MatthewVaughn Tagged Articles at Cinematical

First, let's tackle the Watchmen legal update. The Hollywood Reporter says that the January 20th court date has been canceled, and Warner Bros and Fox are talking about a settlement. It was expected we'd have one by now, since they started over the weekend, but it's apparently "serious" and probably heated too. You'll get your movie on March 6th though. What did we tell you?

Samuel L. Jackson might be out as Nick Fury, telling Hero Complex: "I saw Jon Favreau at the Scream Awards and we had a conversation. He said, 'I hope things are working out for you because we're writing stuff for you.' Then all of a sudden last week I talked to my agents and manager and things aren't really working that well. There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don't know. Maybe I won't be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], 'We're not making that deal.'" But Geoff Boucher called Marvel Comics, who refused to report on active (their emphasis) negotiations. So don't count yourself out yet, Mr. Jackson.

Sam Mendes told MTV that he's still waiting for a Preacher script before he'll commit to the project, as he's not very good at "developing" projects, he needs to read the script. But he does love Garth Ennis' series. "I think it's absolutely brilliant. It's a gripping story, fantastic characters, great visual landscape. It mixes supernatural and real worlds brilliantly, it's not entirely a CGI creation if you make it into a movie. It's funny, and it's absolutely, completely blasphemous, possibly even sacrilegious I would say. Which might be a dangerous thing to take on. Whether or not I have the skill to make it into a movie, I don't know."

AICN's Moriarty has Part One of his visit to the Kick-Ass set online -- and it's such a long, enjoyable read that I honestly can't figure out what to cut and paste ... but I settled on his description of the character I once dubbed my future daughter, aka Chloe Moretz's Hit Girl. "Hit Girl's the coolest of the bunch. Her outfit's a variation on a schoolgirl outfit, but with body armor, leather-wrapped. She's got a purple wig and a small black mask, and Chloe's got a sneer that would make Elvis Presley proud, like if Batman adopted a tiny female Billy Idol as his sidekick." Check out the image they debuted below, and in a larger size over at AICN.




Back in February, Fox optioned Jeff Kenney's graphic novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Well, it now has a director in Thor Freudenthal, who's the hottest name for young adult fare thanks to the hotly-anticipated Hotel for Dogs. I'm sorry to say that in the intervening months, I never did purchase and read Wimpy Kid. Any fans out there who can shed some light? (By the way, Mr. Freudenthal -- with that awesome name, I hope you direct a Marvel film someday.) [THR ]

Last week, Len Wiseman signed on to direct Atlantis Rising, and now the project has a writer. Joby Harold is in negotiations to pen the adaptation. Producer Roberto Orci describes the project's appeal for those of us who didn't get sucked in by the comics: "In all the classic versions of this kind of movie, the threat is always from the stars. The idea that it's somehow our cousins who went off in a different path of evolution who have been here, literally, underneath our oceans ... That's fascinating, the idea of secrets right under your nose."[ [THR]

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See, kids? Superhero movies are classy now! According to Variety, the man of many parts, Kenneth Branagh, is set to direct Thor for Marvel Studios. I am pretty confident no one saw this choice coming -- there has been nary a whisper on the project since Matthew Vaughn left, and I really thought he'd probably swing back to it after Kick-Ass.

But somehow, this actually seems like the right fit for Branagh, who's taste has often leaned towards the bombastic. After all, scriptwriter Mark Protosevich told the Daily Herald last year that he saw the story of Thor in Biblical terms: "It's going to be like a super hero origin story, but not one about a human gaining super powers, but of a god realizing his true potential. It's the story of a Old Testament god who becomes a new Testament god." That takes a Shakespearean sort of eye, and while Branagh's directorial resume is middling, his best (Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet) suggests he might just be able to deliver on the action and wit Thor calls for. Check out the embedded Much Ado clip after the jump (a bit NSFW) and see if that doesn't feel a bit like a comic book movie. If it doesn't, well, leave thine comments below.