Chris Evans Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If the name Sharon Stone pops up, most likely the brain will fly to memories of the woman who has made a name for herself as the man-izer -- strong and wickedly ruthless to the male sex. It's a theme so rampant in her work that it even became a reference point in Scream: "Your mother is no Sharon Stone." Naturally then, when it's time to cast a "rich and manipulative older woman," sights turn to the tow-headed vixen.

Variety reports that Stone and Carice Van Houten are going to star in a new indie drama called Satisfaction. Written by Simon Burke and to be directed by Anya Camilleri, the film will focus on "a young gigolo in London" who gets caught between Stone's manipulation and a "younger woman" (Van Houten). Variety makes no mention of who will play the gigolo, but according to Stone's recent talk with Prestige, Chris Evans will be the dude.

She also lends a little bit to the plot: "It's about a male prostitute in London who loses the older woman who's been taking care of him, and the call-out agency he's worked for is tired of his behavior and don't want to send him out any more. He goes looking for someone else to take care of him and he keeps trying to come on to [my character]. You think they have legitimately fallen in love, by his behavior and her behavior -- until the call-out service starts sending him out again while he's with her. He starts trying to break her down. And it's incredible what they do together: a very, very fascinating journey." Well that doesn't sound very manipulative on her end, so we'll have to wait and see which perspective is skewed. The production will kick off early next year.

The hooker with a heart of gold is a Hollywood staple, but usually when we're talking about the 'pay to play' types, we're dealing with the female species. So who better to take a role as 'man candy' than Chris Evans? I mean, just look to your right -- is it any surprise he's the crush of girls and guys everywhere? In an interview with Prestige, Sharon Stone told them she would be working with Evans in the somewhat poorly named drama, Satisfaction, where Evans will play a male prostitute whose career has hit the skids.

According to Stone, the story will center on Evans' character as he's beginning to lose his cache with his agency, but when he hooks up with a new client (played by Stone), his career soon begins to take off again. This is no Pretty Woman tale, though, because what starts off as a partnership between the two turns into a vicious battle of the sexes ... with plenty of, ahem, sex.

Evans is still filming the comic book adaptation The Losers, but then it's off to start work on Satisfaction which will start shooting this January on location in Europe.

After the jump: Evans joins the ranks of these famous Hollywood hustlers...

Most comic book fans agree that if there was one really solid thing about the two Fantastic Four films, it was Chris Evans. He was the perfect Johnny Storm! It's a shame when a superhero franchise fails its good performers, and reboots them right out of the picture. I had a chance to ask Evans what he thought about the Fantastic Four reboot, and not only was he gracious enough to answer, he wishes the new franchise nothing but good luck.

"I don't think I'm going to be involved in it. I would imagine a reboot would be -- a reboot! I think they're going to start from scratch and that's the way those movies go. I mean, they're doing it with Red Dawn too. Sometimes they happen quicker than others. Batman there was a big chunk of time, and the new Batman movies are fantastic. Superman, Incredible Hulk. Sometimes its a big gap, sometimes there's a small gap. If there's room to reinvent a franchise in a different tone and they can make a good film out of it, so be it. I'm not going to have anything negative to say about it."

Would it feel weird to watch someone else play the Human Torch? "Well, of course. But I've done plays and then I'll go see someone else do the same play, and be like 'Hmm. I did it differently!' You know? [laughs] Of course. But let's not confuse weird with bad, or weird with negative. Weird is in no way [negative]. No way would I have any -- I welcome the new franchise. I hope it's fantastic. I like good movies! I'm sure Michael Keaton felt the same way, I'm sure Christopher Reeve felt the same way. If it's a great movie, let's make it. Let's get it out there. There aren't enough of them."

We all want to meet The Losers, especially with the studio who can seemingly do no wrong (aka Warner Bros) financing the whole thing. It has already has a heck of a cast and though it has kicked off filming in Puerto Rico, they've found time to add one more: Jason Patric, who Variety reports is playing the mysterious and villainous Max. Max is the one who turns a bunch of black ops badasses into the Losers who are out for vengeance, and there's no doubt Patric can lend some gravitas to the role.

