Smallville: Movie rumours, Season 9 Superman costume!

Reposted from coventrytelegraph.net

RUMOURS of a Smallville spin-off movie have been around for a while.

They have been fuelled by the expectation - now turning into frustration for many - that at some point soon Tom Welling's young Clark Kent has to put on the costume and fly.

That has led to fan-created images, including the one featured above which has been circulating online for months and gives some idea of the call for Welling finally to become Superman.

But, thanks to San Diego Comic-Con, we now know a costume of some kind is coming to Smallville - not the classic costume depicted here but a costume nonetheless.

More on that below, and be warned this report does include some spoilers.

The rule of 'no tights, no flights' was established by original producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar at the start of the show but is probably wearing a little thin as we prepare for Season 9 to air on September 25 in the USA.

Talk of a movie surfaced most recently on Ain't It Cool News, which quoted a source saying the show would end in May, 2010, and be followed at Christmas that year by a feature film called Metropolis. It wasn't clear whether this would be a TV movie or a theatrical release.

Apart from finally taking the character forward after nine years, a Smallville movie might well solve a larger problem. A recent court case over Superman copyright revealed that Warner Bros could be sued by the heirs of the character's co-creator if the studio fails to make another film by 2011.

Such a project would also answer the demand from the fans who want Tom Welling to play Superman on the big screen.

We were given the latest information on the future of the show at San Diego Comic-Con, where Welling made his first appearance at the convention and a preview trailer for Season 9 was screened.

The Smallville panel was preceded by hoax reports flooding the internet. One said select visitors to Comic-Con were being shown a one-piece blue Superman suit made of leather with red sleeves and side panels, and with no cape or trunks. Another said people were being handed flyers featuring the costume, although the image allegedly on the flyer (pictured right) turned out to be a fan drawing.

As E! Online reports, the truth was revealed when the panel screened footage for Season 9 which showed Clark in a new supersuit: it's all black, not made of spandex, and has a silver Superman logo on the front and a black trenchcoat that doubles as a cape. There is no clear image to show at this point.

The preview footage began with the words 'The world's greatest hero has risen' appearing on screen followed by 'And he is not alone' as all the various guest superheroes flash past. They included Supergirl, even though Laura Vandervoort is not returning to the show.

The sneak peek also showed Callum Blue as Major Zod (he's not yet a general), Brian Austin Green as Metallo, Clark and Lois getting steamy, and Lois fighting in the future.

Notably, everyone on the panel stayed silent when asked if there would be a Smallville movie in the future.

They have a finale planned if this is their last season, but it would change if they are picked up for a tenth run.

In an interview with Matt Dentler's indiewire blog in May, Allison Mack, who plays Chloe Sullivan, believed the show would definitely get a tenth season.

She said: "The latest with Smallville is that we have another season [after this season's finale on May 14]. Tom has signed for two more, so the show will go until season 10."

And she revealed that she would leave in the ninth season: "I will be completed with my contract next year, and I am looking for new and exciting ways to carry out my character's exit."

Many other cast and crew members have left over the years. Executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, who developed Smallville, quit after seven seasons and Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer, Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson took over as showrunners.

Slavkin and Swimmer then departed in February (before the end of the eighth season) to produce the new version of TV drama Melrose Place, which premieres on September 9.

That leaves Souders and Peterson in charge of the upcoming Season 9, joined by Welling who is now a co-executive producer.

Many cast members have exited too, including Michael Rosenbaum, Kristin Kreuk, John Glover, Annette O'Toole, John Schneider, Laura Vandervoort and Aaron Ashmore.

With ratings for the show sliding over the years, the creative team will have a challenge ahead, especially with a Friday night slot. USA viewing figures show Smallville's Season 1 attracted 5.9m, peaking at 6.3m for Season 2, then for subsequent seasons declining to 4.96m and 4.4m, up slightly to 4.7m, then down to 4.1m, 3.77m and 3.74m.

And now fans are worried that the show is being moved to Friday nights in the USA, often regarded as the 'death slot' that kills any programme.

It's obvious the series has to evolve - even the name Smallville no longer applies, given that it's almost entirely set in Metropolis, so let's hope this new prototype Superman suit seen in the Comic-Con trailer is just the start of a journey to get the character and the show flying high.

The UK air dates for Season 9 have not yet been announced.

TRON LEGACY YES!

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jeff Bridges promises the new TRON is just as groundbreaking as the 27-year-old original.

The 59-year-old actor and star of the original film came to Comic-Con to help present early footage from TRON: Legacy, due in 2010.

Bridges notes that when TRON was released in 1982, the Internet and personal computers didn't exist. The futuristic tale took viewers to a digitized virtual world, a concept that was decades ahead of its time.

