It's my hope that once the holidays are over, we'll finally find out -- once and for all -- where we stand with this whole Justice League of America movie. Director George Miller insists it's still moving forward, scheduled to start production early next year, and almost all of the cast have been unofficially leaked online. But that's the problem: nothing is official. Warner Bros. has not come out with an official statement, announcing their cast and timeline for the flick. We keep hearing names, some of which are the same, but they all come with the same "according to a trusted inside source" crap. And all we want is a decision -- is this movie moving forward? (Personally, I think this delay has to do with a) the script and b) the negative fan reaction -- but no one has come right out and said that.)

That being said, we now have a new name to throw into the mix. The Daily Telegraph reports that Casino Royale (and Golden Compass) star Eva Green flew into Sydney recently to audition for a role in Justice League. There's no word on what part she auditioned for, and we can speculate that it might be Wonder Woman, but that role supposedly already went to Megan Gale. Could Green be up for the role of a villain? Or is Warners looking to scrap some of these other names in favor of more recognizable talent? Strangely enough, some people were claiming Green was only in town for The Golden Compass premiere, however the Telegraph says she was a no-show. So chalk this up as yet another rumor, and cross your fingers this all gets settled real soon.

[via Moviehole]

It still doesn't have a title, and it still doesn't officially have a Bond girl, but according to Empire magazine, Bond 22 has found its villain. Of course, we don't know the character's name nor anything about him, except that he will be played by French actor Mathieu Amalric (Munich). The casting of Amalric was actually announced a few weeks ago by Fox News, but it couldn't be confirmed until Empire today got it out of the actor himself. He did hint at one loose detail about the movie, that it would be about childhood. Now, in the context of the quote, it actually appears that Amalric is saying that the desire to play a Bond villain stems from his childhood, but Empire understood his words differently, or at least spun them so that it seems like he said Bond 22 will focus on 007's childhood (as if James Bond Jr. and Agent Cody Banks weren't bad enough, now we may get a precocious young Bond). Empire also points out that Eva Green has dropped hints that Bond 22's villain will be her Casino Royale character's boyfriend, which would make sense now that we've heard Green will not appear in the next film, though photos of her character will.

This news would indicate that the Denver Post was wrong in claiming Robert Knepper would be playing the next Bond villain. Unless, of course, there's multiple bad guys -- a trend Hollywood has been a fan of lately. Either way, Amalric is an excellent choice to play the (or a) Bond baddie, and not just because he has that same foreign creepy look that Casino's Mads Mikkelsen has. The actor is receiving rave reviews for his starring role as a paralyzed sufferer of locked-in syndrome in Julian Schnabel's critically acclaimed new film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Fans of Amalric's need not worry that because of Bond 22 he will be more sought after for big Hollywood movies (as if any Bond villain actor ever was). The actor told Empire that taking the role is simply funny to him, it's not necessarily what he wants to do with his career and he will continue doing "very small French film[s] for free with [his] friends."

There's been a persistent rumor for months that the Bond producers had figured out a way to smuggle Eva Green into the next Bond film, still titled Bond 22 at this point -- the rumor was that the deceased Vesper Lynd would appear at some point in a pre-recorded video message intended for James Bond, and this message would somehow spark the action and link the film back to the first film. Well, Green has now put that rumor to rest in a big interview with The Observer that ran this past weekend. Green specifically tells the paper that she will not be appearing in the film, but that "there will be pictures [of Vesper] and things like that. I don't know who the Bond girl's gonna be. I'm a bit jealous! I hope it will be terrible. I will be the love of his life!"

Commanderbond.net is running the Eva Green news as well as pointing to a recent interview with Daniel Craig for New York Daily News, in which he lets it be known that he's now officially picking up his Bond 22 paychecks, doing stunt training in the run up to the January start-date. He also talks about seeing Casino Royale for the first time on an editing machine and breathing a sigh of relief over how well it turned out. He also tells the interviewer that he wants his Bond films to maintain a style that harkens back to the earliest entries in the Bond series, Dr. No and and From Russia With Love. "They had a style about them that was amazing and different," Craig says. Bond 22 is currently being prepped for a November 7, 2008 release date.

