Voices From Krypton

FROM THE WATCHTOWER

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly has the most substantial story on the Justice League film to date. Part of their coverage includes the following: "Sources say that Warner Bros. was prompted to move quickly on Justice League by three factors: a screenplay that 'they flipped out over;' an open spot in their summer 2009 calendar; and the increasing probability of an industry-wide strike that would shut down all productions by next July. EW has obtained an early version of the script which was written by Kieran and Michele Mulroney and what we've seen remains faithful to the comic book that first appeared in 1960. (Stop reading if you're spoiler-phobic.) All seven original members of the Justice League, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter, are featured in an origins story about the superhero conglomerate. The plot revolves around villainous businessman Maxwell Lord and involves cyborgs called OMACs (One-Man Army Corps), who can take over humans and turn them into killing machines. There are epic battle scenes between Superman and Batman, as well as Superman and Wonder Woman, and League could spawn a slew of additional franchises if it's successful."
   The article mentions the fact it isn't likely that either Christian Bale or Brandon Routh would reprise their roles of, respectively, Batman and Superman; notes director Christopher Nolan's unhappiness over this film happening while he's involved with the Batman franchise; points out that Man of Steel is still in development and emphasizes the studio's belief that Justice League can represent something of a "parallel universe" to the individual superhero franchises they're in the midst of or developing. Former Justice League writer Brad Meltzer tells the mag, ""Except for The Watchmen and Dark Knight, nothing is causing more nerd excitement than Justice League."
   Adds the Sydney Morning Herald, "The phones have been ringing hot around the the palatial Camp Cove home of the producer/director George Miller this week as more details leak of his mega-budget Justice League of America film to be shot in Sydney. Filming on the Warner Bros all-star superhero blockbuster is scheduled to begin in February, with much of the action happening at Fox Studios... Insiders say the shoot will run for about three to four months in Sydney. Comic book fan websites have been buzzing with rumours about JLA, some claiming to have leaked details of the film's script with rumours that Wonder Woman - an Amazonian princess and a founding member of the Justice League in comic lore - could turn to the dark side in the film. No doubt her golden Lasso of Truth will come in handy if she hits the Sydney cocktail circuit."

THE WELLING REPORT

Tom Welling as Superman is the Justice League rumor that refuses to die. The latest is that the problem is that Smallville's production schedule will overlap with that of Justice League's. Rumors say that negotiations continue and have reached a point where Smallville executive producers Al Gough and Miles Millar have expressed a desire to work things out if they are made executive producers on Justice League as well as spin-off Superman films and a potential reboot of Supergirl, provided the character is a success on Smallville. Commenting exclusively to Justice League On Film, Al Gough laughs, "That would be great... if any of it were actually true."
FROM THE WATCHTOWER: Elsewhere in the world of Justice League, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Jessica Biel has had second thoughts about pursuing the role of Wonder Woman. Additionally, according to Back Row Chatter, the latest actor to audition for the role of John Stewart (a.k.a. Green Lantern) is Transformers' Tyrese Gibson.

BEHIND THE SCENES: "MOONLIGHT"

With the vampire P.I. drama Moonlight premiering tonight at 9PM on CBS, Vampires & Slayers continues its behind the scenes coverage of the show with the first part of our exclusive interview with co-executive producers Harry Werksman and Gabrielle Stanton. Spread the word about the show, which will be getting stronger week-to-week.

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION AT 20: PRODUCER ROBERT LEWIN

During the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the joke was that Paramount should have installed a revolving door at the studio gates to make way for the arrival and departure of the show's various producers. One of those producers was the late Robert Lewin, who in this intreview conducted 20 years ago reveals some of the challenges that the show's staff faced.

HARRY POTTER PRODUCER DAVID HEYMAN ON "THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE"

David Heyman is the producer who first recognized the potential in J.K. Rowling's initial Harry Potter novel, and he is the one who has had a primary role in guiding the series to the screen. In this interview  he discusses the return of Order of the Phoenix director David Yates on film number six, The Half-Blood Prince, revealing what he feels Yates will bring that is different to this production. 

FROM THE WATCHTOWER

New morning, new tales of Justice League. According to iesb.net 30 Days of Night director David Slade spent several weeks working on the project. "Here is the skinny," offers the site. "David was indeed hired to direct Justice League and was officially on board for three weeks office and everything. But in traditional Hollywood fashion, after the budget ballooned to what we have been told north of $160 milion, the studio execs wanted to go with a 'safe' director and decided on George Miller. Slade says there are no hard feelings."
    The same article also makes mention of the fact that rapper Clifford Joseph Harris  Jr. had read for the role of the film's Green Lantern, John Stewart. Whether this means that yesterday's item that the G.L. in the film will start off as Hal Jordan and become Stewart part-way through is anyone's guess at this point.
   Over at the Countingdown.com JL forum,  infamous_emijayne offers some words of warning:  "What some need to understand is the studio has actually provided false rumors as well as stretched truths to gauge reaction from fans. It's putting a strain on many people who provide scoops and inside information and created a confusion among fans. "

FROM THE WATCHTOWER

It seems like every day is met with a new series of rumors about Justice League. While much of today's "news" is centered around the film's supposed storyline, which grafts together elements from different comics, there has been more talk of characters and casting. For instance, one aintitcool poster explains that an actor named Eddie Cibrian was being seriously considered for the role of Superman, but that at this point the "only two guys in the running are in fact [Brandon] Routh or, yep, him again, Tom Welling."
   From a box office point of view and as far as the fans are concerned, having Welling segue from Smallville to Justice League would be something of a dream come true. But would Welling, who has been so determined not to wear the Superman uniform and who reportedly did not appear in the Bryan Singer-produced documentary on the history of the character for fear of being too closely identified with it, suddenly be willing to play the role in what would likely be a three-picture deal? And if Welling is not chosen to play the Man of Steel, it would be interesting to see Routh play the character in a situation where he's required to do more than lift big rocks, get stabbed, have his ass kicked and not deal out an iota of comeuppance.
   Elsewhere, Patrick Sauriol's "Back Room Chatter" announced that despite previous claims to the contrary, Aquaman would be a part of the film. This, in turn, supports Comingsoon.net poster infamous_emijayne's statement that part of the film would be motion capture to keep costs down, those sequences being the underwater realm of Atlantis. To have Atlantis without Aquaman would seem kind of pointless. Earlier, infamous posted that initially the film's Green Lantern will be Hal Jordan, but during the course of the film Jordan dies, only to have the role assumed by John Stewart
   As far as Routh vs. Welling, infamous noted, "I was told two or three days ago that there are at least 1/2 dozen people being looked at [for Superman] if Welling absolutely can not take the role, and Routh is not one of them.
   The saga continues.

AN INTERVIEW WITH HARRY POTTER PRODUCTION DESIGNER STUART CRAIG

Production designer Stuart Craig has worked on every Harry Potter film, doing his part in bringing J.K. Rowling's world to life. The following interview, which was conducted during production of Order of the Phoenix, is broken down into four parts. CLICK BELOW TO HEAR THE ADDITIONAL THREE PARTS OF THIS INTERVIEW.