The star of the ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ game is a Muslim Pakistani teenager, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel:
Before Sandra Saad was a superhero in a major Marvel property, the actress found herself in an unfortunate, potentially career-killing position for a young performer. She had to turn down acting opportunities. It’s crucial, says Saad, a first-generation Egyptian American, to take on characters that don’t fall into Middle Eastern stereotypes. But the pitfalls of certain roles aren’t always immediately apparent. While she speaks Arabic, her reading skills of the language are hit-and-miss, which means she could miss the nuances of certain lines of dialogue. This is why she runs potential roles by an authority higher than any agent, casting director or Hollywood advisor: her mother. “Sometimes I get these scripts that are just dangerous to play,” says Saad, who has a starring role in Square Enix’s take on the game “Marvel’s Avengers,” out this week. “They would make me say things that are just horrible,” Saad continues. “Sometimes I need to ask my mom what it says, and one day she started tearing up. She said, ‘Please don’t do this to yourself. Please don’t do this to our people.’ A lot of these roles are political. ‘OK, thank you. I’m not doing it.’”
Exclusive: Zac Efron to Star in ‘Firestarter’ Remake from Blumhouse:
Today marks the 40th anniversary of Stephen King‘s classic novel Firestarter, so it’s fitting that Collider can exclusively report that Zac Efron has signed on to star in a new adaptation of the sci-fi thriller from Universal, Blumhouse and Weed Road. Up-and-coming filmmaker Keith Thomas will direct from a script by Blumhouse favorite Scott Teems (Halloween Kills). King’s 1980 novel followed a young girl who develops pyrokinetic abilities and is abducted by a secret government agency that wants to harness her powerful gift as a weapon. Efron will play the girl’s father, Andy McGee, and given the fact that he turns 33 next month and Drew Barrymore was only eight years old when she filmed the original Firestarter, there’s no question he could conceivably play the parent of a young child. In fact, Efron just signed on to star in a Three Men and a Baby remake for Disney+.
Bad Idea Unveils Comic Series From Matt Kindt, Marguerite Bennet, David Lafuente & More
Bad Idea’s brain trust has just unleashed five new comic book series from creators Matt Kindt, Doug Braithwaite, Robert Venditti, Juan Jose Ryp, Adam Pollina, Marguerite Bennett, Renato Guedes, Zeb Wells and David Lafuente. From science fiction to fantasy and horror, the new original series cover a breadth of different genres — and will release only in designated comic shops around the country. The full press release appears below, with covers and preview art. ENIAC by Matt Kindt & Doug Braithwaite ** TANKERS by Robert Venditti & Juan Jose Ryp ** WHALESVILLE by Matt Kindt & Adam Pollina ** THE LOT by Marguerite Bennett & Renato Guedes ** SLAY BELLS by Zeb Wells & David Lafuente After a billion clicks, a bombshell secret comic that’s turned the internet on its ear, a lot of laughs, and, hey, even a few tears, Bad Idea — the dangerously unruly and equally experimental new comic book publisher — is ready to do the impossible: Actually publish comics. We always knew it would come to this.
‘FarmVille’ is shutting down for good on December 31st
After 11 years, FarmVille is closing its gates for good. The game will shut down on December 31st, developer Zynga announced. While most people probably don’t think of FarmVille too often anymore, the game did attract millions of users, so this change could still impact plenty of people. If you don’t remember, FarmVille was a farming simulator that let friends work together as neighbors — and post all about it on their Facebook timelines. As Eurogamer notes, it was the most-played game on Facebook for years. But with Adobe planning to stop distributing and updating Flash Player for web browsers, the FarmVille developers have decided to sunset the game. “We’re aware that many of you have been with us since the very beginning, helping to build an incredible global community of players over the years who’ve enjoyed this game just as much as we have. For that we say thank you,” Zynga wrote.
