Mark Ruffalo Talks STAR WARS, Black Widow Debacle, And She-Hulk

Mark Ruffalo, who stars as The Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner in Avengers: Age of Ultron, participated in a Reddit AMA and was asked who his top choice would be for Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters, also known as She-Hulk.

“Oh wow, that’s pretty crazy. Well I think Zoe Saldana would be a great She Hulk,” Ruffalo replied. “It’d be nice to see someone like her join the Avengers. Or someone quiet and demure like Emma Stone would be nice. But it would be up to the powers that be.”

It is virtually impossible for his Infinitely Polar Bear co-star to play She-Hulk since Saldana already plays the green-skinned Gamora (Guardians of the Galaxy) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Keep in mind, Ruffalo is just thinking about who he thinks is the best choice – regardless of logic.

Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man) is a fun choice. Yes, she too has already been in two Marvel films but that was pre-Sony-Marvel deal. So her Gwen Stacy was never a part of the MCU. She’s fair game to be She-Hulk.

She-Hulk was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema and first appeared in She-Hulk #1 (February 1980). When Jennifer Walters was seriously injured in an accident her cousin Bruce gave her a blood transfusion that ended up infusing her with a milder version of his Hulk-like powers. She got his strength, but kept her wits.

Ruffalo recently worked with Star Wars: Episode VIII director Rian Johnson on the film Brothers Bloom. When asked during the same Reddit AMA what it was like working with Johnson, Ruffalo dropped a little hint that he’d like a place in Johnson’s Star Wars:

Loved working with Rian. He is an incredibly gifted film maker and a really fine man. I hope he has a place for me in the new StarWars. Knock knock, Rian.

The comment comes off as a good nature ribbing, so fans probably shoudn’t take it as anything more that. Then again, if it came to pass, Ruffalo in Star Wars may be the closest thing we ever get to a Planet Hulk movie.

Mark Ruffalo, the actor who plays Banner in the film, has already praised Whedon’s work and expressed a different view of Bruce and Natasha’s relationship. During yet again the same AMA on Reddit, Ruffalo went into a much more detailed defense of the Age of Ultron director:

I think it’s sad. Because I know how Joss feels about women, and I know that he’s made it a point to create strong female characters. I think part of the problem is that people are frustrated that they want to see more women, doing more things, in superhero movies, and because we don’t have as many women as we should yet, they’re very, very sensitive to every single storyline that comes up right now. But I think what’s beautiful about what Joss did with Black Widow – I don’t think he makes her any weaker, he just brings this idea of love to a superhero, and I think that’s beautiful.
If anything, Black Widow is much stronger than Banner. She protects him. She does her job, and basically they begin to have a relationship as friends, and I think it’s a misplaced anger. I think that what people might really be upset about is the fact that we need more superhuman women. The guys can do anything, they can have love affairs, they can be weak or strong and nobody raises an eyebrow. But when we do that with a woman, because there are so few storylines for women, we become hyper-critical of every single move that we make because there’s not much else to compare it to.
So I know Joss really well. I know what his values are. And I think it’s sad, because in a lot of ways, there haven’t been as many champions in this universe as Joss isand will continue to be. And I know it hurts him. I know it’s heavy on him. And the guy’s one of the sweetest, best guys, and I know him – as far as any man can be a champion for women, he is that.
So it’s been a little disheartening.
But I also see how much people love that aspect of it. There’s an equal amount of people who find the love interest between Banner and Black Widow to be a big standout. And it’s very satisfying to people. So it’s a movie. People are going to have their opinions. And that’s actually a great thing. The fact that this is a debate that’s coming out of this movie is probably a positive thing.
I just don’t think that people should get personal with Joss, because he really is – of anyone – an advocate for women. He’s a deeply committed feminist.

Whedon left Twitter amidst a the barrage of criticism, though he clarified that he was by no means driven away by any group of people with any particular point of view, but left to better focus on his next writing project. It’s also worth noting that the Banner relationship is only one of the sticking points fans have had with Black Widow’s characterization in Age of Ultron, and not the entirety of it.

