villain Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Here's something you may or may not know about me: I love Will Smith. Huge fan of the guy; I've thoroughly enjoyed almost all of his movies (I said, almost) and he always gives you a good performance. Obviously, I'm not alone -- if you put Smith in a movie, any movie, you're pretty much guaranteed $100 million at the box office ... and that's a low estimate. However, when it comes to a Will Smith film -- be it small or large -- one thing is always a given: He's gonna play the good guy. His good guy will have flaws, sure, but what protagonist doesn't have flaws?

So as much as I love Will Smith and enjoy shelling out money for his movies, I'm beginning to think the guy needs to change things up a bit -- ie: when will big Willy take on the role of villain? And I don't mean the guy who's not quite good and not quite bad -- kinda shady, what have you (Six Degrees doesn't count either; too early in his career) -- I mean the guy you don't want to cross. The guy who'll crush your skull if you spell his name wrong. The guy you want to drop off a building five minutes into the movie. THAT'S who I want to see Will Smith play. The big question is, though, could he pull it off? Not only that, but would he ever consider such a role in the first place?

Generally when I write about non-geek news, it is because something specific from the story has caught my eye. Let me tell you about today's news, and then I'll explain why it jumped out at me. Actor turned director John Stockwell has been tapped to direct a high budget thriller for 2929 Productions, with work starting early next year. No major casting decisions seem to have been made yet, but you can see a look at everyone involved thus far over at Hollywood Reporter.

What made me chuckle about this news, and the reason I chose to run with it, was the plot description I stumbled across while casting about on the internet trying to learn something about this flick to share with you. ComingSoon summarizes the movie as "a forest-fire spotter with a secret is visited by his crazy brother in the remote, frozen wilderness of the Pacific Northwest." Tell me you read that description with a straight face and didn't feel a giggle cracking through. What sort of secrets does a forest-fire spotter keep, anyway? I'm sure he killed somebody or something, but in my mind, he cheated at Connect Four as a child. His brother, who could thus never win, was driven to madness thanks to his low self esteem.

I think we should summarize other movies this way, as well. Star Wars could be "a teen from a backwater country falls in love with his own sister and fights to redeem his father from a life of genocide and artificial respiration."

Your turn. Give me your best wacky, one line summary of a flick you love.

I'm not exactly sure how they secured this information, but JewReview is reporting that Jeffrey Wright has landed the role of main bad guy in Live Free or Die Hard (aka Die Hard 4). Wow, though I didn't see that one coming, it definitely makes sense as production will take place in Washington D.C. and, not only is that Wright's hometown, but he also plays a good seedy D.C. dude.

If this rumor is true, Wright will be playing the head of some sort of (corrupt?) agency hell-bent on shutting down the United States by way of internet-based terrorism. Fox chairman Tom Rothman recently teased that an announcement regarding who would be playing the villain was just around the corner and, while news probably leaked a bit earlier than they would've liked, it's all good as far as I see it. What do you think?

[via Coming Soon]

In a recent interview with IESB, Fox chairman Tom Rothman had a few things to say about some very big upcoming films. I'm talking Eragon, Wolverine, Magneto, Fantastic Four 2 and the main focus of this week's Poll, Live Free or Die Hard (aka Die Hard 4). Last week, Justin Long was officially announced as John McClane's (Bruce Willis) newest sidekick in the fourth installment -- a computer hacker brought on to assist McClane in tracking down and defeating a group of cyber terrorists.

However, while production has already begun (check out these brand new set pics), we still don't know who will play the main villain. In my opinion, the Die Hard films are defined by their baddie, with Alan Rickman by far my personal favorite thus far (Jeremy Irons was okay in Vengeance -- a little bland for my taste, but still pretty decent). In the interview, Rothman admits casting for the franchise's next bad guy is just about done, with an announcement expected within a week or two. He notes the actor in question is American and says, "... it's a very cool piece of casting. Very cool and contemporary." Great, now I'm just dying to know who it is. Cool? Contemporary? American? You think it's a woman? An alien? Freddy Prinze Jr.?

So, I ask you: If you had final say, who would square off against John McClane? And, based on the info Rothman gives us, who do you think they're targeting?

... And the ComicCon geek-bits just keep on pouring in. The most recent news comes from actor/director Jon Favreau, who's been admirably and enthusiastically fan-friendly since landing the Iron Man directorial gig. And the news is this:

In his inaugural big-screen adventure, Iron Man (aka Tony Stark) will be battling ... Mandarin (see pic). According to the Marvel Directory, Mandarin is a former Chinese politician who once discovered an alien spacecraft full of magical rings that enabled him to become a super-mega-evil dude who frequently got beat up by Iron Man. OK, so he's not as slick as The Joker or Dr. Octopus, but hey, at least Favreau's sticking to the source material. Apparently Madarin WAS one of Tony Stark's most frequent nemeses, so I say it's a good choice -- even if I wouldn't know "Mandarin" if I tripped over him in a dark hallway. (OK, if he was wearing that outfit, I'd recognize him.)

Paramount's Iron Man is scheduled for release in May of 2008 (against Bond #22). We'll let you know when we hear some casting news.

(Thanks to Marvel Directory for the pic as well as the Mandarin lesson.)