GOOD KID, DAARK UNIVERSE
A movie version of Justice League Dark-the Justice League team that’s a little, you know, darker-was one of the many plates that Guillhermo Del Toro had spinning before once again, those damned plate physics started getting in the way. (He hasn’t taken my call about Pacific Rim: 2 Top 2 Gun 2 Fast 2 Furious yet.) The project itself is still going ahead though, and the film, currently titled Dark Universe is looking for directors and, more pertinently for this article’s traffic, a cast.
According to JoBlo, the current front-runners for the director’s chair have an international flavour. The choices are either Uruguayan Fede Alvarez, the man behind the Evil Dead remake, or Ahron Keshales and Navot Papushado, Israeli filmmakers who in 2013 made what Quentin Tarantino called ‘the best movie of the year’ in black comedy Big Bad Wolves. The cast that’s supposedly being assembled (are DC properties allowed to use that word) includes Colin Farrell as Constantine, Ron Perlman as Swamp Thing, Monica Belluci as Madame Xanadu, Ewan McGregor as Jason Blood and Ben Mendelsohn as villain Anton Arcane. As Joblo has it, they’re looking at a comedic actor to take the role of Deadman and an unknown to play foxy magician Zatanna. As dark and dour as the mainline DC movies have looked lately, this would be one movie were that tone would actually make a good fit, and all the names being linked to it so far are interesting ones. Keep Zack Snyder away from the one and your cynical scooper might just start to see the light on Dark Universe.
HOW’S THIS FOR A SLICE OF ANIMATED GOLD?
The fast-paced, frenetic style of Edgar Wright seems like it would be a perfect fit for animation, and soon we’ll get to see if that’s actually the case, as according to Deadline, he will be working with DreamWorks Animation on his first fully animated movie. There is not much information on the movie, other than it will be “centered on the concept of shadows”. Well, Pixar have made delicious lemonade out of less lemons than that.
Now this is not Me and My Shadow, which is a film that has been a long time in the works centered on the concept of shadows. Me and My Shadow is a mix of computer and traditional hand-drawn animation, and is to feature the voices of Josh Gad as a boring guy and Bill Hader as his exciting shadow. And it’s a project of…DreamWorks Animation? Sources say that Wright’s film isn’t a reworking of that project, but where this leaves Me and My Shadow is unclear. It’s in the shadows you might say. Little Britain star David Walliams has come out of the shadows to co-write the film, and DreamWorks Animation’s Co-Presidents of Feature Animation Bonnie Arnold and Mireille Soria said of the film, “We’ve always been intrigued by a film concept involving shadows”-probably a lie-“and now with Edgar’s signature comedic style and abilities as a natural storyteller, audiences will be treated to a truly captivating and energetic tale.”-probably more true.