“I don’t think we get any scenes together, sadly,” said McAvoy. And thus we won’t get to see the wind knocked out of him when he realizes he’ll lose his hair.

This news makes total sense within the X-Men universe considering that Stewart’s Xavier was killed off in X3: The Confusinging. If the X-Men are to send one of their own (maybe Kitty Pryde) back in time, then Charles Xavier would not be present in that timeline. However, it’s reasonable to assume that the events of Days Of Future Past could lead to the resurrection of Charles Xavier who will then be seen in the final acts of the film. Or maybe Patrick Stewart isn’t playing Charles Xavier at all, but his rad party dude cousin, Tito Xavier. No. No. Then you wouldn’t be able to explain this second wheelchair. My head hurts.

He’d play Eric Draven, a rocker murdered because his shitty songs about the rain suck who returns from the grave to avenge he and his slain fiancee. The original film was released in 1994 at the height of the grunge era and featured Brandon Lee as the gothic, Sandman-like vigilante. There’s no word if the character will be updated to reflect the mood and trends of today’s music, but how great would it be if the Crow we’re now modeled after one of the guys from Fun? He could still dress like he were from the 90′s.

Some time has passed since then and Wanted 2 is inching forward with the hiring of Michael Brandt and Derek Haas to write the script. The duo also wrote the original which saw bullet-curving ju jitsu, a magical loom that predicted the fate of man, Common acting, and a variety of other things that made little to no sense. We’ll see how the story develops and whether or not any of the original cast return for another astoundingly retarded film. (via The Playlist)

Of course not. He’s Keith Richards. It’s not like he’s capable of dying or anything. He’s like Voldemort with a Telecaster.

This news should come as little surprise, as his book was one of last year’s bestsellers, despite a scarcity of depravity and turpitude. For that, I would suggest Motley Crue’s The Dirt. Seriously. So it’s a popular rock star who wrote a popular book that can be shot (possibly) as PG-13. You better believe that’s a nascent film!

The bazillion-dollar question is: Who will play Richards? Here are my good picks, bad picks, and some picks I didn’t consider.

Good:

Keith Richards (especially for younger scenes; that would be hilarious)

Edward Norton

James McAvoy

Bad:

Johnny Depp

Russell Brand

Jared Fucking Leto

Not Considered:

John Goodman

Andre 3000

Phillip Baker Hall

7 photosRosario Dawson

In Trance, Dawson will play a woman involved with both an art thief (McAvoy) and his spurned accomplice (Cassel), developing what Deadline calls an “unusual relationship” with both men. It will begin filming this fall before Boyle is called upon to direct the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremonies in London. Will Dawson’s turn here restore her credibility after acting opposite Kevin James in The Zookeeper? I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Of course it won’t.

Pegg, whose credibility is safe for the next 10,000 years or so, is garnering even more points by starring in A Fantastic Fear of Everything. He will play a children’s book author who, in making the transition to crime novels, does research on Victorian serial killers. In doing so, the already cowardly Pegg becomes paranoid that everyone around him is a potential threat to his safety. The film is directed by Crispian Mills, the former lead singer of indie darlings Kula Shakur. Simon Pegg has had nary a misstep in his film career, save for Run Fatboy Run and How To Lose Friends and Alienate People. But he’s done like 600 movies since then, so who really remembers?

