Geek Daily: Who's Sad, Who's Mad, and Who's Just Happy to Be Here

I think this is the quietest week in the land of the nerdy since I started here at Cinematical. No major casting news from Marvel, no new graphic novels optioned, no reboots announced. It was a pretty crazy summer when it came to superheroes -- maybe everyone is just really tired. Nevertheless, let's look at what has come across the wire, shall we? It's a very verbal day -- Alan Moore still hates Hollywood, William Shatner is still annoyed at JJ Abrams, and M. Night Shyamalan is all wistful. There's plenty to discuss here!

• Geoff Boucher interviewed Alan Moore over on HeroComplex and finds him as intractable as ever when it comes to the upcoming Watchmen movie. He believes it sounds like "more regurgitated worms" as Hollywood is wont to produce. (Not just of his work, mind you, but of films in general.) He even hinted that its recent legal woes (which he finds "wonderfully ironic") might, in fact, originate from his corner of the world. "Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England. And I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come." I'm not surprised, but I do wish he could concede that there are good films just as there are bad comic books. Can we send him something by Darren Aronofsky? Perhaps a gift set of The Fountain and its graphic novel companion?
  

• M. Night Shyamalan told MTV that he really wishes he had done a sequel to Unbreakable. "If I had been more confident and said 'I believe in that movie, I love that movie, and I should just go start writing the second one,' that would've been the right move. I've still been thinking about it a lot and wonder if it's too late ... I do love the [comic book movie] genre, I just wanna make sure that I'm able to express who I am. I don't want to get so lost in the subject that I have to neuter everything that's me in it, so maybe Unbreakable is the comic book thing I should do - I keep coming back to that." Maybe he should go the Joss Whedon route, and explore it via comic book and see how it goes. Given his uneven record of late, perhaps a new medium might be the way to go. And it's not as though it couldn't be then adapted into a movie. Think about it, Shyamalan!


• Mark Millar has confirmed via his official forum that his new series, War Heroes, officially went out to the studios. "Pretty much all the big guys in town are going in for this and things should really start moving in the next couple of days. Tony and I had a dream director in mind for the project and, weirdly, he was the first email, suggesting he directs if his production company gets their hands on the material. But three genuine heroes are already in the mix for this so I have a feeling we're going to end up in good hands."


• UGO just unloaded two new character posters for The Spirit, with one featuring Gabriel Macht and the other Samuel L. Jackson. Between the art and the new photos, they're definitely trying to mend those footage woes from this past Comic Con. Check out a smaller version to the right, then catch both in large form over on UGO.
  

• William Shatner fires back at JJ Abrams' recent claim that he refused to do a cameo in the new Star Trek. Over on The Shatner Project, his official YouTube channel, he kind of calls the director a liar, while praising his smarts at the same time. "Nobody ever came to me and said 'We have a cameo.' Maybe you wrote it, but it never presented itself to me. But the truth is, I wouldn't have wanted to do a cameo, because you would have cut that out. It wouldn't have fit. You said in your statement you had trouble fitting it in anyway. But nobody ever asked me. And I'm just sorry I'm not in your wonderful movie, and I would have loved to have been in it. If you make another one, maybe you could think of ways of bringing Captain Kirk back to life." A guide to Kirk's resurrection in Shatner's novels follows. Take notes, Mr. Abrams!