Second STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY Movie To Focus On BOBA FETT’s Origin Story

Josh Trank was recently dumped by Disney and Lucasfilm from the still untitled Star Wars Anthology movie, but it’s still moving ahead even without a director currently at the helm. According to The Wrap, whoever takes over will get to tell the origin story of Boba Fett! It’s going to be an origin story for the iconic character, presumably taking place some time after the events of Attack of the Clones. After all, the “adventures” of Boba as a kid wouldn’t be all that exciting!

There had been rumours that Rogue One would revolve around bounty hunters, but it seems as if it will be this movie which delves into that world. There’s no word on who’s set to replace Trank or who will play Fett!

Source: The Wrap

New STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Set Photos; Episode VIII Star Date; Characters Confirmed

The cover of the latest issue of Vanity Fair features some of the cast of J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens in character. There’s Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Harrison Ford as Han Solo; along with Chewie and BB8. 

Below you’ll find a great batch of new official images from Star Wars: The Force Awakens courtesy of Vanity Fair and they’re quite revealing indeed. It seems J.J. Abrams has decided to let a few items slip free from his “mystery box”, as these stills confirm that it is indeed Adam Driver under the mask of the sinister Kylo Ren. Plus we see Lupita Nyong’o shooting scenes as her still unnamed mo-cap character, possibly Maz Kanata, and a whole host of new aliens and creatures. There’s also a BTS video featuring comments from Abrams and some of the cast.

Now that we have confirmation that Adam Driver would be playing the villainous ‘Kylo Ren’ in the much-anticipated seventh installment in the Star Wars saga. We also got a look at several of Driver’s co-stars, including Lupita Nyong’o filming mo-cap scenes. Now it seems we can tick Gwendoline Christie’s character off of the list of unnamed roles. A new image taken from the Star Wars Vanity Fair issue appears to confirm that she will play “First Order Officer, Captain Phasma”.

Also, @VanityFair introduces Gwendoline Christie (@lovegwendoline) as Captain Phasma! #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/BPpaASR0DP

— The Force Awakens (@EpisodeVII) May 4, 2015

The British government formally announced Monday that episode eight of the Star Wars franchise will be shot at Pinewood Studios just outside of London.

“Pleased to announce #StarWarsVIII will be filmed here in UK @PinewoodStudios – great news for @starwars fans & our UK creative industries,” tweeted George Osborne, the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer, the British equivalent of the secretary of the Treasury. Osborne also trumped up the $152 million (₤100 million) inward investment and 3,000 jobs the production will bring.

The news comes on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth), but also coincidentally a bank holiday Monday in the U.K. Lucasfilm and Disney representatives couldn’t immediately be reached. Pinewood declined to comment.

Episode VIII to be #MadeinBritain, bringing 100m investment and 3,000 jobs here. #MayThe4thBeWithYou

— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) May 4, 2015

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, opens in theaters December 18, 2015. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan & Abrams, and features a cast including actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Crystal Clarke, Pip Andersen, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. They will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker. The film is being produced by Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk, and John Williams returns as the composer. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is Episode VII in the Star Wars Saga

FAN STUFF SUNDAY #7: The Trinity of Fan Stuff!

For the seventh Fan Stuff Sunday I have decided to collect art from the, what I call, Trinity of Fan Stuff! We are talking Alex Luthor, Boss Logic, and to round out the group Lord Mesa! Luthor has brought us Batman V Superman, Punisher Netflix, and Star Wars V Star Trek. Boss has delivered a mountain of art to quench the soul. Mesa has given us a plethora of adorableness.

