The head of Marvel Studios reveals what films will follow The Avengers. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan reveal some key Doctor Who plot points. Michael Bay talks Transformers 3, and new director Craig Gillespie discusses Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Spoilers from here on out!
Top image from Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Thor
A description of the post-credits scene has linked, and - assuming it's accurate - it has some serious implications for The Avengers. Here's the description given to Latino Review:
"We see Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) meeting with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who is standing in front of a table with a large metal case on it. They discuss the latest discoveries that Selvig and his team have made in relation to alternate universes and Fury asks for his advice in regards to the contents of the case: the Tesseract/Cosmic Cube. When Selvig asks what is it, Fury responds that it is a source of immense power. The camera pans back to Selvig, and a reflection reveals that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is in fact now possessing Selvig. Loki/Selvig responds, ‘That's very interesting…'"
Stellan Skarsgård is already confirmed to be reprising his role as Dr. Selvig in The Avengers - of course, if he's actually just possessed by Loki, then that's pretty good evidence that Loki really is the main bad guy in The Avengers. That said, this is all hearsay and rumor, so definitely don't treat this as confirmed just yet. [Latino Review]
The Avengers
Whatever Zak Penn's initial contributions to the script, Joss Whedon is now reportedly the only credited writer. What that means, if anything, is that Whedon's contributions to the script were even more substantial than one might have thought — but it's quite possible that his credit will ultimately be split with Penn anyway. [Badass Digest]
Marvel Movies
Marvel Studios executive Kevin Feige gave an overview of their future projects. He promised a Thor sequel and another Captain America film - seemingly confirming that the latter film will be set in the present day, not World War II. He also teased other properties he's hoping to develop:
"Thor will go off into a new adventure, and Captain America will continue to explore the modern world in another film of his own. We hope that holds true for the characters appearing in that film - Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. - all of whom are more than worthy and capable of carrying their own films. And, we've got a lot of other characters we're prepping and getting ready for film debuts: the world of martial arts, these great cosmic space fantasies, Dr. Strange, and the magic side of the Marvel Universe. There are many, many stories to be mined."
[IGN]
X-Men: First Class
Here's a new photo of Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. [SpoilerTV]
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
In a lengthy Q&A, Michael Bay reaffirmed his commitment to making his third film the best:
Well, I've got a lot of scenes you've never seen before. There's a lot of action stuff that I've never done before that's pretty cool. It's like some agent said, "Bay's a competitor." And what he meant by that is a lot of people on the third one will just check out and just get a paycheck. It's like I've been working every day for two years, every single day, because I want to make up for the second one and I want to leave this franchise as best I can. I've had a great run, fun time doing it. So really, it was a fun shoot. It really was.
He also explained why he sees this film as the Transformers equivalent of Black Hawk Down:
OK, I didn't want to say it's bigger, because what I like about it is…And I've said this with [screenwriter] Ehren [Kruger]. We were talking about concept. We used the term "Black Hawk Down" in just that it's a small group and you follow. And there's no cavalry coming. It's a standard thing in movies: cavalry comes. We tried to make the cavalry unable to come. And it's more fun to watch our heroes in this epic ending just a small group, which makes the movie more intimate.
And he described a particularly exciting action sequence:
"We did one of the craziest things I've ever filmed which is these wingsuit guys [extreme base jumpers]. I'm like, 'I'm writing a scene for those guys.' We have this great scene where they fly between the buildings. We had to block off a mile and a half, they made turns around the buildings, very close, but the city [of Chicago] allowed us to do that. Jumping off the Sears Tower flying through the streets. That's just unheard of."
He confirmed there's a new Transformer named Brains, as well as confirming Frank Welker's voice return. There's a ton more at the link. [/Film]
Terminator 5
Justin Lin says that, if he does get the director gig for the new Terminator movie, he would consider bringing in his The Fast and the Furious collaborator Vin Diesel as a Terminator:
"Vin's been a really great partner on [The Fast and the Furious] franchise. We've talked about the mythology [of the Terminator series]…[pause] he's a great guy and a great actor. I really like working with him so anything I do I usually talk to him about. Sometimes we even talk about going back and doing a little indy movie."
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Newly confirmed director Craig Gillespie explains where the project stands. He confirmed that he is keeping the script from the previous versions:
No, we have a really great script that we're just going to do a polish on and then get going, really…. David Russell wrote the script off the book, and it has such a great mix of humor and horror. I just love being able to juggle those two aspects. The humor is inherent in the Pride and Prejudice side, but taking that and accenting it with zombies is just a brilliant and fun idea. And there are such strong female characters, which is nice to have. It's a great clash.
