Karl Pilkington Caravan Book Tour
Karl Pilkington is a unique national treasure, hailed as an unintentional comedy genius by fans but derided as a round headed moron by his best friends. Over the past few years the former XFM radio producer has been reluctantly transformed into a popular media personality by his friendly tormentors Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The Office and Extras creator Gervais admits that he considers introducing the world to Karl’s unique droll charms his greatest achievement.
Last weekend in a caravan in the car pack of an ASDA superstore in Watford, a lucky crowd of delighted fans finally got the chance to meet Karl in person. This was the unlikely setting for Karl’s first ever book signing event, launching his latest book The Further Adventures Of An Idiot Abroad. The book documents Karl’s most recent exploits, exploring the bucket list of things to do before you die in the second series of An Idiot Abroad.
By mid-morning Saturday, hundreds of people had descended on the mobile home to greet Karl, keen to take advantage of the rare opportunity to meet their hero. They were undeterred by a sign above the caravan that proudly proclaimed “Karl Pilkington: I’d Rather Be Anywhere Else But here”.
Although Karl is notoriously adverse to any kind of self-promotion or the trappings of celebrity he was in surprisingly good spirits when he emerged from his temporary home to pose for photographs. Fans were also treated to free bags of Monster Munch crisps (Karl’s favorite snack) while they waited.
Karl has been busy filming the third series of An Idiot Abroad The Short Way Round with Warwick Davis, while meeting fans he admitted that it’s been weird to finally have some company during his travels. Karl was also surprised to see some of the fan-art his popular musings had inspired.
Karl was particularly confused and amused to see a fake poster for Bullshit Man, the superhero he famously created during one of his most popular rants against office bullshit. Though the internet is full of fake movie posters inspired by his words Karl admitted he’d never seen any of them before Saturday.
Karl will be continuing his tour of the Caravan Tour of the UK. His next confirmed date is in Manchester on 6th October at the Trafford Centre. His caravan will be parked outside the Great Hall from 1-5pm. Wristbands for this event will be available from the 1st of October on purchase of thebook at WH Smiths in Selfridges in the Trafford Centre, or by phone on 0161 629 1157.
Further dates are set to be announced potentially including Newcastle and either Sheffield or Leeds.
Marvel Plans New Hulk Movie
Marvel Producer Kevin Feige admits that the popular green superhero The Hulk may have a new movie, following on from his adventures in The Avengers 2.
“Do I think Hulk can carry a movie and be as entertaining as he was in Avengers? I do believe that. I do believe he absolutely could. We certainly are not even going to attempt that until Avengers 2, so there’s a lot of time to think about it.”
As for exactly what storyline Marvel’s third attempt at a Hulk movie might take, the Marvel supremo shared a few ideas:
“I don’t think there’s a lot that we couldn’t do someday, as the cinematic universe continues to grow and expand and get as big as the comic book universe. Planet Hulk is a cool story. World War Hulk is a cool story.”
Despite the obvious fan enthusiasm for more Hulk adventures and the fantastic possibilities provided by some of the comics more outlandish character arcs, Kevin Feige expressed some caution about expanding the Marvel universe too far at the risk of overcomplicating the carefully balanced connections between Marvel’s various superhero franchises.
“I think there’s pitfalls of continuity-overload, and mythology getting so dense that it almost collapses in on itself [with those cosmic projects]. It happens every few decades or so in the comics. Apart from that, I’d say everything is on the table.”
The Avengers 2 will still be our next chance to see the Hulk smash bad guys, opening in UK cinemas on 1 May 2015.
Anne Hathaway For Robopocalypse
Anne Hathaway is in talks to join the cast of Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi blockbuster Robopocalypse. Hathaway recently wowed delighted fanboys with a skin tight catsuit clad turn as The Dark Knight Rises’ Catwoman and has since been working on the big screen adaptation of iconic musical production Les Miserables.
Hathaway is now in the early stages of talks to join Robopocalypse as the female lead, possibly alongside Avengers star Chris Hemsworth who is now in formal negotiations to sign on after previously meeting with Spielberg to discuss the project earlier in the summer.
Search For Planet Of the Apes Sequel Director
20th Century Fox continues their search for a director to take on Planet Of The Apes sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Rupert Wyatt the director of Rise of the Planet of the Apes stepped away from the project due to the studio’s ambitious plans to speed though production to have the film ready for cinemas by May 2014. The situation has much in common with Gary Ross and The Huger Games, where despite a successful and well received first effort the director stepped away from the franchise citing similar concerns.
Now 20th Century Fox is working its way through a lengthy list of possible replacements. Familiar names like Guillermo Del Toro and Looper director Rian Johnson have been mentioned, but neither seems like realistic prospects. Del Toro has a mountain of existing commitments and Rian Johnson has already denied he’ll be getting involved.
Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) seems to be a more likely front runner at the moment. Other emerging talents like J Blakeson (Disappearance of Alice Creed), Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter) and Juan Carlos (28 Weeks Later) are also being considered.
The studio will be hoping to act quickly, avoiding delays in their tight schedule and the danger that people might forget just how good Andy Serkis is at pretending to be a monkey.
Len Wiseman Directing Mummy Reboot
Underworld director Len Wiseman will reportedly direct the reboot of The Mummy franchise for Universal. Wiseman was most recently responsible for remaking the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger action effort Total Recall, replacing Paul Verhoeven’s blood soaked mayhem with sanitized CGI and Colin Farrell.
Wiseman will continue to base his Mummy reboot on a long developed script by Prometheus screenwriter Jon Spaihts. In demand screenwriting pair Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci are still attached to produce the project, whilst they continue to work on rebooting Van Helsing with Tom Cruise as well.
Speaking about his plans for a new ‘darker twist on the material’ here’s what Wiseman had to say recently about The Mummy reboot:
“One of the things that interested me with this mummy is, he’s still in essence a man. They haven’t turned his brain into a monster brain. He still has a personality and is very cunning and calculating. He’s a true character in any form, and in creature form, even if he is that staggering creature, it becomes more important that he’s a thinking, calculating person.”