Attack the Block's Joe Cornish is adapting Snow Crash. Plus is I Am Legend 2 really happening?

Chris Meloni provides tons of spoilers for True Blood. Will Smith explains why he's hesitant about I Am Legend 2. Dominic Cooper discusses the ins and outs of playing Abraham Lincoln's only vampire ally. Brian Michael Bendis says FX's Powers TV show isn't dead yet. Plus tons of Falling Skies spoilers!

It's spoilers all the way down!

Top image from The Walking Dead.

Captain America 2

Howard Stark actor Dominic Cooper says he has no idea if he will return for World War II (or potentially post-War) flashback sequences in the sequel, but his answer certainly seems to suggest that Marvel only signed him on to do the one movie:

I just don't know. . . That one probably, because I'm the father, the next one I imagine will come later. But you never know, anything can happen to any of the characters at any time.


Snow Crash

In what could very quickly become our most anticipated upcoming science fiction project, Neal Stephenson's classic novel is being adapted by Paramount Pictures. Joe Cornish, the writer and director of the little-seen but truly excellent Attack the Block — not to mention the co-writer of The Adventures of Tin-Tin and Edgar Wright's Ant-Man movie — has reportedly signed on to write and direct the adaptation. Here's a synopsis of the book, in case you need a refresher:

Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparison-a writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility to bring us the gigathriller of the information age.

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosaNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about Infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so'll recognize it immediately.

Paramount originally tried to adapt the book way back in 1992 when it was first published, but you'd have to think twenty years of advances in special effects — and possibly audience's abilities to wrap their minds around such an intricate premise — could give Cornish a better shot to pull this off. [Deadline]

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Dominic Cooper discusses his character, Abraham Lincoln's benevolent vampire mentor Henry Sturges, starting with how much we learn about his origins:

His backstory? There's a flashback sequence, so you get to understand where he's come from and how and why he's ended up in the place that he's in. It's very sad, it's tragic, really. The reason he's ended up like that, sort of tragic figure. But not a huge amount... He probably just wants to find the love that he lost in the beginning of his life. But he's never had that, he's just been a lost mess since then, really. Then he's wise, and lived everything. He's a great mentor to have. But there definitely is a dark itch to that, and a desperation probably, and ultimately he killed.

There's still plenty more at the link, including some discussion of Cooper's gloriously batshit insane starring vehicle The Devil's Double. [Collider]

The Host

View gallery »

Here are some new promo images from the upcoming dystopian movie, the producers of which would probably really prefer we think of as a film with Gattaca writer-director Andrew Niccol and rising star Saoirse Ronan, rather than a movie based on Stephenie Meyer's non-Twilight book. Anyway, enjoy the photos. [IGN]


Here's a new promo for Pixar's Scottish fantasy. You can also check out another clip here.

I Am Legend 2

For reasons that I'm sure make sense to them, Warner Bros. is developing a follow-up to the more or less successful movie in which Will Smith fights unconvincing CGI post-apocalyptic vampire thingies. Specifically, it's supposed to be a prequel, so they can sidestep the whole "Will Smith dying" thing and bring the character back. Well, now it seems as though maybe they should just have screenwriter Arash Amel go ahead with a screenplay, as Will Smith doesn't sound into it:

"Producers are working on it. I'm not actually working on it. If it's great, I'm into it... [But] Probably not...I don't want to be the sequel guy. I figure I've got about six or seven more years where I can run and jump a little bit and then I'm going butt and gut for the rest of my career. Butt and gut."

The list of sequels that Smith has been rumored to be making, over the years, have included I, Robot 2, Independence Day 2 and Hancock 2 — but maybe Men in Black 3 has soured him on sequels. [EurWeb]


Boys Don't Cry director Kimberly Peirce has added two more actors to her new adaptation of the Stephen King story, alongside Chloe Moretz as the title character and Julianne Moore as her insane fundamentalist mother. Youth in Revolt actress Portia Doubleday has reportedly been cast as Carrie's main tormentor Chris Hargenen, while Arrested Development and Archer actress Judy Greer will reportedly play the gym teacher Miss Desjardin, who is pretty much the only person who doesn't treat Carrie like total shit every waking moment. [Deadline]

True Blood

Erstwhile Law & Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni discusses his new role as Vampire Authority leader Roman:

I found it interesting that they carry on the polarizing aspect of politics today, which I think there's a lot of set-in-stone fanaticism in politics today and in the world, whether it's Islamic or Christian or Tea Party whatever. So Roman is a guy who's absolutely certain about his beliefs, which is coexistence with humans. On the surface it seems reasonable and right, and yet people can get caught up in their own sense of power and rank and maybe they go too far with implementing their beliefs. So the Authority is the governing body of all vampires and they're trying to dictate how vampires will operate in this world in coexisting with humans...[Roman's] the political and spiritual leader, whether he's self-appointed or not, we never get to.

How will the Authority be dealing with the impending civil war between those who want mainstreaming and those who don't?
Kill them all. Reasoning can only go so far, then you've got to resort to the stake.

Does everybody in the Authority agree with that view? Or is that just Roman's view?
Well that's where the intrigue occurs. Who is pretending to be with me and who is not? It's the old adage of keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Roman is trying to figure out who he can trust.

