Fast & Furious Director For Bourne 5

Justin Lin, director of the last four Fast & Furious movies, has signed up to direct the fifth Bourne outing.

The film will follow on from The Bourne Legacy, which saw Jeremy Renner take up Matt Damon's mantle as fellow operative Aaron Cross.

The Bourne Legacy may not have had the same oomph as the marvellous original trilogy, but there were a lot of positives in there, and a fifth film is not unwelcome.

No word yet as to whether Matt Damon may also cameo.

Bourne 5, like so many other big films, is out Summer 2015

Episode VII Release Date Finalised

It has been confirmed that Star Wars Episode VII will release on December 18th 2015.

The JJ Abrams-directed movie will enter production this Spring. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy had been keen to delay the film until 2016, so a Winter release may be seen as a comprimise.

While it is odd to see a Star Wars film lose it's traditional May slot, the December release has worked well for the Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit movies, and with the Avatar sequels set to launch in consecutive Decembers from 2016, the Chrimbo period is fast becoming as synonymous with big budget movies as the Summer.

And, hey, it's not like there's not already a load of movies to see in Summer 2015...

And if you want a role in Star Wars, you still have the chance - despite LatinoReview constantly claiming that a whole slew of actors are linked with the film, Lucasfilm are holding open auditions for the two lead roles across the UK.

Auditions begin in Bristol today, before heading to Glasgow, London, Manchester and Dublin.

Jason Schwartzman For Jurassic World

The cast list for Jurassic World is coming along nicely. While Iron Man 3's Ty Simpkins is still the only officially announced name on board so far, it's widely known that Josh Brolin and Bryce Dallas Howard are also involved.

And now Wes Anderson favourite (and some-time surf rock drummer) Jason Schwartzman has apparently landed a role in the dinosaur picture. Schwartzman's reps had no comment to make, but several sites have gone ahead and reported the news anyway.

The actor is not usually the first name you would associate with a big Summer blockbuster, but his comic timing and flustered demeanour could suit a technician-out-of-depth type role.

Jurassic World will see disaster hit a now-open dinopark, with a return to Isla Nublar and aquatic beasts rumoured to feature.

It releases Summer 2015.

Jaimie Alexander For Wonder Woman?

Thor star Jaimie Alexander has been in the headlines today for the dress she wore to the LA Thor premiere, but her blatant disregard for our quaint "underwear" customs is not the only reason that she's garnering press interest.

Film critic Mark Hughes met with the actress (Lady Sif in the Marvel flicks) recently, and he had some interesting things to say on Twitter afterwards.

As well as confirming that a third Thor film is in the works, Alexander apparently revealed that she is up for a role in rival picture-book company DC's upcoming Batman/Superman movie.

And since DC confirmed that they have considered adding Wonder Woman to the movie (and, indeed, see launching a new live action iteration of the character as "a priority"), rumours have now gone into overload that Alexander will be playing the Amazonian warrior in the fledgling DC Movieverse.

This is all rampant speculation of course, conclusions being arrived at purely because she revealed that she had talked to DC about an unspecified role that she may not even have been given, but still, Jaimie Alexander would be a good fit for the role, and she has proven that she can handle action scenes well in her role as Sif.

Plus, Wonder Woman's famously skimpy outfit would actually see her more covered up than she was in LA, so modesty won't be an issue...

Another Day Of The Doctor Minisode Revealed

 Following on from the discovery of "The Last Day", presumably a prequel to The Day Of The Doctor, the BBFC have inadvertently unveiled another minisode.

They have recently classified "The Night Of The Doctor", a roughly-seven minute mini-episode. What is interesting about this is that this time they specify that Matt Smith and David Tennant star, whereas with The Last Day they refused to reveal the cast. Speculate away about that, folks.

Speaking of The Day Of The Doctor, the BBC have unveiled the official synopsis of the episode:

In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London's National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion.

This ties in with a lot of the information we already have, and reveals nothing new except specific dates. Presumably Matt will be the Doctor dealing with the present day, Ten will tackle the Elizabethan plot and Hurt will be partaking in the "ancient battle". More interesting is the synopsis being used in Australia (although they claim it is from a thrid party, so be warned that it may not be too accurate...):

The Doctor and Clara are still stuck in the Doctor's timeline, and the only way out is to open the lock on the Doctor's darkest day, The Time War. 

