A couple of juicy rumors sprang up over the weekend.

First up was an interesting bit about Green Lantern. The film’s been struggling a bit recently, having been forced to move the entire production out of Australia due to the rising value of the Australian dollar (which is just a nicer way of saying the U.S. dollar’s in the toilet). AICN then broke what seemed like some good news though, reporting that Jackie Earle Haley was leading the list to play Sinestro, mentor to Hal Jordan before he flips sides and becomes the arch-nemesis of the entire Green Lantern Corps. While that would have been a great casting choice, the wheels of the interwebs got spinning over the weekend and it turns out that it may not be happening after all.

Collider did some following up, asking Earle Haley himself about the rumor. And, not entirely surprisingly, the actor denied knowing anything about it, saying he hadn’t been offered the role or heard from the filmmakers about it. He went on to say that it didn’t mean he would turn down the role should the opportunity to play the part arise. Earle Haley could very well be telling the truth, but there’s always the chance that since negotiations are still ongoing, he’s simply dancing around the truth at this point. Only time will tell.

Another interesting bit from the same AICN report has Superman making a cameo in Green Lantern. With the way Marvel’s been establishing their brand, I wouldn’t be surprised at all that DC would want to go down a similar path in linking up their universes. However, with the possibility of a Superman reboot always looming just around the corner, can they get their act together in time to present a new version of Supes that can work in his own franchise? More importantly, is that really how they want to introduce a new actor in the role? I say just give Brandon Routh back the cape — I was a fan of his Superman.

On to the next casting rumor! AICN was busy again, this time sourcing from a German edition of GQ magazine. Actor Matthias Schweighöfer, in an interview with the publication, said that he was up for a role in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. But he then went on to say that Robert De Niro and Jude Law had already been cast in the film. Exciting news indeed, but a bit puzzling. On the one hand, they’re exactly the type of actors that Branagh would hire for his movie. On the other, what roles would they play? We’ll have to wait for more details to surface, but if this rumor proves true, it looks like Thor is going to be packing one hell of a cast when it goes in front of cameras next year!

The LA Times blog Hero Complex recently caught up with Louis Leterrier on the set of Clash of the Titans and they talked a little about Marvel’s upcoming plans.

First off, Leterrier doesn’t seem to be actively involved in a sequel to The Incredible Hulk. He’s contractually obligated to do one more film for Marvel, but thus far there are no plans for that to be fulfilled with another installment of his moderately successful 2008 reboot. He is keen to work with Marvel and president of production Kevin Feige again though, and what Leterrier does seem to be interested in is the Avengers movie. Or at least one of them, anyway. I’ll let him explain:

“I would love to do the Avengers film… I’ll tell you my real dream: To work with [Captain America director] Joe Johnston and [Thor director] Kenneth Branagh and Jon Favreau and make like a triptych. We do four movies. We release them one a month for the summer. Or even every two weeks or three weeks. And the whole summer would be Avengers summer. So we do it the way they make television shows. One story arc but told in installments by different directors. So all of the directors that touch part of the Avengers world would do a part; we could make the movies shorter, maybe less than an hour and a half, and we use the same sets and save Marvel money. I would love to sit around a table with all of them a kick around the story. That’s my dream.”

That sounds amazing, but also a little impossible in terms of a fiscally realistic scenario. How cool would that be though? To not have to wait years for the next installment of a movie, but to get four freakin’ doses all in one frenzied summer? Leterrier also had a few things to say about Joe Johnston’s Captain America movie, saying it’s “Raiders [of the Lost Ark] meets The Rocketeer and Saving Private Ryan.” We’ll see how accurate that turns out to be, but I like the comparison for now.

For the full interview, check out Hero Complex here.

A busy schedule kept us off track last week, but WIR is back this week with a double dose of c, vt highlights. That’s right, we’re recapping the top 10 stories from the last TWO weeks to make up for the missed edition. Check out what made the cut below!