The upcoming futuristic thriller Franklyn will offer something for the fellas (the gorgeous Eva Green) and something for the ladies (the man-gorgeous Ryan Phillippe). The film will be set simultaneously in both contemporary London and a faith-dominated future metropolis without separation of church and state. According to Variety, the film will tell the story of "four lost souls divided by two parallel worlds on course for an explosive collision when a single bullet will decide all their fates." It's Sliding Doors meets The Matrix! Sounds mighty confusing, but I'm intrigued. The film will co-star Sam Riley, who plays Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis in Control (read James' positive review here).

First-time director Gerald McMorrow wrote the screenplay and will direct the film. According to IMDb, John Hurt is in the Franklyn cast as well, but since that's not part of the Variety announcement, take that with a grain of salt for now. The movie has undergone a lot of casting changes, it seems. Last we heard about the project, Ewan McGregor was attached to star, but it appears that is no longer the case. Paul Bettany was attached to the Riley role at one point. I don't know much about Riley, but I do know getting Phillippe for McGregor is something of a step down. Phillippe is improving, though, I must give him props for holding his own against an incredible Chris Cooper performance in the too little-seen Breach. Green is probably best known as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, but holds a special place in my pants heart for her almost entirely nude performance in The Dreamers. Dreamy.

Imagine that it's dark, kind of spooky and all sorts of foreboding. Suddenly, out of the shadows comes a figure -- one with bright, sea-colored eyes. It's a sexy, chocolate-haired woman. She goes to give you a kiss, one peck on the lips. Within an instant, you've fallen to the ground, dying because her lips are poison -- the poison of midnight. Okay, this might not be the premise, but Eva Green, the sexy Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale and the saucy Isabelle from The Dreamers, is going to star in a little something called Midnight Poison, to be directed by My Blueberry Nights helmer Wong Kar Wai.

Sounds cool, right? A movie starring Green with the saturated colors of Kar Wai? Well, not quite. The project is actually a commercial. Green has become the latest face added to the ranks of Christian Dior, following other notable actresses like Charlize Theron and Sharon Stone. She's the official face for their new perfume, Midnight Poison, which should be released this September. I guess if any notable director could make a really good, intriguing and appealing commercial for cosmetics, it would be Wong Kar Wai. He's got the visuals down-pat, and I can only imagine what he'll do with Green's eyes. Between this and her stint as Serafina Pekkala in His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass, I think we'll be seeing a lot of the latest Bond girl. She's also got a rumored role in Mr. Nobody, with Jared Leto and Sarah Polley, as well as a starring role in Franklyn with Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany and John Hurt.

Regular readers of Cinematical know that we recently visited the London set of The Golden Compass, but we're holding back our coverage until a date closer to the release of the film. That said, it looks like New Line is increasingly willing to give the public an early taste of the film -- the Sydney Morning Herald is running a big article this weekend on Compass, and among other things, they are re-confirming what was earlier reported, that New Line is screening footage from the film at Cannes for journalists and distributors. We've also heard that a press junket with the main talent is being prepared. Since I'm a fan of Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green and Philip Pullman, it hardly needs to be said that this is one of the films I'm most looking forward to, but I had the wind taken out of my sails a bit by the noticeably lame poster that was unveiled at Showest, which showed nothing more than ... a golden compass. I certainly hope they've got some better advance materials coming down the pike.

The main thrust of the SMH article is recount author Philip Pullman's recent address to the Oxford Literary Festival, where he talked about the film. Among other things, he delves into the firing of screenwriter Tom Stoppard and says that he could understand the studio's point of view on that issue, which was that Stoppard's take was too cerebral for a teenage audience! Producer Deborah Forte was also on hand at the festival, and screened footage of Marisa Coulter's sky ferry, the zeppelin that she travels in. On the subject of Kidman, Pullman also revealed to the audience that he had always wanted Kidman for the part of Coulter and had in mind Laurence Olivier for Daniel Craig's part, but that didn't work out as well. The pair also told the Oxford audience that their mantra throughout the project was "stick with Lyra," meaning the central child character being played by Dakota Blue Richards, and that the film's special effects will be "subtle," although that could mean anything.

I know that Eva Green should play Barbarella. You know that Eva Green should play Barbarella. Now our dream might be one small step closer to reality. Screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who vaulted to the A-list with the runaway success of Casino Royale, have dropped two new pieces of news -- they've finished the script for their next film, 'Bond 22,' and they've been hired to write ... Barbarella! The hiring of Purvis and Wade for Barbarella is mentioned in an announcement to the trades that Dino De Laurentiis has finished sewing up the rights to the remake and is ready to move forward with the project. Another component to the deal is that the French comic series that inspired the original Barbarella will be reissued in conjunction with this new film.

