Today is the 44th birthday of Daniel Craig. The star is currently filming the latest 007 film Skyfall. This year is the 50th Anniversary of the James Bond series. My first Daniel Craig film was Lara Croft: Tomb Raider but when I saw Layer Cake I first thought this guy who could be a cool Bond.
Thanks for the great roles especially James Bond and have a great birthday!
One of the best moment of reading The Hunger Games is when the heroine makes her point with the arrogant Gamemakers.
If you haven’t read the books here’s what you need to know: Two young people are randomly drawn from 12 districts in a future North America to compete in games for the entertainment of the rich and powerful. 12 kids enter the games. Only 1 comes out alive. Blood Disgusting scored this clip from the film in which Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) shows the judges she will not be ignored.
The Hunger Games opens March 23rd. The Hunger Games cast tour kicks off March 3rd and ends in Seattle (where I hope to see them) on March 10th.
One of my favorite writers Matt Fraction was a special guest on the Axel-in-Charge column this week on Comic Book Resources – a Friday must for all Marvel fans. I really excited by his response to the question of what elements he will tap into for the upcoming Avengers Vs X-Men epic.
“Not to put too fine a point on it, the Phoenix! I put a lot of my back into growing Hope as a character. I was very present in those early conversations figuring out what this little girl’s destiny was going to be — who she was and who she was going to become. And I became quite fond of her and what she represents. I have a daughter and we don’t have enough girl-heroes to go around. So the idea of being a part of telling this story where Hope and the Phoenix would encounter each other at long last? That was a huge payoff.
The Phoenix stuff, with the exception of being a red herring in one story arc, largely went untouched when I was on Uncanny [X-Men]. I just used it to kind of foreshadow that this was coming, though at the time I didn’t know when or how it would play out. Even though the plans have changed, you can see foreshadowing for this back in the early #500s. In my first four or five issues of “Uncanny,” we were foreshadowing “Second Coming” and “AvX.” And then I left the book, but to be back and now be a part of it is like having my cake and eating it too. And there’s a bunch of other stuff. There’s another big location that the gang goes to that I don’t want to spoil, but in issue #7, I got to do a real big piece of the Marvel puzzle that I hadn’t had a chance to touch otherwise. The whole event has been a chance to play with all the toys at once in all these fun, new combinations.”
For the entire interview click here.
Fraction continues writing The Mighty Thor, Invincible Iron Man and The Defenders and his creator owned epic Casanova. It will be great to see him write with the X-Men again in AVX. I was a huge fan of his run. This is just speculation but I wonder if Matt might be a front-runner to take over the Avengers franchise after Bendis?
The Walking Dead fans are buzzing with the announcement of The Governor appearing in Season Three on AMC. Creator Robert Kirkman praised British actor David Morrissey.
“More than any other actor, David Morrissey came in and wanted to embrace everything that there is to the Governor,” Kirkman told MTV News. “He knew this is a complicated character, and he knew this was a character that people are going to hate to love.”
“He recognized that this character is a villain,” he added. “A lot of people came in and were like, ‘But he’s a good guy inside, right?’ They want that nuance, and that’s definitely important. We definitely have that. The Governor isn’t a one-note character; there are a lot of layers to that onion. But this is a sadistic guy. David Morrissey, more than any other actor, really wanted to sink his teeth into that role. He wants to embrace everything there is about the Governor.”
The Governor commits unspeakable acts against the survivors fans know and love in the graphic novel series. Kirkman says the Governor’s television counterpart will be just as sadistic.
“It was really important to me that no one gets the sense that we’re neutering the Governor from the comics or holding anything back in any way,” said Kirkman. “We’re definitely going to do the character justice, and season three will be that much crazier and that much more intense because of it.”
For the entire interview here’s the MTV News link.
A big question for fans is if Michonne will make her debut on the series too since she’s part of the action in the Governor arc in the books.
Fans got a brief shot of Cobie Smulders as SHIELD agent Maria Hill in the new The Avengers trailer. Marvel.com revealed two photos showing Agent Hill ready to support the Avengers Initiative. The Avengers debuts May 4th.
Smulders (known for How I Met Your Mother) plays the tough, resourceful agent supporting SHIELD Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson.) Brian Michael Bendis created Hill in his New Avengers run. Hill became head of SHIELD and ally of Iron Man during the Civil War storyline.
Sony eyes Valiant series Bloodshot for the big screen according to Deadline. The comic book series starred a ruthless mob assassin set up and framed for murder. The killer goes to witness protection but is betrayed and subjected to experiments that give him super strength and healing powers but no memory of his past.
The Valiant Universe is relaunching with new issues this May. The publisher made headlines with the announcement of the first talking comic book cover. I’m sure a new Bloodshoot series is in the works. It was a huge hit in the 90’s.
Miss Piggy was shamefully denied a Best Actress Oscar (not even a nomination!) but The Muppets will get a sequel! Director James Bobin and co-writer Nicholas Stoller will return for the Disney sequel according to Variety. No word on if Jason Segel (please) or Amy Adams will return. After earning $154 million at the box office I’m sure Miss Piggy’s demands will increase – but that’s one charming pig!
The film did win an Oscar for Best Song (Man or Muppet.) I was a fan of Me Party since I’m single.
Here’s a link to The Muppets movie if you this news makes you nostalgic. The Muppet Show comic book from Boom is a fun read too.
I’m excited for Disney’s John Carter. Some lucky fans got be see a Q & A with director Andrew Stanton hosted by Geoff Butcher of Hero Complex. What I share with director Andrew Stanton is our early love of Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter began with Marvel comics*. Stanton tells why the pre-teen boy in all of us can relate to John Carter of Mars.
“When you’re 10 or 11 years old, and you’ve discovered girls, but they haven’t discovered you yet, and you’re reading about this ordinary guy that’s suddenly extraordinary on another planet, he’s got the coolest best friend, the coolest pet, and he’s winning the heart of the most beautiful girl in the universe, that’s like a checklist of everything you’ve ever wanted,” Stanton told the audience.
“My gateway drug was the Marvel comics of John Carter,” Stanton said. “My friends were drawing these four-armed creatures with tusks, and I said, ‘What are those?’ And they said, ‘Those are Tharks. This is Tars Tarkas,’ and then they threw the comic book at me. … By the time I was in high school finishing [the books], my girlfriends would call them my romance novels.”
Watch the entire interview here.
The legendary Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane created John Carter: Warlord of Mars back in 1977 for Marvel comics and ran for two years. I remember collecting these along with the Star Wars Marvel comics and my first Uncanny X-Men books.
Marvel is publishing new comics based on Edgar Rice Burroughs tales as prequels and sequels to the upcoming movie.