10. Emote With THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON Teaser – We have very little interest in this movie, but it’s fascinating to cover it because there seems to be a good amount of talented people working on what appears to be a franchise everyone knows is bad, bad, bad. Is that why Summit is rushing to pump these suckers out? To capitalize on the public attention before it inevitably turns against them? I like Chris Weitz so I’m hoping to hell he managed to make a halfway decent movie, but things don’t look so good thus far…

9. Odin’s Beard! Brian Blessed Joins THOR! – I think that title says it all.

8. Savage GRACE Trailer – Check out the trailer for what’s sure to be one of the more fucked up movies you’ll ever watch. Mothers beware!

7. Herzog’s BAD LIEUTENANT Looks Bad-Ass – Watch Nicolas Cage be all sorts of craaaazy in this trailer, which has me incredibly curious about a remake/reboot/re-imagining that most would agree had no business being made. Until this footage came out, that is…

6. BUFFY Getting A Whedon-Less Feature Relaunch?! – Because that’s be a fantastic idea — relaunch a franchise you almost destroyed before it could even be considered a franchise while excluding the man who came along to single-handedly revive it and build it into the massive cult icon it is today. This makes the list for the sheer incredulity it caused us.

5. New Posters For IRON MAN 2, Marvel Projects, SCOTT PILGRIM, And A Ton More! – You know the studios are doing something right when promotional art can get you excited. That’s exactly the case for these upcoming titles from Marvel, Sony, Dreamworks, and more!

4. First Look At Josh Brolin As JONAH HEX – Our first look at Josh Brolin in Jonah Hex outfitting and make-up is pretty cool. It’s always nice to see projects make the transition from page to screen successfully… Well, at least from a wardrobe and make-up standpoint. Let’s hope the action and drama made the jump, too.

3. Beautiful MR. NOBODY Trailer – This beguiling and completely alluring trailer hypes a movie that I’m still incredibly confused about, but who cares cause I can’t wait to see the damn thing.

2. Preview The TOY STORY 3 Teaser Trailer – A pretty darn adorable teaser for Toy Story 3. Forgotten why you fell in love with Pixar to begin with? This oughta refresh your memory.

1. Director Found For ALIEN Reboot/Prequel? – The name may not be one you recognize, but the fact that he’s been found means this project really is happening, which is kind of freaking cool and kind of freaking terrifying. This franchise has suffered a number of bumps in the road throughout the years; does it need one more? Then again, the Scott brothers are involved, so… Agh, I don’t know what to think anymore!

The last one here, Oobermind (which we talked a little about it in our Dreamworks Animation preview), actually sounds like a lot of fun. It stars Robert Downey, Jr. as the voice of Oobermind, a supervillain who accidentally kills his superhero nemesis, Metro Man. Instead of celebrating, Oobermind finds that his life is suddenly without purpose, so he creates another superhero to take his place. However, when his creation wants to be a super villain too, someone must rise up to stop him. Can it be… Oobermind? The film also features the voice talents of Tina Fey and Ben Stiller, the latter of which is also producing.

Los Angeles-based comic shop Golden Apple recently reported on their blog [via /film] that none other than Katee Sackhoff, aka Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, dropped in on their shop to scoop up a few comics.

Here’s what they had to say:

“So we got a little visit in our comic shop last week by Katee Sackhoff, also known as Starbuck for her role on BSG. She proceeded to grab all the Typhoid Mary comics we had and has hopes to get a part for a marvel movie….”

I’m not sure if that last part concerning her “hopes” is blog speculation or what Sackhoff actually said to the shop workers, but it definitely would be an interesting match. In the comics, Typhoid Mary is most prominently featured in the Daredevil storyline, being a former adversary/lover of the Man With No Fear, but she has also made appearances in the Deadpool and Spider-Man comics. An assassin with low-level psionic powers, Mary has a dissociative identity disorder with three distinct personalities: “Mary,” being a timid and gentle pacifist; “Typhoid” being a lustful and violent thrill-seeker; and “Bloody Mary” being a sadistic and ruthless misandristic killer.  She’s a wild and fun character that I think Sackhoff would be perfect to play, and the actress has already got plenty of cred with the Geek community.

