Many people see Warner Bros CEO Kevin Tsujihara as the key man behind the studios hotly anticipated DC Cinematic Universe, and while that may be true, another executive who will play a vital role over the coming years will be Greg Silverman. WB’s President of Creative Development & Worldwide Production recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about the studio’s vision for their upcoming superhero properties.
Unsurprisingly, one of the first things he was asked about was how DC planned on differentiating their universe from their cross-company rivals at Marvel:
“We have a great strategy for the DC films, which is to take these beloved characters and put them in the hands of master filmmakers and make sure they all coordinate with each other. You’ll see the difference when you see Batman v. Superman, Suicide Squad, Justice League and all the things that we are working on.”
Silverman then addressed complaints about the Batman v. Superman trailer being “too dark”:
“There is intensity and a seriousness of purpose to some of these characters. The filmmakers who are tackling these properties are making great movies about superheroes; they aren’t making superhero movies. When you’re trying to make a good movie, you tackle interesting philosophies and character development. There’s also humor, which is an important part.”
He also explained the studio’s decision to hire Monster director Patty Jenkins, following Michelle MacLaren’s exit from Wonder Woman:
“We had a very intensive process looking at everybody. Patty and Michelle were really the ones who came to the forefront the first go-round, so when things didn’t work out with Michelle, we all knew we had someone great who had expressed interest before. She came back and is doing a great job. But it was never about the best female director. She has demonstrated doing amazing work with female characters, such as in Monster.”
Well, there’s plenty to digest there – including some very interesting points on the general direction of the DCCU, the balance between ‘dark’ (intensity) & ‘light’ (humor), and the studio’s thought process behind bringing Jenkins on board.
SO this DC Delights will be considered as the big one as it its pretty much two weeks worth of news crammed into one! We’re talking Constantine, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Gotham and to add the movie stuff also like Wonder Woman, Batman V Superman, George Miller’s cancelled Justice League movie and a bunch more!
SO let us begin the journey of DC news!
TV NEWS
Visual effects studios Important Looking Pirates and Crafty Apes have released videos showcasing the digital effects their artists created for NBC’s Constantine.
Yes, the television series was cancelled earlier this month, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy cool effects that were designed for its first and probably only season. I especially like ILP’s “Blessed Are The Damned” video because it shows the work that went into the wings and the flight of Imogen (Megan West) the Fallen Angel.
Regardless of how you felt about Season 1 of Gotham, the FOX show did manage to bring a startling number of Batman’s famous rogues gallery to life in its freshman year (even if there was no Caped Crusader around). Notable successes included Robin Lord Taylor’s popular take on The Penguin, and Cameron Monaghan’s memorable cameo as a younger Joker.
With the latter apparently set to play an even bigger role in Season 2, TVLine have revealed details about two more thorns in Jim Gordon’s side. The site claims that the first new arrival, “a male DC villain”, will be “intelligent, cultured and highly articulate,” as well as “extremely attractive, seductive and threatening”. A seductive Mr. Freeze, perhaps?! Joining this mystery rogue will be a female antagonist, “in her mid-to late 20s”, who is somewhat of a “sexy knock-out”.
Chris Chalk is the latest guest star to be promoted to series regular status on the FOX show, having made a small but memorable guest appearance as ‘Lucius Fox’ in the late stages of Season 1. This news, revealed first by TVLine, should not come as any surprise though, as Chalk was apparently brought onto the series with an explicit ‘option to return’ during the sophomore season.
When we last saw Mr. Fox, he had a few things to say to young Bruce about the state of Wayne Enterprises. According to Gotham EP John Stephens, Lucius will become “another person who’s going to help Bruce on his journey to find out what happened to his parents and what his parents were doing, and also his journey to manhood and Batman-hood.” Stephens also claimed that “[Adult Bruce is] like a science genius, and some of that’s going to come from Lucius Fox.”
While speaking recently at MCM London, the show’s stars Willa Holland, Karl Yune (Maseo), and Rila Fukushima talked about their experiences working on this past season as well as strategically teasing their characters’ possible futures on the show. This included Yune who, despite his character dying at the hands of his former wife, Tatsu, hinted that there is a possibility fans might see Maseo return. Yune hinted that the series’ creator and showrunner, Marc Guggenheim, had simply told him “don’t make any plans“. Meanwhile, Holland reveals what alterations she’d like to see made to Speedy’s new costume
After her brief cameo appearance in the second season of Arrow, the series could have used a lot more Harley Quinn, according to actress Willa Holland, who plays Thea Queen on the show.
Holland told Flickering Myth that “We had big plans for Harley, but I guess something came down from DC execs that told us to shut it down. I mean, we had that tease with the pigtails and the A.R.G.U.S. [prison] outfit but, we’ll never see it. We would love to Harley in Arrow but it will never happen.”
The character, who originated on Batman: The Animated Series, will be featured prominently in next year’s Suicide Squad live-action feature. The Squad were featured in the episode in which Harley made her unnamed cameo on Arrow and a number of others, but their role will reportedly be significantly diminished going forward, with some of the characters from the Suicide Squad movie taken off the board entirely.
This preview doesn’t reveal a lot about what’s to come in Arrow this Fall, but some very interesting hints are definitely dropped by executive producer Marc Guggenheim. Season three may have made the mistake of focusing more on Felicity crying than Ra’s al Ghul, but there’s a lot to look forward to in season four. For example, we have no idea how Oliver will once again take on The Arrow identity, while Damian Darhk and H.I.V.E. are also set to take on major roles which should be fun.
Flash executive producer Andrew Kreisberg has confirmed that the entire first season of the show is an alternate timeline due to the manipulation of Tom Cavanagh’s Harrison Wells. So will we ever see the original timeline or will the show always exist in the alternate one? As Matt Letscher Eobard Thawne stated in latter episodes of the show, Thawne went back in time and hijacked Well’s life so that he could create the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator much earlier and create The Flash [and subsequently, many of Flash’s Rogue Gallery]. But Eddie’s (Rick Cosnett) heroic sacrifice means that Wells never even existed so wouldn’t that mean the timeline has been reset? Or does the alternate timeline continue on? Said Kreisberg to EW, “Part of the fun of The Flash is when you have people dabbling in sci-fi physics, they’re significantly altering the world. We established in the finale that the entire series of The Flash is, in itself, an alternate timeline that’s been skewed from the real one. Wells setting off the accelerator created all the metahumans, and the results of the singularity will also have long-term effects.”
The finale episode answered a lot of questions, but the ending left us with a lot of new ones. In the following promo which aired at the end of the finale, executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg tease plans for season two, and it sounds like the singularity might help to create new metahumans for the Scarlet Speedster to face off against! Throw in alternate timelines, Cisco being confirmed as having powers, that Killer Frost tease, and the Speed Force, and we have a lot to look forward to.
Grant Gustin was brought up and down the red carpet at The CW’s 2015 upfronts in New York last Thursday rather quickly. He answered questions rapid-fire, and was one of – if not the – most in-demand talents there, with Hollywood blogs, Comic Book websites, and TV news shows alike vying for his attention.
As the titular lead of The Flash, Gustin told ComicBook.com that it’s easy to relate to Barry Allen’s joy in embracing his alter-ego.
“I just innately have fun doing this,” the actor said.
While Barry has been put through quite a bit this season, especially in the last month or so of the show, Gustin hopes that he’s holding onto that sense of fun, and he talks with the folks in charge about it regularly.
“I had actually gotten to a place where I talked to [EPs] Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti about it, because I felt like Barry had gotten to this really dark place, and he maybe wasn’t having fun anymore,” he told us, expressing his concern. “They promised me that Barry was still having fun, and he’d still get those moments.”
As for next year, Gustin thinks that as Barry grows as a hero, he’ll get further away from that “dark place” and into a position that more mimics the Barry Allen of the printed page at DC Comics.
“I want to be able to, next year, get a little more cocky with it and confident with the super powers. I want to be a little bit closer to the Flash from the comics,” he said.