Despite modern moviegoers' everyday interaction with technology, Bridges says he "can guarantee you're going to get the same kind of pop with this one. Everything's going to be super-ized.''

Filmmakers showed some concept sketches and a brief, never-before-seen clip.

Joe Kosinski, Director of Tron, reveals that the sequel was shot using James Cameron’s very own groundbreaking 3D camera system.

“We used a brand new generation of the Pace/Cameron system developed by Vince Pace and James Cameron,” says Kosinski. “I think we’re the first film to use full 35mm sensor cameras in a 3D rig.”

'Battlestar Galactica' producer dies

Harvey Frand, Emmy-winning producer of "Battlestar Galactica," died in Los Angeles after a brief hospitalization for respiratory problems. He was 68.

Frand began his TV producing career in 1985 with "The Devlin Connection," Rock Hudson's final series. He went on to produce the 1985-87 version of "The Twilight Zone" as well as "Beauty and the Beast," "The Young Riders," "Lazarus Man" with Robert Urich, "Pretender" and "Strange World." For his work on "Battlestar Galactica," he won an AFI Award, the 2005 Peabody Award and a 2008 Emmy and is currently nominated for a second Emmy Award.

Mary McDonnell, star of the series, said in a statement, "Harvey had a remarkable gift as a producer. He always made the person who was voicing needs and concerns know that he was truly listening despite the fact that you knew he was juggling hundreds of others simultaneously."

Writer/producer Bradley Thompson said, "He would constantly challenge us find creative ways to make the piece work within the constraints of physical and financial reality. And if he felt we needed that something extra... say a nuclear explosion or two... to make the story play, he'd go to the mat to make it happen."

Born in Philadelphia, he studied political science at the U. of Pittsburgh. After working with Students for Kennedy in college, he started out at NBC news. As an executive for Warner Brothers he oversaw production on the 1973 David Janssen series, "Harry O."

In addition to his work in series television, he produced more than 20 pilots and movies of the week. He also produced the 1974-75 Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" starring Christopher Walken and Irene Worth.

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Megan Fox is unapologetic about 'Jennifer's Body'

The horror comedy Jennifer's Body stars Megan Fox as a possessed high school girl who devours her male classmates. Fox talks nasty, gets bloodied up and even vomits black goo in screenwriter Diablo Cody's homage to high-school horror movies, but Fox promised she wouldn't totally give up her sex appeal in the grisly film.

"Oh, this movie gets so sexy," Fox said at a press conference last week in San Diego. "You better put on your f--king sexy shoes for this movie."

To entice her fans, Fox described the film's dalliance with girl-on-girl action. "There's a relationship between my character and Amanda [Seyfried]'s character that is, I mean, I guess depending on who you are, it's either a common relationship that you grew up with or not, but there's sort of a hint of a little bit of a lesbian relationship that happens. There's a girl-on-girl kiss. I feel like it's an homage to that, but we poke fun at how common that is in horror movies."

Also, the very premise requires Fox to turn on her charms. While most men would still likely volunteer for mutilation just for a night with Fox, the film operates on the premise that Jennifer has to lure her victims into vulnerable positions. "Before every kill, there is a seduction that occurs," she said. "These boys have to be seduced into getting close enough to this dead girl for her to devour them. So I think I'm pretty sexy in the movie."

Even with sex appeal, Jennifer's Body will show a different side of Fox. She has hinted that perhaps her other films did not exploit her full range of abilities. "Oh, you mean from Transformers?" she said. "How are they different? Well, obviously there's no distractions. There's no robots to distract you from whatever performance I do give."

At least Fox owned up to her full responsibility for her work in Body. "So if it's terrible, you're going to f--king know that it's really terrible," she said of her acting. "That, of course, is intimidating, but I think the character was so much fun for me. I wasn't sure what I was doing. I was just trying to have fun with it. I sort of felt like I was being able to make fun of my own image, sort of, to how some people might perceive 'Megan Fox' to be. I was just flying freely, and I hope some of it worked."

Jennifer is a pretty foul-mouthed flirt before she goes psycho, let alone after. "What I loved about the movie is it's so unapologetic and how completely inappropriate it is at all times," Fox said. "That was my favorite part about the script and about the character. It's fun to be able to say the s--t that she got to say and get away with it and have people find it charming."

As for getting icky, there are not one but two vomit scenes in Jennifer's Body. First, she unloads on best friend Needy (Seyfried) in the first reveal that something is not quite right with young Jennifer. "You revisit it in the pool scene," she said. "It happens again later in the movie. Special effects did a rig that clamps onto my ear. It goes around the back of my ear, and then I bite down on it on the side of my face. It projectiles, it's a tube, it projects whatever that material was. It was pretty intense. I think it was worse for Amanda, because she's the one that got puked on. I was the one doing the puking."

