News Shotgun 9/6
- Sean Harris in talks to the play the villain of MI5: The Prometheus and Borgias actor is talks to play the villain of the upcoming fifth entry of the MI series, directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin and Rebecca Ferguson.
- AMC orders pilot of Walking Dead spin-off: Since it’s arguably one of the biggest shows of all time, AMC is doubling down and ordered a pilot for a spin-off of the Walking Dead. There’s not too many details but it will highlight what is happening in a different part of the world and feature the same team of producers as the main show, with creator Robert Kirkman co-writing the new pilot’s script.
- Justin Lin in talks to direct episodes of True Detective Season 2: True Detective Season 2 is going to be a departure in pretty much every way from season 1 and that includes multiple directors for episodes, instead of the singular vision of Cary Fukanaga like the first season. Fast & Furious director Justin Lin is apparently in talks to direct at least the first two episodes.
- New Supergirl TV series on the way: Greg Berlanti, one of the Arrow/Flash show runners, is developing a Supergirl series for WB. It’s not clear if it would expand the CW DC universe or go to a different network.
- Arrow/Flash Casting: Speaking of the CW DC Universe, Arrow has cast their big bad for Season 3, Ra’s Al Ghul and it’s Australian actor Matt Nable, probably best known for playing Boss Johns in Riddick. Flash meanwhile has cast another Prison Break actor, Dominic Purcell, as another of Flash’s rogues, Heat Wave.
- Margot Robbie in talks for Ghost in the Shell remake: The Wolf of Wall Street actress is playing Jane in the upcoming live action Tarzan reboot and is apparently in talks to star in the long in development live action remake of Ghost in the Shell, the classic anime. Rupert Sanders, director of Snow White and the Huntsman, is signed on to direct.
- Game of Thrones drops Bran storyline for the upcoming fifth season: Even though Bran’s journey ended season 4 on a crazy cliffhanger, the character and his lovable manservant Hodor won’t be seen in Season 5. Most of their storyline from the books has been covered and there’s only the parts from the fifth, and last book so far, A Dance with Dragons, left for the characters.
- Hateful Eight coming in Fall 2015: Tarantino’s latest will start shooting in January and come out in Fall of next year. The movie is another western following a group of travelers who become stuck in saloon together following a massive blizzard.
- Dax Shepherd writing, directing and starring in a CHiPs movie: Shepherd will star as Jon Baker will Michael Pena will co-star as Frank “Ponch” Poncherello. The remake will be more action oriented than the show and more like a buddy cop action film like Lethal Weapon or Bad Boys.
- Kristen Wiig, Jessica Chastain may join The Martian: One of Ridley Scott’s upcoming projects is The Martian, a sci fi film set on Mars, starring Matt Damon, and now Kristen Wiig and Jessica Chastain are apparently in talks to play the female lead.
- The Rock is Black Adam: After much speculation, The Rock revealed on Twitter this week that he will be playing Black Adam in the upcoming Shazam movie for DC. One of his hashtags interestingly calls Black Adam “the antihero”, possibly meaning that he won’t be a full on villain in the movie. The movie may also take place in a different continuity than Superman/Batman and actually have humor.
- Boondock Saints 3 on the way: Director Troy Duffy revealed a third entry in the Boondock Saints series is coming, called Boondock Saints 3: Legion. Duffy says the new movie will dive more into the McManus brothers’ past and also follow how their vigilantism has inspired other people to take the law into their own hands.
- Shane Black’s “The Nice Guys” coming in Summer 2016: Black’s noir crime movie, co-starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, will arrive in the Summer of 2016, on June 17, up against Finding Dory the same weekend. The movie follow Gosling, a private eye, and Crowe, a former mafia enforcer, in 1970’s Los Angeles who must work together on a case involving the murder of a porn star.
- Werner Herzog has a cameo on the upcoming season of Parks and Rec: The iconic German director will apparently cameo as an old man who sells his house to either April and Andy or Leslie and Ben, Herzog wasn’t clear on who his scene was with.