The real question remains just which property the Typhoid Mary character would be tied to. She made an appearance in Jennifer Garner’s Elektra movie as a villain who, although with powers more fitting to the “Typhoid Mary” name, bears little-to-no resemblance to the character in the comics. As we know a Deadpool movie is in the works, it’s likely she could wind up there. However, since she is more central to Matt Murdock’s universe, and paired with recent rumblings of a Daredevil reboot at Fox, there’s also a good chance Sackhoff’s researching the role for that.

Either way, it’s all just guesswork for now. Still, it’s an exciting casting rumor, and one I wouldn’t mind seeing go all the way. We’ll keep you updated on how all this plays out.

We just found out who will be wielding Mjolnir in Thor, and now we know who’ll be battling the titular character as Loki.

Nikki Finke reports that Tom Hiddleston has been cast as the god of mischief and the foster brother of Thor. If you remember, the British actor who co-starred with Kenneth Branagh in Wallander was originally in consideration for the title role. Apparently, even though he lost that part to Chris Hemsworth, Branagh and Marvel liked him enough to cast him as the main villain.

This seems to be a gutsy move by the studio, as there is yet to be a name actor attached to the property. Both Hemsworth and Hiddleston are fairly unproven in the States, even if they have good track records at home (Australia and the UK, respectively). Josh Hartnett had seemed to be an early favorite for the Loki role, but now that they’ve gone with Hiddleston, the main players in Thor are going to be virtually unknowns. Granted, Hemsworth should have picked up some recognition by the time the movie is released (he’s got Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods and Red Dawn in the pipeline), and the Marvel characters should be popular enough to sell themselves, but it’s a huge franchise to be resting on the shoulders of unproven box office draws. Not that it’s a bad thing – I like Hemsworth, personally – and I think it’s rather refreshing that Marvel is willing to take that sort of chance. I’m just not sure how die-hard Thor fans will feel about it.

Check out Finke’s full article here.

Recent moviegoers might recognize Hemsworth as the Australian actor who portrays George Kirk, father to Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk, in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. Our more loyal (and attentive) followers will also recall hearing a couple months back that Hemsworth was one of the young actors to join Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s horror pic, Cabin in the Woods. The 25 year-old certainly has the right look, but I haven’t seen enough of his work to know how to gauge him properly. I still would have loved to see Alexander Skarsgard get the part, but Hemsworth has an intriguing enough aura of mystery around him (probably because we haven’t seen any of his stuff) and a good enough vibe to leave us optimistically curious about how he’ll handle the part. His audition tape was reportedly “Oh my god” good, so that’s gotta be worth something.

I’m also a sucker for a good story, and Hemsworth and his younger brother Liam fit that bill. Chris made the trek to L.A. from Australia after he caught the eye of a talent manager. He did the rounds with agents, casting directors, and executives, only to get passed over a bunch of times. One agent eventually saw something in him and took him on. He went on to get some decent gigs here and there, but mostly small roles that didn’t give him much shine. Then Thor came along, and though both brothers read for the role, both were passed on (nixed by a casting director, reportedly). But then Sylvester Stallone saw Liam’s tape and was impressed enough to offer him a part in The Expendables. Meanwhile Chris’ manager got him another chance to test for Thor, and this time he knocked it out of the park. So, while still living out of their manager’s guest room, Liam (who’s only been in L.A. three weeks and doesn’t have an agent yet) has landed a part in The Expendables and also the lead in a Nicholas Sparks movie (co-starring Miley Cyrus), while Chris has now gotten Thor to go along with his just-announced casting as the lead in United Artists’ reboot of Red Dawn. Not a bad start to a couple of careers, I’d say.

In any case, I’m glad to see Marvel finally get over this hump in the pre-production process. They already pushed Thor’s release date back almost a full year to May 20, 2011 so the film could have time to be finished; let’s hope that with their hero now found, they can get this thing closer to production.

Thor director Kenneth Branagh apparently has already designed an impressive animatic for the first big action scene, which is good to hear considering we all know that the man can bring the goods in terms of drama, but he’s still unproven when it comes to action. Also, hot on the heels of Branagh confirming that his Wallander co-star Tom Hiddleston is in the running to don the titular winged helmet, Feige says we may get an official casting announcement soon expanding on the other roles as well:

“We will probably be having cast announcements in the next month or so on Thor. We’re looking to cast Loki and Odin soon, and the main female role. And we’ll also hopefully have lockdown shortly, gearing towards the beginning of production, which will be early next year. So I think there will be a lot of announcements between now and then.”

