A show of hands. How many people give a rat’s ass about the Fantastic Four reboot? Anyone? That’s what I figured. Well, that hasn’t stopped FOX from moving forward with the movie and now comes word that Oscar-winner Adrien Brody is in the running to play Mr. Fantastic.

I dig Brody a lot. He’s been solid for years and was convincing as an action hero in this summer’s Predators. No doubt he would bring much needed credibility to a project in desperate need of some, but again, how many moviegoers and comic book fans are craving to see this flick?

We’re already in the midst of superhero overload what with Captain America, Thor, X-Men: First Class, The Avengers, Batman 3, Spider-Man, Green Lantern, Viagra-Man, The Deadly Bulb and a few others I’m sure I missed on the horizon. Okay, so I made up the one about Viagra-Man and The Deadly Bulb is a supervillain from The Tick, but you get the point.

I’m sure Brody will get a handsome payday should he land the role, but I think he’s better suited doing films that utilize his talents best. Maybe something like The Pianist 2: Szpilman’s Revenge. I’m kidding, of course. Besides, I hear M. Night is planning a sequel to The Village called The Village 2: Who Wrote This Pile of Sh*t? Pencil Brody in for that one.

[Via Screen Rant]

Who will be cast as the hotter than hot female lead opposite suave Robert Downey Jr. in director Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming space thriller Gravity? Inquiring brains want to know!

In one corner we have the new girl on the block, Blake Lively. She’s tall, leggy, luscious, and is currently heating things up on the Green Lantern set playing Ryan Reynolds’ main squeeze Carol Ferris. In addition, this sexy siren is still breaking hearts and bank accounts as wealthy Manhattan socialite Serena van der Woodsen on the small screen smash Gossip Girl.

In the other corner we have the cagey veteran, Scarlett Johansson. She’s short, curvy, bodacious, and is currently married to Mr. Green Lantern himself, Ryan Reynolds. In addition, this scintillating sexpot is riding high after her appearance in the summer smash Iron Man 2 where she played Natasha Romanova, aka Black Widow.

According to Heat Vision, both of these buxom blondes are engaged in an epic battle of hair-pulling and name-calling to earn the right to star alongside Downey. I made up the stuff about the hair-pulling and name-calling, but both actresses have apparently been tested and are rumored to be the leading candidates. Here’s a quick synopsis of the flick for those in the dark:

The movie’s plot revolves around astronauts repairing the Hubble telescope who are hit with an avalanche of satellite junk. In a plot akin to “Cast Away,” the surviving astronaut must fight her way back to Earth, where she hopes to reunite with her daughter.

Sounds like a meaty role. I think either chick could do it justice, although I’m leaning toward Blake in this titanic tussle. I like Scarlett and all, but I’d love to see how Lively performs with Cuarón behind the lens and Downey in front of it. I’m convinced she’s more than just another pretty face and seems poised for big screen stardom based on the parts she keeps landing.

Stay tuned for further updates about this casting conundrum.

I know that the rumors surrounding the Arrested Development movie have toyed with your heart for quite some time – one minute it’s on, the next it’s dead. However, we should all be able to breathe easy, as series creator Mitch Hurwitz is halfway through the script (seriously) and star Jason Bateman is throwing out a potential co-star in Jennifer Aniston.

Bateman probably gets asked about the Arrested Development movie in every conversation he has with another human being, and obviously Aniston’s name was thrown out there as she was his co-star in The Switch, which is currently being promoted for its release on August 20th. Nevertheless, Batemen says that “there’s a real good part for her in the Arrested Development movie.” Whatever that role is, fans should want her in it. Aniston certainly knows how to handle comedy and it would be nice to see her work with such vaunted comedic material.

If more star power does get added to the cast, it might become a nightmare getting everyone’s schedules to match up, like Bateman suggests. However, it seems as though fans of the show can begin thinking of the movie as something tangible, not just a ludicrous pipe dream.

Until there is more Arrested Development news, enjoy a little bit of a magician named Gob:

Every week the Hollywood machine spits out a steady stream of gossip, rumors and revelations. We at FlickSided would love to report them all, but a few will inevitably slip by our radar. In an effort to remedy these oversights, here are a handful of stories we placed on the back burner until now.

• Wednesday I posted that Blade Runner scribe David Webb Peoples was writing the screenplay for Ridley Scott’s adaptation of the sci-fi novel The Forever War. Turns out this is old news. Peoples worked on the script in the past, but another screenwriter, Matthew Michael Carnahan (State of Play) is currently taking a crack at it. So, it looks like there won’t be a Scott/Peoples reunion after all. Bummer.

• Painfully average director Stephen Sommers will be returning to direct the planned G.I. Joe sequel, according to The Wrap. I never did get around to seeing the first movie, but I hear tell it was a hot mess. Not that it matters because it managed to gross $300 million worldwide, which explains why Paramount wants to do another one.

• Stellan Skarsgard is in talks to join David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He will play one of the chief suspects in the movie. I’ve always liked Skarsgard and bringing him aboard would add some native flavor to the Swedish story. No word yet on who will play Lisbeth Salander, but the focus seems to be on relative unknowns.

• The new poster for Yogi Bear is straight off a porno box. The only thing they left out was a raging hard-on. It must be seen to be believed.

• Here’s a shocker. The Star Wars live-action TV series George Lucas has been talking up for years is too damn expensive to produce. C’mon, Georgie boy. Just admit you’re too busy counting stacks of prequels cash to give a sh*t.