One thing that can help cure the “dark first season” blues as he described it, is the camaraderie with his castmates. With Wells presumably out of the picture, or at the very least off of “Team Flash,” Gustin hopes he’ll get to show how Caitlin, Cisco, and Barry spend more of their downtime.
“Cisco and Barry I’ve always wanted to explore more since the beginning; we did just a little bit in the first season, and that was because we [Grant and Carlos Valdes, who plays Cisco Ramon on the show] had brought that up to the writers,” said the star.
He also noted that he “loves working with Danielle Panabaker” and thinks the down moments with the three of them (Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco), outside of any superheroics, should get their due in season 2.
“I think it’s fun, even just as friends and not a superhero team, to just kind of have those three do more socially next year. Like the karaoke scene this year, we had a lot of fun doing that.
Gorilla Grodd’s small screen debut in The Flash was nothing short of incredible, but it could have been even better had they followed the concept art below (via Film Sketchr). Of course, this might give us an idea as to what we should expect from the character’s return in season two, but we’ll just have to wait and see on that.
Admitting that she really thought she was done in the CWverse following Sara Lance’s death in the Arrow season premiere, Legends of Tomorrow actress Caity Lotz told TVLine at upfronts last week that the new show is even cooler than she imagined it would be when the idea of a return was pitched to her.
“It’s going to be big,” she teased. “I didn’t really know that much about the show and I said ‘I want to do it, I trust you guys,’ and when we were shooting our teaser, they were telling me some of the stuff that’s going to be happening, and I was like, ‘This is way cooler than I — not that I didn’t think it would be cool, but just stuff that I wasn’t even imagining or picturing. I think this is going to be really fun to do.”
You can see the full interview below.
Speaking of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Entertainment Weekly talked with one of the stars, Wentworth Miller(Captain Cold)! “I hope the answer is no on the way to yes,” says Miller. “Because if you stuff a bunch of rabid dogs in a barrel and roll it downhill, that’s something that’s worth watching.” However, despite his evil tendencies, Miller’s Captain Cold does have a softer side. “In his relationship with his sister, you see he does have a heart. And there are people that he’s willing to put ahead of himself, so now that he’s aligned with these good guys, for better or worse, they’re going to start influencing him and his way of thinking. I’m excited to explore his shades of gray so we see he’s not just a villain, he’s a man.”
‘Kara Zor-El’ will soon be flying onto our screens on the new CBS show Supergirl this November. Apparently, one of the most overwhelming moments for star Melissa Benoist was the first time she ever got to put on the iconic suit – designed by three-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood. Speaking to E! Online, Benoist explained how exciting the whole experience was for her:
“I just had this injury so I had this eye patch on. It was kind of embarrassing, but the second I put it on, something shifts inside of me. It’s kind of impossible not to feel strength and empowerment and positivity and hope. It really is pretty surreal!”
We recently had a glimpse of the show’s special effects in that action-packed trailer. Benoist noted how strange it felt watching herself perform these heroics on the small screen: “I don’t recognize myself when I see those scenes”, she claimed, “It’s kind of insane. The sheer scope of all of it, it’s so epic that it’s kind of mind-blowing to see it all put together.”
Sadly the pilot episode for the Supergirl show has leaked.
However, unlike last year’s leaked pilots for CW’s The Flash and NBC’s Constantine, the Supergirl pilot is available in full 1080p HD and is surprisingly watermark-free. The source of the leak is yet-to-be determined, but Variety confirms that the leaked episode went live around 3 a.m. ET this morning. At the time of this posting, CBS had yet to respond to the leak.
Variety posted their annual “10 TV Actors to Watch” piece, which includes fresh looks at hotly-anticipated superhero show, “Supergirl”!
“Supergirl” actress Melissa Benoist (Whiplash), can be seen standing proudly in the wake of the pilot episode being recently pirated.
“I never imagined myself getting a role like this,” Benoist says. “There are moments when I step back and look at the bigger picture and I’m on the set with fire and explosions and I’m in the suit — and I’ll have to do a double-take.”
Benoist leads a cast that includes Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen, Laura Benanti as Alura Zor-El, Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant, Chyler Leigh as Alexandra “Alex” Danvers, Jeremy Jordan as Winslow “Winn” Schott, David Harewood as Hank Henshaw and, in mystery roles, Dean Cain and Helen Slater.
Hailing from Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Productions (who also produce the hit DC Comics series “Arrow” and “The Flash” for The CW), “Supergirl” is based on the characters from DC Comics and centers on Kara Zor-El, who comes to Earth after escaping the destruction of Krypton. After many years hiding her abilities, she joins the ranks of her cousin Superman to become the hero she was meant to be.
The pilot episode of “Supergirl” was written by Ali Adler (“No Ordinary Family”) and Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “The Flash”). They will also executive produce along with Sarah Schechter and Warner Bros. TV. The show has a series commitment at CBS, and is expected to debut in November.
In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg reveals that Cavanagh will remain on the show as a series regular, weighs in on Eddie possibly returning, and teases “a bunch more villains” as well as additional speedsters for season two.
THR: When did you know Eddie would make this sacrifice?
Kreisberg: When we decided to name him Thawne, we hoped the audience would suspect Eddie was the Reverse-Flash because of his last name. We always knew Eddie would be his ancestor, but we weren’t quite sure how we would end the season. The way things were moving forward, it felt like it was the best thing to do for his character. Like with Colin Donnell [whose character Tommy died in Arrow’s season one finale], it was literally the worst thing we could do to ourselves as writers, producers and friends, because we all love Rick so much both personally and professionally, and we think he’s crushed it as Eddie all season. We’ve all become very close. It’s one of those terrible things. The story sort of tells you what it wants to be and as much as it broke our hearts, we knew this was the way the season needed to end.
What was Rick’s last day on set like?
Usually the last day on set tends to be something very mundane. The last day on set turned out to be his death scene. It was a very complicated day, visual effects-wise, because of all the things that were going on. It was also a difficult day emotionally. Not only was it the end of the season, and everyone from the crew to the cast has just been killing themselves to make this show as good as it could be, it was also incredibly emotional. Just like Collin Donnell, Rick was told about the plan way in advance, because obviously we didn’t want him to read it and be surprised. As soon as he found out, he kicked up his acting level a notch. It was almost subconsciously — his performance got even stronger, which again makes it even worse emotionally for us. Rick has been turning in his best work of the year in these last few episodes just like Colin did. I literally can’t say enough about Rick Cosnett.
Will Eddie be back?
The great thing with our show — you saw it with Colin Donnell and with Caity Lotz [whose deceased Sara is returning for spinoff Legends of Tomorrow] — is just because you are dead doesn’t mean you’re not coming back. Especially in the world of The Flash, which involves time travel and real hardcore science fiction, there’s always a way for Eddie to return, and we hope Rick will.
How does Eddie’s sacrifice work? Eobard disappears — but everything he did up until the finale still happened?
Our time travel hopefully holds together as much as it can. It doesn’t completely obliterate all of their memories of Eddie and everything, but it has the desired effect of “harm to Eddie means harm to Tom Cavanagh’s character.”
How did you lay the groundwork for Eddie to make this choice?
Eddie has been struggling these last few weeks, hearing about the future and about how there is no place for him in the future. He wasn’t going to believe in Wells’ interpretation of the future. He was going to make his own decision and he basically decided to recommit to Iris, which only makes his sacrifice that much more heartbreaking. He didn’t do it because he didn’t have anything to live for. He did it because he had everything to live for.
What does this mean for Tom Cavanagh’s future on the show?
Tom Cavanagh will be back. That is not in question. Tom Cavanagh will continue to be a regular.
This season was so well planned out in advance. Is that the approach you will take with season two — constructing a big master plan like you had for season one?
Not to pat ourselves on the back too much, but if you watch the pilot, there are clues that got laid out throughout the season. We’ve done the same thing for season two, and hopefully we’ve created a structure and a scenario for season two that people will find equally compelling and equally interesting. Some of it has already been set up in the events of season one — just like we do on Arrow where, without even realizing it, toward the end of the season we’re setting up the next season. Once people come back in season two, they’ll look back at some of these episodes in season one and go, “Oh wait a minute, I see where this came from.”
