Everytime Marvel Studios chairman and CEO Avi Arad sits down to talk about all the movies being made from Marvel’s comic books there is a TON of goodies to report. This time he sat down with MTV and the report is long and distinguised, check out some clips below and then click on the link at the end of the article for the rest of the goods.
“I’ve never seen a reaction like that,” Arad says of the Internet buzz that erupted after the casting of Kelsey Grammer as Beast was announced. He also confirms that Vinnie Jones (Bullet Tooth Tony from “Snatch”) will play Juggernaut and that the cast from the first two movies are “all coming back.” Regarding Jean Grey’s possible evolution at the end of the last movie, however, Arad says, “Dark Phoenix should not be the centerpiece of the movie.”
Magneto and Wolverine
“[Magneto] is being written. It’s going to be a smaller movie, [but] very true to the origin” and a “2007/2008” film with Wolverine, “Totally different, just Wolverine’s journey.” The Magneto film will star an actor much younger than the one we’re used to seeing, but that doesn’t mean that the man who originated the role for the big screen is on the outs.
“I will always want Ian McKellen,” Arad says. “There’s no way for me to think of not walking into the story through him — through something happening now, and then going back there. Ian is an ambassador for this, and he needs to be there.”
The big-budget Nicolas Cage movie Arad refers to as a “morality tale.” The film faces the huge challenge of making a fiery, murderous, flaming-skull-headed creature sympathetic to audiences. Arad says it will have a PG-13 rating and a “Southern rock” soundtrack and ethos, and that one scene will feature the motorcycle-riding protagonist facing the unlikely challenge of a tidal wave.
“I remember seeing ‘The Perfect Storm,’ how the whole wave was CGI. You’re going to see something [similar] in ‘Ghost Rider.’ ” While he reveals that Ghost Rider will, at some point, be entirely submerged, Arad vows that the infamous grinning skull will continue to flame on. “Nothing can extinguish it,” he smiles. “It’s hellfire.”
While insisting that rumors of a simultaneous third and fourth “Spider-Man” movie shoot are simply “not true,” Arad did confirm that Dylan Baker will return for the third film — a noteworthy nugget for comic fans who recall that Baker’s handicapped character, Dr. Curt Connors, went on to become Spider-Man nemesis the Lizard in the comic books. Although Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace are set to play the main, as-yet-unnamed villains of the third film, the seeds are apparently being planted for Spidey to also someday take on a superhumanly strong, green-scaled monster.
The Ant-Man, Dr. Strange and Black Panther
“The Ant-Man is also in there, a ‘Honey I Shrunk the Superhero’ kind of story,” Arad says. Dr. Strange is also in the works, as well as a movie version of Black Panther, “which is a big, big, big deal. When you say ’10,’ some of them may be sequels.”
“Captain America”
“Captain America is the most famous character out there, by name. The biggest opportunity with him is as a man ‘out of time,’ coming back today — looking at our world through the eyes of someone who thought the perfect world was small-town America. Sixty years go by, and who are we today? Are we better?
“I have a writer,” he says. “And I have someone in mind to be the star, and I definitely have someone in mind to be the director. This script is going to take a little bit of time, because it has to be a masterpiece. It’s ‘Back to the Future’ kind of stuff.”
“Silver Surfer”
“It’s ‘Independence Day’ meets Marvel, times 10.” A major announcement about the film is due relatively soon.
“There is a director who should make ‘Silver Surfer’ — he is mentally committed to it. He’s doing another movie now. What’s most important to me about this guy, first, is that he’s incredible with visuals. But he’s also a spiritual guy, a Zen Buddhist.” Arad also confirms that the enormous planet devourer Galactus will be in the movie, but chances are he’ll be all-CGI. “Galactus is a force of nature, not a being. That’s all I’m saying.”
“It’s been a war with [co-producers] New Line Cinema. I had a four-hour meeting with [‘The Notebook’ director] Nick Cassavetes in my house. If everything is cool, in the next few weeks there’ll be an announcement about Nick writing it. Nick has a unique emotional attachment to Iron Man’s alter ego, Tony Stark. Think about John [Cassavetes] and Nick, father and son — the father was a great visionary director, and here’s the son, an actor and a writer and turned out to be a very gifted artist himself.” The parallel with Iron Man/ Tony Stark, who in the comic books has issues dealing with the success of his own father, evidently pleased Arad.
Arad confirms that Jigsaw will be the villain and that, with the first movie, “blood and intestines should have been blown out on the wall, because that’s the Punisher.” He added that the sequel will be among a handful of Marvel films with an R rating.
There is much more to learn as Arad goes on about Luke Cage, Hulk 2, Daredevil 2, Elektra 2, Thor and so on and so on, click here to check out the rest of the story.