Now here comes the less-than-exciting part. In making the announcement, the producers saw fit to point out that the new Barbarella will be totally different from the original -- instead of being a "kittenish sexpot," the new Barb will be a "free, modern gal who survives in a futuristic world through her intelligence, survival skills and sexuality." Um, can we take a vote on that? I can't be the only person who is bone-tired of the 'ass-kicking female' era and wants desperately to return to the 'kittenish sexpot' era. Still, I'm holding out hope. I have faith in Dino, so to sum up, here is what he wants you to know about the movie -- try to imagine it being said in that Dino accent: "Barbarella is the ultimate science-fiction adventure heroine: smart, strong, funny and sexy. I'm excited to reintroduce Barbarella to a new generation of moviegoers."

The only award Casino Royale picked up Sunday at the British Academy Awards (BAFTAs) was for Best Sound. It was nominated in nine categories -- ten if you count the publicly voted Rising Star Award, which did go to Casino Royale actress Eva Green. But it would have been very shocking if the 007 movie had beaten The Queen for the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film. Oh wait; The Queen didn't win it either. Surprisingly, The Last King of Scotland won Best British Film, as well as Best Adapted Screenplay (for Jeremy Brock and Peter Morgan, who also wrote The Queen) and, of course, Best Actor for Forest Whitaker. The Queen did win for Best Film, though, and also took the obvious prize for Best Actress for Helen Mirren.

Some of the other unexpected wins were Paul Greengrass for the David Lean Award for Direction and Alan Arkin for Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine, which won for Best Original Screenplay. Other prizes went to Pan's Labyrinth for Best Film Not in the English Language, Best Makeup & Hair and Best Costume Design, Children of Men for Best Cinematography and Best Production Design and Babel for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music. For the most part, the British Academy disagreed with last week's London Film Critics Circle Awards, which gave added honors to specifically British performers like Emily Blunt, Toby Jones, Michael Caine and Leslie Philips. However, Casino Royale fared badly with the critics' choices too.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Il Giornale, actor Giancarlo Giannini has announced that he will make an unexpected return as the character of Mathis in the next, as-yet-untitled James Bond adventure. If you've seen Casino Royale by now, you remember that Mathis was Bond's MI6 contact in Montenegro who was ultimately revealed to be up to no good. He was last seen being tasered in the back by MI6 people and dragged away, presumably to some dank holding cell. Giannini also went further, stating that in the new film, Mathis will be revealed to have been an ally of Bond after all! This makes no sense whatsoever, since, at the end of Casino Royale, James Bond and M have a frank conversation about Mathis and his double-dealing. By 'ally,' he probably means 'still useful.'

According to the people at commanderbond.net, who translated the interview, Giannini said that Mathis "will be using his double agent status to assist Bond in reaching the top of the mysterious organization that was behind Le Chiffre and Mr. White." This is yet more confirmation of the 'direct sequel' angle the next film will take. It's also the second piece of interesting Bond info inside of a week. Last Friday, The Guardian published a frank interview with Eva Green, in which she talked about, among other things, refusing a request by the filmmakers to strip for Casino Royale. Bond 22, or whatever it's called, is currently scheduled to hit theaters on November 7, 2008.

For some guys, the reason to sit through Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers is to see Eva Green naked ... a lot. Well, guys, I hope it is enough, because the actress may never do another nude scene. She told The Guardian that she found the nudity in The Dreamers "troubling" and that she had to refuse to get naked for Casino Royale. Green was asked to disrobe for a scene in which her character, Vesper Lynd, breaks down in the shower. If you've seen the movie, you will probably agree with Green that the scene works better with her clothed.

She states that her parents were against her doing The Dreamers because of how Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris affected Maria Schneider (she entered a mental hospital and alleges the director manipulated her). But Green claims she couldn't say no to working with Bertolucci, and despite her trouble with the nudity she apparently has no ill feelings toward him. Has he turned her off from doing more nudity later, though? She doesn't say. For those guys who want more, there's always the older films starring Green's mom, Marlène Jobert, who looked enough like Green when she was younger.

In the Guardian interview, which was conducted as promotion for Green's BAFTA nomination, the actress also mentioned that it is okay that Daniel Craig's chest is bigger than hers because the way the film was shot, he ended up as more the Bond girl than she. Again, if you've seen the movie, you'll agree with her about the gratuitous shot of Craig coming out of the sea.