Karl Urban either put his foot in his mouth or very calculatingly slipped the media a misdirection during a press conference where he revealed the villain in J.J. Abrams‘s upcoming Star Trek sequel. When asked about working with Sherlock‘s Benedict Cumberbatch, Urban replied, “He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.” Gary Mitchell was one of the characters that co-writer and producer Roberto Orci denied being in the sequel and he previously appeared in the first two issues of IDW‘s Star Trek comics which was said to use storylines that the film franchise wouldn’t revisit. In Trek lore, Mitchell is a Starfleet Academy friend of Kirk’s is transformed gaining almost god-like abilities that he uses with fearsome displays of power.
Then again, Cumberbatch could be Khan…
Will Yun Lee will play the bad guy, Kenuichio Harada, aka The Silver Samurai in director James Mangold‘s The Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman. The film is scheduled for a July 26, 2013 and was written by Christopher McQuarrie.
Cole Hauser will join the Secret Service alongside Gerard Butler protecting President Aaron Eckhart in Antoine Fuqua‘s Olympus Has Fallen. In the film, Butler will try to stop North Korean terrorists who have taken over the White House.
Alicia Silverstone will play the self absorbed mother of small-town girl A.J. Michalka in the coming-of-age dramedy Jesus in Cowboy Boots. In the film, set in a community built on an abandoned drive-in movie lot along the Texas-Oklahoma border. Michalka, realizes her potential with the help of her imaginary friend The Cowboy, (Billy Burke).
Len Wiseman will produce a film adaptation of the comic book series, The Darkness. “The Darkness is a mythology-inspired story created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis and David Wohl for Top Cow. It follows former hitman Jackie Estacado, who becomes the host of a malevolent primal force.”
Jay Roach will return to HBO to direct the Cold War telepic, K Blows Top, “which chronicles Nikita Khrushchev’s 13-day American sojourn in September 1959, a time when Cold War tensions between the world superpowers were running high. Paul Giamatti is on board to play the Soviet leader.”
Dean Devlin revealed that he and Roland Emmerich are currently working on the long planned sequel to Independence Day. “We’re every excited about the idea of doing it. Whether or not we can make this happen, if we can get all the pieces to come together, that’s gonna be challenging. But creatively, for the very first time since we did the original, I feel we have a worthy concept, a worthy path to go….I think it took a long time, but I feel like we finally got something that really feels like, ‘that’s worth seeing as a sequel to Independence Day.’ ” No word yet if original cast members Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Randy Quaid and Vivica A. Fox will return.
Tony award winner Nina Arianda will make her screen debut playing Janice Joplin in Joplin, a film that looks back on the final six months of the singer’s life with flashbacks to her early career, for director Sean Durkin.
Neil LaBute will direct Crooked House, based on Agatha Christie’s classic mystery novel. LaBute co-wrote the screenplay with Julian Fellowes and Tim Rose Price.
