Evan Rachel Wood, one of the most respected young actresses today, will make her Broadway debut as Mary Jane Watson in Julie Taymor’s Spider-Man musical.  In an exclusive report at IESB, Wood confirmed she will portray the model with rehearsals beginning in June 2009.

Ironically, Evan lost out to Kirsten Dunst, who plays MJ in the movies, for the child lead in Interview with the Vampire.

She also said the producers are at work on actor Jim Sturgess to take on the lead.  Wood said they are, "still trying to convince him." Both displayed their singing skills in Taymor’s Across the Universe, which was released last year.

The musical will also feature  Norman Osborn/Green Goblin and Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson. Playbill in 2007 also listed the following parts:

The character breakdowns provide some insight to plot points as the character Arachne ("female, 20-35 years old, any ethnicity") is described as "a beautiful, boastful young woman turned into a spider for her hubris and lack of respect for the gods. She subsequently appears to Peter Parker and the audience as in turn a powerful spider-woman who comes from another time to inspire Peter; an otherworldly lover; a bride; a terrifying (and sexy) dark goddess of vengeance; a dance partner in a charged and violent spiders dance of death; and, finally, a lonely, fragile young woman." Casting is seeking a "strong Celtic, Balkan style, e.g., Sinead O’Connor," noting, "outside the box ideas are welcomed. Could be someone from the music industry."

Also, a "Geek Chorus" consisting of "three teenage boys and one girl" are described to "meet to ritualistically retell the greatest Spider-Man stories.

Bono and The Edge of U2 are providing the music and lyrics for the musical which is likely to debut in 2010. The book is from Taymor and Glen Berger (Underneath The Lintel) which had a reading in New York in July 2007.

Matthias "Teese" Gohl (Frida) will serve as musical supervisor.

On a related note, Alicia Silverstone, the former Batgirl, returns to the stage in the world premiere of Donald Margulies’ Time Stands Still. According to Variety, the cast also includes Anna Gunn (Deadwood), David Harbour (Quantum of Solace) and Robin Thomas (Damages).

The Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning with three films each nabbing five nominations.  No clear winner was in the pack with many of the films and performances yet to be sampled by audiences as the features slowly roll out to theaters across the country. As expected, though, Heath Ledger’s Joker, did get a nod.

The Globes tend to recognize more mainstream fare but are also seen as a predictor for the Academy Award nominations, which will be revealed in February. The Globes will be aired on January 11 on NBC.

FILM

BEST FEATURE – DRAMA

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST FEATURE – COMEDY

Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Mamma Mia!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (more…)

The Sci Fi Channel announced a schedule for its 10 Battlestar Galactica webisodes, kicking off Friday and running regularly through January 12.  The final half season will begin airing on January 16.

The Webisodes are titled "The Face of the Enemy," and were written by Jane Espenson and Seamus Kevin Fahey, They star Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Felix Gaeta) and Grace Park (various No. 8 Cylons).

The Webisodes will run three or four minutes long, go live at Noon EST on each of the following dates.

•    Friday, December 12:  Chapter 1
•    Monday, December 15: Chapter 2
•    Wednesday, December 17: Chapter 3
•    Monday, December 22: Chapter 4
•    Wednesday, December 24: Chapter 5
•    Monday, December 29: Chapter 6
•    Wednesday, December 31: Chapter 7
•    Monday, January 5: Chapter 8
•    Wednesday, January 7: Chapter 9
•    Monday, January 12: Chapter 10

"’The Face of the Enemy’ follows the gripping action and suspense inside a stranded Raptor carrying a group of passengers including Lieutenant Felix Gaeta (Alessandro Juliani) and a Number 8 Cylon (Grace Park). When passengers suddenly start dying one by one in alarming ways, fear, panic and chaos erupt within the confines of the small ship, as they come to realize there is a killer among them. Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh) and Brad Dryborough (Lieutenant Hoshi) also star."

Entertainment Weekly has announced the cast for M. Night Shyamalan’s live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender.

The youthful cast includes Karate star Noah Ringer will play Aang, the Avatar (the spirit of the planet manifested in human form), the last surviving Airbender and a monk of the Air Nomads, a race of people with the unique ability to manipulate the air around them. He is assigned with the task of keeping the Four Nations at peace.

Jackson Rathbone (Twilight) will play Aang’s friend Sokka, a warrior of the South Pole’s Southern Water Tribe, a race of people who can control and manipulate water.

Nicola Peltz (Deck the Halls) will play Sokka’s fourteen-year-old sister Katara, the last remaining Waterbender of her entire Tribe.

Pop/R&B singer Jesse McCartney will play the Fire Nation’s evil prince Zuko. Exiled from the Fire Nation by his father, Zuko is sent to capture the Avatar in order to restore his honor and right to the throne.

The Last Airbender, based on Nickelodeon’s Avatar anime, will be released July 2, 2010.

Remember Adventures in Babysitting, the Chris Columbus teen comedy with Elisabeth Shue? Comic fans were most amused that one of her charges, Sara (Maia Brewton), wore Thor’s helmet throughout the film and Vincent D’Onofrio’s creepy character was nicknamed Thor.

