I am assuming the official title for Mission: Impossible IV isn’t as big of a deal as was the title for The Dark Knight Rises, so I’m relegating it to this post as it’s been revealed the film will be titled Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol with plans to move the productin to Dubai where filming will take place at the world’s tallest building, the Mideast city-state’s more than half-mile-high (828-meter-high) Burj Khalifa.
Plot details for the film are still being kept quiet, Tom Cruise and his co-stars Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner are also in town for the shoot. The film is set to hit theaters on December 16, 2011.
Sticking with Tom Cruise-related news, all the news of Top Gun 2 is creating quite a stir. It was originally said Cruise’s involvement as Maverick would be a small one. Then director Tony Scott confirmed the possibility of the film saying he wasn’t even waiting for a script and already doing his homework. Now hired screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie who’s writing the script Scott isn’t waiting for says, “There is no Top Gun 2 in which Maverick is not the starring role.”
When Cruise was asked about the sequel at the Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol press conference he simply replied, “Those things are a long way off. It takes a long time to figure out stuff.”
Next, in a small bit of news, Pararmount has announced a June 10, 2011 release date for J.J. Abrams’s new flick, Super 8. The film is set in 1979, and the U.S. Air Force has closed a section of Area 51 and ordered all materials be transported to a secure facility in Ohio when an accident causes the train transporting the materials to crash and an unidentified creature escaped. Ultimately, a group of kids, playing around making movies with their Super 8 cameras, accidentally capture something … sinister, possibly alien, on film.
While rumors swirl saying Keith Richards has been booted from returning to his role as Jack Sparrow’s father in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Empire has learned Harry Potter’s Uncle Vernon, Richard Griffiths, has joined the cast as King George II.
As for those rumors Richards won’t be returning… The film’s Facebook page already squashed them posting, “Fear not Pirates fans, we are happy to confirm that Keith Richards will be returning as Captain Teague in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, setting sail May 2011!”
In additional casting news, E! learned Zach Galifianakis has been cast in The Muppets in rather interesting fashion, which is to say Robert Downey Jr. spilled the beans while the two were promoting Due Date. Have a look at the video to the right.
Moving away from likely facts and back into Rumorville, What’s Playing reports Marc Webb, director of the Untitled Spider-Man Reboot is meeting with actors to fill the role of Daily Bugle editor J.Jonah Jameson, a role occupied by J.K. Simmons in the three previous Spider-Man films. The only name mentioned as being in contention by the site is John Slattery (“Mad Men”). Sam Elliot’s name has also been rumored.
Over the past month or so Summit has sent out massive supporting cast updates for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I and Part II, but the names and characters are so obscure I haven’t even bothered. However, it was recently noted Michael Sheen will be returning as Aro, the leader of the vampire royalty Volturi. There’s no word on whether this is just for a role in one film or both, so you’ll have to wait until November 18, 2011 for Part I and November 16, 2012 for Part II to find out.
In other confirmed casting news, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick and Judd Hirsch have joined the cast of Brett Ratner’s Tower Heist an action comedy that already stars Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda, Tea Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe and Michael Pena. The film centers on an overworked manager (Stiller) of an illustrious tower residence who leads a team of defrauded workers in a heist of its penthouse tenant, a Bernie Madoff-type Wall Street capitalist (Alda) who pulled a Ponzi scheme and swindled the staff. Universal has already secured a November 4, 2011 release date for the flick.
Hit reverse and let’s get back to rumors as The Los Angeles Times reports Swedish commercial director Adam Berg is a top contender to land the job as director on Deadpool, the Marvel comics spin-off featuring Ryan Reynolds’s character from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Berg is best known for the award-winning short “Carousel,” which I’ve included directly below.
