Weekly Ketchup: Captain America vs. Agent Smith

Plus news about a possible Wizard of Oz reboot.

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This week's Ketchup features casting news for The First Avenger: Captain America and the Wachowski Brothers' secret project, as well as a biopic about Vince Lombardi, new takes on The Wizard of Oz and the legend of King Arthur and sequels for Alvin and the Chipmunks, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Planet of the Apes.

#1 THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE HUMAN TORCH VS AGENT SMITH?

The casting process is still ongoing to find the young actorwho will play Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, in not just The First Avenger: Captain America, but also in The Avengers and up to 7 other sequels or other Marvel Studios projects. Of the original list, several are now out of the running: John Krasinski (The Office), Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights), Patrick Flueger (Brothers) and Michael Cassidy (Privileged). The two that remain from that group are Mike Vogel (Cloverfield) and Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy), and they are now joined by someone who has experience in the Marvel Universe. Chris Evans, whose performance as Johnny Storm, AKA the Human Torch, was arguably the best thing about the Fantastic Four movies, is now also a strong possibility for the role. This writer thinks that Chris Evans is the best candidate to be officially mentioned yet, and if Evans does take the role, many of the doubts I've had about the project would be alleviated. Joe Johnston's (Jumanji, The Wolfman) involvement as director is still bothersome, unless he is indeed replaced, as recent reports have suggested). One factor that may be problematic for Chris Evans signing on is the news this week that he has been cast in What's Your Number?, an R-rated 20th Century Fox comedy starring Anna Faris (the Scary Movie franchise). What's Your Number? is based upon the Karyn Bosnak book 20 Times a Lady, and is about a woman who thought she'd find the perfect guy by the time she'd slept with 20 (!) men. What's Your Number? is scheduled to start filming in May, which does indeed conflict with the filming schedule for The First Avenger: Captain America, which is expected to start filming in April. Another new name to also add to the list is Wilson Bethel, who starred in HBO's Generation Kill, and also currently appears in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. I'm guessing he's one of the "young" ones, unless they're all young and also restless... I don't know, I've never watched the show. While all that is still going on, a character that appears to be much closer to being firmed down is the film's main villain, the Red Skull. Hugo Weaving, who fans should know well from his roles as Agent Smith in the Matrix movies and Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is in advanced talks to play the German super agent that has always been Captain America's archenemy. One factor that is probably of particular interest is that Hugo Weaving recently worked with Joe Johnston as a supporting character in The Wolfman.

#2 ALICE IN WONDERLAND + $116 MILLION = THE WIZARD OF OZ IS NEXT

People expected that Disney and Tim Burton's new take on Alice in Wonderland would probably do quite well, but a $116 million opening weekend probably was far beyond most people's expectations (Avatar "only" opened to $77 million). Warner Bros apparently is seeing that the combination of a classic family-friendly fantasy tale about a young girl in a visually stunning world can add up to big box office numbers. So, the studio is moving ahead with two different projects that adapt L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz as modern adaptations. First there is a project in WB's New Line Cinema division called just Oz (not to be confused with the HBO cable series, obviously). Oz is being produced by Temple Hill, the production company behind the Twilight franchise. The Oz script was written by Darren Lemke, who cowrote the upcoming Shrek Forever After, and is also working with the studio on their Jack the Giant Killer, to be directed by Bryan Singer. The second project goes in a darker direction, and was written by Josh Olson (A History of Violence, cowriter of Batman: Gotham Knight). Olson's darker story features Dorothy's granddaughter, who travels to Oz to fight the new evil forces there. That darker project is being produced by Basil Iwanyk (Clash of the Titans), and Todd McFarlane (Spawn) may also be involved in some capacity. In addition to the success of Alice in Wonderland, another noted factor in Warner Bros' interest in starting a new Oz franchise is that with Harry Potter reaching the end of its arc, the studio is looking for a new tentpole franchise that will do well with that segment of the audience. Meanwhile, Universal is also still developing their movie version of the Broadway musical hit Wicked, which is also based on L. Frank Baum's characters.

