Also in this Monday edition of The Broadsheet: Simon Cowell locks down his lineup for The X Factor... Gotti gets a new screenwriter... Sebastian Junger talks Tim Hetherington... and more ahead.
It was a weekend for the gods as Thor had a divine debut at number one, kicking off the summer of super heroes to a solid start. The vroom-vroom-smash of Fast Five took a steep plunge to number two while Jumping the Broom had a surprisingly strong showing at number three. Which meant that the widely-reviled Something Borrowed(more like Something Blew, amirite, dudes??) could only manage fourth place. Your weekend receipts are here.
The question from yesterday still stands did we talk about before superhero movie speculation? Today we've got secret photos taken from the New Mexico set of The Avengers, and fortunately they're a little more interesting than a grainy puddle of green. It looks like Avenger business is also taking them to India (I suppose?), but zoom as I might, I don't see any Easter egg inside references for fans (No van Dyne fashion outlets? No Greer Nelson animal safaris? For shame!) Click to enlarge and see if you can puzzle out why the Avengers might be in India. [Super Hero Hype]
Well, you learn something new everyday. Everyone knows about William Tell shooting an apple off his son's head, but unbeknownst to many Americans (read: me) is that he was also something of a continental Braveheart, fomenting a revolution against the Austrian empire and leading to the creation of Switzerland. And now Brendan Fraser is going to play him! Way to go, William! You're not a real historical figure until there's a big budget American movie about you. Anna Paquin is in talks to co-star in the family action film that will be (of course) released in 3D. However, whenever I think of William Tell, I immediately flash to this Far Side cartoon. [Coming Soon]
I honestly have trouble remembering what we wrote about before comic book movie rumors took over our lives--was it Proust? Maybe a thoughtful analysis of the Free Soil Party in the mid-nineteenth century? At any rate, I've got your latest piping hot rumor, this time for the just-started-filming Dark Knight Rises. Is this a Lazarus Pit I see before me?
Hungry actors on the cusp of stardom take note: if you really want to become the next big thing, consider delivering wordy monologues in German. After starring in X-Men: First Class and Ridley Scott's non-Alien Alien movie Prometheus, Michael Fassbender is now reportedly in talks to join Danny Boyle's new art heist movie, Trance.
The sound you just heard was a hundred and one Marvel Studios execs exhale in relief all at once as Thor, the superhero movie that seemed the most likely to crash and burn, raked in more than $25 million its opening night, priming itself up for one thuper weekend. Elsewhere, the dudebros of Fast Five were bumped to number two, the ladygals of Something Borrowed came in at third place, and Jumping the Broom had a strong start at number four. Your Friday box office is here.
British newcomer Sam Claflin makes his Hollywood debut this month in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and he just landed the part of Kristen Stewart's prince in 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman, so it's safe to say he's on the brink of a rapid star ascension. On Friday, the 24-year-old confirmed his Twitter handle to Movieline (@SamClaflin) and expressed genuine giddy surprise at his ever-growing follower count. Does he know what he's in for?
Another week passes at Movieline HQ, meaning another Friday-evening reflection on the culture in our rearview mirrors. Some of it's even worth remembering -- which is where today's handy, summer-launching edition of Week in Review comes in. Have browse, have a think, and let's all try and decompress to the smooth jazz strains of weekend editor Dixon Gaines. Don't be a stranger, and have a great weekend!
Nearly 15 years after the death of Tupac Shakur, a production company has acquired the only screenplay written by the rapper, and -- with the help of Hustle and Flow producer Dwight Williams and Shakur's mother Afeni Shakur -- Shakur's cinematic vision Live 2 Tell could begin production as early as next year.
Some might argue that one trip to the wild, wild West was enough for Will Smith. Quentin Tarantino is, it seems, not one of those people. According to a report which you should take with a generous heaping of salt, QT wants Smith for the lead in Django Unchained, his buzzed-about next film which may co-star Christoph Waltz and Sam Jackson. Cue the Stevie Wonder riff!
If Jessica Alba and Joel McHale aren't enough to convince you to sit through Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids: All the Time in the World this summer, maybe the latest casting development will change your mind: Ricky Gervais has agreed to voice a robotic spy dog in this summer's 3D Spy Kids: All the Time in the World. "Not only am I lending my voice to Spy Kids but they can keep it," said Gervais. "I'm sick of it." [THR]
Ben Affleck may have transitioned his Oscar win into a successful directing career but his Good Will Hunting star and co-writer has been content with leading big-budget pictures and producing the odd project. Until now that is. According to Deadline, Damon is seriously considering directing and starring in Father Daughter Time: A Tale of Armed Robbery and Eskimo Kisses -- provided he can get his hands on it.
Deadline reports that Laura Linney will play Franklin Delano Roosevelt's mistress (and cousin) Daisy in Hyde Park On The Hudson, the story of George VI's 1939 visit to the Roosevelts in their upstate New York home. Bill Murray is slated to play FDR, and I'm slated to cast Eleanor right now -- Kathy Bates, anyone? Not that she wants another mid-century period piece after the creative nadir of Revolutionary Road, of course, but she has command that defies Harry's Law! [Deadline]
Perhaps the ambitious three-film-two-television-series plan that Ron Howard and Universal had to adapt Stephen King's sprawling novel series The Dark Tower was a bit too ambitious. Deadline reports that the studio has put the pre-production Dark Tower team on hiatus, four months before shooting was set to begin.
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