Unfortunately, Variety and Patric felt the need to sour the sweet news up. The press-shy Patric sat down with with Mike Fleming in order to explain just how an actor of his caliber ends up playing a mere comic book villain. These days, it's apparently neccessary to "slum it" to keep working. Fleming laments the neccessity, noting "You know that geek validation has become a serious thing when actor's actor Jason Patric agrees to play his first real villain role in his first comic book movie."

I'm torn. Part of me is baffled by this casting announcement, while the other part wants to cry out: "Sweet!"

Variety reports that Jesse Eisenberg, the indie cutie from films like Roger Dodger and The Education of Charlie Banks, has been tapped to play poet Allen Ginsberg in Kill Your Darlings. This is that project that Christine Vachon is producing (written by Austin Bunn and director John Krokidas), which follows the story of Lucien Carr, and how he murdered William Burrough's childhood friend David Kammerer after a supposed unwanted sexual advance and physical attack.

Along with Eisenberg, it seems that Chris Evans, believe it or not, is set to play Jack Kerouac, and Ben Whishaw will take care of Carr. But Eisenberg ... he's become such the indie boy over these last handful of years that it'll be hard to imagine him donning the glasses and becoming a Beat icon. But hey, if Cate Blanchett can play Bob Dylan...

To help you figure out your take on the casting, I've given you a comparison above. The black and white shot of Carr, Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs was taken in 1944, the year this all went down. With three set, are you happy with the choices? And who would you pick for Mr. Burroughs? I'm getting Stephen Dorff, Corin Nemec flashes, but that only would've worked in the '90s.

UPDATED -- There's a new "mystery" image that hit the Internet today, and is in the gallery below. Your guess as to who it might be ... but ours is Jason Schwartzman, although who he is playing is for better Pilgrim fans than me to guess at.

It's just as well my head cold prevented me from posting the latest Scott Pilgrim glimpse, because now you get two characters for the price of one. Happy Wednesday!

Directly from Edgar Wright's blog is the man we've all waited for -- Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim himself. My heart skipped a little beat to see his jacket so faithfully replicated. It's really the little things that count.

Next up is Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, the second of Ramona Flowers' evil exes. He's a pro-skateboarder turned movie star and full of swagger. It's casting perfection.




If that's not enough Scott Pilgrim to tide you over until the next photo, CHUD's Devin Faraci caught up with Bryan Lee O'Malley to talk about the series so far, and the upcoming film. Cera's controversial casting was the last question on the table, and O'Malley laughed off the criticism. "I'm pretty sure he can do it. People have really different ideas of what Scott is like. A lot of people see Scott as being really, really cool and really handsome ... and I don't know about that. There was a good quote on the CHUD forum the other day where somebody was taking these people to task. He said, 'Scott is a guy who cries when his roommate saves over his Final Fantasy game - you don't think his voice cracks from time to time?' Me and Edgar and Michael [Bacall] the writer, we don't see Scott as being a hero-like idol. We don't see him as Zac Efron or whatever. Nobody ever suggested anybody else to play Scott. I think Michael Cera is going to do a f---ing awesome job." I don't know if that will lesson the fears of fans (sound off, William Goss), but there you have it ... and nightmares of Zac Efron in the jacket to boot.

Maybe it's all in the context.

Earlier this week, I saw He's Just Not That Into You, which took place in Baltimore and may as well have taken place in the Mojave Desert or on a blank stage; the filmmakers didn't incorporate that city's personality in the slightest. It's a totally generic cityscape, and it doesn't help the already underwritten characters. The other thing that movie did was to drag on past the two-hour mark, obsessively wrapping up even the tiniest scraps of plot thread, or, in other words, flogging a dead horse. But then, the following night, I saw Paul McGuigan's Push. While not a classic by any stretch, I was endlessly impressed by how thoroughly the filmmakers incorporated its Hong Kong location; it feels like they actually spent real time there, and understood some of the local customs. And, at the end, the film merely stops when it gets to a satisfying stopping point, even though there's a bit more plot left to go. (It's the old showbiz adage: "always leave them wanting more.") It felt great, like someone was alive behind the camera, actually thinking about ways to make the movie.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World continues to pick up casting speed -- and the characters seem to just come in pairs. According to Empire, newcomer Ellen Wong has signed to play Knives Chau. Chau is a 17 year old Chinese-Canadian schoolgirl who dated our title hero, but was dumped for the beautiful and perfect Ramona Flowers. She continues to hang out with our hero and carries a flame for him. (Edgar Wright's MySpace has a flirty photo of Wong for those curious to see how she matches up with Knives.)