You’ve said season two will introduce more Speedsters. Is that going to be a major theme akin to the Rogues in this season?
Yeah. We are going to introduce a few more speedsters next year and a bunch more villains. How they and those villains come about is part of the surprise of season two. We’re really excited. [Executive producer] Greg [Berlanti] and myself and [executive producer] Geoff Johns and the writers, the cast, the crew, the directors — we are so proud of this season of television. It really is a high mark for all of us, and we feel a great deal of pressure and anxiety to live up to it because it’s been so well received. As proud as excited as we are about everything we’ve done this year, we really are just as proud and excited for all the things we are planning coming up. Hopefully people will continue to take this ride with us.
According to series star Grant Gustin, The Flash’s second season might explore the multiverse. With at least Earth 2 on the table, Gustin said that the series will explore alternate timelines and realities.
“What’s fun about this show is that there’s going to be multiple timelines as we move forward,” Gustin said. “I think we’re going to start showing Earth-One and Earth-Two in the near future. There will be kind of different dimensions going on.”
For those who’s heads aren’t exploding right now, let us explain. In DC Comics, there exists a multiverse of parallel dimensions and realities, all of which explore the DC Universe through a different lens. It’s one of the publisher’s biggest selling points, often playing a key role in their crossover events. Earth 2, for example, hosts all of DC’s golden age, WWII-era characters—including the silver-haired speedster, Jay Garrick.
While a thriving multiverse may work well for a sci-fi-heavy show like The Flash, series co-star Carlos Valdes (Cisco Ramon) thinks it could present a tricky situation for The CW’s other shows, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.
“It gets a little Rubik’s Cube-y in terms of keeping consistency between all these timelines and whatnot,” Valdes, always the science nerd, told TVGuide. “But the writers have their stuff together. If I were to trust anyone, it would be them.”
Robbie Amell, who appears on “The Flash” as one half of Firestorm, revealed in an interview with CBR News that although he filmed a sequence for the finale debuting Firestorm’s new matter manipulation ability, the scene was ultimately cut for length.
“In the finale, you were going to see a scene where Caitlin and I are talking. I tell her, we do have a better handle on our powers, [and] I show her a new trick,” Amell explained. “They introduced matter manipulation in the finale — but the finale was also thirty minutes too long, because it’s such a huge, incredible episode, [the scene] was one of the things that could go. You won’t see it, but originally I turn a thermometer into a flower for her. It was a very sweet scene that showed some matter manipulation. Maybe they will release it on the DVD/Blu-ray set… In the finale, there was going to be a scene when we turn into Firestorm. We literally step towards each other and turn into him. There isn’t any difficulty. And, now, we get to do matter manipulation — but nobody gets to see it yet.”
In the show, Raymond and Martin Stein (Victor Garber) have traveled a long, bumpy road to becoming a Firestorm that truly works in tandem. With this new ability, it seems as though the two have finally hit a groove that allows them to explore the possibilities of their metahuman abilities.
With the first season of “The Flash” coming to a close, lead actor Grant Gustin has readily expressed his gratitude for the show’s success. He’s already penned an open letter thanking the show’s cast, crew and fans, and now he’s given an in-depth interview to Buzzfeed in which he reveals what the future holds for the CW’s growing lineup of DC Comics programming.
Joining “Arrow” and “Flash” next season is “Legends of Tomorrow,” a team-up spinoff that features characters that got their start on other CW/DC series. As Gustin revealed in the interview, some “Legends” stars will pull triple duty during the 2015-2016 TV season.
“Like, I’m on ‘Flash,’ but as far as a lot of those other characters are concerned, they’re just on three TV shows at one time, which is really cool,” said Gustin. “Wentworth [Miller, who plays Captain Cold] and Dominic [Purcell, who plays Heat Wave] are on ‘Legends,’ but they’ll be on ‘Arrow’ and ‘Flash,’ too. It’s like a revolving door for all three shows.”
Crossovers with “Arrow” were commonplace during “Flash’s” first season, with a number of characters — including Felicity Smoak, Ray Palmer, Laurel Lance and the Arrow himself — all appearing on the show. Conversely, “Flash” actors Grant Gustin, Danielle Panabaker and Carlos Valdes all appeared on “Arrow.” Appearing on both shows proved to be a little taxing on the actor, as he told Buzzfeed, but he did power through the long schedules and has learned how to handle the workload better.
“When I was doing the ‘Arrow’ crossover for the first time, I thought, I’m going to die at some point this season,” said Gustin. “But we pushed through to Christmas and that was the moment I was like, Oh good, I’m not going to die. And now I know for next season what it’s going to take, I know how to pace myself, and I don’t have to come out of the gate so strong. I put a lot of pressure on myself this time last year, and I’m not doing that to myself now because I trust Andrew [Kreisberg], Greg [Berlanti], Geoff [Johns], and my cast. We all do it together.”
Greg Berlanti takes a hands-on approach to all of the shows in his stable, and over the years has assembled a trusted team to help him execute — Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg and Ali Adler, among them — which DC Comics chief content officer Geoff Johns jokingly calls his “Justice League.”
“Honestly, I’m so reliant on others,” Berlanti says to Variety. “It’s the long-term relationships I’ve had that allow me to do multiple things, because you have a shorthand with these people.”
With a total of six shows now in production — the Debra Messing vehicle “Mysteries of Laura” on NBC, along with the CW’s hits “Arrow” (starring Stephen Amell) and “The Flash” (headlined by Grant Gustin), not to mention his upcoming feature “Pan” (due in October) — he’ll need superpowers of his own to manage his staggering workload.
But nervous network execs needn’t worry. The 42-year-old wunderkind says he discovered long ago — going back to his days on the WB’s “Dawson’s Creek,” where he had a meteoric rise to showrunner — what it takes to succeed in the role.
“I learned that I really rely on other writers — that I can break stories quickly, but I can’t write quickly,” he says. “I learned that it’s OK that I’m not great at everything, that there are a lot of things that I may never be as good at as some of the other people I hired. Don’t be threatened by that. Co-opt that. Be good at the stuff you’re good at, but also know what you’re not as strong at.”
So he focuses his time and energy on where he can make the most impact: developing stories, editing, casting. You’ll rarely find him on set.
“I don’t have to be on every phone call for everything that gets approved, but I need everybody to know — whether it’s a junior executive at a network, an actor, a production person or a department head on one of the shows — that they can always reach me,” he says.
His priority is always quality: “I don’t want to do more just to do more it if it’s not good,” he says. And the frustration, he admits, is that he can’t always be where things are going well — it’s the problems that draw his attention. And certainly, the debuting shows will be his focus.
“The first thing I’m thinking about in the morning, and the last thing I’m thinking about at night, are usually the newer ones, because you haven’t figured out the algorithm yet,” Berlanti says. “From the moment the shows get picked up until we have an episode that’s as good as the pilot, I’m usually stressed about how we can do it again.”
That comicbook shows are now a success seems a no-brainer, given that they’re all that seems to be scoring in movies, but “Arrow” was a smallscreen breakthrough. And everyone involved credits Berlanti, a self-professed comicbook geek. It was his passion for the source material that infused the show — along with its successor, “The Flash” — with its emotional heart, compelling narrative and whiz-bang visual effects that have stirred fans and critics alike.
“The first thing I always do is ask, ‘What is the show if you took away (super) powers?’ ” he says. “I only know, as a fan, what I would want to see.” Thanks to his track record, Berlanti has become DC’s go-to producer for its comicbook archive. Cue “Supergirl.”
A comics heroine has been long overdue — even Berlanti’s nieces have been nagging him — so when DC pitched him on the concept, he was intrigued. But rather than keep the show in the vein of what had been done before, he wanted to take a proportional leap. “With what we accomplished and learned from ‘The Flash,’ ” he says, “if we could do that on an even larger scale, on a bigger network, what would that look like?”