According to Branagh, “early next year” refers to January of 2010, ahead of a scheduled May 20, 2011 release date.

As for other Marvel projects, Feige also mentions that X2 and The Incredible Hulk writer Zak Penn is already on board for The Avengers. Penn is currently “spending a lot of his time looking into what we’re doing with Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, seeing how we’re tying it all together. And he’s beginning to outline the script now – he’ll be doing that over the summer.”

Exciting news, especially that bit about Captain America. There’s been a bit of a dearth of updates regarding the “The First Avenger” project (which has Joe Johnston attached to direct and The Chronicles of Narnia scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely writing the screenplay), but Feige’s comments definitely hint that things are quietly coming along behind the scenes.

I love how Marvel is establishing each character first in their own solo movies, before then bringing them all together as a group. Audiences can come in to The Avengers movie already having ties to and understanding the emotional stakes for each character, which gives them that much more room to play and kick ass as a team.

The release date for The Avengers is currently set for May 4, 2012. Check out the full Empire article here.

Charlie Hunnam (the British co-star of the F/X series Sons Of Anarchy); Tom Hiddleston (award-winning British actor and RADA graduate who played Winston Churchill’s son in HBO’s The Gathering Storm), Alexandar Skarsgard (Stellan’s son who has appeared in the HBO Iraq War miniseries Generation Kill and vampire drama True Blood, and who’s definitely visually right for the role), Liam Hemsworth (offered a significant role in The Expendables after Sly Stallone saw his tape), and Joel Kinnaman (some Danish dude).

Of the bunch, I’m only familiar with Skarsgard, so I’m still rooting for him to be cast. As for Portman, I’m a big fan (who isn’t?), and I’d love to see her in a big blockbuster again.

It was a slooow week here at c, vt, without too many big stories aside from some updates on what’s going on in Marvel land. Not a highlight-heavy week, but still some interesting developments in Hollywood. We have minor updates on some big projects, so while it doesn’t seem like much now, expect several of these films to be making the headlines later on when they come closer to fruition. Check out the list below!

10. The Time Traveler’s Wife Finally Sees Release – Not the biggest movie or bit of news, really, but one we’ve been anticipating here at c, vt. We loved the book, we love the cast, and we don’t know why it’s taking so long to get this film (which started filming in 2007) released. But good news finally comes our way!

9. Three Join The Bang Bang Club – Similar to item #10, this isn’t the biggest movie or bit of news, but it’s a project we’re definitely intrigued by, and we’re happy to see what could be a great cast sign on for it.

8. Next Riddick Flick In The Works? – Vin Diesel’s been somewhat absent from the cinemas as of late (not counting the upcoming Fast & Furious, of course), but his best character appears to be alive and well (sort of), and coming to a screen near us (hopefully) sometime in the future (maybe).

7. New Photos For Burton’s Alice In Wonderland – Not the most exciting bunch of photos, but we’re still giddy about Tim Burton’s next flick. Can’t wait to see the trailer for this one!

6. Fantastic-er Four In The Works? – Is Fox planning on rebooting a franchise that had its last movie just two short years ago? Could be, apparently. Plus, a look at why Iron Man saved us from The Dark Knight.

5. Orphanage Director Bayona Will Eclipse For Twilight Saga? – The drama behind finding a director for the third Twilight film (which may have been more riveting than the film’s story itself) finally comes to an end. And what an intriguing little twist it was!

4. **UPDATED! Black Widow Cast Too!** Mickey Rourke In For Iron Man 2 – Casting for Iron Man 2 finally comes to a head, and most of the right pieces fall into place.

3. Drag Me To Hell Trailer – Take a look at Sam Raimi’s return to horror, which early reviews have been absolutely freaking out about!

2. More Marvel News! – Sure, this story is based on unconfirmed reports, but it touches on several other stories of the week and represents the spirit of Marvel dominating the movie blogosphere with news bites. Included inside — release dates for the biggest Marvel films, Thor casting rumors, who will direct The Avengers, and more!