James McAvoy is close to teaming up with fellow Brit Danny Boyle for Trance, a heist thriller that would see him playing a character named Simon who is stuck in the middle of a botched bank job. Michael Fassbender was first attached to this project, but apparently he put it aside when he decided to do every other movie in Hollywood. (Variety)

Robin Williams is also circling Gently Down the Stream, a rom-com that would feature Robert DeNiro and Diane Keaton as a divorced couple that pretends to be married for the sake of their kids. Robin Williams will play an obnoxious priest, just like he did in License to Wed. Old Robert De Niro never would have put up with Williams’ B.S., but times hav echanged. The film will also star Susan Sarandon, Topher Grace, Amanda Seyfried, and Katherine “Buzzkill” Heigl. (Showbiz 411)

Finally, Tom Wilkinson will be gracing The Lone Ranger with his presence as a railroad tycoon, which one can safely read as “bad guy. I am now openly rooting for Wilkinson to prevail over both Armie Hamer’s Lone Ranger and Johnny Depp’s Tonto. I’m tired of seeing Johnny Depp prevail, and Armie Hamer will always be a snooty Winklevoss in my eyes. I hope whatever damsel Wilkinson ties to the train tracks gets run the hell over. (Variety)

This is the best prequel ever, because it actually tells a story. It’s not just setup, although there’s plenty of that too. The characters are actually different at this stage of the story, not just younger imitations. Xavier (James McAvoy) uses his telepathy to pick up babes, and has a cocky swagger that’s in no way reminiscent of Patrick Stewart. Mystique as a child is sweet and heartwarming, and once she grows up to be Jennifer Lawrence she’s a lovely lady, not yet the cold, hard edged Rebecca Romijn version.

Kevin Bacon Shows His Skills In New ‘X-Men: First Class’ Trailer

The superpowers get to be delightful at this stage because they haven’t totally become burdens yet. The kids get to train and experience the joy of discovery, like the best parts of Spider-Man and Iron Man. It’s just plain awesome, Azazel teleporting humans to the sky and dropping them, Magneto turning a knife into a boomerang or turning barb wire into snares. It’s beautiful and tragic too. Spoiler alert, but not all the mutants grow up to be X-Men, especially not the ones who don’t have well known comic book names.

The film really emphasizes the practical uses of mutant powers. Xavier even comments that his telepathy is being blocked, like, “Oh well, it’s not working right now so I can’t help you today. Maybe I need to call tech support.” It’s momentous, triumphant, powerful and still debates all that important philosophy. It totally invalidates the prologue of X-Men: The Last Stand but something tells me no one will mind that.

I love the way Matthew Vaughn shoots. He creates Hitchcockian suspense, only instead on knowing there’s a bomb under the desk, we know that Magneto is going to bend some metal. But will it be the gun or the coin or all the metal in the room? Vaughn’s camera captures little details that make the scene feel real, like Magneto’s reflection in a gold bar.

3 photosThe January Jones/Emma Frost Underwear Shots We’ve All Been Waiting For

More obvious details make the world feel even more real than the Bryan Singer films. Yeah, it’s a period piece, but using the period details grounds the film where X2 will still feel generically modern long after 2003. So they play “Palisades Park” in a go-go club and the fashion is disco. Just showing Mystique brushing her teeth gives her a real world context.

First Class is this year’s great comic book movie, up there with Spider-Man 1 and The Dark Knight, maybe somewhere in between them. (Sorry Green Lantern, it won’t be you this summer.) It’s the summer movie I’ve been waiting for. Actually, it makes me realize I might have been settling for others before this.

There’s also some choice shots of Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Bacon, James McAvoy, and more. So enjoy, and remember: With great power comes great responsib– uh, mutants. (Movieline)

First up, a new 30 second ad for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2. My opinion is: this conclusion will be epic. I don’t know why I think that. Maybe it’s the epic music, the epic explosion sequences, or maybe it’s the fact that they literally call it “The Epic Conclusion.” Who knows? I do know the last Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and quidditches into theaters July 15, 2012.

Second, it’s a new TV spot for X-Men: First Class. For some reason, the Fox marketing department hasn’t shown us any trailers, clips, character trailers, stills or set photos for this movie. Oh wait, the opposite of what I just said, times a billion. Here’s a new compilation of clips to excite your latent mutant genes. Starring James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, X-Men: First Class evolves in theaters June 3, 2012.