#3 GUY RITCHIE WANTS TO TRY PULLING EXCALIBUR FROM THE STONE

Last year, the news broke that Bryan Singer was working with Warner Bros on a planned remake of Excalibur, John Boorman's masterpiece (in my opinion) retelling of the legend(s) of King Arthur. Now, Guy Ritchie (Snatch) is also talking to WB (where he made Sherlock Holmes) about directing a King Arthur movie which could also be a remake of Excalibur, although what that means for Singer's project is unknown. Last week, it was reported that British comic book writer Warren Ellis (The Authority, Transmetropolitan) had been writing a King Arthur script for Guy Ritchie, but Ellis is not mentioned in this latest story. Instead, the screenwriter now working on the King Arthur script is John Hodge, who frequently collaborated on Danny Boyle's early films (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, The Beach, etc) and most recently wrote The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (curious note: see Rotten Idea #2). Hodge's script "aims to be a re-imagining of the legend of Arthur, believed to have been a 6th century king who defended Britain against Saxon invaders," and will also draw heavily from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, which was also the basis for John Boorman's Excalibur. Meanwhile, there is yet another King Arthur project in the works, as Sylvain White, the director of Warner Bros' upcoming The Losers is in talks to direct Pendragon, a more romantic take on the key Camelot characters, and also to focus on them during their younger days (got to get that Twilight audience!). Pendragon is based on Phoenix Pictues and New Regency, and would likely be distributed by 20th Century Fox. Pendragon was written by Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy, both of whom do not yet have any produced movies to their credit. By itself, Pendragon would be a Rotten Idea, but it just made more sense to thematically include it with Ritchie's project, which is not Rotten.

#4 CAESAR AND THE APES ARE GOING BACK TO THE FUTURE

20th Century Fox is moving ahead with its long planned prequel to Planet of the Apes with the hiring of a director for Caesar: Rise of the Apes. Rupert Wyatt directed the 2008 Sundance film The Escapist (no connection to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, sadly), and this is his opportunity to start working for the studios, apparently, along with being attached to direct the planned Ice Truckers movie, which is also at Fox. The script was written by Amanda Silver (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle) and Rick Jaffa, who also worked with Silver on The Relic and Eye for an Eye. Based on just that story, the details would end there. However, CHUD apparently has an inside connection for Caesar: Rise of the Apes, because they have a lot more detail about exactly what is in the script. First off, you should know that Caesar was a major character in two of the later movies (Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes), which were essentially prequels to the original Planet of the Apes. Caesar: Rise of the Apes sounds like both a prequel and a remake of elements of Conquest..., and the writers have stuck in a ton of little details that reference the original films. I almost started listing all of the details (some of which are quite cool), but since they are sort of spoilers, I will just refer you to CHUD's post for more on that.

#5 MORE DETAILS REVEALED ON THE WACHOWSKI BROTHERS' SECRET PROJECT

Last year, we heard from political blogger Arianna Huffington that she was working with the Wachowski brothers on some sort of secret movie project about war in the future. Andy Wachowski and his sister/brother Lana/Larry Wachowski probably need no introduction. But, just in case they do, the Wachowski brothers directed a little movie called The Matrix, its sequels and Speed Racer, and their production credits also include V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin. Now, former pro wrestler and Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura has revealed to Howard Stern that he has also filmed scenes for the movie, and what he says tells us a lot more about the Wachowski's secret project. Let's just look at exactly what Ventura said, "Arianna was there, and they had her looking like Cleopatra. What they did... Do you remember what John Travolta looked like in that horrible film Battlefield Earth? They put multicolored dreadlocks on me all the way to here. They gave me this crazy beard that was hanging down pointed, looked like Travolta, right? And they put a third eye in the middle of my forehead. Because what this is, is this is a hundred years in the future, and they wanted me to talk about the current war in Iraq and how I felt about it. And so I got to vent, looking like this maniac in this whole outfit." Okay, so it sounds like the movie is about a war in Iraq 100 years in the future, and Ventura either plays an alien or some sort of mutant. Freaky!

#6 HUDSON HAWK GETS A META PREQUEL WITH LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE SOLDIERS OF FOREVER

Warner Bros has picked up a treatment that turns the definitive Renaissance Man, Leonardo da Vinci, into an action adventure hero. Leonardo da Vinci and the Soldiers of Forever portrays Da Vinci as a member of a secret society who becomes involved in a supernatural adventure that pits him against Biblical demons in a story involving secret codes, lost civilizations, hidden fortresses and fallen angels. Imagine a movie that combines Raiders of the Lost Ark, Sherlock Holmes and The Da Vinci Code, and you might be in the right direction. The real Leonardo, of course, was an inventor, mathematician, engineer, architect and the painter of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. The Warner Bros project came from an idea by producer Adrian Askarieh (the upcoming Jonny Quest and Kane & Lynch movies), who wrote the treatment, and is now looking for a writer to turn it into a script. This news comes after last week's announcement that Warner Bros is developing a similar project with director Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend) about the adventures of Marco Polo.

