Here’s the latest geek-tastic film/TV news:
1. ARROW
Brandon Routh Back in Superhero Mode, Will Play the Atom on Arrow (Deadline)
Get the Superman Returns jokes out of the way right now. Brandon Routh has joined the season 3 cast of Arrow, signed up for as many as 14 episodes, playing “Ray Palmer, a scientist and inventor who will play an unexpected role in the lives of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak as the new owner of Queen Consolidated.” Deadline hears that he’ll be a love interest for Felicity.
Routh scored a similar recurring gig on Chuck, coming in as a new authority figure who romanced the leading girl much to the chagrin of the leading man. You know, your classic eventual odd-man out in the TV love triangle (I know, I know, Oliver and Felicity are totally wrong/totally right for each other, take your pick).
On Chuck, Routh’s character turned into the season’s secret big bad. That seems unlikely to happen again with Arrow because in the comics Ray Palmer is actually the superhero The Atom, who can shrink down to a sub-atomic size. You can read all about the character’s comic book history at Wikipedia (e.g., he’s been around since 1962), and then quickly start to wonder how exactly Arrow is going to work a superhero who “can shrink down to be teency, tiny” into its Nolan-esque world. This will be the Atom’s live-action debut. Here he is in Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Dr. Cox from Scrubs:
2. BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN
A Very Different Batsuit Teased (MoviePilot)
Ben Affleck is playing Batman. Kevin Smith loves Batman. Kevin Smith is good friends with Affleck and Zack Snyder. Kevin Smith has a crap-ton of podcasts. Kevin Smith likes to talk. Add it all up and you get the little gift of slowly leaked, teasing spoilers that keeps on giving.
The latest comes from the Hollywood Babble-On podcast, in which Smith revealed that the Affleck/Batman photo we’ve all seen is not the one he’d previously been shown. In the photo he saw, Affleck’s Batman had no body armor, and the coloring of the costume was identical to Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns:
Plus, Smith is re-iterating that there will likely be multiple batsuits in the film.
Unless we’re talking Joel Schumacher-level extremes I’m not one who obsesses over every minute detail of a superhero’s costume in a comic book movie. I respond more to the tone (e.g., Are they having fun with it? Taking themselves a little too seriously?) indicated by early photos of our hero in costume, and so far Batman Vs. Superman is clearly doubling down on the dourness of Man of Steel. That being said, as cool as the Blue/Grey batsuit looks on the page the films made the switch to all-black because that simply made more sense for someone attempting to disappear into shadows. However, blue/grey would be something new.
Did Warner Bros. Hire Kevin Smith To Write And Leak A Fake Script For Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice? (WeGotThisCovered)
A shooting script for Batman Vs. Superman leaked online. Now, someone claiming to be a WB employee says the leaked script is a complete fake they intentionally leaked to throw off internet “news” sites. It’s claimed that the LatinoReview report about the 4 additional villains in the film is based upon the fake script. To make matters worse, this fake script was apparently written by Kevin Smith, who came up with the entire idea to create a bogus script in the first place.
There are those who totally buy this while openly wondering exactly how much a studio would pay someone to write a fake script like that. There are also those who think that this is all actually a smokescreen to create doubt since what leaked was their actual script.
3. DOCTOR WHO
Doctor Who Scripts Leaked, BBC Worldwide Apologizes (TheHollywoodReporter)
I saw a funny video yesterday in which Hulk Hogan was showered with chants of “You Fucked Up! You Fucked Up!” by Wrestlemania 30‘s audience after he pulled a Spinal Tap and forgot where he was, referring to the arena as the Silverdome when in fact it was the Superdome.
Well, in that same spirit the BBC deserves its own “You F’ed Up” chants at this point after somehow letting 5 of Doctor Who‘s season 8 scripts (specifically the season premiere in 4 others) leak online. The scripts were sent to BBC’s new Latin American offices located in Miami to be translated. Somebody along the line screwed up because now the BBC is begging us to refrain from sharing any of the spoilers from the scripts, “We know only too well that Doctor Who fans are the best in the world, and we thank them for their help with this and their continued loyalty.”
Say it with me now: I will not go and find these leaked scripts online, I will not go and find these leaked scripts online, I will not go and find these leaked scripts…What do you mean you’ve already found them? Were you even listening?
4. X-MEN
X-Men: Days Of Future Past Extended Version Coming Later This Year (CinemaBlend)
Behold, the Tweet we can all make way too much out of:
@SheenaTylor2 @BryanSinger @Kinberg @ShuDonner @20thcenturyfox yes ! Coming later this year.—
Lauren Shuler Donner (@ShuDonner) June 26, 2014
Days of Future Past’s screenwriter Simon Kinberg previously told us about the big 10-minute sequence cut from the movie. In the version we saw, once Kitty Pryde is cut by Wolverine she pretty much just powers through it, bleeding to death the entire time. In the original version, Magneto (the Ian McKellan version) and Iceman actually left that Chinese temple to go and rescue Rogue from some mutant holding facility so that she could use her ability to transfer Wolverine’s healing power to Kitty.
Kinberg said to look for that footage as a deleted scene on the Blu-Ray, and now Donner hints they might have gone one further and created a Director’s Cut. A theatrical re-release is not totally out of the question (if Anchorman 2 can do it…), but Donner’s probably just referring to a special edition Blu-Ray due out in time for Christmas.
Now you know, and knowing…wait for it…is half the battle.