LAST STAND (Cast News)

• LAST STAND

Actor Rodrigo Santoro, best known for his role as Xerxes in300, is now in talks to join Arnold Schwarzenegger and Peter Stormare inJee-woon Kim's upcoming action thriller, Last Stand.

Rodrigo Santoro (As Xerex on left as himself on right)

Latino Review reveals that Santoro would be playing the partof Frank Martinez, a rookie cop under the authority of Sheriff Ray Owens(Schwarzenegger). The casting breakdown describes the character as"outgoing, laid-back and personable," and that he is a good friend ofJerry's, a fellow officer.

Production for Last Stand is scheduled to begin next monthand is currently aiming for a January 2013 release.

Rodrigo Santoro's other credits include Steven Soderbergh'sChe, Redbelt, Lost and for voicing Tulio in Rio.

WANTED 2 (In Development)

• WANTED 2

It appears that Wanted 2 is finally moving forward atUniversal Pictures. Derek Haas, who, with writing partner Michael Brandt,adapted the 2008 original, tweeted the following:

“Michael and I were just hired by Uni to write WANTED 2.”

Following the post, The Wrap caught up with Haas, who saidthat the film is currently without a director but that the storyline will,"take off after the events of what just happened. Pick up Wesley a fewyears later and go back in for another round."

Though unconfirmed, the implication is that James McAvoywill return to the role of Wesley Gibson, an accountant-turned-assassin. Theoriginal also starred Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie, but at least thelatter does not plan on returning.

"Being dead makes it difficult," she said lastyear, "They were [trying to bring me back], but I kind of feel like if Idie in a movie, I should die actually... It would just be doing the exact samething in another movie, so it's not that interesting to me."

Mr. Haas then took to twitter and he said:

"To answer 2 questions I've been asked today: our draftof W2 will be Fox-less and Loom-less."

Fox, of course, refers to Jolie's character and the Loom tothe mystical device that dispensed assassination targets in the original.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Jonathan Nolan Speaks)

• THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

The spy photos and video coming from the set of The DarkKnight Rises has been seemingly non-stop, leading to our first full look atmany aspects of the film, including the costumes worn by Bane and Catwoman. Sohow does one of the film's screenwriter feel about this occurring?

Anne Hathaway in full Catwoman Suit on Ste

Batman & Catwoman

A Source at IGN managed to speak with Jonathan Nolan abouthis new CBS TV series, Person of Interest, this week which deals with thesubject of constant surveillance in our modern world and the idea that thatwe're constantly being watched. That being the case, I asked Nolan if it feltlike his TV series subject matter was touching upon what was really happeningwith the film he wrote, as he saw all the spy footage from The Dark KnightRises (directed by his brother, Chris Nolan) get leaked.

Replied Nolan, with a laugh, "It was great because wewere working [on Person of Interest]. So that was the only way I was able toget down to set was to watch it on YouTube!"

So has he resigned himself to the fact that people will makea lot of judgment on what they're seeing, without any real context until themovie opens? Said Nolan, "Yeah, I think the goal with those movies is justto make something so… You know, Chris loves to shoot on these IMAX cameras,these massive cameras. As soon as you release something in the theaters, like atrailer, people go in and they record it with their iPhone or a camera, andthey put it online. But when we first released that IMAX prologue for The DarkKnight, the image was so big that no one could record the whole thing withtheir camera. So you have one YouTube video of the top half of it and anotherYouTube video of the bottom half."

The Tumblers return

Nolan continued to stress that the scale of the movie waskey, adding, "I think the goal with those movies and the thing that Chrisis doing and just kicking ass with is making a movie so big that you couldn'tpossibly fit all of it. Even in tiny little pieces, you still wouldn't get asense of the scale of it. I saw a little bit the other day, and the scale isjust vast."

DEAD ISLAND (In Production)

• DEAD ISLAND

Tropical zombie action game Dead Island is set to become amovie.

Lionsgate announced a deal with the game's publisher DeepSilver.

Joe Drake, boss at Lionsgate, said, "Like the hundredsof journalists and millions of fans who were so passionate and vocal about theDead Island trailer, we too were awestruck. This is exactly the type ofproperty we're looking to adapt at Lionsgate – it's sophisticated, edgy, and atrue elevation of a genre that we know and love. It also has built in brandrecognition around the world, and franchise potential."

Dead Island has sold two million copies to date. Deep Silveris warning us to also expect graphic novels, novels and "otherextensions".

No word on the movie's release date although personnel havebeen allocated to the project. Sean Daniel (The Mummy) is tagged as produceralongside Stefan Sonnenfeld, Jason Brown and Sarah Perlman. The film will focuson a family's struggles on an island populated by zombies.

RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION (Casting News)

Johann Urb

• RESIDENT EVIL:RETRIBUTION

Johann Urb (2012), Oded Fehr and Kevin Durand (Legion,"LOST") have joined the cast of Resident Evil: Retribution.

Fehr last appeared in Resident Evil: Extinction. Urb andDurand are newcomers to the series, however, we do not know who they areplaying.

They join Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Colin Salmon,Michelle Rodriguez, Shawn Roberts and Boris Kodjoe.

According to Deadline, Durand (pictured) plays the leader ofa resistance group that unites with Jovovich's Alice to fight Umbrella.

Paul W.S. Anderson returns to direct; the film opensSeptember 14, 2012.

MAN OF STEEL (Re-Casting Lara)

• MAN OF STEEL

There has been a re-casting on Zack Snyder's Man of Steel.Julia Ormond, who was to have played Superman's biological mother Lara, hasleft the project.

Ayelet Zurer

According to Deadline, Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer, 42, hasreplaced Ormond in the role of Kal-El's Kryptonian mom. No reason was given forwhy the role was re-cast, but Zurer reportedly starts filming this weekopposite Russell Crowe as Jor-El.

Ayelet Zurer may be best known to IGN readers for her roleopposite Tom Hanks in Angels & Demons or as Eric Bana's wife in Munich. Herother credits include Vantage Point, Adam Resurrected, Nina's Tragedies and astint on HBO's In Treatment. 

BOND 23 (Location News)

• MORE BOND FOR SOUTH AFRICA

Bond 23 won't film in India after all. According to TheTimes of India, the production opted not to shoot a major railroad actionsequence there despite having received the requisite government permissions.

Daniel Craig is James Bond

"They wanted to shoot in the Sabarmati yard and hadasked to shoot on two gauges - broad gauge and meter gauge - and they wantedthese for seven-hour stretches every day for seven days in a row, and we'dagreed. All had been worked out," said Chandralekha Mukherjee, executivedirector, information and publicity, Indian Railways. "They also wanted toshoot between Mumbai and Goa on the hero train, and wanted a special shot wherea motorcycle from a bridge would jump on to a train, and the coach on whichhe'd jump needed to be re-enforced, and we agreed."

These sequences will reportedly be shot right here in SOUTHAFRICA now instead!!! Meaning that Bond will now be staying exceptionallylonger in our beautiful country than they originally had planned.

Meanwhile, 007 star Daniel Craig chatted with Showbiz 411last week, who reports, "Craig told me he starts the next James Bond movienext week, which means 'a lot of working out.'" Craig is said to haveadded that he didn't know whether the deal was sealed yet to have singer Adeleperform the main theme.

Finally, Bond23.net claims that veteran editor Stuart Baird,who edited Casino Royale, may be aboard to direct the next Bond film as well.