#7 SHOW ROBERT DENIRO A GOOD LOSER, AND HE'LL SHOW YOU A LOSER

ESPN Films, with cooperation from the NFL, has announced plans for Lombardi, a biopic about legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The film will focus on the years in which Lombardi rebuilt the Packers from a minor team into the most successful football team of the 1960s, becoming five-time champions during Lombardi's tenure as head coach (1959-1967). In addition to Lombardi, we can expect some of the classic Packers to be featured characters, including Paul Hornung (HB), Ray Nitschke (LB), Forrest Gregg (OT) and Bart Starr (QB), the last two of which went on to head coach the Packers themselves. As a Wisconsin native, the idea of a Vince Lombardi movie is especially close to home, and the man delivered so many great quotes that the script is nearly already half written by Lombardi himself. The screenwriter who will be figuring out how to patch all those Lombardi quotes together is Eric Roth, whose filmography includes biopics like Ali and The Good Shepherd (as cowriter), as well as sweeping generational stories like Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The actor who will be portraying Vince Lombardi (as well as producing) is also a natural choice: Robert DeNiro. NFL VP of Programming Charles Coplin said of DeNiro, "There are few actors who could accurately portray the fire, passion and grit of Lombardi, and we're thrilled to have Robert De Niro on our team." ESPN has acquired the rights to Lombardi's story from his estate and son Vincent Lombardi, Jr and the rights to the 1968 book, Instant Replay by Dick Schaap and former Packer Jerry Kramer. In other DeNiro news, Universal's plans for a sequel to Midnight Run continue to develop as the studio has hired screenwriter Timothy Dowling (cowriter of Role Models) to pen a script in which bounty hunter Jack Walsh (DeNiro) returns in an adventure that pairs him with a younger comedic foil. It sounds like Charles Grodin will not be returning for Midnight Run 2.

#8 KENTUCKY FRIED AMAZON PYTHONS ON THE MONDO TUBE

Relativity Media (Zombieland, Pineapple Express) has announced that they started production in January on an untitled comedy project in the tradition of sketch comedies like Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube. The ensemble comedy features sketches that have already been filmed by Peter Farrelly (Dumb & Dumber), Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), Bob Odenkirk (Let's Go to Prison), Griffin Dunne (Practical Magic) and Elizabeth Banks (her directorial debut), with other directors yet to be announced. The ever growing cast includes Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Seann William Scott, Tony Shalhoub, Emma Stone, Matt Walsh, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts and Kate Winslet. There's no word yet about how the sketches all tie together, but here's how producer Charles Wessler describes it, "We all sat down and came up with what we think is a hilarious through-line for the movie... given the amount of pot I had smoked, at least I think it is hilarious." Well, there you go, if that gives you an idea of the kind of movie they're aiming for. Filming of the as-yet-untitled comedy will wrap up in May.

#2 AND ON THE 8TH DAY, GOD CREATED STEREOSCOPIC 3D, AND IT WAS... GOOD?

Paramount Pictures is developing a $30 million, 3D retelling of the creation story as told in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. In the Beginning will focus on the story of Adam and Eve, and it's not yet known how far into the Book of Genesis the movie will get (but probably not too far, if the focus is the creation story). Also included in Genesis after Adam and Eve are their sons Cain and Abel (who probably will be in this movie, I would guess), Noah and his Ark, Abraham, Lot, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. It's quite a cast of characters (and I'm probably forgetting someone, at that). In the Beginning was written by screenwriter John Fusco, whose filmography is particularly western-themed, including both Young Guns movies, Hidalgo and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Fusco also wrote The Forbidden Kingdom, however, so he has covered territory (way) east of the Mississippi before. The director of In the Beginning will be David L. Cunningham, who has worked mostly in television (The Path to 9/11 and the 2005 remake of Little House on the Prairie), but he did direct The Seeker: The Dark is Rising in 2007. The focus of this $30 million mini-epic will be "family and faith-based audiences that flocked to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." The Chronicles of Narnia is being named dropped because In the Beginning is being produced by Cary Granat, who used to head Walden Media, the production company behind the Narnia movies. The reason this is one of the Rotten Ideas this week is not so much anything to do with the idea of Adam and Eve getting their own movie. Instead, my curiousity is raised by the $30 million price tag on a 3D movie (though I guess My Bloody Valentine was probably even cheaper), and the iffy resume of director David L. Cunningham.

#1 ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS 3D... HOPEFULLY THE NEXT ONE WON'T BE IN 4D

This announcement should surprise absolutely no one who pays attention to box office numbers, but 20th Century Fox is moving forward with plans for Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D. There are no details yet about the writers, director or premise of this third movie yet, but it does have a release date of December 16, 2011. That date puts Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D right up against Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which also features CGI animated characters in 3D. You can expect that one of them will eventually move from that date. Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D isn't the only Fox sequel to be announced this week, however. Brad Simpson, the producer of the upcoming Diary of a Wimpy Kid has revealed that "our screenwriters" (not named, but presumably the same people who wrote the first movie) "are working on a sequel right now, 'Rodrick Rules,' which would be based on the second book." Diary of a Wimpy Kid is based upon a children's book that is now the first of a series of four books, with a fifth one expected later this year. Rodrick Rules focuses on the main character Greg's rocky relationship with his older brother Rodrick, who is in high school. The future of Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules depends upon how well the first movie does when it is released on March 19, 2010.

For more Weekly Ketchup columns by Greg Dean Schmitz, check out the WK archive, and you can contact GDS through his MySpace page or via a RT forum message.