CBS, he reports, jumped at the chance. He says entertainment prexy Nina Tassler fell in love with “Supergirl” at the pitch meeting, so much so that she started to cry. “It didn’t matter at that point what they were going to pay for it,” he says. “That’s who you want buying the show.” (Despite the rumor mill, Berlanti says there was never a chance of the show moving to the CW. Plus, he adds, “We would never have been able to afford the kind of budget we have.”)
As with “The Flash,” Berlanti has insisted “Supergirl” invest heavily in visual effects, and Johns calls the money well spent.
“When people see the pilot, they’ll be blown away by what’s accomplished on television,” says the DC content topper. “But Greg knows that it’s not just about spectacle. It has to be about heart; it has to be about humor.”
Casting is paramount to Berlanti: He calls the show’s star, Melissa Benoist, the “Annie Hall” of superheroes.
“The most important decision you can make as a showrunner when you’re doing a pilot is who’s in it, and who’s directing it,” he says. “If we had not found her, I would have said, ‘I don’t want to make this.’ ”
MOVIE RUMOURS & NEWS
Wonder Woman is about to get hot and heavy with Chris Pine. Sources tell Variety the “Star Trek” actor is in negotiations to join Gal Gadot in the upcoming superhero pic for Warner Bros.
Pine would play Gadot’s love interest Steve Trevor in the origin story. Warner Bros. had no comment.
Patty Jenkins, who recently replaced Michelle MacLaren, is directing from a script by Jason Fuchs. “Wonder Woman” will be released on June 23, 2017.
Charles Roven is exec producing the DC Comics tentpole for Atlas Entertainment. Zack Snyder, director of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” is also producing.
In the comics, Steve Trevor was an intelligence officer in the United States Army during World War II whose plane crashed on Paradise Island, the isolated homeland of the Amazons. He was nursed back to health by the Amazon princess Diana, who fell in love with him and followed him when he returned to the outside world. There she became Wonder Woman (and also his co-worker, Diana Prince).
Rumors had suggested that Scott Eastwood had landed the part, but insiders tell that Eastwood was given a choice to test for the Trevor role or sign on for a guaranteed supporting part in “Suicide Squad,” which he opted to take.
Warners tested a handful of other actors but later decided to look at more high-profile names and go with a straight offer. Pine won over production execs and Gadot at his meeting, leading the studio to pursue him for the role.
Pine, having starred as Captain Kirk in the last two “Star Trek” movies, is no stranger to the fanboy world, but “Wonder Woman” will mark his first venture into cinema’s most popular genre and should lead to more opportunities in DC’s Justice League universe. Gadot’s Wonder Woman, of course, plays a key role in Snyder’s forthcoming “Batman v Superman,” which arrives next March.
The CAA-repped Pine is currently in production on the thriller “Comancheria” and will immediately jump into production on “Star Trek 3″ afterward. He can be seen next in “Z for Zacharia” this August and co-stars in the Disney adventure pic “The Finest Hours” bowing next year.
It’s safe to say we’ve seen a lot of great stuff from the Suicide Squad set in Toronto recently, including some high speed chases, and some fascinating scenes from Margot Robbie’s ‘Harley Quinn’, Jared Leto’s ‘Joker’ and a certain Caped Crusader too. Many fans have (somewhat prematurely) started to wonder whether the whole movie was going to be spoiled for them. Thankfully, the movie’s director David Ayer has come out on Twitter to put their fears to rest:
Well we survived the streets. Time to go dark now. Remember, only the tiniest glimpse has been exposed. Our surprises are intact. — David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 31, 2015
It seems like he’s also signalling the end of filming on the streets of Toronto. This would give merit to his claims that fans aren’t going to see much else from the movie – and that’s probably for the best! Be sure to give the director a follow on Twitter though, you never know what sort of BTS images he could tease fans with over the coming months!
Taking to the ShanlianOnBatman Podcast, Umberto Gonzalez has revealed (as previously reported by BadassDigest) that what he refers to as “the muscle” in Zack Snyder’s upcoming BATMAN v SUPERMAN is none other than the iconic ‘Superman’ villain ‘DOOMSDAY’. Along with letting fans know (at the 39:33 time-stamp) that the villain apparently looks “incredible”, Gonzalez also been told that the [SPOILERS] “DO YOU BLEED” dialogue uttered by Ben Affleck’s ‘Batman’ actually occurs during a dream sequence in the film [END SPOILERS].
Check out the podcast down below starting at the 38: 34 mark for the details via. Elmayimbe himself.
JoBlo’s Paul Shirey is reporting that Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice will indeed feature Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor suiting up in his trademark green/purple Warsuit on film!
According to Shirey, while the film’s initial conflict will unsurprisingly be between the film’s two titular heroes, Henry Cavill’s Superman and Ben Affleck’s Batman, the true main villain of the Zack Snyder-directed picture is actually Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor, which considering Luthor’s history, isn’t all that shocking. However, where this new Lex Luthor deviates from past iterations is that he will be the first ever depicted on screen to actually put on the Warsuit, an armor that Luthor has been seen wearing for decades in the comics. According to JoBlo’s sources, who have actually seen the Warsuit, the armor looks very comic-accurate, albeit with a slight DCCU touch. He isn’t sure how long Eisenberg will actually wear the armor, but he speculates that it will more likely than not be for at least part of the finale for a sure-to-be epic showdown with Superman.
It’s also not exactly known how Luthor acquires the Warsuit, but a popular theory is that he builds it with leftover Kryptonian technology, which may or may not include General Zod’s corpse, from Man Of Steel’s destructive finale. In addition to confirming that Eisenberg will definitely wear the suit, Shirey also corroborates the reports that Lex isn’t the only villain in the film, but he isn’t sure whether its Doomsday or another major villain like The Joker or Brainiac.
It was just a few years back that director Brad Peyton, fresh off the box office success of his second feature film, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, signed on to develop a feature film based on DC Comics’ intergalactic antihero, Lobo. Word even followed that the film, to be produced by Joel Silver, looked like it was going to star Journey‘s Dwayne Johnson as the Main Man. Although Johnson and Peyton did reteam, their second project together became this month’s disaster actioner San Andreas instead. Meanwhile, the big screen DC Universe was officially revealed last October without a Czarnian in sight.
“I think what’s happening with DC is that they have prioritized what they need to make first in order to kind of lay the foundations for the DC Universe,” Peyton told ComingSoon.net this weekend at the San Andreas junket. “This is what I believe is happening just from what they’ve been taking about. They’re talking about ‘Justice League,’ ‘Batman v Superman,’ and going into ‘Flash,’ ‘Wonder Woman,’ and ‘Aquaman.’ Those are kind of the pillars of that universe.”
Unfortunately for the project, it sounds like Lobo was put on the back burner at the studio, despite having a completed screenplay.
“It’s one of those things where, creatively, you and I get it, but there’s a lot of people that don’t quite get that,” Peyton said when asked if the success of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy helped bolster the chances of a film based on a similarly comedically irreverent space-traveling comic book character. “It’s a real uphill battle to talk people into spending a lot of money to do things correctly… I was really happy with the script, [though]. I talked with Dwayne about it. Joel Silver and I had a really amazing meeting about it. I did a rewrite of the script and was really, really excited for it. In their estimation, though, he wasn’t one of those main guys… That’s fair enough. I think that, to do any kind of comic book universe correctly, you do need to establish, ‘Here’s the tone. Here’s the main people.’ Then we can grow offshoots from there. With Marvel, they’re now doing smaller characters like ‘Ant-Man’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ They obviously had to start, though, with their big guns and set up ‘The Avengers.’ I kind of feel like that’s where DC is now. They’re setting that team up.”
Does that mean that Lobo could return somewhere down the line? Peyton seems optimistic at the prospect.
“I think there’s going to be a really amazing time for ‘Lobo’ and I think people are going to realize, certainly once they revisit it, what they’re sitting on,” he says. “But you never know. I’m really happy with the project and where we got it and fingers crossed it comes to fruition at some point.”
