RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media Marvel Movie Roundup

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IGN FilmForce has learned from reliable sources that none other than Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) is the frontrunner to direct Paramount's live-action adaptation of the Marvel Comics character, Deathlok. Stu Zickerman and Raven Mentzner have penned the screenplay for Marvel Studios and Crystal Sky Productions. New Zealand-born Tamahori has also directed Along Came a Spider, The Edge, Mulholland Falls and Once Were Warriors.

The Hollywood Reporter has claimed that Deathlok will be "about a suburban family man who is unwittingly made a test subject for technology research that slowly turns him into a living computer." Marvel Studios honcho (and Deathlok producer) Avi Arad explained to THR back in September 2001 what makes Deathlok a timely tale: "We are all becoming more dependent on technology. One of these days it's going to be inside of us. For example, we won't need a cell phone; it'll be built into our ear. Now is that a cool thing, or will it destroy us as human beings? Deathlok explores what those consequences may be."

A good bio on Deathlok can be found at The Marvel Directory, which tells us that after U.S. Army Colonel Luther Manning was critically injured, his "superior, Major Simon Ryker, salvaged his body for use in Project: Alpha-Mech, a covert operation whose purpose was to create cyborg super-soldiers. Manning's brain, nervous system, and still living tissue were transplanted into a synthetic body in an operation performed by Major Ryker's brother Harlan Ryker (code-named Hellinger). ... Manning awoke from the weeks-long operation in a body that was partially his own and with a mini-computer occupying a portion of his cranium. He was given the code-name Deathlok. At first an unwilling agent of Ryker, Deathlok broke free of his control and became a free agent."
-- Stax

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Are Marvel and Paramount about to sign a director for the big-screen version of "Deathlok?" That's the rumor published Monday by IGN FilmForce.

The the typically reliable site's sources tell them that Lee Tamahori tops the list to direct the movie.

However, today's Hollywood Reporter tells us that MGM has signed the director to the upcoming "Risk Addiction", which was developed initially as a "Basic Instinct" sequel but has now been separated from those roots.

The two reports don't necessarily contradict one another. Hot directors often attach themselves to many projects simultaneously, filming one while developing the others and allowing them to have many projects at the ready.

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The June issue of Cinescape has an exclusive interview with Iron Man producers Don Murphy and Avi Arad, as well as screenwriters Alfred Gough & Miles Millar. Several new bits of information were revealed in the article.

"In Iron Man, he's putting on a suit of armor that protects his heart – I totally get it," says Murphy. "To me it's always about, 'Can I see it as a movie?' So Iron Man works for me because of that very reason. He's not going to be Superman turning back the world. It's believable stuff."

Writer Gough concurs, adding that "the intriguing thing to us [Gough & Millar] was (Iron Man's alter-ego Tony Stark) has an alcohol problem and he needs the suit to stay alive." Millar finds Iron Man to be "a very unique character in terms of he's not a teenager struggling with a superpower. ... he's like the Howard Hughes of superheroes."

Gough believes that Iron Man is "a very relevant sort of thing to be doing somebody who's basically a weapons manufacturer in this world situation we're in. And also, it's global. It's not a guy protecting one city; it has a James Bond-meets-Tom Clancy feel. That's our approach."

The interview's biggest revelation was provided by executive producer Avi Arad. "Iron Man is about a kid whose father was bigger-than-life and he felt like, 'What's in it for me?'" explains Arad. "Then he loses his parents and never got to say a kind word to [his father] like, 'Dad, I admire you and I love you and I didn't mean to be an [expletive]."

The New Line-based feature adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero is currently in development for a 2005 release.
-- Stax

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Popular black superhero Luke Cage will be the next Marvel comic-book character in line to make his way to the big screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Columbia Pictures, the studio behind the wildly successful Spider-Man, has optioned the rights and tapped Ben Ramsey to write the script. Marvel's Avi Arad will produce, along with Neal Moritz's studio-based Original Films, the trade paper reported.

Cage is about a former gang member who is framed for a crime. In prison, he volunteers for a medical experiment that goes awry, giving him super strength and bulletproof skin. Using his newfound powers, Cage escapes and becomes a hero for hire. The comic book, initially titled Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, debuted in the 1970s and ran until the mid-'80s, the trade paper reported. The film will be the studio's third collaboration with Marvel.

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When The Hollywood Reporter broke the news yesterday that Columbia Pictures was going to team with Neal Moritz's Original Film to bring Marvel Comics' Luke Cage, Hero for Hire to the big-screen, I wondered whether Moritz's xXx and Fast and the Furious star Vin Diesel might not be in the running to portray the titular superhero. According to an update yesterday at 4Filmmakers, Diesel is indeed attached to star in Cage.

Please note, however, that 4Filmmakers once reported that Diesel and Moritz were teaming for the comic book movie The Flash, which turned out to be false. Diesel has been rumored for a number of genre flicks he never ended up making, including Daredevil, Terminator 3, Hellboy and King Conan.

Still, after all the studio-generated hype surrounding Diesel's "arrival" in last summer's xXx, the conventional wisdom is that Diesel needs a sure-fire hit in order to justify that hype. His last two releases – the much delayed Knockaround Guys and A Man Apart – weren't especially successful. Even xXx was considered by some to have under-performed. Nowadays, comic book movies seem a sure thing so perhaps Vin really will portray Luke Cage.

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Recent rumors about a planned "Captain America" movie are false.

Stories began circulating a few weeks ago about "a big name producer" circling the project and Brad Pitt expressing interest in signing a three-picture deal to star as America's living legend.

According to the rumors, the alleged movie would be based on Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's take from "The Ultimates."

That all sounds very exciting but Kevin Feige, Executive Vice President of Marvel Studios tells us there is "no truth to it at all."

"Amazing the trouble people will go to to start a rumor," Feige said of the story.

"Captain America" is set up at Artisan Entertainment, which licensed 15 Marvel characters for development back in the summer of 2000. The first film to spring out of that deal is "The Punisher," which starts filming this summer. The next most likely projects seem to be "Man-Thing," which may film this year in Australia and "Iron Fist" which has long had Ray Park attached to star.

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Miles Millar, who with partner Alfred Gough is writing the script for a proposed Iron Man movie, told SCI FI Wire that he expects to deliver a completed screenplay by September. "We're about halfway through the script," Millar said in an interview. "We spent, I guess, seven months developing the story. So we're happy. ... It's faithful [to the Marvel Comics series], but it's also very different from the original. And it's updated."

Millar and Gough—who also executive produce The WB's Superman series, Smallville—said that it was a challenge finding a way to update the story beyond simply that of a man in an iron suit. "That was our initial challenge," Millar said. "When we found a solution to that, we realized we could write the movie. Before that, we were skeptical. We played with the notion. But I think we found a really cool way, actually, to reinvent the suit, make it very high-tech, make it very cool visually. And yeah, we're really happy."

Like the comics, the proposed New Line Cinema film will center on billionaire Tony Stark, who in this case will be portrayed as a man with an alcohol problem who needs the high-tech suit to survive. "Tony Stark, I think, ... [is] a really interesting character," Millar said. "That's what I think really drew us to the character in the first place. It's that he had a depth and an originality that you hadn't seen in a superhero before. There's no character like this currently in superhero movies.

Millar said that the script will perserve Iron Man's trademark red-and-yellow color scheme, but with a twist. "Yep," he said. "But don't worry. It's going to be a very different suit. But, yeah, it will be a gold suit."

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