fi and pop culture convention citing a conflict with a movie schedule. Sources confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Williams will indeed be returning to the Star Wars film franchise for the first time since 1983’s Return of the Jedi. The Lando Calrissian character made his suave debut in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back. Williams has in recent years returned to the role that fuels his appearances on the convention circuit, voicing Calrissian in various cartoon series and video games. The character is one of the more popular personages in the Star Wars universe and appeared in a major way in this year’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. Donald Glover slipped on the cape to play a younger Calrissian.
