BOND 23 (Cast News)

• BOND 23 GETS BOURNE

With Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem as villains, Bond 23already has a great cast. Now it adds one more name: Albert Finney.

UK site Baz Bamigboye.com reports that the five-time Oscarnominee, last seen in the Bourne films, surprised the cast of Daniel Craig'snext Bond movie at a recent table read of the script. According to the site,Finney will play a "Foreign Office mandarin with powers over the SecretIntelligence Service, described as a reasonably big role and full ofclass."

Albert Finney as seen in Bourne

"The part probably makes him M's boss, though she - asplayed by Judi [Dench] - might not see it that way."

 Baz Bamigboye has been spot-on when it comes to casting newssurrounding the much-anticipated movie, which Gladiator scribe John Logan wroteand continues to polish

A press conference is scheduled for next week to announcethe start of production on Bond 23, rumored to be titled Skyfall. Expect moredetails then.

Bond 23 hits theatres November 9, 2012. 

BLACK SANDS (Cast News)

• BLACK SANDS

Former Governor Schwarzenegger

It looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned to theaction genre in a big, bad way. After signing a deal to headline The Last Standand filming The Expendables 2, the former governor plans to star in Scott Waughand Mike McCoy's Black Sands, another action film set for production next year.

According to Deadline, Schwarzenegger will play a loner whowages war with a prominent weapons manufacturer and his underground posse inthe Southwest. Think Man on Fire meets High Plains Drifter.

Bill Block and Paul Henson will be producing the film withAl Ruddy. Production is slated to begin April 1, 2012. 

WOLVERINE (In Development)

• WOLVERINE TO BE UNLIKE ANY OTHER COMIC FILM?

Wolverine is Hugh Jackman

Will The Wolverine be ready to go before cameras next year,director James Mangold spoke with The Playlist about his plans for the sequelto the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

“You could actually just tell a story about this amazingcharacter from the start, just the way they do when you really read a comic,”Mangold said via telephone Friday. “You don’t have to spend the first hoursaying how they were born; you can actually just find them in an emotionalspace, in the middle of action, and what happens is you’re not crowded withcutting to nine other action heroes. You can really make a movie about thisdude.”

"It's a kind of adventure following such a uniquecharacter also in a really unique environment," he says of his reasons fortaking the job. "I mean, the fact that half of the characters in thismovie speak Japanese, this is like a foreign-language superhero movie that's asmuch a drama and a detective story and a film noir, with high-octane action asit is anything like a conventional tentpole film."

Mangold also explains that he's discussed the project withthe formerly-attached Darren Aronofsky and that, while the film still featuresChristopher McQuarrie's screenplay, he and Mark Bomback have gone through andrewritten the entire thing, comparing the version he plans to make to classicslike The Outlaw Josey Wales and Chinatown.

"[It's] much more about Logan getting lost in this veryunique and insulated world of Japanese culture, gangster culture, and ninjaculture," he explains. "The fighting is going to be unique becauseit's all influenced by Japanese martial arts... I think more than anything,it's a character piece, asking really interesting questions that are whatpulled me in about what it means to be immortal. What is it to live forever,when you lose everyone you've ever loved? Either you watch them get killed, oryou just lose them by attrition. What is it to feel the burden of savingmankind through all of its mistakes, over and over and over again? What's thetoll it takes on you as a living being that is somehow living thisFrankensteinian, eternal life?"

“I like to think that we’re out to make that Wolverine moviethat people have been looking forward to seeing, which takes on some of thedarker and more intense aspects of the character, and his own journey, thathave not necessarily been possible in the origin story that they did orobviously when he’s sharing so much time as a character with so many others inX-Men.”

Well it definitely seems that the Wolverine is gettingcloser and closer to going into production, hopefully the film will startshooting next year for a 2013 release.

MAN OF STEEL (Michael Shannon Speaks)

• MAN OF STEEL VS ZOD 

Michael Shannon to play ZOD

Both Digital Spy and Empire got a chance to talk to MichaelShannon about playing General Zod in Zack Snyder's Superman movie Man of Steel.

But we will just give you some snip bits from the interview…

He first talks about a fight scene in the movie he has withRussell Crowe's Jor-El. "We do have a fight sequence in the film. Weworked on it for a long time, we rehearsed it for a long time, then you shootit and it's done. It's kind of strange to put all this work into somethingthat's going to be maybe a minute long [on film]."

He also said it is difficult to compare Henry Cavill'sSuperman with Christopher Reeve's at this time. "I've shot exactly onescene with Henry so far. We have a lot together, we just haven't shot it yet.He seems very appropriate for the part, he's a big fella and he's very handsomeand charming, so it's certainly understandable why they cast him. But I'llalways have a soft spot for Christopher Reeve."

CHRONICLE - TRAILER

• CHRONICLE - TRAILER - INSANELY AWESOME!!!!!!!

This film hit the web and really got everybody by surprise, but its defienitly something that you wouldn't want to miss so you better check this out...

For the manytelekinesis fans who were let down by Paul McGuigan's Push (not based on thenovel by Sapphire), newbie director Josh Trank and emerging writer Max Landispresent Chronicle, a new supernatural thriller that feels a little less Jumperand a little more Paranormal Activity.

The newlyreleased trailer (found below) has that same kind of found-footage look to itthat's become popular in films like Cloverfield and The Last Exorcism, andoften times, these types of projects can be a crapshoot. But just looking atthe clips we've seen in this teaser, Chronicle definitely shows some truepotential.

Not to mentionthat we finally get to see superpowers being used for something other thanworld domination or selfless heroics. Instead, we get some old fashioned pranksand hijinks, the way God intended! Of course, it wouldn't be much of a movieunless things started turning south...

According to TheL.A. Times' 24 Frames, the project is budgeted at $15 million and is scheduledfor a release in February.

Three high schoolstudents make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncannypowers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities anduse them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, andtheir darker sides begin to take over.

Check out the Trailer below...

BRICK MANSIONS (Cast News)

• PAUL WALKER FINDS HIMSELF IN BRICK MANSIONS

Paul Walker

Deadline is reporting that Paul Walker is in talks to starin Brick Mansions, a remake of District B13 ("Banlieue 13"). The moviehas a script by Luc Besson, who co-wrote the original, and Robert Mark Kamen.

Walker would star with David Belle, would play the lead rolein District B13 and the sequel District 13: Ultimatum.

The site says that "Walker will play an undercover detectivechasing a weapon of mass destruction that was stolen by a drug dealer in theghetto known as Brick Mansions. He seeks help from the incredibly agile Lino(Belle), who knows Brick Mansions better than anyone and is the only person notcowering in fear of the drug dealers."

A director for the remake has not been announced yet, thoughWalker is expected to make the movie before Fast Six. And with Universalsannouncement that Fast 6 and Fast 7 could be filmed back-to-back, a directorshould be found quickly if they want to shoot the film before Paul goes to Fast6, otherwise they will just have to surrender themselves to the idea that theymight lose Paul or they might just have to wait until the end of next year tostart filming.