Vin Diesel Talks Guardians of The Galaxy Groot

Vin Diesel has spoken about his recent Facebook hints that he’s joining the cast of new marvel franchise Guardians of the Galaxy, potentially playing Groot. Although stopping short fo an official confirmation the Fast & Furious star has gone a long way to suggesting he will indeed providing the gruff voice of one of Marvel’s most unlikely heroes.

 “As an actor, not everything has to be the most obvious choice and sometimes, the best thing you can do — as far as Steven Spielberg and his advice — is to defy expectations. So if everybody thinks you’re going to go for this one thing and you flip it entirely and go for the strangest Marvel character, it’s interesting. And when something is interesting, it’s inspiring.”

Groot would certainly be an unlikely choice for the star, given that he’s a giant tree like alien who only communicates in the comics by repeatedly shouting his own name. Explaining his decision to post an image of the character to his Facebook page the star added:

“I get inspired by things. So if somebody sends me a book of conceptual art that’s the best character design work I’ve ever seen, I see that and I want to be a little cryptic and I want to say something positive.”

Whilst Marvel might usually be less inspired to see major casting news leaked by a potential star, the famously protective studio might also be happy to see Vin Diesel’s 45 million Facebook fans already excited about the prospect of the star joining their latest franchise.

James McAvoy For Frankenstein

James McAvoy looks set to play deranged scientific genius Victor Von Frankenstein in 20th century Fox’s upcoming big screen re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s Gothic classic. Diminutive Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is already confirmed to play Frankenstein’s long suffering assistant Igor.

Directed by Paul McGuigan the latest version of the timeless horror tale will actually focus on Igor as its main protagonist, obviously looking to immediately distinguish the film from all the countless re-telling’s already committed to cinema history. Screenwriter Max Landis has described the project as “fun, sad, scary and moving.”

Regardless of whether McAvoy does sign up or not, the studio already has a release date set of 17th October 2014.

Bret McKenzie Making Fantasy Puppet Musical

Flight of The Conchords star Brett McKenzie is going to follow his work on the soundtrack for eagerly awaited sequel The Muppets Most Wanted with more puppet themed movie adventures. The Oscar winning musical star has revealed plans to make a fairytale musical comedy described as a spiritual successor to Labyrinth.

Explaining the inspiration behind the project the songwriting funnyman described it as a mix of the Muppets and cult classic The Princess Bride. He also revealed he’s collaborating with the Muppets director James Bobin on the exciting project. Here’s what Bret McKenzie actually had to say:

“I’m in the middle of a script for a kind of – it hasn’t got a name yet but it’s a fairytale comedy musical, sort of akin to Labyrinth or something like that. James Bobin’s helping me. I’m the official writer but we’re developing it. I want to make a comedy musical with singing dragons and monsters and stuff. [It's] live-action, so it would be a mixture of The Muppets and The Princess Bride.”

McKenzie looks well set to continue his astonishing Hollwywood rise. Having won an Oscar his musical work on the first Muppets film he now has a role in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. The New Zealand star actually had a tiny cameo in Lord of The Rings and is now reprising the role in a more noticeable way for the continuing Middle Earth adventures.

Bryan Cranston Talks Lex Luthor & Superman

Bryan Cranston has been linked heavily to the role of Lex Luthor in forthcoming Superman sequel Batman vs. Superman.  Now the Breaking Bad star has commented on the speculation teasingly suggesting the studio should “Give me a call”. Speaking further about the Man of Steel’s iconic nemesis the teasing star added:

“I like Lex luthor, I think he’s misunderstood. He’s a loveable, sweet man”.

Of course Cranston seemed like obvious casting given his flair for both comedy and serious villainy. The distinctive bald head he sported in Breaking Bad also seemed like a perfect fit for the famously hairless super-villain Lex Luthor. However Cranston was candid in admitting that his wife in particular wasn’t such a fan of the look.

“She wasn’t so keen on the bald head. The bald head ages a man. It’s just that she didn’t know me that way. The last six years it’s all of a sudden like sleeping with a stranger — who was less exciting than her own husband. So I don’t blame her for being upset.”

It remains to be seen whether or not Mrs Cranston’s bedroom disappointment would be enough to make the Breaking Bad star pass on the opportunity to join the cast of the comic book blockbuster should the recent speculation prove true.

The Butterfly Effect Gets Reboot

Mediocre Ashton Kutcher time travel thriller The Butterfly Effect is set to get a very unlikely remake, courtesy of one of the original’s screenwriters Eric Bress. Barely a decade after the original film hauled in a moderately respectable $100 million in cinemas, it seems Bress and New Line are optimistic they can actually do better this time.

Having followed the usual path of working its way through a series of increasingly ignored straight to DVD sequels, it’s a remarkable and entirely unexpected revival for the franchise.

More generous fans are giving the reboot the benefit of the doubt for now, whilst fiercer critics are already pointing to the news as a worrying low point in the worsening Hollywood trend of regurgitating sequels, prequels and re-imaginings instead of taking chances with original content.