Mere hours after releasing a US trailer, Fox has released a new international trailer with some previously unseen footage peppered in. If you were wondering whether mutants and humans were gonna collide politically and philosophically in X-Men: First Class, this trailer is your definitive answer. Of course, given that pretty much every X-Man everything is about mutants and humans colliding, the extra lines of dialogue here aren’t much of a reveal. Also, why is the international version of the trailer plottier? I guess us dumb ‘mericans can’t handle too many extra purty soundin’ story-words.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender star as younger, cuddlier versions of Professor X and Magneto. You can see them and all your X-Friends unite in theaters June 3, 2011.

Renner (The Town, The Hurt Locker) will play a character who’s not Jason Bourne in the forth film, which is titled Bourne Legacy. I wonder if further sequels will also have to wedge “Bourne” in the name for continuity purposes, like Bourne’s Shadow, The Bourne Similarity, and Basically Bourne, You Guys. Interestingly, Renner also plays a spy in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, so that begs the question: which studio is Renner really working for? He can’t work both sides for much longer… (Deadline)

In Fox’s new poster for X-Men: First Class, we see Beast, Mystique, and a bunch of non-blue muties all walking in different directions. Or standing around. Yeah, it’s a little awkward, but nowhere near the train wreck that was the last set of posters, which featured some ridiculous floating-head-on-crotch action. And I do like the tag-line, though I would have considered switching Mystique and Emma Frost. The White Queen has two things I want to see more up close, if you know what I mean, and what I mean are her long boots and cape. I also mean her boobs.

The X-Men assemble in theaters June 3rd, starring Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, January Jones, Kevin Bacon and a soon-to-be-Hunger-Games-ing Jennifer Lawrence. (EW)

Here’s another mutant leak, and I’m not referring to Nightcrawler’s green piss. (I’m assuming he pisses green, though I really have no idea.) YouTubers are struggling to keep a not-yet-released TV spot for X-Men: First Class online, but Marvel and co. keep bringing it down. If the video is still up, you’ll see a little new footage, plus the old footage you love, and a tagline saying there’ll be a new trailer on the movie’s Facebook. I wish I had the power to keep lawyers from tearing this off-line, but not even mighty Apocalypse can battle high-powered lawyers.

James McAvoy is joining Welcome To The Punch, a script that placed highly on last year’s Brit List. Helmed by up and coming writer/director Eran Creevy, the story is reminiscent of Heat, with a London detective being confronted by his armed robber nemesis after five years of silence. That plot is said to be just the tip of a massive conspiracy in the tense British thriller. My prediction, the gas stations are behind the whole thing. They set the robber back on the streets. He ends up blowing up gas stations during shoot-outs in his attempts to allude capture. The gas stations reap the benefits of huge insurance pay-outs. It’s text book. (Deadline)

“Keira’s confirmed, Jude Law’s confirmed, Aaron Johnson’s confirmed, Kelly Macdonald’s confirmed, Benedict Cumberbatch is confirmed. I’m still waiting on Saoirse and James,” Wright told The Playlist.

Of course, Saoirse and James refers to Seahorse Rainman Saoirse Ronan and James McAvoy. The Wright alums are up for unspecified roles, but it has been revealed that Keira Knightley will play the title role, Jude Law will chill as her drip of a husband, and Aaron Johnson will play the young soldier who she allows to crawl on top of her while naked. When the book was first released, their affair was deemed very illicit by Russian society. So let’s assume things will get pretty kinky. We’re talking Dirty Sanchezes, Glass Bottom Boats, and the potentially-fatal “Cumberbatch.”

Director: Robert Redford

Cast: James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Alexis Bledel, Justin Long, Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Kline

Synopsis: Mary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.

