MarkStrong Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The first trailer will be attached to Terminator: Salvation. Will we all start drooling like they did after ShoWest? I hope so. I really want this film to meet my expectations.

Ridley Scott's Robin Hood has added so many people that we've actually fallen a bit behind in reporting them all. Shortly after Cate Blanchett came aboard as Maid Marian, the film added Mark Strong as Sir Godfrey, Alan Doyle as Alan-a-Dale, Scott Grimes as Will Scarlet, Kevin Durand as Little John, and Bronsen Webb as someone named Jimoen.

Deserving its own mention is my favorite casting (so far) -- Vanessa Redgrave as Eleanor of Aquitaine. I think she's possibly the only actress who can be as formidable in Eleanor's crown as Katharine Hepburn.

Now, The Hollywood Reporter says that William Hurt is joining up as William Marshall (or Marshal if you keep the historic spelling), a man described as "the greatest knight who ever lived" by his contemporary, Stephen Langton. He rose from obscurity to become a knight, who made his living in jousting tournaments a'la The Knight's Tale. He joined the court of Henry II and subsequently served the three following Plantagenets, including King Richard I, and his brother, King John. When he died, he was one of the most powerful men in Europe, and was known simply as "the Marshal."

First, I must give some major props to Guardian writer Anne Billson. Not only has she inspired me to take her topic and run with it here, but she bravely declared her love for Mark Strong in one of the classiest of British papers. You rarely see that kind of passion outside of a fan site, let alone in print journalism! Well done, Ms. Billson.

With that intro out of the way, let's tackle Ms. Billson's topic -- scene-stealing supporting actors. They're the men and women you love and admire so much, you're practically craning your neck over the shoulder of the lead to see a bit more of them. For Billson (and probably a lot of people these days), it's Strong.

I have a very similar affair with Jason Isaacs, an extremely good actor who is generally stuck in supporting or villain roles. I love this guy. I'll watch anything he's in, and I'll always root for him. While I love the Harry Potter films for their own sake, I'm always annoyed by how much Lucius Malfoy ends up on the cutting room floor. I guiltily root for him in The Patriot, hoping every time that he defeats those uppity colonials. (The fact that he's backed by one of my other favorite supporting actors, Adam Baldwin, only makes my Loyalist sympathies stronger.)

The mystery of Ridley Scott's Nottingham is now over. Scott announced that his "revisionist" take on the Robin Hood legend has been scrapped, right down to the title, and will now have Russell Crowe in the role of the titular archer. Why mess with hundreds of years of legend, after all?

"[Robin Hood] is a bowman in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion. [Crowe as both Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham] was an idea so far back, way back when at the time I had this proposed to me, and I read it and thought, 'I don't really know what it does for it, but it's alright'," Scott told MTV News. "It is better to simply have the evolution of a character called Robin Hood, who will come out of a point in the Crusades which is the end."

However, there is a slight shift in who the villain will be. While the Sheriff of Nottingham will play a part, Scott is returning Robin Hood to his cultural roots as an Anglo-Saxon pitted against villainous Norman invaders. "It is from France. It is the French. The villain is much bigger in that sense; much more important, and much more dangerous."

Filming begins in two months, and while Scott didn't confirm Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian, he dismissed the persistent rumors that Crowe's physical fitness was a problem. "Oh that is silly. All that stuff is bullsh-t. He is going to be totally fit. That is not a problem at all. And he's been working on his bow and arrow for about 4 months. He sends me tapes of him hitting targets at about 45 meters. He's pretty good!"

As a medievalist at heart, I'm rather excited to see a traditional version that can erase all memory of a certain prince of thieves -- and Crowe and Scott are at their best when they go quasi-historical. Can't wait.

Does it make me a bad person that I couldn't have been happier when Sienna Miller and Nottingham decided to go their separate ways? Nothing personal, but I wasn't envisioning Miller fairing too well up against a dramatic heavy like Russell Crowe. Luckily, for those of out there who still think that Nottingham has a chance of being a darn good flick, there is a light on the horizon and her name is Cate Blanchett. During an event for the London Film Critics' Circle Awards, newly arrived Nottingham cast member, Mark Strong told the UK Telegraph, "I think Cate Blanchett is set to take the Maid Marian part," Strong went on to sing the praises of the Aussie actress and told the Telegraph, "She is a wonderful actress and it would make it a much classier film if she was in it." -- Amen to that brother.

For those of you who haven't been following the travails of Scott's Robin Hood update, here is a quick little primer: First up were those bogus script reports that made Crowe's choice of dual roles sound like a bad episode of The Bobbsey Twins. But the hits kept coming, and next up was a shutdown on the set, unflattering stories that Crowe and Scott were at each other's throat, and finally Sienna Miller got the old heave-ho thanks to Crowe's so-called "gross" appearance, or her bad acting (depending on who you believe) -- not exactly the kind of anecdotes you want to end up on the DVD commentary.

When Cinematical visited the set of Sherlock Holmes last month, we certainly wanted to learn a lot more about this much-anticipated film (which we did), but we also wanted to find out once and for all whether the classic Holmes villain Moriarty would make an appearance. Up until this point, Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) was the only villain on record, and so far folks behind the scenes have managed to successfully dodge the big Moriarty question. That is, until now.