Boss’ Mountain of Art:

Mesa’s Plethora:

New Official Images From STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Show Off Rey And BB8

Entertainment Weekly recently caught up with Daisy Ridley to talk Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and while the relatively unknown British actress obviously couldn’t say much about her character Rey, she did have this to say about her favourite shooting location. “Weirdly enough, probably Abu Dhabi, even though it was so hot, it was like you literally can’t imagine that heat. The feeling of stepping onto a real set for the first time, it genuinely was a baptism of fire. To see creatures walking around and speeders chilling in the sand, that was amazing, and because I was shooting there, it was like everything had built up to that moment. So a few days in, I was like, OK. I’m getting my groove now.” Abu Dhabi doubled for Jakku in the Return of the Jedi follow-up, and you can get a better look at it in the images below. Could that be Rey and BB8’s first meeting?

Starring original cast members Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker and franchise newcomers, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Lupita Nyong’o and Max von Sydow, Star Wars Episode VII is set to be released on December 18th, 2015.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Joss Whedon Talks Post AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Filmmaking

Joss Whedon has been talking about his post-Marvel movie career, telling IGN that he’s definitely interested in directing a Star Wars film, but stating that he wouldn’t want to see the franchise crossover with the MCU.

Disney owns both properties these days, so while Whedon was doing the publicity rounds for Avengers: Age of Ultron, we asked him if he’d be interested in potentially relocating to a galaxy far, far away.

“Right now I’d be interested in a long nap! But are you kidding? It’s Star Wars! It’s always going to be Star Wars!”

Whedon is less interested in seeing the franchise merge with the Marvel Cinematic Universe however. “I rule out nothing” he explained. “But I think it would not be my choice. You have two enormously strong, very textured universes. To say we have just the one would be to in some way dilute them. I think it makes sense to keep them in their own time, which I believe was long ago and not so close by.”

The writer-director added that while it’s great to mine all these properties from the past for material, studios should also be striving to come up with original ideas.

“It’s pretty exciting – I have to say. I saw the new trailer for Star Wars as everyone else had. ‘It’s good to be home.’ But at the same time we’re all painfully aware that at some point we’ll be running on fumes. I love working with the characters I grew up reading about but we need to create the characters that other people are going to grow up reading about.”

Source: IGN

STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY: ROGUE ONE Adds Sam Claflin And Riz Ahmed

The Hunger Games star Sam Claflin and Nightcrawler’s Riz Ahmed are both being eyed for roles in the first Star Wars Anthology movie, Rogue One.

According to the Wrap, Claflin is being eyed for one of the ensemble roles in the heist film’s cast. The actor plays Finnick in The Hunger Games franchise.

According to Variety, Ahmed is in negotiations to play the male lead in the film, opposite Felicity Jones. Director Gareth Edwards has reportedly been meeting with actors to test for the role, and Ahmed’s chemistry with Jones set him apart from the rest of the pack.

Rogue One will tell the story of how a group of Rebel Alliance agents stole the plans for the Death Star prior to the events of A New Hope.

Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One is expected to be released in theaters December 16, 2016.

DISNEY Have Got A Lot On Their Plates For The Next TWO YEARS!

With Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm under their banner, it’s pretty obvious Disney has some of the biggest movies coming out over the next few years. Add in Disney Animation, DreamWorks and their live action fare, and it gets even bigger. However, until you see all of those films represented in a single image, it’s difficult to grasp the scope of Disney’s impressive release schedule.

It’s not exactly news, but at CinemaCon 2015, which is currently taking place in Las Vegas, Disney showed an image with all of their announced theatrical releases stretching through the summer of 2017. It’s absolutely mind-boggling. Below, see the image of Disney movies release dates, and the full list of movies.

The image was tweeted by /Film, but here it is blown up:

These have all previously been revealed but let’s run them down:

Avengers: Age of Ultron – 5/1/15
Tomorrowland – 5/22/15
Inside Out – 6/19/15
Ant-Man – 7/17/15
Bridge of Spies – 10/16/15
The Good Dinosaur – 11/25/15
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – 12/18/15
The Finest Hours – 1/29/16
Zootopia – 3/4/16
The Jungle Book – 4/15/16
Captain America: Civil War – 5/6/16
Alice Through the Looking Glass – 5/27/16
Finding Dory – 6/17/16
The BFG – 7/1/16
Pete’s Dragon – 8/12/16
Doctor Strange – 11/4/16
Moana – 11/23/16
Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One – 12/16/16
Beauty and the Beast – 3/17/17
Ghost in the Shell – 4/14/17
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – 5/5/17
Star Wars: Episode VIII – 5/26/17
Toy Story 4 – 6/16/17
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – 7/7/17