Release Date: April 15, 2011

The art direction of these covers is so convincing that I’m not entirely convinced these actors didn’t actually exist in the 1960′s. I’m going to need to see a picture of January Jones wearing nothing more than today’s newspaper immediately. (Total Film)

Akira

Andrew Garfield, James McAvoy and Robert Pattinson have been given the current draft of Akira, re-written by Steve Kloves. They’re all up for the lead role of Tetsuo. If the audition requires shirtlessness, Pattinson’s got the experience edge. Meanwhile, for the role of Kaneda, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender and Joaquin Phoenix are under consideration.

The story takes place in the very distant future – 2019 – where a bike gang leader must save his buddy from becoming the victim of a medical experiment. Warner Bros. and director Albert Hughes (From Hell) are excited about the new draft, though probably Albert’s co-director brother Allen is not, since he’s been left out of the picture. Or maybe he too became the victim of a medical experiment somewhere in Neo-Tokyo. (Deadline)

I was disappointed in the new Thor posters, but these are far worse. Why are the heads of Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) floating on their own crotches? I get what they were going for: “the fresh faced youngsters will morph into these classic silhouettes… with time.” However, I’d prefer they keep their floating heads inside their pants, thanks.

Let’s hope the film’s more in-line with the kickass trailer than these Photoshop nightmares. Seriously, these could be images from someone’s nightmares, and not in a cool way. More of an annoying way.

The first class of X-Men blast into theaters June 3rd. (ComingSoon)

As you can see James McAvoy becomes bald and wheelchair-bound while Michael Fassbender gets a pretty sweet cape and helmet. And I think he can fly somewhat. Hey, but y’know, that wheelchair has some sweet rims. (FilmZ)

X-Men: First Class takes us back to the early days of the X-Men where you should pretty much forget everything you saw in the other movies. Beast and Mystique are kids, Wolverine is nowhere in sight, and your girlfriend wants to do it with Professor X now. Is that the Brave New World that Charles Xavier dreams about?

McAvoy plays Freerick Aiken, a Union veteran who reluctantly defends in court Mary Surratt, the falsely-accused mother of an actual conspirator. Much of the action appears to the courtroom, and the trailer even features the soon-to-be national catch phrase “Our founding fathers drafted a constitution precisely for times like this!”

It’s A Few Good Men for the lambchop set. (Yahoo! Movies)

In addition to revealing the film’s lack of Logan, McAvoy says Professor X was supposed to be bald in the movie, but studio heads nixed the idea. I guess they don’t want this cool, pretty, badly-Photoshopped cast of mutant freaks to be mucked up by a baldo. This “freed” up McAvoy to not have to do a Patrick Stewart impression, and he gives us details on how the young telepath is different:

You look at the kind of main, defining characteristics of Professor X, of Charlie Boy, and you go, ‘Alright, he’s selfless. He’s a saint. He’s sexless, it seems. He’s egoless. He’s all about other people. He’s all about bettering the world and mutantkind and humankind.’ And so you kind of try and flip that on its head. You don’t make him an evil person, or anything like that, but you make him ego-driven, women-chasing, he likes a good drink. He’s not the reluctant leader that you kind of want all heroes to be. He actually kind of wants to be in charge, you know what I mean? And all of those things, just to kind of show a journey. So by the end of the movie he’s some way towards becoming Patrick Stewart[‘s version of the character], rather than just having the same guy at the beginning.”

Oh, and to fanboys who’ve skimmed over the rest of the blog to find more news about Wolverine’s absence: welcome to the end of the blog. There is no more news. No Wolvie. I suggest you bring your replica metal claws to the theater to make up for his absence. Movie ushers love that stuff. (Cinema Blend)

So far we’ve seen a cast photo, a teaser poster, and a few good looks at the film’s mod style. Turns out that the recent glut of images is a damage control reaction to the original leaked cast photo. When you first saw it, you most likely said, “Jesus!” So did director Matthew Vaughn. He tells /Film:

“I freaked out on them yesterday. I don’t know where the hell that came from. I don’t think it’s a Fox image. It’s not a pre-approved image. When I found out, I said, what the fuck is this shit, and Fox is running around trying to figure out what happened as well. I agree. It’s like a bad photoshop, which maybe it was by someone. It didn’t reflect the movie. I was shocked when I saw it. I was like ‘Jesus Christ’…

In order to manage expectations, he released the following images of James McAvoy‘s Professor X and Michael Fassbender‘s Magneto showing off their powers. Just don’t show these to the cast that have to spend eight hours a day in the makeup chair. Those guys need to call their agents.