'Battlestar Galactica: The Plan' is Finished !

Source: Airlock Alpha

It can take a long time to put together a "Battlestar Galactica" movie, especially one which writer Jane Espenson said took both her and director Edward James Olmos to go line by line through the script to make sure every aspect lined up with the backstory of the critically acclaimed SciFi Channel series.

Although work on the film began soon after the final season of "Battlestar Galactica" wrapped last year, Olmos told attendees at a Battlestar Galactica Orchestra concert Thursday night in San Diego and the next day at a San Diego Comic-Con panel that he just wrapped "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan" last week as the network gets ready for an October premiere.

"It took seven months to edit the picture," Olmos said. "It was 10 to 12 hours a day, and the hardest job I ever done. But I will say that you guys are going to love it. You will freak out, and will keep you busy for another three years."

Doing a backstory piece based on asides from characters is tough, especially with "The Plan" that covers the entire length of the series, as well as before the events first featured in the 2003 pilot.

"When we started to nail it and try to figure out what was the story, we knew they had a plan, they did this and did this, but didn't want it to feel like a clip show," Olmos said. "It felt really difficult."

Espenson, who previously did work on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dollhouse," and is the new showrunner for the "Battlestar" spinoff series "Caprica," said she was quite knowledgeable about "Battlestar Galactica," especially through some of her past writing stints on the show, but still needed some help to make sure every piece of history fit perfectly into the already established canon.

"There was a lot of watching episodes and of reading of old scripts," Espenson said. "You can read the scripts faster than watching the film, but then you have to wonder if the scene actually got shown, so I would have to go find it on film."

Another thing it allowed Espenson to do was look at different scenes already existing in the series, and take a look at what she could create on in scenes that were originally out of sight.

"We would look to see if we could continue a scene, like what happened on the other side of the door when [someone] walks into the room," Espenson said. "It's different from most writing where you let yourself go and relax so that you can hear these people talking into your ear. But for this, you can't let yourself go at all. You have to be analyzing."

"Battlestar Galactica: The Plan" debuts on DVD Oct. 27, and is expected to air on Syfy sometime in November.

Updates on Thor & Captain America Movies!

Thor found its Norse war god in Chris Hemsworth, and Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston have also joined director Kenneth Branagh's comic-book adaptation, and on Saturday at Comic-Con, Marvel Studios production president Kevin Feige said to expect more casting announcements soon.

"I think we're nearing, closing in on Odins and Heimdals and the Warriors Three, which we're excited about," Feige said in a group interview in San Diego, where he was promoting Iron Man 2. "We're about halfway through prep. We start filming in January."

Feige estimated that about 30 percent of Thor would take place in the present day, which suggests a film favoring the historical Norse mythology.

Meanwhile, Feige said that The First Avenger: Captain America is on the production path after Thor, so it will be a bit longer before they cast Cap. "I think it'll be a few months," Feige added.

Prep is fully underway on Captain, though, even though director Joe Johnston has not even wrapped his current production. "We already have some concept artists working on it," Feige continued. "Joe Johnston's finishing up Wolfman now, but he comes with us and we're already deep into the script and was in the office last week with us. He starts officially, and we open the offices officially in October."

As for the previously announced casting, Feige described why Hemsworth made the perfect movie Thor. "You know what, it's one of those rare things that doesn't happen often, but people like me always say it so it probably sounds cliche," Feige said. "We auditioned a lot of people. We did a lot of screen tests. We put a lot of people on video, and one guy just kept popping out, and it was Chris. You realize, regardless of what he's saying or how he's saying it, you're engaged with him. It's that movie-star quality which I think he has, and, thankfully, looks like Thor, which is a good combination."

Feige looks forward to introducing San Diego Comic-Con audiences to his Thor cast in 2010. "You know, this is my 10th year, so I'd be disappointed if I'm not here next year.

Star Trek: Screening at an International Space Station Near You!

Staying true to its name, "Star Trek" film will be trekking its way in space. NASA will be screening the sci-fi flick aboard the International Space Station.

Paramount Pictures gave a copy of the J.J. Abrams film to NASA's Mission Control in Houston, Texas to upload it to its space station.

Astronaut Michael Barratt said he will watch the film while aboard the ship, 220 miles above the Earth.

He said in a statement given to Access Hollywood, "I remember watching the original 'Star Trek' series and, like many of my NASA coworkers, was inspired by the idea of people from all nations coming together to explore space."

"'Star Trek' blended adventure, discovery, intelligence and storytelling that assumes a positive future for humanity. The International Space Station is a real step in that direction, with many nations sharing in an adventure the world can be proud of."