Author: Robert Greenberger

James Marsters has been added to the cast of the pilot remake of Hawaii Five-0 for CBS, portraying a villain. He told Australia’s Herald Sun, “They saw me in a fight sequence and something about it made them think ‘Let’s keep him around for a little bit’. I’m like a poor man’s Jackie Chan. But I have to say of all of the pilots that I knew about this year, this one stands the best chance of actually making it to the light of day. So I’m pretty hopeful.”

Pop culture reinventors Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci wrote the pilot for showrunner Peter Lenkov. The series picks up from the original by focusing on Chris McGarrett, son of Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord). Casting includes Alex O’Loughlin as Chris, Lost veteran Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly and Battlestar Galactica’s Grace Park as Kono Kalakaua. The remake is likely to make the 2010-2011 prime time schedule, although formal announcements are not expected until mid-May.

Marsters, who appeared with Kim in Angel, reflected on constantly being cast as the heavy. “I think frankly it’s because I got known for a villain early on,” he told the paper. “When I first came to LA, the only job on TV I’d had was as a very nerdish priest on Northern Exposure. I really lucked into that role. I was actually playing a killer on stage at the time for John Pielmeier who wrote Agnes of God, but I just happened to score this priest role on Northern Exposure.

“So when I came down to LA the only thing I had on my reel was this nerd character, so I got put up for a bunch of nerds. I scored a couple of guest spots as people who were uncomfortable in their own skin. Then Buffy was looking for somebody at the last minute, and I don’t know why but they thought I could do accents, so they called me in. And I lucked into that role, and ever since everyone thinks of me as a villain. So, I’ll take it man. The villain is a good role.

“Cos when you’re a villain, you’re standing in the shadows, not having to do much, then when the hero walks by you pop him a couple of times, big music sounds, and you go home. Whereas if you’re the hero, you have to have long scenes with guilt, and you have to be running around all night sweating, and then at the very end of the night you get popped in the face by the villain, who looks cool and gets all the credit.”

(more…)

Several actresses of note have been cast in or out of projects so here’s a roundup.

French actress Astrid Bergès-Frisbey has been announced as playing Syrena, a mermaid, in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film in the series. She is expected to play a key role in the further adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).

Unknown to American audiences, she has appeared in French films including Bruc and La Première Étoile along with television fare such as La Reine Morte, and Elles et Moi . She was born in Barcelona to French-American and Catalan parents and has done stage work including Equus.

Production on the big budget film is set for later this year in Hawaii, Great Britain and Los Angeles with a May 20, 2011 release date planned. Rob Marshall (Chicago) makes his maiden voyage as director, replacing Gore Verbinski.

Meantime, Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood broke the news that heartthrob Kristin Kreuk has been replaced in the CBS pilot Hitched. The site reported, “The switch was made Wednesday, just before the multicamera pilot’s table read. Kreuk starred on two drama series, including her star-making turn on Smallville, and she was wonderful in an arc on Schwartz’s NBC dramedy Chuck this season but she has never done a half-hour sitcom and Hitched ultimately proved not a perfect fit for her.” Sara Fletcher was signed to replace her.

(more…)

While Pocket Books’ publishing program has to avoid the five year mission era of Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise until 2012 when the second film from J.J. Abrams is released, that doesn’t mean there won’t be stories set in the original universe.

Star Trek: Vanguard, a novel series conceived by former editor Marco Palmieri and writer David Alan Mack in 2005, continues to tell stories during that fertile period for the United Federation of Planets and this week it has been confirmed that the series will continue with the just announced Star Trek: Vanguard – Declassified.

“This is an idea David and I hatched a few months ago, which was eagerly accepted by our editor at Pocket, Jaime Costas,” Dayton Ward wrote on his website.

Vanguard tells of the Taurus Reach, a sector of space near the Tholian border and where powerful alien artifacts speak of a once-powerful race that ruled that portion of the galaxy. The UFP is fully exploring it and has built Starbase 47 as its base of operations but such a large establishment has piqued the curiosity of the Klingons and Romulans. Over the course of the five novels to date, the sprawling story and large cast of characters  have learned many secrets and work to preserve the galactic peace.

“The plan is for this collection to be released in mass-market paperback, and indeed count as the sixth book in the current series. Each novella will feature one or more of the series’ rather large cast, with tales spanning the length of Operation Vanguard from inception right up to and perhaps even past the events of the fifth book, Precipice. Further, these aren’t intended to be throwaway tales, but will be considered integral parts of the storyline and may also even set up situations for the series’ next novel-length installments. To be honest, we’re in the midst of figuring out a lot of that as I write this. Any or all of what I just typed could change, depending on where any unhinged brainstorming takes us.

“’Wait,’ I can hear you saying out there in the audience, “who the hell is we?” I’m glad you asked. The four novellas will be written by Kevin Dilmore, David Mack, Marco Palmieri, and me.”

The series to date has included the 2005 inaugural novel,  Harbinger (Mack) along with Summon the Thunder (Ward & Dilmore), Reap the Whirlwind (Mack), Open Secrets (Ward)  and Precipice (Mack). There was also a prequel of sorts in the eBook Distant Early Warning – Star Trek: SCE. #64 (Ward & Dilmore). Declassified is expected for release sometime in 2011.

(more…)

Slipped into the coverage for Kick-Ass was the fact that Chloë Grace Moretz will also be seen in Martin Scorcese’s adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

The 2007 novel from Brian Selznick is a quasi-graphic novel mixing prose with long silent stretches of graphic narrative, totaling 284 of the 533 pages found in the Scholastic release.

Scorsese, known for his graphic violence not his graphic fiction, will be making the film in 3-D. The movie will be the director’s first kid-targeted effort, with London production scheduled to begin in June. Sony has already announced a December 9, 2011 release date.

Moretz will play the daughter of Cabret who befriends an orphan (a part yet to be cast) who has been living with his uncle in the great train station. The story is largely based o the life of pioneer film-maker Georges Méliès, known for his silent film A Trip to the Moon. He was also an invention of mechanical, wind-up figures called automata which plays a major role in the story.

The novel has won the prestigious Caldecott Medal and was a 2007 National Book Award Finalist, Young People’s Literature. Scorsese bought the film rights when the hardcover was released and hired John Logan (Gladiator, Star Trek: Nemesis to write the adaptation).

(more…)

After being turned down by Emily Blunt and possibly others, Marvel Studios issued a release announcing relatively unknown actress Hayley Atwell has been added to the Captain America cast as Peggy Carter.

Atwell is known to some from her work in A&E’s disappointing remake of The Prisoner, but she has also been seen in The Duchess and Brideshead Revisited.

Peggy Carter was introduced as the Star-Spangled Avenger’s love interest when he debuted in Tales of Suspense #64  (April 1965) and was the original spy known as Agent 13. She was later reported to have suffered dementia and was confined to LarkMoore Clinic. Her niece, Sharon Carter, also dubbed Agent 13, is Cap’s enduring romance partner since Tales of Suspense #75 (March 1966).

Here’s the formal release:
 
Marvel Studios announced today that Hayley Atwell has been cast to star as Peggy Carter in the studio’s highly anticipated movie CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER opposite Chris Evans.  In the early comics, Peggy Carter fell in love with Captain America while they fought together in the war effort.  The character will be updated for the feature adaptation.  Joe Johnston will direct the film penned by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely.

In addition to CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, Marvel Studios will release a slate of films based on the Marvel characters including the highly anticipated sequel, IRON MAN 2, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow on May 7, 2010, THOR on May 6, 2011, and Marvel Studios’ THE AVENGERS on May 4, 2012.

(more…)