Warner Bros. and Peter Segal Doing Jonny Quest? Supermax Now Titled Green Arrow
IESB speculates that director Peter Segal, currently attached to helm a Shazam feature for Warner Bros., might also be the man who brings the studio’s planned tentpole, Jonny Quest, to the world as well for Summer ‘09. Apparently the script by Dan Mazeau is quite strong and in better shooting condition than Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam. Moroever, the site spoke to Segal recently, who was enthusiastic about the latest screenplay, noted his involvement with getting a Quest flick off the ground in the past, and even discussed casting preferences (The Rock for special agent Roger “Race” Bannon). As you might recall, for over a year now Dwayne Johnson has been attached to play Shazam’s Black Adam.
At the center of the Jonny Quest franchise is the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, about the titular young boy, his scientist father, his adopted Indian brother, a spastic bulldog, and a snowy haired special agent/bodyguard who hop around the globe pursuing epic cryptozoological and sci-fi adventures. Quest is one of several retro tentpole projects on Hollywood’s burner, including Buck Rogers, Spielberg/Jackson’s Tintin, the now filming Transformers 2, and another live-action He-Man flick (also buzzing loudly at Warner Bros.). Of course, the recent wipe-out of the similarly cheeky/mothballed Speed Racer is no doubt being taken into consideration when updating Quest.
Also of note: David Goyer’s Supermax, which now looks to have broader box office potential after the success of Iron Man, has been retitled Green Arrow. The well-reviewed script, which sees Green Arrow facing off in a high security prison with DC villains like The Riddler, is by Justin Marks, who wrote the aforemenioned He-Man script that’s driving the Internet nuts right now.
TV Obits: Tatum, Bruning, Gorski
A roundup of TV people from in front of the camera and behind the scenes who have passed away.
- Chase Tatum: The young wrestler was also an actor, having appeared on TV shows such as Punk’d and music videos for Outkast (he was once their road manager). He also appeared in the 2007 movie Who’s Your Caddy? and appeared as a baby in the 1976 horror flick Creature From Black Lake. Police say the 34 year-old died of an accidental drug overdose.
- Robert Bruning: The actor was a regular on several Australian series, including Homicide, Division 4, The Long Arm, and The Sullivans, and appeared in episodes of Farscape, Skyways, The Outsiders, and many other shows. He died of a heart attack in Wellington, New Zealand.
- Roberta Gorski: She was an assistant to David Goyer on the CBS series Threshold and was an executive assistant on such movies as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, National Treasure, King Arthur, Harsh Times, and Bad Boys II. She died of a brain aneurysm at age 40.
- If you missed it, our obituary for Charlton Heston is here.
The Joker, Lex Luthor, The Riddler to Appear in David Goyer’s Supermax?
Get your most asinine soap joke ready in the comments, because it seems that Green Arrow will be joined behind bars by a vast and infamous stable of DC villains in David Goyer’s Supermax. Latino Review took a look at the script by Goyer (Batman Begins, X-Men Origins: Magneto) and Justin Marks (that new Street Fighter) and reports that The Joker, Lex Luthor and The Riddler all make sweet cameos inside the script’s titular prison alongside a laundry list of other DC derelicts including: Blockbuster, Shock Trauma, Gemini, Cascade, Tattooed Man, Multiplex, Djinn, Merlyn, Pied Piper, Latarian Milton, Iron Cross & Heatmonger & Backlash (Aryan Nation), Calculator (yes!), Count Vertigo, Floronic Man, Split and Icicle. Okay, so Latarian Milton is not appearing, but give him a year.
Previously, Goyer stated that many of these villains will be revealed by human name only and sans costumes (obviously), which further exemplifies just how Geek City this project is. LR’s consensus is that the Supermax script is both ridiculously cool and highly accessible to the mainstream, comparative to Batman Begins even: “[Warner Bros.] would be on crack not to make this.” Goyer and Marks quickly touch upon the island cast-away/archery origins of Green Arrow né Oliver Queen, yet another billionaire playboy in our world’s comicverse, and by page 7 (approx. 10 years later), we see Queen in costume and encountering the arrow-laden set-up that lands him behind bars. And not just the bars you’d imagine in an old Elmore Leonard paperback…
“Want to know how cool SUPERMAX is? The prison changes shape, cells rearrange, and reconfigures every night to disorient the prisoners from breaking out. A transforming super prison!”
Applying extra heat to the situation, Queen becomes a, uh, marked man inside due to corporate backstabbing (shades of Iron Man). I’ve always thought that Green Arrow was a hard sell to a big summer audience, but some of my doubts are fading and I can’t wait to check this script out. Of course, as we reported last year, Matt Damon was once rumored for Green Arrow, and if the script’s this strong, I’m sure other A-listers will bite as well. Let’s hope it happens.
A thanks to Slashfilm canuck Jonny for the reminder. Moreover, Canada is still Canada.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine in May 2009
The official title of Gavin Hood’s Wolverine X-Men spinoff feature film is X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which makes complete sense. I’m guessing that David Goyer’s Magneto spin-off will get the same title treatment (X-Men Origins: Magneto).
Liev Schrieber (The Hurricane, The Painted Veil) is in final talks to star as William Stryker, who was played by Brian Cox in the 2003 film X2: X-Men United. In that film, Stryker was a rogue army colonel with an equally fervent desire to destroy mutants, stemming from his mutant son’s causing the death of his wife, and the failure of Professor X to help him. In the comic book series, Stryker was an obscure character, with only one appearance as a religious fanatic, with a military history which may have involved the Weapon X project, which resulted in Wolverine being given his adamantium skeleton.
Hugh Jackman, who is also producing the film, returns as Wolverine. The film is scheduled to shoot in Australia, New Zealand and New Orleans. The New Orleans location has some fans convinced that the popular but yet to be seen New Orleans-based X-Men character Gambit might make an appearance in the film.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine will hit theaters on May 1, 2009 (up against Disney’s animated movie “G-Force“).