First off, we have Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Shaw looking like Chris Walken in “The Continental,” and January Jones‘ Emma Frost looking like a woman with a delicious rack. Notice the wet bar in the back left. “Omit no detail,” say the producers!

Then we have a picture that some would construe as a “metaphor.” We’ve got young Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) engaged in a battle of wits over a chess board. While many might say that this 60′s throwback is a case of notalgia fever run amok, the fact remains that these stills demonstrate a warmth we haven’t seen in this franchise before. So even if it takes some ascots and a wood-and-leather study, it’s well worth it.

Finally, we’ve got the money shot. The group looking like the cast of a British detective series. Reaction to the earlier “official” photo was hostile, and with good reason. If the producers are going to jump along the timeline of the story to give us a fresh look at the characters, a generic, shadowy picture that graces the poster of every superhero movie is probably not called for. These stills convey a very different atmosphere that will probably be the source of more than a few laughs in the film knowing Matthew Vaughn. Ascots for everyone!!!

In seemingly more “official” news, we’ve got a somewhat obscured photo of the cast of X-Men: First Class in their costumes. It would appear that Professor X is standing. He could be in a very tall, backless wheelchair, but that’s pretty unlikely. Beyond that, it’s hard to know what to make of their outfits, except for January Jones as Emma Frost. She is looking pretty sharp. (Playlist)

NOTE: MSN has pulled the pic for unspecified reasons, and some rumors are circulating that it’s fake, while others are saying it’s simply “unauthorized.” We will leave this post up until we get some definitive proof, if only because James McAvoy and January Jones are so damn attractive.

The second film is probably less scary in that it doesn’t have Cruise speaking TO the audience, but is still scary because it’s a Guillermo Del Toro movie called Of the Mountains of Madness. His participation in that film is a little less certain, as he and James McAvoy are up for the same part, and it seems to be a matter of scheduling. The film is scheduled to shoot this summer, so expect a final decision on this one shortly.

Neither of these projects appear to be typical Tom Cruise features, which might be a deliberate move from the actor’s camp to divorce himself from that big pile of crazy he dropped on the American public a few years back. While rock musicals and Del Toro films are hardly the benchmark for sanity, they would offer Cruise a soft landing spot from that couch he jumped on a few years back.

Somewhere, there’s a zombie precariously close to jumping over a shark.

Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy are being considered for roles in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Dread Central is reporting. If the rumors are true, McAvoy will play the part of Darcy, and Hathaway will play Elizabeth Bennett.

The film, which will be directed by Mike White and produced by Natalie Portman, is an adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith‘s zombification of Jane Austin’s classic tale. It will mark the 324th zombie-related project to be green lit since the mysterious outbreak hit Hollywood in 2007. What makes this particular bout of over-saturation so disturbing is that no matter how badly producers run zombies into the ground, they always seem to drag themselves back up. Stay tuned for Meet the Zombie Fockers. (Pajiba via Dread Central)

James McAvoy plays Santa’s misfit son, Arthur, who executes an unauthorized rookie mission to get a present that Santa missed half way around the globe before dawn on Christmas morning. It’s a little disconcerting that Santa is just forgetting to drop presents off, but I’m glad someone is picking up the slack. I hope this film doesn’t take an awkward turn to examine Mr. Kringle’s battle with Alzheimer’s. That would not make for a very jolly tale at all.

Arthur Christmas crashes into theaters November 23, 2011.