He also explained what drew him to the project:
I was aware the project was around, but at the time it wasn't available. Then it became available. I was still finishing up Fright Night, but in the meantime I called my agent and said, "I want to see that script." He said, "I'm not sure we'd be able to figure out the timing." But I read the first 30 pages and said, "I want to do this." It's just such a great combination between classic literature - Jane Austen, and meshing it with zombies. The challenge of meshing those two genres is really exciting to me. There's a lot of action in this. There are a lot of big set pieces in this film, which is exciting. Basically, as I said to the studio, at the core it's a love story between Elizabeth and Darcy. If that's not working, and we're not rooting for those two to get together through all this craziness, the movie is not going to work. That's key to me, to have this great emotional story going on, and all this craziness.
There's more at the link. [EW]
Ouija Board
Tron Legacy/Lost writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have dropped out of McG's adaptation of the board game, and their replacement is reportedly Evan Spiliotopoulos, the writer of such Disney direct-to-video fare as The Lion King 1 1/2. So yeah... lots to be excited about here. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Doctor Who
Matt Smith offers this interesting hint about Neil Gaiman's episode:
We were thrilled to get a writer of his sci-fi stature and magnitude on board. And he's applied his rather brilliant and mad brain to a brilliant and mad idea. All I can say is that the Doctor spends a lot of time with the TARDIS.
Since the Doctor appears to spend a lot of time with Suranne Jones's Idris in this episode, this might actually be the best clue yet that Idris really is a manifestation of the TARDIS. Matt Smith also says that it's episode 6 that has the really big cliffhanger, perhaps even more so than the mid-series cliffhanger in episode 7. [EW]
In another interview, Smith offered this encapsulation of the program for new American audiences:
"You'll never get bored with a baffled genius turning up and saving the day with a toaster and a ball of string and being chased by a giant robot that breathes fire and talks with the voice of a calculator, on a show that's not bound by space, logic, time or genre. [The Doctor is] everything James Bond isn't. I mean, he's been on his own for 900 years, apart from picking up really hot chicks and saving the world …[he's] really clever, but socially quite inept."
[NME]
Karen Gillan says she won't be wearing as many mini-skirts this season, as Amy's marriage to Rory has made her a bit more tomboyish, although she promises "The Curse of the Black Spot" has a great miniskirt with "some ridiculous pink tights."
She also offers this hint about the opening two-parter:
"Everything's so important and precise in Steven Moffat's scripts. There are a couple of throwaway lines in the opening two-parter, which I thought were just a couple of funny gags but turn out to be one of the most important things that Amy's ever said. And I didn't know that at the time!"
Since you'd assume she'd know the significance of lines that pertained to important things in the two-parter itself, this suggests the pay-off to these lines are found later on in the series. [Metro]
Fringe
Here's a synopsis for May 6's season - but not series! - finale "The Day We Died."
Brad Dourif ("Deadwood") Guest-Stars - As the thrilling third season propels to a climactic close, questions will be answered as Peter confronts his destiny and a beloved team member meets an untimely demise in "The Day We Died" season finale episode of FRINGE.
Here's an interview with Leonard Nimoy, in which he leaves open another possible return and says he'd love to come back. [Fringe Television]
Game of Thrones
George R.R. Martin has revealed he will write the season two episode that covers the Battle of the Blackwater, which is a huge land and sea battle. There's also some thought about what will happen if the show gets a third season - main writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are reportedly considering splitting the massive third book into two seasons of ten episodes, with fans already speculating the seasons would be split in half around the Red Wedding. [Westeros]
True Blood
Here's a new video to get you ready for season four. [Zap2It]
The Walking Dead
Robert Kirkman relates this anecdote from the season two writer's room:
"We had a funny exchange the other day where one of the writers suggested something absolutely horrible for one of the characters. It was really gut-wrenching, and it was definitely something that was like the coolest moments of the comic where you just go 'Holy crap! This just happened!' And after he said it, everybody stopped and looked around the room. Glen Mazzara, who's running the room, said 'This is great. This is what's so good about being on this show. You know these discussions don't happen in any other writer's room on any other show. We can do anything to these characters, and it isn't too much. It fits. The parameters of the show are crazy.' And I think that's the kind of thing you have to keep in mind when you're doing a comic book too. So the short answer is yes. I do enjoy putting the characters through their paces, and the writers on the show are just now realizing how far they'll be able to go. They seem to be enjoying it too."
[CBR]
Chuck
The murder of a major character the night before Chuck and Sarah's rehearsal dinner will find the cast pitted against the CIA, facing off against a character that executive producer Chris Fedak describes as an "agent who's tougher than Bentley, Beckman, and Shaw combined." [EW]
The Event
Here's a promo for episode 18, "Strain." [SpoilerTV]
Here's a description for episode 20, "One Will Live, One Will Die."
Sterling finds an unlikely ally in Simon; Jarvis authorizes an air strike against the Chief of Staff's wishes; Sophia draws an unwitting Leila into her plan; Sean and Vicky try to prevent many deaths.
Stargate Universe
Here are some photos for episode 18, "Epilogue." [SpoilerTV]
Additional reporting by Katharine Trendacosta and Charlie Jane Anders.