A bunch of comic book-y rumors kicked up some dust at the end of the week and I really had no idea if I was going to report on any of them, but enough hit the back-fence talking points I felt the first Rumor Mill Round-up since last September was in order.
We begin with Transformers 3 chatter, which began with a posting on Michael Bay’s official site telling fans “there will be big action sequences shot in Chicago and Moscow this time around.”
Giant robot talk continued at MTV where they transcribed Bay’s appearance on Starz’s “In the House” where he commented on the possibility of Transformers 3 hitting theaters in 3D, a process Bay has been a vocal detractor of saying, “3D? I don’t know… I might be old school. I think it might be a gimmick.” He continued, “The way I shoot is too aggressive for 3D cameras. It’s a time consuming thing. Who knows… It might be a fad. I’m kinda old school. I’m old school because I like to shoot on film. I like anamorphic lenses, and that is old school.”
That was in April 2009, but at the same time he added, “I don’t know, we’ll see. I’m looking forward to [James] Cameron’s picture.” Well, he’s seen Avatar and while it doesn’t seem like he has completely turned the corner he appears more open to the possibility:
“It’s a process we’re testing with some Transformers scenes. How successful it is with my movie in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens, because hopefully that process will work. I’ve seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage.”
Moving on, Slash Film points us to the video you see to the right in which Sigourney Weaver indicated she may be back for Avatar 2 as here character, Dr. Grace Augustine, “is with Eywa now” and still exists “in the tree.” She has apparently spoken with James Cameron about the possibility, but I can only imagine it being a very small role.
Marvel fans got a bit of a Friday disruption when rumors started circling the upcoming The First Avenger: Captain America may have been delayed due to trouble with director Joe Johnston. Rest easy, though, Marvel has squashed said rumor telling CHUD.com things are still moving forward as planned for a July 22, 2011 release.
Perhaps the rumor you are most interested in has to do with the first part of my headline as reports out of IESB now say Christopher Nolan’s brother, Jonah Nolan, will be co-writing the script for The Man of Steel with David Goyer and that baby Nolan may be looking to make his directorial debut on the feature.
Jonah Nolan scripted The Dark Knight with Chris while Goyer contributed to the story elements, making for something of a continued family feel with the franchise that appears to be leaking over into the Superman story as it was Inception coming out this July.
Finally, from comics to toys as Vulture reports Twilight star Taylor Lautner will not star in Max Steel so he can play the title role in Stretch Armstrong, which was at one time said to be a project for Ron Howard to direct. However, the Los Angeles Times now reports Monsters vs. Aliens co-director Rob Letterman is looking like the front-runner. Letterman just finished helming Gulliver’s Travels for Fox starring Jack Black and hitting theaters on December 22. Stretch Armstrong will be shot and released in 3D in 2012.
