A couple of pieces of Superman casting news leave me conflicted. First off, apparently Viggo Mortensen, Aragorn from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings adaptations, is in talks—or may even have signed—to play Zod, the villain for the Superman movie being produced by Christopher Nolan and directed by Zack Snyder. Now, I like Mr. Mortensen. He was an excellent Aragorn, and he’s been excellent in other movies like A History of Violence. What I have not seen is the kind of bad-ass authority that Terence Stamp brought to the role in Superman II. Frankly, my love of the Zod character is much more about Stamp’s delivery and presence than anything integral to the character. The closest I can think of for Mortensen is his Command Master Chief Urgayle from GI Jane, and that isn’t good enough.

I like Viggo and I like the thought of Zod in the movie, but the two just don’t fit together in my mind.

Second is Diane Lane as Martha Kent. This conflict is something a little different. I have no doubt that she can play the role, but she really is far too hot for my conception of Martha Kent. No matter how much they “dowdy” her up, unless she’s going to pull a Charlize Theron Monster trick, I just can’t picture her as Mommy Supes.

Okay, this is totally just a rumour, and one that I actually have a hard time believing, but it is so infused with awesome I just had to share.

Apparently, after the release of the Dark Knight Rises, Warner Bros. is going to produce a TV series based on Nolan’s Batman franchise–well, based on the comic book, of course, but the rumour indicates the suit running this show would keep it in line with Nolan’s movies–except for one important caveat. The bad guy for this TV series is going to be the Joker.

Now this sounds interesting, but it is not enough to get me excited, especially since what made Batman Begins and the Dark Knight so amazing was Christopher’s Nolan vision of the character and his ability to shield the production from tampering. Moving it onto the small screen without that protection means all bets are off. This could be all kinds of awesome or all kinds of suck.

The part that gets me excited is the name attached to play Batman/Bruce Wayne: Karl Urban. I’ve been a fan of Karl Urban’s since seeing him as Eomer in the Two Towers. I even endured Pathfinder because it gave him a starring role–only the inclusion of Clancy Brown allows me to mention that movie without beating my head against the table. Having him as Batman is an inspired choice. He’s got the look, he’s got the chops, and he’s got the physicality to deliver.

Get this production a good show runner and a slew of good scripts, and you might have a real winner.

More likely than that, though, is that this will all evaporate like dream vapours shat out the ass of pessimism.

See the original article here.

So Christopher Nolan says no 3D for the next Batman movie, given that he wants it to be faithful to what had come before.

Thank you, sir.

I almost want to tack on a “for now,” given that I man sure the studio will apply a fair amount of pressure (read: dump truck full of money) to try to get him to change his mind. If he does not, he proves himself a man of integrity. If he does, well, he’s just another cool dude in Hollywood.

He’s also said the title of the movie will be the Dark Knight Rises, so I assume there will be plenty of yeast. That or porn. Either makes me happy it won’t be 3D.

It’s also possible that this will be Nolan’s last Batman movie. And while that would be a shame, better to go out on a high note.

Did you hear that, Raimi?

This is old, old news now, by Zack Snyder is going to be the man who will helm Man of Steel, the new Superman movie that will be produced by Chris Nolan.

This could be cool, if the script from which Mr. Snyder works is quality. I think Snyder can do the visuals, can do the action, but I think he’s going to need help bringing something more than “the awesome” to the screen. With Nolan on board as producer, I think that help will be provided. I don’t know how close Nolan will be to the production, but I hope he is totally riding shotgun on this.

Don’t get me wrong, 300 was cool, the Watchmen was good, but I can imagine this turning into another Superman Returns—I don’t hate it, but I sure as hell don’t own it on DVD.

There’s also some talk out there that Snyder got the job only because Warner Bros believes he can bring the movie in on time, that he won’t get too fussy with it. Apparently the screenplay by David Goyer isn’t exactly perfect. It may, in fact, be a bit of a mess. But WB doesn’t give a shit about that. They want their Snyder-helmed, Nolan-produced movie released by 2012 in order to maintain the rights. So they may have chosen not the director they consider the best, but the one that is good enough and can deliver on schedule.

Not really the kind of shining accolades one would hope.

Again.

Christopher Nolan has confirmed that he’ll be directing Batman 3 (cool title TBA). It may start filming in May of next year, but who knows what kind of release date we’re looking at.

I willing wait quietly for more Nolan coolness.

Christopher Nolan is a busy, busy man. And outstanding.

Right now, Nolan is both working on a script for Batman 3 and interviewing directors for the Superman reboot, Man of Steel. There’s not much to say about the Batman 3 script except that Nolan’s brother, Jonah, has finished a draft that Christopher is now going through.

On the Man of Steel front, looks like Nolan has a pretty nice list of possibles, that includes Tony Scott and Zack Snyder. For me, Tony Scott is very hit and miss, but give him a good script and he’ll deliver something visually stunning. Snyder is a tough one, because while I really liked the Watchmen, it still fell kind of flat for me, and I can’t exactly put my finger on why that is. Everything I see about Sucker Punch gives me wood, so it’s possible he’s another director like Tony Scott, who can bring something visually dynamic to a good story.

Also in the mix are guys I really have no opinion about—Matt Reeves, Jonathan Liebesman, and Duncan Jones. These guys might be absolute superstars, but I wouldn’t know.

I trust in Christoher Nolan to continue to bring the awesome to the party.

Collider is running a story that Christopher Nolan is off the Prisoner movie. That’s a shame. If there is one director out there that could do justice to the Prisoner, it’s Nolan. Still, I have my doubts about resurrecting the franchise. I picked up the comic mini-series and, while it was pretty good, was disappointed.

I honestly think the Prisoner should be left alone. It was a vanity project—and I use the term with utmost respect—of Patrick McGoohan. It rocked hard, but it still existed because McGoohan used his considerable cachet at the time to get it made. And I honestly don’t know if we can find someone as invested to run it again.

There will still be a TV series with Ian McKellan (yay!) and James Caviezel (meh). I have serious, serious doubts, but will check it out. Heck, if I can survive an episode of the new Flash Gordon, I can pretty much survive anything.