Note: Watch for spoilers below ...

While we received a number of shady answers (followed by evil smirks) from the cast and crew regarding Moriarty during our set visit, IGN managed to get someone to talk: Mr. Mark Strong. At the British Independent Film Awards over the weekend, Strong said this about Moriarty's involvement: "Moriarty's in it ... but you don't really see him. I think he's there because if the franchise carries on, there's a possibility that he will appear in a larger guise. But for the purposes of this one and the detective narrative, I'm the guy that Sherlock's after, Lord Blackwood. And he's a cultist/Satanist lord who is the ultimate cad." So he's there, but you don't see him? Hmmm. I guess we'll take that as solid confirmation ... until we find out who's playing him (ahem, Russell Crowe?).

A handful of geek news bits are the perfect way to end the week. There's all kinds of intriguing little quotes scattered all over the Internet tonight, and I've compiled them all below to give your mouse finger and Google toolbar a rest. Enjoy!

As always, the Old Canuckehead gets first grab -- X-MenFilms.Net was informed by Fox that the first X-Men Origins: Wolverine teaser is supposed to be attached to The Day the Earth Stood Still, which hits theaters on December 12th. Will we see the same footage that most of us glimpsed via YouTube bootleg from San Diego ComicCon? I bet we will!

Buried in that Ain't It Cool News scoop on J. Michael Stracynzki was the news that he had just finished his rewrite of Thor. I think the God of Thunder is moving faster than Captain America.

MTV's Splash Page caught up with Robert Downey Jr. and pressed him for word on the Terrance Howard/Don Cheadle swap. He stayed classy, of course: "I had nothing to do with that decision. I love Terrence very very much. That's all I'll say because I haven't talked to him yet ... I've always admired Don [Cheadle]. It's one of those situations where I still don't quite know what happened or why. Here's what happens too: things happen and you wind up commenting on them before you've actually talked to the people and it's in poor taste." He also stressed that the Iron Man franchise will be an "interactive" one, with he and Jon Favreau striving "to make sure we don't piss off the public that put us in the position we're in."

Continued after the jump.

I found myself asking one simple question during Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, a well-shot, big-name intelligence thriller that sees Leonardo DiCaprio's CIA man caught up in action in the Middle East -- namely, what is Body of Lies for? I don't mean that in the sense of asking what it supports or believes in -- although, with the film's mix of Hollywood heroics and sneering cynicism, you're certainly left with that question -- but rather in the sense of asking what it is that Body of Lies means to accomplish or communicate. Part of the film feels like an attempt at a sprawling, globe-trotting story of realpolitik and moral complexity, in the mold of Syriana or Scott's own Black Hawk Down; other parts feel like Dolby-pumped slam-bang action, in the mold of Tony Scott's Spy Game or the Bourne Films. And some of Body of Lies feels like a weird, surreal workplace satire, with DiCaprio's on-the-ground intelligence agent fighting, fussing and feuding with his D.C.-based superior Russell Crowe; if you hate having your boss hover over your shoulder second-guessing you, imagine how it feels to have your boss looking over your shoulder second-guessing you from orbit via satellite.

Adapted from David Ignatius' novel by The Departed screenwriter William Monahan, Body of Lies follows DiCaprio's Roger Ferris through a series of run-and-gun intelligence-gathering missions that start in Iraq and travel the globe in the name of penetrating, and breaking, a terror ring operating on a global level. Ferris works for Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe, beefy and drawling), who runs his section of the CIA with a true believer's fervor. Speaking to a group of political staff and elected officials, Hoffman tries to get everyone in line by getting everyone scared: "Our world as we know it is much simpler... to put to an end than you might think." Ed knows that in an age of asymmetrical warfare, America's seemingly unsophisticated opponents have big advantages; you can't tap someone's phone if they don't have one, can't crack their e-mail if it doesn't exist.

Usually it's not too hard to imagine what a film will be like. This is not, however, the case with Sherlock Holmes. First, it was a challenge to try and imagine just how Guy Ritchie would handle the material, even with the suggestion of a "slightly stylized 1891." Robert Downey Jr. was an intriguing choice for Mr. Holmes, and now as the bigger casting pieces begin to fall into place, I'm dying to see what Ritchie makes of it.

Jude Law IS in as Watson, and The Hollywood Reporter posts that Rachel McAdams has signed on to play Sherlock's love interest, Irene Adler. THR says the character showed up in only one story -- 1891's "A Scandal in Bohemia," but should the film become part of a series, she'll be there for the ride. As Elisabeth pointed out when Mark Strong signed on, Ritchie isn't interested right now in a sequel, but that doesn't mean the studio isn't salivating over the thought. Oh yes, and Strong, who was cast in a few roles through the rumor mill -- he'll play Blackwood, Holmes' main villain. There's some excellent talent in here, and after RocknRolla, I'm dying to see Strong go head to head with Downey Jr.

Dear readers of Cinematical, what say you? Will these four work well together, or are you hoping for a little recasting? And for more of this week's big casting news, check out the gallery below ...