And that's not all! According to Ain't It Cool News, Chris Evans has signed to play Lucas Lee, skateboarder, movie star, and evil ex of Ramona Flowers. He's just one of seven boyfriends Pilgrim must defeat in order to win Ramona -- and is there anyone better for that part than Johnny Storm? Sunshine proved he wasn't just a pretty boy, and what better way to earn some major geek cred by sending that up in Scott Pilgrim?

So far, Wright hasn't hit a poor note when it comes to the casting -- Michael Cera has been the only unpopular choice to date, and I think fans are coming around after Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. (It could just be the ebb and flow of fandom, though.) Isn't it nice to live in an era where even the offbeat (i.e. not Marvel or DC) properties are getting such TLC?

So Erik-with-a-k covered the coming comedies of 2009, Scott was all over the horror picks (though his inclusion of Race to Witch Mountain still boggles my mind), Eric-with-a-c nabbed the family-friendly fare, and Elisabeth went over the geek fodder that awaits. But while I respect their calendar years and made-up math alike, I've opted to divide my list of 2009's action and adventure flicks into four categories: Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About, Action Flicks I Couldn't Care Less About, Action Flicks That I Hope Surprise Me, and Those Which Fell In Between. Enjoy!

Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About: First and foremost -- Watchmen (March 6th). It's one hell of a graphic novel and looks to be one hell of an adaptation (with or without the Giant Blank), but the only problem is it may not hit theaters on time if 20th Century Fox has anything to say about it. Both Fox and Warner Brothers are fighting over who actually owns the rights, and if a judge favors Fox comes January 20th (when the court date is set), we're looking at a delayed release and a whole ton of angry fans. Then there's Public Enemies (July 1st), which has me sold on not the subject matter, but sheer pedigree: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as '30s gangsters. (It doesn't hurt that the earliest word ranges from damn good to great.) On the skimpier side, I can only hope that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17th) streamlines its source material as the previous one had, and I can only hope that Crank 2: High Voltage (April 17th) lives up/down to the depravity of its predecessor. There's one last action movie that I couldn't care more about because, well, I've already seen a version of it. The international cut of Taken (January 30th, though reportedly opening with some R-dodging trims) is about as brisk and butt-kicking as one might hope out of a man-on-a-mission kidnapping thriller, and if you disagree, I'll send Liam Neeson to change your mind.

Gallery: Watchmen

While out at SXSW, Cinematical's Scott Weinberg and I had a chat about Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and we both agreed it was a pretty good flick. Naturally, it wasn't dark and intense enough for the hardcore fans, but we kinda liked the fact that there was this comic book film that was made for actual kids, as well as fans. It was goofy, fun, exciting and cool. Best comic flick ever? Hardly. But definitely worthy of another sequel.

Alas, according to Chris Evans (aka Johnny Storm), it would appear a third Fantastic Four is not in the cards. He tells MTV, "I'm pretty sure we won't do [another] one. I'm assuming that one is a closed book." Evans later went into a tad more detail: "After the first one was released we got wind of potential titles and plots [almost immediately], and I've heard nothing from anyone at Fox [yet]. We had all planned on doing [another] one but if there were going to be a third I think a week after the second one was released we would have heard." Too bad.

There's always a chance, however, that Johnny Storm will show up in another comic book flick; either a Silver Surfer solo film or, perhaps, a completely different hero. Will he do it if he's offered the part? "Absolutely. If Johnny Storm wanted to make a pop in appearance in one of those movies that would be a treat."

What say you? Were you hoping for a Fantastic Four 3?