Moving on to Series 8, Bleeding Cool (hardly a bastion of reliable information, so take this with a pinch of salt...) are claiming that Peter Capaldi's freshman season will open with a two-part Dalek story... that is not written by Moffat. Rather, they claim, the story will be written by an established televison writer who has never written for the show before.

While the inclusion of the Daleks early on in Capaldi's run is hardly going to shock anyone (it stands to reason to include familiar foes at the start of a new era as reassurance for the fans), the notion of a showrunner not writing a Doctor's debut episode is very questionable. If there is any truth to this, then I would imagine that these episodes will only be the first to be filmed, as opposed to being the first episodes of the season.
 
The Day Of The Doctor stars Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, David Tennant, Billie Piper, Jemma Redgrave and John Hurt, and airs worldwide on November 23rd.

But before that we have Mark Gatiss' docudrama An Adventure In Time And Space, starring Brian Cox, David Bradley and Jessica Raine, now confirmed for a 9pm airing on November 21st.

JJ Talks Episode VII Tone

JJ Abrams has been talking to The Times about the potential tone for Episode VII.

"I loved how Star Wars had that sense of a world far beyond the borders of what you can see and have been told. It's one of the things it did so brilliantly.

"If you watch the first movie, you don't actually know exactly what the Empire is trying to do. They're going to rule by fear - but you don't know what their end game is. The beauty of that movie was that it was an unfamiliar world, and yet you wanted to see it expand and to see where it went."

And, discussing a recent Youtube video called "4 Rules To Make Star Wars Great Again", which insists that the 'real' Star Wars is a Western and "dirty, gritty - a second hand world", Abrams claimed that "I would say that [the video conveys] a feeling that we share very much."

Despite this hint that the latest movie will return to the tone and atmosphere of the original trilogy, Abrams was quick to jump to the defense of the prequel trilogy, which has been unjustly maligned by fans of the series:

"A lot of kids who saw all the prequels when they were young really do identify with those movies as much as my generation identified with the originals," he insisted.

Episode VII is out in 2015 (despite the protests of much of the crew).

View the Youtube video here:

Joe Cornish For Star Trek 3?

Joe Cornish is reportedly in line to direct the upcoming Star Trek sequel.

The Attack The Block director is said to be Paramount's first choice to replace JJ Abrams on the rebooted series, according to Deadline.

Attack The Block - Cornish's directorial debut - was a terrific film, but its gritty, urban style is a world away from the CGI-heavy intergalactic style of the Trek movies. This could make for a very interesting film indeed, should Cornish get the nod.

In a past interview, JJ Abrams spoke out about the thought of watching somebody else take over "his" version of Star Trek while he is working on rival franchise Star Wars. "It's a little bittersweet," he said. "Whomever it is that directs the film will be someone we all know is going to keep the cast and crew in good hands."

The third Star Trek movie is expected to begin production in summer 2014. JJ Abrams will still serve as producer.

Third Wolverine Solo Movie In The Works?

 

Hugh Jackman may well be gearing up for another Wolverine movie.

According to Deadline, the star is currently in negotiations for an eigth appearance as the superhero, in a sequel to this Summer's The Wolverine. James Mangold is also thought to be close to signing a contract with 20th Century Fox to return as director in the latest X-Men spinoff project.

 

The filmmaker is currently working on a deal to write the treatment for the film, with Lauren Shuler Donner producing.

Jackman had previously hinted that the upcoming Days Of Future Past would be his final outing as the character.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past is out on the 22nd May in the UK, and the 23rd May in the US, and also stars James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Peter Dinklage, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Halle Berry, Daniel Cudmore, Fan Bingbing, Boo Boo Stewart, Adan Canto, Evan Peters, Josh Helman and Lucas Till.

Chalkboard Tribute To Marcia Wallace

The Simpsons has aired a poignant tribute to the late Marcia Wallace.

The traditional chalkboard gag at the start of this Sunday's episode in the US was replaced by a shot of a visibly upset Bart writing "We'll really miss you, Mrs K", in tribute to her character Mrs. Krabappel.

Marcia sadly passed away at the end of last month, after she suffered complications from pneumonia. While she had recorded several more episodes worth of dialogue, meaning that Mrs. Krabappel will be hanging around for a while, it is understood that the character will be retired from the series after this, rather than being recast or killed off.