The image stops here, but Box Office Mojo has the rest of it, and it’s still crazy:

Thor: Ragnarok – 11/3/17
Untitled Pixar Animation – 11/22/17
Untitled Disney Animation – 3/9/18
Avengers: Infinity War Part I – 5/4/18
Untitled Pixar Animation – 6/15/18
Black Panther – 7/6/18
Captain Marvel – 11/2/18
Untitled Disney Animation – 11/21/18
Avengers: Infinity War Part II – 5/3/19
Inhumans – 7/12/19

And that’s not including the next Star Wars Anthology film, which will likely be out in 2018, or Star Wars Episode IX, which will likely be out in 2019. I’d also venture to guess one of those untitled Pixar Animation films is The Incredibles 2 and one of the Untitled Disney Animation films is Frozen 2. It’s absolutely incredible.

STAR WARS ROGUE ONE Plot Details, Chronology, And More Revealed

The upcoming “Star Wars” standalone film, “Rogue One,” will follow a group trying to steal the Death Star plans, it was revealed at Sunday’s Star Wars Celebration, which also showed a special teaser for the upcoming spinoff.

“A band of resistance fighters unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans in Star Wars anthology film, Rogue One,” the official Star Wars account tweeted on Sunday.

Felicity Jones, who was previously confirmed to star in “Rogue One,” will play a rebel soldier. The film will take place before Episode IV.

The news was revealed at a panel with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm head of development Kiri Hart and “Rogue One” director Gareth Edwards. Josh Trank was scheduled to appear at the panel, but he didn’t show, with moderator Pablo Hidalgo saying he was “under the weather.”

The teaser took on war movie visuals, showing a TIE fighter flying above a forest planet before revealing the Death Star. The footage also featured shots of soldiers running through darkness.

“The Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, before the dark times, before the Empire,” says a Obi-Wan Kenobi’s voiceover, as portrayed by Sir Alec Guinness in the teaser.

Gareth said “It’s called Star WARS,” and his crew is full of people who worked on war films like Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down and Zero Dark Thirty. In fact Creig Fraser, who shot Zero Dark Thirty, will shoot Rogue One.

“It comes down to a group of individuals that don’t have magic powers, that have to bring hope to the galaxy,” said Gareth.

Hart said the standalone movies are being called “anthology films” rather than spinoffs, varying in scale and genre, with new characters and places.

Perhaps because Trank wasn’t there, no information was released about the upcoming standalone film that he will direct.

“Star Wars: Rogue One” Rogue One starts shooting this summer, and is set to be released in December 2016, while the J.J. Abrams-directed “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” will hit theaters Dec. 18.

"Chewie We’re Home"; The Second Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer HAS DROPPED!!

The first full trailer for Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens dropped today during the opening of Star Wars Celebration Live, a four-day orgy of all things Jedi at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“Chewie we’re home.” And yes we are HAN SOLO!!!

The trailer was revealed during the panel, where director J.J. Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy sat down before a packed crowd. They showed off some of the droids (new and old) and dished about lead actors Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega who showed up onstage to answer fan questions. A bit of clarity on the plot shown here: Isaac plays an X-wing fighter pilot “sent on a mission by a certain princess,” Isaac said today, who meets Boyega’s stormtrooper and “their fates are forever intertwined.”

This is the first shots of the pic since the 88-second teaser that dropped in November as it began playing in North American theaters. It revealed little plot but it did give fans their first real look at stormtroopers, droids, X-wing fighters, that new light saber and the Millennium Falcon.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has a  December 18 release date, followed down the line by at least two more episodes (Star Wars Episode VIII has a May 26, 2017 release date already) and spinoff pics starting with Star Wars: Rogue One (December 16, 2016).