The movie did well enough to spawn a short-lived television series and finally word is out that a sequel is being made.  The star will be Miley Cyrus, according to The Chicago Sun -Times, and the movie is slated for 2010. The Hannah Montana star will appear opposite fellow Disney headline Raven Symone with Tiffany Paulsen (Nancy Drew) at work on the script.

Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass) appears to be the leading candidate to replace Catherine Hardwicke on New Moon, the sequel to Twilight.

Deadline Hollywood reveals, “my source says Summit Entertainment liked the look of [Compass] even if it didn’t heat up the domestic box office (but did better overseas). I don’t have official confirmation yet that this Twilight sequel offer has gone out to Weitz. But my insider says another reason it came down is because Weitz and Summit’s president of production Eric Feig are longtime pals.

“But let’s also not forget Weitz’s behavior on Golden Compass. On December 15, 2004, Weitz announced his resignation as director of the trilogy, citing the enormous technical challenges of the epic and later admitting he was worried about dissing by the book’s fans. After another helmer came on and then walked off, Weitz returned to direct saying he’d done ‘a lot of growing in the interim’.”

The current plan seems to call for New Moon and Eclipse to be shot back-to-back which would certainly tax most directors but makes financial sense for the small studio.Summit, today, announced a November 20, 2009 release date which puts the project on a faster-than-anticipated schedule.

Ain’t it Cool News had a set report from Kick-Ass, the movie based on the Mark Millar/John Romita, Jr. and they included a photo of Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Red Mist along with Aaron Johnson as Dave Lizewski.

The Matthew Vaughn-directed movie has been shooting since September and is due out in 2009.

Plot Synopsis (beware of possible comic book spoilers):

Dave Lizewski is a kid growing up in a rundown suburb of America, he isn’t a gamer, he isn’t a jock, he isn’t a mathlete, he’s just a regular kid. When he is not hanging out at the local comic store with his friends Todd and Marty, he is fantasizing about his school teacher and Katie Deauxma, the class hottie. The only thing that is unusual about Dave is that about a year ago his Mother died. But somehow through this blend of normality, teenage angst and irritation at being continually mugged, Dave makes the decision to become a superhero’ KICK ASS! Dave’s first foray into being a Superhero results in him being stabbed and run over. When Dave recovers he realizes he can’t walk away from being a hero, and when he successfully steps in on a mugging he brings himself to the attention of the US media and Frank D’Amico could this be the guy who knicked his coke? As Dave gets sucked into the dark world of vigilante crime fighting he gains a sidekick named ‘Red
Mist’.
 

Sonya Walger (Lost) will play the female lead in ABC’s Flash Forward, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Christine Woods (House) has also joined the cast in what is probably the hottest pilot currently in production.

Walger will play Ralph Fiennes’ wife, Olivia, “who is disturbed by her vision of being in love with another man.” Woods, meantime, will play Janis, a “computer-savvy FBI agent who helps to uncover a pivotal clue in the mystery.”

Robert J. Sawyer’s science fiction novel is being adapted by David S. Goyer (Blade), who will direct the pilot, Brannon Braga (Enterprise) and ABC Studios. The trade says the novel “chronicles the chaos that ensues after everyone in the world blacks out for two minutes and 17 seconds and has a mysterious vision of the future that changes lives forever.”

ABC has high hopes for the pilot which may become a companion series for Lost for the 2009-2010 television season according to the trade.

NBM Publishing has just launched a blog by many of its star cartoonists.  The bloggers will include Rick Geary, Rall, Neil Kleid (Brownsville), Dirk Schwieger (Moresukine), Naomi Nowak (Unholy Kinship), Jesse Lonergan (Flower and Fade), and David Axe (War Fix).

The blog contains fresh comics and commentary from the artists.  In addition, the blog will replace NBM’s present news page and will announce NBM publications, author appearances, and other news.

"I’d like to think that for the first time anywhere we really are creating a community with this blog instead of just the editors informing their readers,” NBM publisher Terry Nantier said in a release. “Each artist has direct access to posting entries on this blog. You can RSS a specific artist and talk with one or with all and the artists between themselves as if on a panel at a con! Our readers will be able to see snippets of our authors’ new works as they’re coming along. This is the true NBM community coming to our site, and I’m quite excited about it!"

The new works that the artists and writers are previewing on the blog include:

• To the Heights of the Golden Age, Jesse Lonergan’s memoir of life in the bizarre dictatorship of Turkmenistan.

• Naomi Nowak’s eerie graphic novel Graylight.

• Neil Kleid and artist Nicolas Cinquegrani’s The Big Kahn. Kleid says, “It’s the story of what happens when a New Jersey rabbi dies and at the funeral, his family and congregation of forty years discover that he’s been conning them: he isn’t even Jewish.”

Blogging is nothing new to NBM.  The company has published collections of comics blogs such as Trondheim’s Little Nothings and Schwieger’s Moresukine.  NBM has even run selections from these blogs on its website.

The new blog is part of a tradition of innovation dating back to 1976, when NBM (under the name Flying Buttress) became the first American house to publish an ongoing line of graphic novels.