The Insider: 042

Wolverine spins off
The movie itself may have been a little stodgy in places and silly in others, but X-Men Origins: Wolverine certainly clicked with audiences, launching to $87 million here in the US. And with success comes sequels – and spin-offs, since Fox is clearly looking to milk this cash cow for all its creamy currency goodness. So get ready for not only Logan’s trip to Japan, where he’ll face yet more villains and (if they follow the comic stories, another tragic love) but also a movie spun around Deadpool. Yes, the “merc with a mouth”, as ably played by Ryan Reynolds – who got far too little screen time in Origins – is getting his own movie.

 

Hammer time
Movies based from comic books usually end up making big changes – Deadpool (see above) in Wolverine was quite different from how appears in the comics. And it looks like the Iron Man sequel has also shifted things around. Sam Rockwell is playing Justin Hammer, a rival industrialist to Tony Stark, usually to be found as an elderly Vincent Price-alike English bloke. But with Rockwell in the role, director Jon Favreau has made the character much younger, putting him closer in age to Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark. The Insider has no problem with this – he trusts the Iron Man team.

 

Lantern lit?
By the time you read this, it will likely be all settled, but current rumours have Bradley Cooper- soon to be seen in summer comedy The Hangover – playing The Green Lantern for Warners and director Martin Campbell. Cooper’s best known for Wedding Crashers and, more recently, Yes Man, and might just be picking up Hal Jordan’s power ring… Oh, and yes, I realise this issue of the column is turning into a comics-centric one…

 

Nailed in the coffin?
Whoops… Notoriously tempestuous director David O Russell hasn’t exactly had the best of luck with his latest pic, Nailed, which sees Jessica Biel as a waitress who begins acting overtly lustily after a nail is lodged in her noggin. The film lost a star – James Caan - early on when he quit and has since been shut down no less than four times due to finance issues. Despite rumours it had managed to finish shooting and was in post-production, Biel has told a Florida newspaper that it’s still unfinished and not likely to be any time soon. It might one day see the projector’s light, but who knows? Better luck next time, Dave…

 

Barbarella go bye bye
Talking of movies that aren’t likely to see the inside of a cinema, Robert Rodriguez has been talking about his long-planned attempt to remake sexy sci-fi comedy Barbarella with Rose McGowan in the Jane Fonda part. If you were holding your breath for it, you might want to let go… Rodriguez is now saying that he couldn’t get the funding and has finally decided to just let the project go.