News: Hugh Jackman lands role in Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Chappie’

During a recent press conference for the upcoming dramatic thriller Prisoners, Hugh Jackman announced “I am doing a role in Neill [Blomkamp’s] new film, called Chappie, which we shoot in Johannesburg. I’m there for a couple of weeks at the beginning of next year.” (via Screen Daily) Word from Bleeding Cool has it that Wolverine will play a “resourceful” CEO who gets on the wrong side of some not-very-nice gangsters.

Following up on the success of District 9 and the recent blockbuster Elysium, Chappie is an expansion (of sorts) of Blomkamp’s short film Tetra Vaal, and is scheduled for an early 2015 release. Neill’s homeboy Sharlto Copley will be playing the titular law-enforcement robot via motion capture, who is kidnapped by two gangsters (Die Antwoord’s Ninja and Yolandi Visser) intent on using Chappie for criminal purposes.

Nice work, poster guys!

Oopsy-daisy. Some bright spark in Paris put up posters for the forthcoming Naomi Watts-starring Diana, a standard part of film marketing we suppose, except when you put one up right by the entrance to the tunnel where she was killed by paparazzi/MI5/freemasons/vampires. Deadline reports that “the poster’s proximity to the crash site — and to the Flame of Liberty, in reality a gift to the city of Paris from The International Herald Tribune, but unofficially adopted as a monument to Diana following her death — drew loud criticism from the UK press and sparked upset on social media as photos of the poster popped up on the Web”. It’s now been taken down.

Breathe easy.

Something that might happen

The sleuths over at Bleeding Cool have spotted something interesting. As well as the previously reported Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Warner Bros. has trademarked a bunch of other Harry Potter stuff – for all kinds of possible uses including films, TV series, comic books and pretty much anything else you can think of. What this means, is you could see them bring to life some of the following according to Bleeding Cool.

“That Warner Bros has trademarked Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them for everything (including comic books) under the sun is unsurprising, with the news of an upcoming JK Rowling-written spinoff movie.

But it’s not the only Potter-related trademark, that may point to future projects.

Newt Scamander, the fictitious author of Fantastic Beasts.

There’s the Potter book-within-a-book Tales Of Beedle The Bard.

And the other spinoff mini-book Quidditch Through The Ages.“

Quidditch, anyone?

Something that will happen

Directing duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, responsible for Oscar-nominee Little Miss Sunshine and last year’s Ruby Sparks, are adapting Tim Madigan’s memoir I’m Proud of You, according to The Wrap. The book focuses on the relationship between Madigan, a Texas journalist, and his life-changing meeting with host of the popular children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Starting a friendship that lasted from 1995 to Rogers’ death in 2003, the book demonstrates the iconic host as an embodiment of love, compassion and wisdom that was never witnessed in its fullness on-screen.

Good-looking images

First up, here’s a debut look at Mark Wahlberg in Transformers: Age of Extinction, standing in front of the presumably less-important Nicola Peltz (Bates Motel) and Jack Reynor (What Richard Did). (via Michael Bay)

Next is a shot of Meryl Streep from Disney’s upcoming fairy tale musical Into the Woods, playing either a dastardly witch or that crazy cat lady from across the road. Either role is good with us. (via Collider)

Last is a still of the newest member of Pixar’s Toy Story family Combat Carl, who will make his mark in the upcoming short Toy Story of Terror! voiced by Carl Weathers (Predator). (via Disney)