Kevin Durand Talks The Blob
Kevin Durand recently spoke to The Source about his role as The Blob in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
“I wasn’t a comic book kid because I was busy playing hockey here in Thunder Bay. That’s all I wanted to do and all I dreamed of really. But when I saw the first (X-Men film), I was just in awe and the second one (X2:X-Men United) just blew me away,” he said.
When he heard the news a new installment was in the works, he was hoping the producers would consider him for a part and luckily for Durand, they already knew his name and called for him to take a look at the part.
And to get the larger than life Blob ready for the cameras, it took six months of costume and special effects preparation.
“I have a feeling people are going to like him,” Durand said.
I think people will like him because The Blob is big, fat and stupid. I pray we get some of this goodness in the movie.
Academia set to study the Philosophy of Buffy
It looks like academia is going to study the Slayer. A three-day academic conference has been at Henderson State University in Little Rock, Arkansas to study the works of Joss Whedon, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The conference is to focus more on the philosophical themes of the series. Several books have been published on this particular subject matter (one of which sits on my own bookshelves).
“It has staying power,” said Kevin Durand, an associate professor of philosophy at the school. “It’s like I tell my students in philosophy a lot of times: We’re not so much about necessarily finding all the answers as wanting to ask better questions. ’Buffy,’ I think, does that. ’Buffy’ never really leaves you with nice, pat answers. You have even more questions than when you started.”
My only question is: where were the Buffy philosophy classes when I went to college? Oh yeah, Buffy wasn’t around yet.
Smokin Aces Prequel Announced
When we talked to Joe Carnahan back in January, he expressed interest in making a Smoking Aces prequel: “I’ve had an idea to do a Tremor brothers prequel, do this, do that. You could explore these characters endlessly.” But the movie came and went, becoming modestly successful ($53 million worldwide) before doing huge numbers on DVD. Now the idea has gotten a greenlight.
“Universal wants to move ahead with a direct-to-video prequel of ‘Smokin’ and asked me if I wanted to Godfather the thing and make sure we did a really cool story,” Caranhan reveals. “The DVD numbers ‘Smokin’ Aces’ has done are astounding and they want to strike while the iron is hot. Whatever reluctance I have is alleviated by the fact that we can really do this balls out, hardcore prequel and not be constrained by ratings or any other puritanical MPAA bullsh*t. That I love.”
In the original film, the Tremor brothers were played by Chris Pine, Kevin Durand and Maury Sterling. The three brothers are Neo-Nazi rednecks/assassins.
Now this is a direct-to-dvd sequel/prequel/spin-off that I actually want to see. And with Carnahan at the typewriter (err computer) I cant go horribly wrong, or can it?
Gambit And The Blob Casting?
Nothing I am writing now is confirmed, in fact, it could be all untrue, but that is the fun of cast speculation! It is a case of some sites getting info here and there from ’sources’. The first X-Men: Origins: Wolverine casting news is for Gambit, the staff wielding dude who never quite made it into the X-Men trilogy. There were rumours a while back about Lost star Josh Holloway being approached for the role for X-Men 3, although that never happened. Instead it could be a rather unknown actor who goes by the name of Taylor Kitsch. He has a fairly small filmography that consists of The Covenant, Snakes on a Plane and John Tucker Must Die. He looks the part, so if this speculation turns out to be true I’d be relatively happy.
We heard the other day how The Blob will appear on screen as a man in a fat suit, and we may have that man. Kevin Durand. He is an amazing 6ft 6 and his nickname is ‘Tree’, so he is suitable in the height department. They may end up making him even taller, such as Juggernaut in X-Men 3, and The Blob is rumoured to have a similar sized role to Vinnie Jones meathead character.