It was revealed last month that Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street) are writing Warner Bros. Pictures’ upcoming big screen take on DC Comics’ fastest man alive. Although it was already revealed that The Flash, set for release March 23, 2018, will star Ezra Miller as Central City’s scarlet speedster, Lord announced during The Hippojuice Podcast (via /Film), that The Perks of Being a Wallflower star will likely be playing a new iteration of Barry Allen as opposed to one of the other men who have, in the comics, appeared as the hero.
“We’re trying to break a story,” says Lord. “It’s interesting, because there’s a really popular TV show out there, and we’re trying to carve out space for the movie that’s apart from that. I think we’re doing alright. …I believe [our Flash] is going to be Barry Allen. …We’re more trying to stick with the cinematic universe… iI really is its own thing and is kind of a stand-alone movie. We’re just trying to think of the best story. I think you guys will like it, it’s kind of a different take on superhero stuff. I’m optimistic!”
Miller is expected to also appear as Allen in Justice League Part One and, although unconfirmed, could even make a debut in next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
New promo art for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has surfaced onlin, and it finally shows the two iconic heroes coming to blows. Some live-action stills would obviously be nice, but we’re probably still quite some time away from that, so this will do very nicely in the meantime. As you may have realised, both of these pay homage to some classic comic book images by David Finch and Jim Lee.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is currently promoting his new movie San Andreas, but he also took some time to share his excitement for his upcoming role as the Shazam villain Black Adam in the DC Cinematic Universe.
“I can’t wait,” Johnson told HeyUGuys at the San Andreas world premiere. “He’s a unique type of villain. When you start off as a slave, you’re not in a good mood! There’s a heavy wrath that a lot of people have to pay. But when it’s fuelled by a righteous anger if you will, like Black Adam, then you open up to what the character can be which I’m really excited about. That’s why he’s not just a straightforward bad guy.”
Johnson has gone on to confirm in a new interview that the Shazam movie will come sooner than expected.
This won’t come as much of a surprise as The Rock has previously implied to MTV in March that Shazam is not beholden to the 2019 release date WB gave it back in October of 2014. Now, The Rock is sounds much more confident.
“No, I don’t think it is going to be that far away,” The Rock said when asked if fans will have to wait until 2019 to see Shazam. “It’s going to be earlier than that. I don’t think 2019.”
The latest scoop from HeoricHollywood’s El Mayimbe (formerly of Latino Review) is that Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman is really old in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In fact, she’s been around for centuries! It sounds outlandish, but this actually lends itself to previous reports that the Wonder Woman film will be something of a prequel to the DC Cinematic Universe, with the Amazonian warrior’s solo outing being a Period Piece.
It will be interesting to see whether Snyder goes with Wonder Woman’s New 52 origin- that she’s half-Olympian God, the daughter of Zeus ( a female Hercules essentially).
Snyder could also opt for the pre-New 52 origin which details her origin as a clay statue given life by the Olympian Gods. The third option, is that Snyder comes up with a completely new origin story for Wonder Woman but that seems unlikely given Snyder’s penchant for remaining relatively close to the source material.
George Miller’s abandoned Justice League Mortal movie is one of the most mysterious comic book movies that never got made. While other canceled comic book movies have seen a lot of concept art surface online, no concept art for Justice League Mortal has ever been revealed. That is until now.
Australian director Ryan Unicomb sat down with Inside Film to discuss his vision.“I have always been fascinated with project, which would be in the same vein as 2013’s Jodorowsky’s Dune and this year’s The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, about a Superman movie that Tim Burton was to direct in the 1990s.” Unicomb is working on the documentary about George Miller’s abandoned Justice League movie, and the official twitter account for Miller’s Justice League Mortal documentary has just revealed the first three pieces of concept art ever shown for the film.
One piece of concept art shows what Aquaman’s costume would have looked like in the film, while the other two pieces of concept art show Wonder Woman in action. Also a concept sculpt of J’onn J’onzz the Martian Manhunter was released.
The Miller’s Justice League Mortal documentary hopes to feature never before seen artwork, interviews with some of the proposed cast and crew, and a behind the curtain look into what really happened to bring the blockbuster to its knees. The documentary plans to present a non-biased recount of the development, pre-production and untimely cancellation of the project as well as the long lasting effect it had on the Australian Film Industry.
The project is currently in development and hopes to begin filming later this year.
BOOM and there you go that wraps up another DC Delights for you lovely people! Be sure to check back next week for more!
This Sunday is chocked full of amazing spectacles to gaze upon for your pleasure, soul and possbly more! We have a Wonder Woman and Avengers VS Alien/Predator trailers, fan art showing us that the White Canary rises, a very anarchist Arrow, and of course more!
Ah Friday what a lovely day to talk DC tv and some movie news. This week we talk about the future of DC’s TV line-up from the likes of Arrow, Flash, Gotham, Constantine, and newcomers Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl! BUT as usual some movie news well movie pictures from Suicide Squad’s set and BVS’ Wonder Woman!
The Flash’s Danielle Panabaker had a Reddit AMA talking mostly about The Flash’s future. Here’s a summary of some of the more important information: – Tom Cavanagh (Harrison Wells) will be back in future seasons. – Killer Frost is coming. Danielle hints that she may show up in the season final. The costume has already been created. – At the end of the season final, Caitlin is terrified – The possibility of Caitlin crossing over to Legends Of Tomorrow has been discussed but is not official yet. – When asked to tease the season final she responded “The finale has lots of tears and lots of emotions. And it might be the end of the world for Team Flash…” – One word description of the final: Heart-Wrenching – Deleted scenes involve more Caitlin/Wells interaction and Caitlin/Iris/Cisco interaction. One of these scenes involves Wells suggesting that Caitlin take a job elsewhere, she declines. – Season 2 starts filming July 7 – There’s a wedding in the season final.
Now that the dust has settled on Arrow’s eventful Season 3 finale, fans have been left wondering about the crime-fighting future of one ‘John Diggle’ in particular. While the idea was briefly teased during a conversation between Diggle and his (former?) best pal Oliver Queen, David Ramsey has now confirmed that his character will indeed be operating under a mask next season.
Speaking to Comicbook.com at The CW’s annual upfronts presentation on Thursday, Ramsey stressed the importance of preserving Diggle’s secret identity while he’s out catching the bad guys. “I do think you need some kind of concealment,” he claimed, “And to that end, they are working on something. You will see something for Diggle next year, season 4. You will.”
But what mask will he wear? Earlier this year, there was a lot of speculation about Dig potentially taking up the mantle of a certain Green Lantern. Given the character’s close partnership with Green Arrow in the comics (albeit as the ‘Hal Jordan’ incarnation), the rumors did appear to carry some weight. However, Ramsey maintained that this was never the plan:
“Everyone wants to talk about John Stewart. Is it “John Stewart Diggle” or “John Diggle Stewart” or whatever, and will he be Green Lantern? Marc Guggenheim has said publicly that it’s not the way to go right now. But people are still talking about it… I think they’ve taken great strides to making John Diggle part of the lexicon, and that’s an important thing. I don’t think you want to abandon that… I think there’s something very normal about him that’s part of the appeal. I think if you put a mask on him as part of the Green Lantern Corps, and that’s wonderful by the way – John Stewart is a wonderful character – but you lose some of that. You lose part of the “everyguy” character.”
While he may have ruled out Green Lantern, Ramsey did go on to name-drop a few other (lesser known) DC Comics heroes as potential secret identity candidates – including the likes of ‘Vigilante’ and ‘The Guardian’.
DC Comics fans are still mourning the recent cancellation of NBC’s “Constantine,“ which starred Matt Ryan as the titular occult detective — but could the character live on through another DC television series, like The CW’s “Arrow”?
The supernatural drama is produced by Warner Bros. Television — the studio behind The CW’s “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “iZombie” and newly picked up “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” (not to mention CBS’ “Supergirl,” and Fox’s “Gotham” and “Lucifer“) which could pave the way for a potential crossover. However, WBTV is currently trying to find a new network home for “Constantine,” which would stymie any cameo plans.