1. Everyone Watches The Watchmen At The Box Office – An unsexy pick for top story of the week, but the one everyone was following as the week began…how did Watchmen do at the box office? It was a strong but unspectacular opening, and Hollywood’s eyes are again glued to the box office numbers this week to see how Watchmen will hold up as the weeks progress. Can the long-awaited holy grail of geekdom prove to studios that movies like it are worth the effort? The story continues!

There’s been a good deal of news on the Marvel front this week, including Thor casting rumors, Iron Man 2 casting announcements, Fantastic Four reboot rumblings, and an updated release calendar. Now we’ve got some purportedly insider information on all of those stories, courtesy of an Ain’t It Cool News spy. It’s a bit lengthy, but all very interesting, so here’s what he had to say:

• Avengers is delayed a year because of financing issues but also because the plan is for Favreau to helm it. Everybody here loves the guy and he wants to do it, but it would have been impossible for him to do before the date change given his Iron Man 2 commitments. Also partly the reason why he agreed to do the Stark sequel on such an accelerated schedule was so he could get given first dibs on this. It would still be a punishing schedule for him, so hes not firmly confirmed yet, but he is certainly the presumptive director at this point.
• Iron Man starts rehearsals in a few days, which is why the casting is finally coming together so quickly.
• Alexander Skargard is indeed Branagh’s favorite to play Thor as some sites are reporting. If all goes well and it happens then we hope to get Stellan Skarsgard for Odin (though at present Odin is only a very small cameo part in this movie).
• Loki will probably be played by Hartnett, if his pay negotiations work out. All the commentary about him wanting to do a Ledger and play a villain is B.S. though – WE APPROACHED HARTNETT because Branagh’s a big fan of the Othello adaptation O where Hartnett played Iago who is very similar character wise to how he sees Loki.
• Fox is serious about doing remakes of Daredvil and FF. They have to make new movies with these characters every few years because otherwise the options will revert to us. This point is kinda obvious but Im not sure people realise it
• I havent seen anybody pointing it out anywhere. The mood around here is pretty negative about Rothman’s potential to execute these properties properly, (Im sure you know why it might be particularly negative at the moment) but we are all hoping his recent promotion will mean hes kept away from direct control of these movies.

Hm… Favreau directing The Avengers? We’ve heard it mentioned in the past, but this makes it sound like that’s closer to becoming a reality than we expected. I’m happy to hear the Thor casting rumors have some weight, and I love the idea of Stellan Skarsgard playing Odin. The hate for Tom Rothman also appears to go beyond internet geeks and into Marvel’s offices as well. I find that both hilarious and sad. Anyway, though these revelations should be taken with a grain of salt, it does sound like AICN might have a legit spy on their hands. All in all, an interesting bunch of developments. What do you guys think?

Marvel has announced an adjusted release calendar for its films up to 2012.

• Spider-Man 4, which will be released by Sony through their licensing deal with Marvel, has been set with a May 6, 2011 release date.
• Thor has been pushed back from July 16, 2010 to June 17, 2011.
• The First Avenger: Captain America has been pushed back from May 6, 2011 to July 22, 2011.
• The Avengers will be released on May 4, 2012 instead of July 15, 2011.
• Iron Man 2’s release date of May 7, 2010 remains unchanged.

This updated schedule will give them some more time to work on the various movies, and also stamps 2011 as the year of Marvel. Thor, which had been facing the most pressure to meet a release date, can now work more comfortably as it finishes up its casting process and inches closer to production. We’ll only be getting one Marvel property in 2010 now, but 2011 will see three of them released in consecutive months.

I don’t know if Marvel is anticipating that Thor or Captain American won’t be huge hits, or if they want to have three potential tentpoles in the same season, or if they’re thinking something else entirely, so this move kind of puzzles me. Then again, I’m no expert, so maybe Marvel sees something I don’t. In any case, all of this will lead up nicely to the sure-to-be-buzzed-about release of ensemble flick The Avengers in 2012. All of their big name characters should be showing up in that one, so there will be a solid year for anticipation to ramp up leading to May 4, 2012. Mark your calendars!