There's more at the link, including Meloni's take on why a resurrected Russell Edgington is so fearsome to the Authority. [TV Guide]

The show will reportedly feature a doppelganger of Sookie this season, vaguely along the lines of Katherine on The Vampire Diaries. [E! Online]

The Walking Dead

Most of the current season three filming is reportedly focused on the Governor's mansion. Since we've also been seeing a flurry of set photos of Michael Rooker back as Merle, that probably supports the theory that he and David Morrissey's Governor have teamed up. [E! Online]


It sounds like FX really hasn't abandoned their planned adaptation of the acclaimed Brian Michael Bendis comic, even if they still have to recast Deena Pilgrim after original star Lucy Punch left the project. According to Bendis himself, they are moving ahead with writing the show while FX tries to figure out how to make the pilot work:

"I'm happy to say that FX ordered more scripts, and the scripts are being written as we speak. We have a little writers room going. We're still not on the air — I want to be on the air. But ordering more episodes is a sign in the right direction. It's a very good experience, but a slow experience."

This may sound like a bit of a bizarre way to do things, but it's not unlike how FX ended up getting Sons of Anarchy to air, and that turned out decently well in the end. Besides, this is FX we're talking about — I'd say we're Justified in giving them the benefit of the doubt here. (OK, I apologize for that truly atrocious pun, and I promise to never do it again — but still, the sentiment stands.) [TV Guide]

Once Upon a Time

Ruby/Red Riding Hood actress Meghan Ory has reportedly been upgraded to a series regular for season two. She already appeared in seventeen of the first season's twenty-two episodes, so this may not mean she will actually get more screentime — indeed, as was rather famously the case with Misha Collins on Supernatural, his screentime actually went down after a similar promotion — and may just have been a procedural move to keep her from leaving for various pilot projects. [Deadline]


In season two, Nick and Hank will reportedly encounter a pack of coyotl — I'll give you one guess which animal they resemble (hint: it's coyotes) — one of whom is an old friend of Hank's. They need help finding one of their own, who has disappeared. [E! Online]

The show's season two premiere date has been set for the super-early August 13, which is part of NBC's gambit to get a post-Olympics rating boost. Since this is NBC, I wouldn't count on that, but hey, it's not as though they have anything left to lose at this point. It looks like it will air on Mondays at 10 PM until September 10, after which it shifts to its regular Friday slot starting September 14. [TV Guide]


And taking Grimm's spot in that vacated Monday 10 PM time slot will be J.J. Abrams and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke's show about a world that is without energy... or something like that, it's kind of hard to coherently describe this show's probably nonsensical but still possibly intriguing premise. [TV Guide]

Falling Skies

Star Noah Wyle discusses the evolving relationship between his character Tom Mason and Dr. Glass:

It was a relationship that, in the first season, we had a little difficulty with as far as finding moments of intimacy. As soon as we would try it, it seemed to dissapate all the tension that was there and the threat level that was supposed to be ever-present. We'd write scenes where I'd be on guard duty and she'd bring me a sandwich and we'd talk about sweet nothings. We wouldn't end up shooting them because it was going to be counter-productive to our aims. So that left us with two options: We could either let the relationship play across crowded rooms with two busy people wishing that situations were different or I could grab her and pull her into a supply closet and have it be a moment of passion that was based more on tapping into some human need. We chose the former and really kind of paced that relationship out, culminating in a really nice kiss in the last episode. He trusts the care of his kids to Anne while he goes on what could be a suicide mission. This season we spend more time in the supply closet.

While Drew Roy discusses what to expect from Tom's son Hal Mason:

The cool thing about Hal is that he is so young, but he's put in this position of power. One of the things I like to find is moments to show where he's wiser than his age and then other moments to show how old he actually is. In this second season, I don't think he even has to look back. He just has to step in and fill that void. On top of losing his dad, the whole Second Massachusetts has lost a significant amount. He took the offensive to them at the end of last season but, in all actuality, we just pissed them off. Now they're after us and we're on the run. Everybody has to man up and fill that position we're put in...I think that Hal has embraced that that has allowed him to step up and take this new position. Hal's a confident guy. I don't think that he ever questions if he can handle something until he's already in it. Then he might have those feelings, but if the opportunity is given to him, I think he says yes.

There's still a ton more at the link, including insights from costars Moon Bloodgood and Colin Cunningham. [Coming Soon]

Elsewhere, costar Seychelle Gabriel discusses what's ahead for her character Lourdes:

She's got definitely a bigger role in the medic territory with Anne. She's second in command pretty much, and they just really condensed this unit. We've got this med bus, this old Greyhound kind of bus that we made into a makeshift hospital. It's a lot more intense in that respect. Lourdes also has a new love interest this season, a character named Jamil played by Brandon Jay McLaren and that's really kind of cute. She's someone who didn't really have anyone. She's just had Anne this whole time, and now she has someone to call a best friend, kind of thing, and then there's also a lot of friendships and challenges that come. She actually gets into a little bit of her culture, as well, her Mexican culture.

She also offers some general spoilers as to what to expect in season two:

It's just a lot more intense. The episodes are more action packed. Last season we kind of settled down in a few places. You have to say settled down with a grain of salt, but when we found that school in the first season and when we were in that cabin before the time that we got ambushed by skitters and stuff, but this time we're on the road, kind of stopping here and there, wherever we can. We're always being uprooted before we can ever settle or dig or feet in. You feel that on set when you're working because you're literally working in different places every week. It's intense. A lot of nights. I got to work in scenes with aliens this year which was really exciting because Lourdes didn't really have any closeness with aliens unless they were on a dissecting table. So, that was fun.

Again, there's more at the link. [TV Equals]

Additional reporting by Marykate Jasper and Charlie Jane Anders.