“Arrow” showrunner Marc Guggenheim admitted that “there’s a lot of desire on everyone’s part” to bring the character into the shared DC TV universe he created with Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti, telling Variety, “It would be wonderful and we certainly have a million ideas — it’s hard for me to say mainly because A: it’s not my decision to make and B: with ‘Constantine’ being shopped around to other networks… it’s really hard to make plans when a show’s kind of in limbo.”
Even The Arrow himself, Stephen Amell, was seemingly eager for a crossover between the two properties before NBC swung the ax. During a recent panel at Wizard World Philadelphia Comic-Con, Amell spoke about the interconnected nature of the DC TV universe.
“‘Constantine’ was an NBC show. I’m on The CW. I had had discussions with DC — so not NBC, not CW — but with DC Entertainment about guest starring on ‘Constantine’ when it was still on the air. And that was and is still on the table,” Amell said, according to ComicBook.com. “The reason that I was going to guest star on ‘Constantine,’ at least the idea that we were throwing around, was he’s an expert when it comes to the Lazarus Pit, which is now something that is a part of and will continue to be a part of ‘Arrow.’”
While John Constantine would arguably be a natural addition to the “Arrow” universe given the comic book character’s familiarity with supernatural phenomena, Guggenheim cautioned, “a lot of the pieces are in place, except for that one final piece, which is: what’s the fate of ‘Constantine’? That’s the tricky thing. But it comes up in the writers’ room constantly — we have a number of ideas; one idea that’s particularly exciting to me. We’re in a little bit of a wait-and-see mode, like you guys are.”
Speaking of crossovers!
Crossover episodes between its hit superhero shows — “The Flash” and “Arrow” — have fueled the CW’s success, and network president Mark Pedowitz promises there will be more to come. “We’ll be doing them as special events in the fourth quarter,” he told ad buyers at the CW’s upfront presentation.
With yet more characters from the DC Comics universe entering the CW schedule with the pickup of “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” the plan is for even more creative storytelling, especially since the shows will all be in the hands of executive producer Greg Berlanti and his team, including EPs Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg.
“We do have crossovers planned,” says DC chief content officer Geoff Johns. “The point of building these three shows out on the CW network is we can make a comic book world. That’s really the secret formula starting to emerge on television for the first time.”
Johns says the plan is for the characters to weave in and out of storylines, in order to help and challenge one another. “The shows are acting like monthly comic books by doing so,” he notes.
Indeed, Stephen Amell’s “Arrow” and Grant Gustin’s “The Flash” appear prominently in the trailer for “Legends of Tomorrow.”
But there’s another DC character being introduced to the small screen this fall who might have to sit out all the crossover fun — at least for now.
Of CBS’ hotly anticipated “Supergirl,” “The network has said publicly at this point they’re going to keep her to themselves,” says Berlanti. “I always approach the shows as a fan first, so I would love to see (a crossover). I think in success, all things are possible. But there’s a lot that would have to happen before everybody might say yes to that.”
On the heels of CBS ordering Supergirl to series, Digital Spy spoke to cast member David Harewood (Homeland), who plays DEO (Department of Extra-Normal Operations) agent Hank Henshaw.
In the comics (pre-New 52), Hank has a much different background. He’s an astronaut that believes catastrophic events that plague him and his crew are Superman’s fault. Before his injuries take his life he transfers his consciousness into Superman’s birthing matrix, becoming Cyborg Superman.
Harewood well aware of Henshaw’s comic backstory. “Hank Henshaw, yes, who ends up becoming Cyborg Superman in the comics, battling Superman,” Harewood told Digital Spy when they brought up that who he is playing in the show. “So I’m looking forward to that.”
“He’s a bit of a supervillain,” Harewood teased. “He seems pretty indestructible. Which I kind of like because I keep getting blown up in these things. I’m kind of looking forward to being indestructible.”
Ciara Renee is new to the DC Universe on screen, but the actress revealed she’s a longtime fan of the comics and the characters who will grow into Legends on the show during a red carpet interview with ComicBook.com on Thursday. Despite the trailer that shows a CGI Hawkgirl soaring above the city, Renee hasn’t gotten to actually put on the wings of Hawkgirl just yet. It’s clear from her appearance on the red carpet Thursday, though, that she can’t wait for Kendra Saunders to take flight.
Ciara, Hawkgirl is a very different kind of superhero than what we’ve seen in this CW/DC Universe so far. What’s the inital appeal to you about playing a character like this?
Ciara Renee: I think the fact that she’s a girl is amazing! We don’t see many superheroines, so it’s going to be great to see a couple more bolstering the team. And, you know, she can fly! Which is not half bad! (laughs)
In the comics and even on the Justice League animated series, Hawkgirl has usually been a sort of balls-to-the-wall take nothing from anybody kind of character. Is that something you’re looking to bring to her on Legends?
CR: Oh yeah, absolutely. It’s interesting, because I think we’re finding her before she really understands her powers and her purpose. So she’s not necessarily a balls-to-the-wall human just yet, but when she gets angry… well you’ll see! (laughs)
Rumor has it we’ll see you Tuesday night on the season finale of The Flash. What was it like getting to tease the character a little bit before some of the other cast?
CR: Right! It was super cool. It was kind of a last minute thing. I signed on for the show, and they said, “Let’s try this!” and I just said, “Absolutely!” I’m excited to see it and how that turned out.
Did you get to put on the wings?
CR: No, we don’t have that costume yet, sadly. We’re still waiting for that, so not yet.
Are you hoping for the full beaked mask and all?
CR: I love her costume! I think it’s hot, man! I’ll take any part of it, wings and beak and everything.
What’s the general appeal to you of coming into the DC Universe and this new family of comic book shows?
CR: It’s so cool. It’s such a great community, and the fans are so passionate and excited about this. I was such a nerd as a kid; I watched Justice League all the time, and Justice League Unlimited, and Batman and Superman; I loved those, I love all those cartoons. So it’s really cool to be playing the real life version of one of the coolest characters on those shows.
When Morena Baccarin (Deadpool) first debuted as Dr. Leslie Thompkins, many didn’t expect her to stick around for too long, but with Erin Richards’ Barbara Kean falling out of favor with fans, Baccarin received an expanded role as her relationship with Ben McKenzie’s Jim Gordon evolved over the course of the latter half of the show’s freshman season. And with Barbara’s status, after her attack on Lee in the season finale, a little uncertain, it looks like Gordon will have the nice doctor to keep him company for a good while longer.
Earlier this week, Fox officially announced that their Batman prequel drama Gotham has decided to exercise Baccarin’s option to promote her from recurring status to a series regular.
At the CW Upfronts in New York Thursday, ComicBook.com chatted with actor Carlos Valdes about his fan-favorite character, some of those twists and turns, and how he likes feeling the vibes as Cisco.
Carlos, did you know just how far Cisco would come in season one? I feel like on a personal level, he had a lot of character development and growth.
Carlos Valdes: Yeah, absolutely. You know, with this show, we don’t know specifically what events are going to shape these characters into their ultimate trajectories, their end games so-to-speak, but we do know the sign posts. Do you know what I mean? We do know the big markers for the plot.
Like, we knew that Harrison Wells was really Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash…
Wait, you knew that from the very beginning?
CV: Mm-hmm!
So who does Cisco want to interact more with in season two?
CV: Umm, you know, honestly, I love the scenes where Cisco and Joe West get to play around. I love playing off of Jesse L. Martin; he’s the best. I don’t often get scenes with him; I do every now and then, and when we do, we get along like gangbusters. I think there’s a really nice dynamic there between Joe West and Cisco. I’d love to work with Jesse a bit more.
It’s so much fun for fans every time that you get to reveal the name of a villain; comic book fans are just waiting for those ridiculous, iconic names to be said on screen. What’s that like for you, getting to reveal the icons and have that as part of your character?
CV: Well, you know, I have to give the credit first to the comic book writers who gave them those names 50 years ago, 75 years ago.
But it’s an honor. It really is! I mean, first of all, the writers came up with a really neat convention, you know? To justify these names, they have Cisco coming up with them with his unusual style, and I think that works really well. I think they did something smart and I’m trying to do it justice as best as I can. It’s an honor.