**UPDATED**Now Nikki Finke is reporting that Black Widow has been cast as well! And who’ll fill the shoes recently vacated after Fox exercised their option to nab Emily Blunt for Gulliver’s Travels instead? None other than Scarlett Johansson, who we had heard rumors about before, but allegedly had already screen-tested and been turned down for the part. With Blunt out, it looks like Marvel went back to Johansson (who I still don’t like as the Black Widow). Word is her deal is a terrible one, though, and is actually low-ball money that ties her to multiple sequels. Seriously, Marvel? What is up?

Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood reports that Mickey Rourke will indeed play the villain in Iron Man 2.

After getting low-balled by the studio and several weeks of speculation, Rourke finally got a respectable number from Marvel and has now joined the cast. Currently, the actor is in Russia promoting The Wrestler, where he will also begin research for the role immediately.

As for what that role is, Rourke will most likely be playing the Crimson Dynamo (or some variation of the character), a rival Russian arms-dealer who has his own nuclear-powered suit for Stark to battle with.

Glad this thing went the happy-ending route that fans got when Samuel L. Jackson finally ironed out his deal with Marvel to play Nick Fury across as many as 9 different films.

For the uninitiated, you can follow more Iron Man 2 updates via director Jon Favreau’s twitter (and ours too, of course), where he recently posted a picture of himself and DP Matty Libatique at the under-construction digs of Tony Stark.

Welcome to the second installment of WIR, where we go over the ten biggest/most interesting stories of the last week! This week’s biggest story inevitably had to go to the Oscars, but we also saw some high profile projects finally start to move forward with the addition of a few key people. Check out the list below to see what else went down in Hollywood this week!

10. See Spider-Man On Broadway…In 2010! – Julie Taymor’s stage rendition of the web-crawler gets a release date! It seems any hit movie can be ported over to Broadway these days, and this one certainly will be one of the more ambitious ones.

9. Mel Gibson Declares War In The Colonel Trailer – Sure, it’s a joke trailer, but it was one of the more amusing things to pop up online this week. Plus, this could mark the beginning of Mel Gibson’s rejuvenation. You heard it here first!

8. Red-Band Adventureland Trailer Debuts! – It’s not the biggest upcoming release, but it looks to have that special something, and a great cast to boot! Greg Mottola’s first film after he broke out with Superbad looks like a lot of 80’s-flavored fun; check it out here.

7. Watch This: How Benjamin Got His Face – One of two behind-the-scenes type videos to make the list this week, and it’s a fascinating one. See how the Benjamin Button effects team pioneered some groundbreaking technology to age Brad Pitt some 40-odd years.

6. Behind The Dark Knight’s WHY SO SERIOUS Viral Ad Campaign – The second behind-the-scenes featurette examines the incredible marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, and begs the question–how does a movie that inspires this much audience passion NOT get nominated for Best Picture?

5. certified, verytasty: “Yankee Gal” and “Gary” Supinfocom shorts – Too much animated goodness this week to fit it all into our animation, verytasty column, so we had to hit you with these two excellent shorts in certified, verytasty’s sophomore run. Both are must watches!

4. Michael Cera Is In Arrested Development! – Fans of the cult TV show can finally rejoice; the movie is a go! After much delay and a couple false starts, it looks we’ll finally see a Bluth family reunion on the big sceen. Awkwardia ensues, much to everyone’s delight.

3. Samuel L. IS Nick Fury – Not only does it look like Marvel might be overcoming some of its bizarre financial gun-shyness, but Jackson’s signing also brings us an unprecedented 9 picture deal! That means Nick Fury in 9 more Marvel movies! Awesome!

2. Michel Gondry Helming The Green Hornet?!? – The coolest news this week was word that Michel Gondry had signed on to helm the troubled Green Hornet film. Gondry’s got imagination for days, so I’m anxious as hell to see his take on the superhero form. And what about that crazy action scene audition video he made? I want to see that!

1. The Best & Worst Of The 2009 Oscars – But of course, no story in Hollywood this week could overshadow the Oscars. And this year’s ceremony was an improvement on years past, in our humble opinions. Some of the nominations and winners aside, it’s still the freaking Oscars, so check out what we thought about this year’s gala here!