Captain America To Be Set During World War II
Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige revealed today that the Captain America movie will be a period film, set during World War II. I’ve never read any Captain America, but some of my friends who are really into the series have insisted that a WWII period setting would be the only way to do the story justice.
This basically confirms that Marvel will be sticking close to the original origin story which involved Steve Rogers volunteering to be a test subject in Operation: Rebirth, a top-secret defense project for the U.S. Army. Rogers took a Super-Soldier serum which altered his physiology, turning him into a “nearly perfect human being”. Unable to duplicate the process, the United States government turned Rogers into a superhero who served as “both a counter-intelligence agent and a propaganda symbol to counter Nazi Germany’s head of terrorist operations, the Red Skull.”
The First Avenger: Captain America (and not Captain America: The First Avenger, which sounds infinitely better) is scheduled to hit theaters in May 6th 2011, just weeks before Marvel’s superhero team-up film The Avengers hits screens in July. It’s assumed that the film will likely end with a cliffhanger. In the comic series The Avengers discovered Steve Rogers’ body in a block of ice in the North Atlantic years after his supposed death, and were able to revive him. It’s assumed that a similar situation will probably happen to bridge the two movies, especially considering that The Avengers takes place in modern day. But Feige promises that you won’t need to see any of the other films to understand The Avengers:
“Each of them have to stand on their own,” Feige said. “You won’t have to have seen any of the films to understand The Avengers… but it will help.”
Feige also confirmed that Matthew McConaughey is not in consideration for the film adaptation as was rumored on CinemaBlend weeks back. That should make fans happy. You can read more about Feige’s “State of the Marvel Address” on CHUD.
George Clooney to Star in Men Who Stare at Goats
If you’re a moviegoer who doesn’t generally dislike George Clooney but reacts to movie news about him like an allergic reaction to salt-and-peppered dander, you’ll want to make an exception here. The actor is set to star in an adaptation of Jon Ronson’s book, Men Who Stare at Goats, a wily nonfiction account of the U.S. army’s history of dabbling in the supernatural that leads up to the current quagmire in Iraq. Here’s a synopsis from Amazon…
“As Ronson reveals, a secret wing of the U.S. military called First Earth Battalion was created in 1979 with the purpose of creating “Warrior Monks,” soldiers capable of walking through walls, becoming invisible, reading minds and even killing a goat simply by staring at it. …But Ronson soon learns that the Battalion’s bizarre ideas inspired some alarming torture techniques being used in the present-day War on Terror. One technique involves subjecting prisoners to 24 hours of Barney the Purple Dinosaur’s song, “I Love You,” and another makes use of the Predator, a small, toy-like object designed by military martial arts master Pete Brusso that can inflict a large amount of pain in many different ways…”
Cool subject matter almost lending itself to a Coens-esque romp, no? The film will be directed by multitasker Grant Heslov, a partner in Clooney’s Smoke House imprint, with a script by Peter Straughan (the upcoming adaptation of Toby Young’s How to Win Friends and Alienate People). After the prototypically classy Michael Clayton and Leatherheads, it’s time Clooney put on a nappy wig and went a little batshit like Nic Cage in Raising Arizona or Tom Hanks in Cast Away. Between this project, foregoing too much current event storyline, and September’s dark and quirky Burn After Reading, it would seem he’s headed on a similarly looney, and successful, trajectory.
via Variety (oh yeah, and shame, shame)
Roger Avary to make Return to Castle Wolfenstein Movie
Many of you might not remember this but, before Quake, Before Doom, there was Wolfenstein 3D - considered to be the first first person shooter video gameof all time. It’s even more popular sequel, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, was released in November 2001. And now Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary is set to write and direct a feature film adaptation.
The game is based on Castle Wewelsburg, a 17th century castle occupied by the Germans under Heinrich Himmler’s control, and used for occult rituals and practices. The game begins in Nazi-occupied Europe during 1943 and revolves around U.S. Army Ranger B.J. Blazkowicz, who, along with another agent, is sent to investigate rumors surrounding one of Heinrich Himmler’s personal projects, the SS Paranormal Division. The agents are, however, captured before completing their mission and are imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein. Blazkowicz must escape the castle and continue investigating the activities of the SS Paranormal Division, which include research on resurrecting corpses, bio-technology, and secret weapons.
While Return to Castle Woldenstein is technically a sequel, without the name and the occasional in-game references, it might be unrecognizable as a part of the series.
There are not many video game properties that have the potential to be made into an entertaining movie, but this may be one of them. And Roger Avary is a geek an academy award winning writer in his own right. In addition to co-writing the upcoming Robert Zemeckis computer animated Beowulf with Neil Gaiman, Avary was also behind The Rules of Attraction and Killing Zoe, two very underrated indie films which you should probably add to your Netflix list. Oh yeah, and he helped scribble out a little film titled Pulp Fiction.
Stephen Sommers to make Live-Action G.I. Joe Movie
According to IESB, Mummy series helmer Stephen Sommers knows something, and “knowing is half the battle!” That’s right, Paramount Pictures has offered Sommers the chance at making a live action G.I. Joe movie. With characters like Cobra Commander and Serpentor, GI Joe has the potential to be an fun accessible army action film like never seen before.
Sommers wouldn’t be my first (or second, or third…etc) pick as director, as I’ve genuinely hated most of his later films (Deep Rising, The Mummy Returns, Van Helsing). But I always stuck up for The Mummy, which was a fun but slightly cheesy action/adventure film. Sommers is capable of making a good action film. This is the type of movie which needs to be handled with care, because if something is done poorly in any any of the usual departments, it will kill the whole movie. Cast is key. They need a good ensemble cast to play the signature group of characters. I’m betting that Sgt. Slaughter is probably too old to play himself in this one (which is probably a good thing). They also need to watch out how much patriotism they jam onto the screen. If they don’t get the dosage right it could piss of core conservative fans. If they put too much patriotism, it could scare off everyone else. Patriotism in large doses can be pretty scary. If done right, this could be the next Transformers (sans giant robots…). If done wrong, it could come off as a long inforercial for the U.S. Army.
Sommers has been actively developing a big screen adaptation of Edwin Balmer’s When Worlds Collide. But now there is no word on what will happen to that project. I’m guessing that since it was still in the screenplay phase, it may be kept in development while Sommers tackles Joe.
G.I. Joe started in 1942 as a WWII military magazine comic strip. In the mid-60’s the character became a series of military-themed 12″ articulated action figures produced by the Hasbro toy company. The company later relaunched the action figure line in a smaller, 3 3/4-inch scale in the early 80’s. A comic book and animated television series followed. Over the 1980s, G.I. Joe’s increasing popularity supported an array of spin-off merchandising that included posters, t-shirts, video games, board games, kites, animated movies, and an ongoing animated series.