There have been some cool moments and nods to Cisco’s comic book alter ego, is that something you’re vibing on, getting to do that in the future?
CV: That wasn’t very subtle, Lucas. (laughs)
(laughs) To be super obvious and puntacular…
CV: I think, yeah, that’d be really nice. I can tease that fans can expect some big questions about the Vibe mythology to be answered in the next episode, the season finale here.
Yeah, we’ve been waiting since that mid-season trailer, where we saw that visor…
CV: Yeah! It looks good, right? You’d think, right? They’re kind of giving you the lollipop, but they’re not really giving it to you, they’re just holding it in front of your face.
What is the most surprising thing for you about coming into this DC Comics TV Universe?
CV: The most surprising thing. Huh. The most surprising thing is how supportive the network and the team are of the entire effort. We are living in an age where superhero media is huge. It’s easy for that to become stale, or become a fad, but I think we’ve kept it going strong in terms of fans’ interest because we’ve given it care, and we’ve given it dimension. We’ve given it something unique and different. I think that’s what has made the show such a success, and I’m really happy to be a part of it!
Now that you’ve had a full season to really build this character and get comfortable with him, what are some things you’re personally hoping for, for Cisco, as the show continues into season 2 and beyond?
CV: I hope he continues having romantic quandaries! You know what I mean?
That was fun this week, for sure.
CV: Those are really fun to play, because they’re an added dimension in his trajectory of growth. If he learns more about his romantic side, I think that’d be really fun to see.
Filming is still going strong this weekend for Suicide Squad in Toronto, Canada, and Just Jared has just bagged the most recent photos from the not-so-secret set. Offering yet another look at Will Smith and Margot Robbie in costume as Deadshot and Harley Quinn, respectively, these photos show the pair getting pretty close during filming as well as in-between takes. In addition, we also have another grainy look at Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag.
More photos have also surfaced online from the Suicide Squad shoot and they feature more of Will Smith being quite the gentlemen as Deadshot, as well as Margot Robbie seemingly putting on quite a show in the rain as Harley Quinn. There’s also a good look at Jay Hernandez as El Diablo.
Suicide Squad director/screenwriter David Ayer (Fury) caught many people by surprise when he announce that Batman foe Killer Croc (aka Waylon Jones) was joining his film. That news came with the announcement that Lost and Oz actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje would portray him. Then the cast the photo was released at was even more shocking to see that Killer Croc was being done with practical makeup effects, not CGI as many had assumed.
Welp, now we can see even more of that fantastic makeup design with this full-body shot of the reptilian villain-turned-hero.
The latest piece of promotional artwork from Umberto Gonzalez (formerly El Mayimbe) gives us another awesome look at Wonder Woman, presumably close to how she’ll appear when played by the lovely Gal Gadot in Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. She’s sans cape this time, but as you can see she appears to be in the process of blocking a hail of gunfire with her gauntlets.
Ah yes another Friday another DC Delights, this week’s edition is chocked full of DC’s TV future thanks to Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow, some set photos of Suicide Squad, why Hardy left, and mor BVS stuff! So let’s crack on with it!!!
CBS has officially given the greenlight to the first season of “Supergirl,” set to star Melissa Benoist in the title role. The precise number of episodes has not yet been revealed, but the pilot is expected to debut on the network later this year.
Benoist leads a cast that includes Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen, Laura Benanti as Alura Zor-El, Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant, Chyler Leigh as Alexandra “Alex” Danvers, Jeremy Jordan as Winslow “Winn” Schott, David Harewood as Hank Henshaw and, in mystery roles, Dean Cain and Helen Slater.
Hailing from Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Productions (who also produce the hit DC Comics series “Arrow” and “The Flash” for The CW), “Supergirl” is based on the characters from DC Comics and centers on Kara Zor-El, who comes to Earth after escaping the destruction of Krypton. After many years hiding her abilities, she joins the ranks of her cousin Superman to become the hero she was meant to be.
The pilot episode of “Supergirl” was written by Ali Adler (“No Ordinary Family”) and Greg Berlanti (“Arrow,” “The Flash”). They will also executive produce along with Sarah Schechter and Warner Bros. TV.
The CW has confirmed that they’ve given a full series order to DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. A pilot hasn’t even been shot yet, but they’re clearly expecting it to be as big a hit as Arrow and The Flash. The superhero team-up will star Wentworth Miller (Leonard Snart/Captain Cold), Dominic Purcell (Mick Rory/Heatwave), and Victor Garber (Dr. Martin Stein/one half of Firestorm) from The Flash, along with Arrow’s Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer/the Atom and Caity Lotz, presumably returning as Sara Lance/The Canary. New additions include Ciara Renee, Franz Drameh, and Arthur Darvill.
According to the official synopsis, “When heroes alone are not enough … the world needs legends. Having seen the future, one he will desperately try to prevent from happening, time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter is tasked with assembling a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront an unstoppable threat — one in which not only is the planet at stake, but all of time itself. Can this ragtag team defeat an immortal threat unlike anything they have ever known?”
A trailer has been shot for the spinoff which is expected to be shown at the upfronts.
Behind the scenes, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is executive produced by Arrow creators Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim.
Tom Hardy recently was forced to fall out of Suicide Squad, following news that The Revenant’s production schedule expanded extensively. But the actor, whose production company is based out of Warner Bros., revealed to Collider that he is working on another adaptation with DC Comics. He’s rather vague about it, but drops some hints as to what it is.
I actually got something cooking with Warner Bros. which is also a comic book, it’s a DC thing which is kind of… It’s really good actually, it contains elements of all kinds of stuff. From Ocean’s Eleven, to Batman, you can get all the wrappers out and it would be a big, really cool, Technicolor, Pulp Fiction…It’s a psychological [frick]fest, it’s absolutely awesome. It’s as if you would take Transmetropolitan and make it happen, but it’s not that out there it’s something which is much more real world. It could be like Heat, it could be [frick]ing awesome… try and guess.
He goes on to mention that it’s not a movie… but it might be a TV series and a movie.
It’s real estate, it’s PRIME real estate which is sitting there right under everybody’s nose that no one’s really thought about yet and it goes TV and movie, it’s awesome. I can’t believe that nobody has even –I know they thought of it but no one has actually blown life into it yet.
In a completely different interview with Collider Hardy talk about his leave from the Suicide Squad project, and his fondness for the script and concept for Suicide Squad (Note: “alley” means “right up there with the best”):
“Warner Bros. is my home studio and I love them so I was really bummed out. I wanted to work on that and I know the script is really fucking alley and I also know what’s gonna happen with The Joker and Harley Quinn in that; I won’t give away too much…it’s fucking alley. And that whole territory is something that I would certainly—I mean, everybody loves The Joker. Everybody loves The Joker. Will Smith is a dope guy, but everybody loves The Joker and that’s gonna, I think, be a very important film for fans.”
While some rumors surfaced that Hardy was unhappy with the direction of the script and that’s why he dropped out of Suicide Squad, the actor reveals that schedule overruns on The Revenant are really and truly to blame:
“There’s a very practical element as to why I’ve missed out on that foray, which is because Alejandro [G. Inarritu] has overshot by three months in Calgary, so we’ve got to go back out to Patagonia or Alaska to continue shooting The Revenant which has turned into a much bigger beast than we thought, but that also looks exceptional.”
The Revenant is Inarritu’s 1800s-set revenge drama about frontiersmen, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing a man left for dead by Hardy’s character. The picture is, of course, Inarritu’s follow-up to winning Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, but even though it started shooting last September and is set for release this December, it won’t be fully wrapped until this summer due to issues with the weather:
“Literally we wrapped in Calgary for now until we go back in July. It would have smashed the two, I would’ve had a beard. It was just not gonna happen so I got ass-slammed technically out of Suicide Squad, gutted, so I had to hand it over to Joel Kinnaman, who will do an amazing job. It’s just I got bumped out, and that’s cool that’s the way it is.”
