Christopher Nolan Discusses Superman, Third Batman Film

In a Los Angeles Times piece, director Christopher Nolan confirmed earlier reports that Warner Bros. has enlisted him to oversee production on a Superman reboot, acting as a producer and a mentor to the film’s as-yet-unnamed director. The film, which might or might not be called The Man of Steel, will be based on a story by Nolan and his frequent writing collaborator David S. Goyer.

“It’s very exciting; we have a fantastic story,” Nolan said. “And we feel we can do it right. We know the milieu, if you will, we know the genre and how to get it done right.”

While we probably shouldn’t expect Nolan to take the “dark and gritty” route with the Man of Steel, as he did when he successfully revived the Batman film franchise with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, he will likely keep the film relatively grounded, even if the title character tends to shoot lasers from his eyes and leap tall buildings in a single bound.

“We’re approaching it in a not dissimilar way in terms of trying to find an incredible story in a way that audiences can engage with it the way they engage with contemporary action films,” Nolan told the LA Times. “I think David’s approach is a very good way of doing just that.”

As for the Dark Knight sequel, Nolan has yet to confirm whether or not he’s directing, but he said his brother Jonathan, is “now doing the hard work” in writing a script based on Goyer’s story idea. He’s still tight-lipped about story details, but he did reveal one villain who won’t be appearing in the film.

“It won’t be Mr. Freeze,” he said.

But will the unnamed sequel be the end of the series?

“Unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful,” Nolan explained. “Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling. And it harkens back to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories. That’s what we do.”

And they certainly do it well.

The Tron Legacy Trailer Is Here!

As I mentioned in a post last week, the whole Tron thing is pretty new to me. I don’t have any deep-seeded childhood memories about the quirky 1982 Disney flick about cyberspace, nor did I have any concrete expectations for its until-recently mysterious sequel, Tron Legacy. But I’ve seen Tron, I liked it for what it is, and I’m definitely on board for the next one when it hits theaters on December 17, especially after seeing the trailer.

A Tron Legacy trailer you ask? Yep. Newly-crowned Oscar winner Jeff Bridges returns as computer whiz Kevin Flynn, but the real star this time around is Garrett Hedlund, who plays his son Sam. Judging by the trailer, the film revolves around Sam’s search for his father, who has been missing for two decades. Evidently, Sam discovers that his dad’s been sucked back into cyberspace and he goes in after him. Light cycles, glowing costumes, eye-popping digital effects and the relentlessly sexy Olivia Wilde await!

Watch the trailer below (via Wired).

The New Iron Man 2 Trailer Drove Me Stark Raving Mad!

Yes, yes, the Academy Awards took place last night and we’re all very happy for the winners. But I think the real highlight of the night came long after Kathryn Bigelow was named best director for The Hurt Locker, beating her one-time hubby James Cameron and yet somehow resisting the urge to exclaim, “I’m the Queen of the World!” For geeks, the night’s big movie moment had nothing to do with red carpets or acceptance speeches.

I’m referring, of course, to the brand-spanking new Iron Man 2 trailer that premiered following the Oscar telecast on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Tony Stark himself, Robert Downey Jr., appeared on the show to debut the never-before-seen footage, and, well, wow. This movie is clearly going to be very hard to beat this summer in terms of sheer spectacle and narrative swagger.

What do we see? We see Iron Man and War Machine (Don Cheadle) tear into an army of mechanical drones. We also see more of Mickey Rourke as the villainous Whiplash. But perhaps most importantly, we see Tony armor up in his portable suit, which, like in the comics, folds out of a briefcase. It’s definitely an “oh snap” moment that I almost wish director Jon Favreau had kept under his hat until Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7, but it’s really hard for me to complain about something so trivial at at the moment. I’m smiling too hard.

Watch the trailer below (via MTV's Splash Page).

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NBC: Heroes’ Future Remains Unclear

If you follow my film/television coverage over at Broken Frontier, you know I have some pretty mixed feelings about Heroes, NBC’s floundering superhero series that, for the past three years, simply hasn’t been as satisfying as its stellar first season.

While Heroes’ season four finale left things pretty open-ended should the struggling show return, most fans believed the February 8 episode, titled “Brave New World,” to be the show’s final bow. And while that might very well be the case, Angela Bromstad, NBC’s president of prime-time entertainment, recently told The Hollywood Reporter that the network has yet to make any final decisions regarding the fate of the series. It’s not necessarily over just yet.

“It’s a wait-and-see for us,” Bromstad said. When asked if a possible fifth season of Heroes would be the last, she added, “We’re going to cross that bridge when we come to it.”

NPH Suits Up for The Smurfs

I really don’t have any interest in Sony Pictures’ The Smurfs, which starts shooting next month, but after learning that Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) is going to star in the CGI/live-action adaptation of the Saturday morning cartoon, it’s at least on my radar. This probably won’t be a legen…wait for it…dary role for Harris, but he seems to have a good time in everything he does—the Harold and Kumar movies, for example—and he’s always fun to watch.

“I’ll do my smurfiest to represent well,” he tweeted. “Why? Smurfs are rad.”

Harris is set to appear on Fox’s musical comedy series Glee later this year.