Adam Driver To Play Villain In New Star Wars
Adam Driver has recently been rising in his own popularity. With a Gap modeling deal, a small role in Inside Llewyn Davis, and his important role as Lena Dunham's character Hannah's boyfriend on the hit HBO series Girls, it seems as if he's striving to become a household name. In the midst in these efforts, sources told Variety magazine that Adam Driver is close to signing a deal for the villain in J. J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII.
While nothing has officially been announced, 30-year-old Driver appears to be the first of any casting Disney has revealed for the latest Star Wars installment. It's scheduled to shoot at London's Pinewood Studios in April. Within the next month more of the major cast members will be announced.
The role of the villain that Driver will play has been rumored for the past few weeks in the casting process, but it seems that he has risen to the top of the list for the actor to play the part. A major cause for delay has been his main acting project on Girls. The HBO comedy series production schedules for Season 4 and future series were causing scheduling conflicts, but sources revealed to Variety that the issue was taken care of and a deal will be delivered shortly.
Driver has a lot of other projects in store for viewers though. Right now he is filming Midnight Special with Warner Brothers and is attached with Martin Scorsese's next project Silence. Another film of his, This Is Where I Leave You, will be coming out this upcoming fall.
[via Variety]
Disney Movies Anywhere Launched As Disney's First Movie Streaming Service
Disney, while a huge industry in itself, has a huge market for most of its productions. Creating many works that families can trust to watch as a whole, the characters and plot lines of every story becomes a huge potential for money and legacy years after each release. A company invested in expanding whenever possible, Disney launched today that a new streaming service called Disney Movies Anywhere will be available for consumers to stream their favorite Disney films with an app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Apple TV will also be providing the cloud-based service access, but consumers can log in to the website on a computer or laptop as well.
Disney's streaming option has been speculated for the past few years with many wondering if they would join with UltraViolet, another popular digital streaming service. However, they decided to go their own route and team up with iTunes as the main destination for film purchases. They're the only major studio that won't be affiliated with UltraViolet, and their separation as well as Apple's from the digital movie service is being blamed for the slow-rising popularity. However, with iTunes consumers will have the ability to select from about 420 films produced by Disney, Pixar, and Marvel with the appeal of a "buy once watch anywhere" approach. Content previously purchased on the web as well as digital copies can be accessed from accounts as well. The hope by both Disney Movies Anywhere and UltraViolet is that digital movie purchases will become more appealing to all.
It seems that the bait trying to lure consumers into the Disney digital kingdom will be the ability to purchase Disney's latest blockbuster Frozen three weeks before its release on DVD and Blu-Ray. Another push for consumers to join will be a free digital copy of the Disney-Pixar classic The Incredibles. Disney, while creative all on levels, seems to approach everything they do as an enterprise, and this is only going to increase their market value more than it's already worth.
[via Variety]
[Video] Meet the Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy is at the top of my most-anticipated films of 2014 list, and with good reason. Not only does it represent a new frontier for Marvel and Disney, both in terms of scope and tone, but it also represents the comic book company's biggest cinematic risk since they properly entered the film industry with Iron Man. Simply put, while Marvel is setting its eyes on Guardians of the Galaxy being its next major Marvel Studios property, the characters and story aren't very well-known to both casual fans and comic book diehards alike.
Instead of keeping potential fans in the dark, Marvel has released a series of short videos that feature the film's primary actors introducing their characters, with some of the videos featuring even more footage not seen in the film's first trailer that released earlier this week. While the Guardians of the Galaxy may not be a household name on the same level as The Avengers, I believe that they'll definitely attain their own popularity come the film's release this August. You can also see the film's first official poster below, as well.
Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper)
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Groot (Vin Diesel)
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Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista)
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Gamora (Zoe Saldana)
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Star Lord (Chris Pratt)
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Disney princesses re-imagined as Final Fantasy characters
While Kingdom Hearts serves as the official collaboration between Square Enix and Disney, there are many wishing there was more of a direct connection between iconic Disney characters and the Final Fantasy series. Sure, characters like Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Goofy play central roles in the Kingdom Hearts games, but other characters are relegated to minor roles. The Disney princesses are stereotypically portrayed as damsels in distress whose hearts serve as a major plot point in the series. As dynamic as the very concept of Kingdom Hearts is, it's unfortunate that the princesses would be used so poorly.
deviantART member Geryes has addressed the problem by creating vector illustrations of the Disney princesses in classic Final Fantasy roles. He matches the various princesses perfectly with the proper roles. Take, for example, Beauty and the Beast's Belle as a Beastmaster, Snow White as a White Mage, Aladdin's Jasmine as a Summoner, and more.
If only they could play such roles in the next Kingdom Hearts game...
[Geryes' deviantART, via Destructoid]
Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer part ways
Back in July, I hoped that the Jerry Bruckheimer era at Disney would end after The Lone Ranger had a terrible opening box office weekend. Following a meeting between Hollywood mega producer Bruckheimer and Disney’s Alan Horn, it has been announced that my hopes came true as the relationship between Bruckheimer and Disney has been dissolved… or to be more specific, Disney won’t have an exclusive “first-look” at future films produced by Bruckheimer. The news comes after Bruckheimer’s financial gamble on the Johnny Depp-led The Lone Ranger bombed terribly at the box office with a roughly $244m return (only $89m domestically) on an estimated $250m budget.
While the news doesn’t necessarily mean Bruckheimer and Disney won’t work together again in the future, it does show just how confident Disney is with their two major acquisitions of Marvel and Lucasfilms, as well as show a sign of Bruckheimer’s fading star in the industry. Bruckheimer and Disney will still work together for the next Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, but will probably end up at another studio for his planned sequels to Bad Boys 2, Top Gun, and Beverly Hills Cop.
[via /Film]
Ryan Gosling, Zac Efron eyed for Star Wars Episode VII
Well well well, it seems as if Disney and J.J. Abrams are swinging for the fences with the upcoming 7th Star Wars film if this rumor is true. Reports have come out that both Ryan Gosling (Only God Forgives) and Zac Efron (Me and Orson Welles) have auditioned for roles in the next episode of the space opera. While Gosling and Efron aren't exactly household names (definitely not on the same level as, for example, George Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr, etc.), they have their large followings.
Word has it that Gosling auditioned for the role as Luke Skywalker's son, Ben Skywalker, who didn't have a large role in the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels. There's no official word on who Efron auditioned for, but it can be assumed that he was auditioning for the main role of Jacen Solo, Han and Leia's son. Last month, it seemed as if the new trilogy would focus on Jaina and Jacen Solo, so it's within reason that Efron would audition for the main protagonist. However, the official plot hasn't been confirmed, so everything is still speculation.
Regardless, having Ryan Gosling and Zac Efron attached would be huge for the future of Star Wars.
[via /Film]