After sharing Captain America: Civil War promotional artwork throughout the week, El Mayimbe, has returned to Instagram with a new Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice exclusive. The former Latino Review writer has shared yet another look at Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) with her cape as she’ll appear next year in the much-anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice stars Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, with Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, and Holly Hunter. The film, written by Chris Terrio from David S. Goyer’s screenplay, and directed by Zack Snyder, hits March 25, 2016!
The ensemble cast and crew of Suicide Squad once again took over the streets of Toronto, Canada, which is doubling for Midway City in the DC Comics adaptation. And now the latest photos and videos from the shoot feature the Task Force X making a big entrance before taking down an unknown target while surrounded by the army. Offering a new look at Will Smith (Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Scott Eastwood, Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), with Adam Beach (Slipknot), Karen Fukuhara (Katana), and Jay Hernandez (El Diablo).Check out more of Task Force X in action below via new photos and videos, as well as some promising thoughts from Suicide Squad writer/director David Ayer.
“It’s just so exciting to bring a show like this to the street and get out in the real world with the real people” said David Ayer during an exclusive interview with Entertainment City on-set yesterday. “I’m all about real drama, real performance, and real people, so my twist on this is I’m creating a family a brotherhood here. I’m creating a very real chemistry and I have this incredible ensemble of actors led by Will Smith, who are basically playing dimensional characters with lives and souls.” Ayer then said that working with the actors is so far the most gratifying aspect of directing the highly-anticipated DC Comics adaptation. “When you feel the performance come through, and the chemistry come through, that can’t be beat,” he added.
Directed by David Ayer from his script, Suicide Squad stars Will Smith (Deadshot), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Jared Leto (the Joker), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jai Courtney (Boomerang), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Cara Delevingne (Enchantress), Jessie Eisenberg (Lex Luthor), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), with Raymond Olubawale (King Shark), Jay Hernandez, Ike Barinholtz, Jim Parrack, Adam Beach, and Scott Eastwood. The film releases on August 5, 2016!
Well thank you all for reading this and if possible go share this with your friends! But of course check back next Friday for another DC Delights!
http://widgets.ign.com/video/embed/content.html?url=http://www.ign.com/videos/2015/04/26/joss-whedon-still-interested-in-directing-a-dc-movie-ign-news Joss Whedon has made it clear both before and during promotion for Avengers: Age of Ultron that the sequel will be his last Marvel movie for the forseeable future. He’s not bluffing either, as Joe and Anthony Russo were recently confirmed as helming the two-part Avengers: Infinity War. However, while Whedon has been talking a lot about creating something original, the filmmaker tells IGN that he’s more than ready to take a crack at a DC Comics adaptaion. “Sure. I’d be like ‘I have all these joke ideas.’ And they’d be like ‘No, we don’t do that here,'” he teased, before adding: “I desperately wanted to do a Batman film – who doesn’t? And I wanted to do Wonder Woman. I was a Marvel kid growing up, but I was always DC-curious. And I see myself on the spectrum in between.” A new Batman movie is exected at some point in the next few years, and Warner Bros. would be wise to consider Whedon for the job, even if he does want to inject some humour into the Caped Crusader’s world. After all, would that really be such a bad thing?
As for Wonder Woman – a movie which the director was developing back in 2005 – it doesn’t sound like he has any interest in taking over from Michelle MacLaren, but feigned grief at the prospect of someone other than him taking the helm. “I don’t care who she’s seeing now. We don’t talk much. And I wish her well! I worked really hard on that movie and it meant a lot, but I don’t know if what I was trying to do would fit in with what their vision is. I’m excited to see it so I just want them to make it so I can see it!”
In a recent interview, Henry Cavill has clarified that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is NOT a Man of Steel sequel. Seems plain as day, but many people have been clinging to the belief Batman v Superman is a sequel to Man of Steel.
MTV’s Josh Horowitz referred to it as a Superman sequel and Cavill quickly corrected him. “I wouldn’t call this a Superman sequel,” Cavill told Horowitz at CinemaCon 2015. “This is Batman v Superman, so it is a separate entity all together. It’s introducing the Batman (Ben Affleck) character and expanding upon the universe. Which was kicked off by Man of Steel.
Cavill thinks the film could experience some changes when it is edited in post but as of right now it is “definitely an introduction of the character (Batman), and ultimately the introduction of Justice League.”
Listen to Henry’s comments in the video below.
Collider shared a bit of their interview with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. While the two were in town to promote their upcoming Guy Ritchie film, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., as a huge fan of Man of Steel I had to also talk to Cavill about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While I knew he’d be guarded, I needed to try.As you’ll see in the video below, Collider started by trying to get Cavill to confirm he’d be at Comic-Con and then they attempted to ask about the experience of making Batman v Superman and how it differed from Man of Steel. However, that went nowhere. But after they asked that question, Collider handed the interview over to Armie Hammer who then proceeded to ask Cavill his own Batman v Superman questions.
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Thanks to Batman-News, we have some more detailed images (and video) of the Batmobile which will be featured in next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The most intriguing part of this take on the vehicle is that machine gun on the front, and you can get your best look at it right here!
Want an even closer look at Wonder Woman’s costume from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? How about Batman and Superman? Well, you’ll love these photos and video which offer up exactly that, including a new look at the Lasso of Truth, the Caped Crusader’s utility belt, and much more.
Just days after losing a director for Wonder Woman, Warners has quickly found another filmmaker to pick up the reins on the high-profile project.
Patty Jenkins, who at one point was to direct Thor 2 for rival Marvel Studios, has closed a deal to helm Warner Bros.’ female superhero movie.
Warners moved at lightning speed to sew up another director after parting ways Monday with Michelle MacLaren, the experienced TV director and producer who was to have made her feature directorial debut with Wonder Woman. Creative differences were cited as the reasons for MacLaren’s departure.
Selecting Jenkins helps Warners avoid what some saw as a gender bias against women directors helming superhero tentpoles. Ironically, Jenkins would have been the first female director on a Marvel movie if she had continued on Thor 2. She will now become the first female director to handle a big project in Warner’s developing DC universe.
The studio needed to move quickly in order not to lose momentum on the project, which has been slotted for 2017 and has Gal Gadot attached to star.
Jenkins is also another experienced TV filmmaker, although she actually got her start in movies. Her debut film was Monster, the indie that won Charlize Theron a best acting Oscar. But showing how hard the film world can be for female directors, Jenkins has had a tough time finding a follow-up feature. She did, however, make a mark in TV, including directing the pilot for AMC’s acclaimed crime drama The Killing.
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will be in theaters on March 25th, 2016; Suicide Squad on August 5th, 2016; Wonder Woman – June 23rd, 2017; Justice League – November 17th, 2017; The Flash – March 23rd, 2018; Aquaman – July 27th, 2018; Shazam – April 5th, 2019; Justice League 2 – June 14th, 2019; Cyborg – April 3rd, 2020; Green Lantern – June 19th, 2020.
The dreaded “creative differences” bug has struck again. Warner Bros’ said that Wonder Woman director Michelle MacLaren has left the high-profile project. “Given creative differences, Warner Bros. and Michelle MacLaren have decided not to move forward with plans to develop and direct Wonder Woman together,” the studio said in a statement. The veteran TV helmer of such shows as Better Call Saul, Game Of Thrones, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad was to have made her feature directing debut on the tentpole starring Gal Gadot.
The film will continue Warners’ DC superhero universe after Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and David Ayer’s Suicide Squad in 2016, though no release date is set. Now there’s an open director’s chair on a studio superhero film. Don’t expect it to remain unoccupied for long.
Could this mean a change in studio for MacLaren, instead of Warner maybe Marvel? This pure speculation on my part but Marvel are looking for a female director for their Captain Marvel flick. So you know stuff can happen!
Latino-Review’s @umbertogonzalez has shared another DC Cinematic Universe tidbit, this time in relation to Wonder Woman’s portrayal in her upcoming solo outing. If the movie is indeed set during World War I, it makes sense that Diana will go through vastly different costumes as she acclimates to life away from Themyscira. However, will she have certain suits for certain missions? It sounds possible anyway. Check out the details below!
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