Quentin Tarantino often times gets a bug up his ass and pronounces interest in a certain project and that’s the last we hear of it until someone in the media asks, “Hey Q, whatever happened to such and such?” Then Tarantino will either sidestep the query, explain how it fell apart or reignite the rumor flames by declaring he’s still very much interested in doing the movie.

Which brings me the latest Q wants to do this but probably won’t blurb. According to Pajiba, he’s attached to co-write and possibly direct a FOX reboot of The Shadow. Now, a Tarantino version of anything would be interesting to watch, but The Shadow? I can see him helping with the script and maybe even producing. However, I’d be surprised if he stepped behind the lens to direct.

Besides, The Shadow falls into a group of lame masked crime fighters that includes The Phantom and The Spirit. Nobody wants to see some mysterious fella lurking in dark corners whispering cryptic messages to bad guys. That’s Batman’s job.

The Deadpool movie, like many other superhero films that have been saturating the genre lately, generated very little interest in me at first. Not to mention audiences will be getting a healthy dose of Ryan Reynolds the Superhero when they see him in the Green Lantern next year. This news, however, could change all that.

Talks are apparently in place for Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Planet Terror) to direct Deadpool, which would inject some much-needed life into what could be “just another” superhero movie. It’s still early, as both sides are apparently negotiating and Rodriguez is set to make Spy Kids 4 first, but I have a feeling a superhero movie directed by Robert Rodriguez would be well worth the wait.

In the meantime, let’s all look forward to the glory that will be Machete.

I love news stories like this one. They don’t really tell us anything concrete, but are still labeled as “exclusive.” Anyway, Deadline has once gain dipped their silver scoop into the carton of Hollywood ice cream and pulled out this flavorful bit of info: Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof might be writing Ridley Scott’s planned Alien prequel. Or, he might be writing something completely different. Confuse us some more Deadline:

In a development as vexing as a Lost plotline, studio insiders said that while Lindelof indeed met with Scott and the studio for that rewrite job, the exchange of ideas between them sparked a take that could well turn out to be a free-standing science fiction film. The studio will decide when Lindelof turns it in.

Huh? Let me get this straight — Lindelof is either going to write a flick about acid-for-blood-aliens, or a flick that has nothing to do with acid-for-blood-aliens. Okalee dokalee.

Personally, I don’t give a hoot who scribes the thing. I just wanna see Scott direct another Alien movie. I’m certain some of you fellow Losties out there are bitching an moaning at the thought of Lindelof writing the script for fear he’ll butcher it like he did the Lost finale. Uh, get over yourselves already. I loved the show and had zero problem with the ending. How did you want it to wrap? With everyone returning home and resuming their sad, pathetic lives? With the island disappearing? Move on, people. It’s over.

With Edward Norton officially out as The Hulk in Joss Whedon’s upcoming The Avengers movie, rumors have been swirling about his replacement. The latest, according to Deadline, is that Mark Ruffalo is in “late-stage talks” to become Marvel’s new mean green machine.

Losing an actor of Norton’s caliber is a blow, but if they can land Ruffalo, I’d call that a major coup. Dude has been killin’ it for years in flicks like You Can Count on Me, Zodiac and The Kids Are All Right. He’d probably come at a cheaper price than Norton too, not that money is an issue. Wait, it’s Hollywood — money is ALWAYS an issue.

Ruffalo’s soft-spoken style seems like an ideal fit for the mild-mannered Bruce Banner. However, don’t get too excited just yet. Deadline has a pretty good track record, but nothing has been confirmed by the powers that be. For now, we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed the negotiations are legit.

When I think of make believe creatures that don’t get enough pub, gargoyles immediately spring to mind. They’re scary looking, can fly and turn to stone during the day. What’s not to like? Evidently the execs over at the Mouse, aka Disney, agree with my sentiments.

According to Heat Vision, Disney is fast-tracking a project about gargoyles. It will “build a mythology” and be set in modern times. It may or may not be based on the mid-nineties animated series Gargoyles, which of course is another Disney property. As for details, that’s pretty much all anyone knows at this point.

I actually watched the cartoon a few times and was pleasantly surprised how good it was. I didn’t expect a concentration on character development and intricate story arcs, but that’s what I saw. Later I discovered it was aimed at a more adult audience, so then it all made sense.

At any rate, I’d be down for an adaptation, although something tells me producers will go in a different direction and just have some guy or gal investigating strange murders only to find out they’re being committed by a clan of nasty gargoyles. In other words, a simple stupid story that’s been done a thousand times before, only this time there will be gargoyles.

The rumor mill continues to crank about who will direct the latest Superman reboot. Last week Home Alone helmer Chris Columbus was rumored to be in the running, but that was quickly shot down. Now, according to site Geek Tyrant, Christopher Nolan’s little bro Jonathan has been attached to direct the man of steel.

Seems like an odd choice considering Jonathan has never stepped behind the lens before. He co-wrote The Dark Knight, The Prestige and Memento, so his storytelling skills are not in question. However, handling the reigns of a tentpole franchise that can ill afford to suffer another flop is risky.

Although, if Christopher is on board as producer, maybe he can help steer the ship clear of rough waters. Hard to bet against the Nolans; everything they touch seems to turn to gold. At this point, nothing is confirmed. I wouldn’t be surprised if this too is debunked sometime over the next couple days.

[Via Cinematical]