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Tilda Swinton In Talks for Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange’ 0 832

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Along with delivering big CGI-infused spectacle, one of Marvel’s strongest assets is the actors they continue to bring on-board their various MCU projects. They recently added Martin Freeman to Captain America: Civil War, but they may have outdone themselves with their latest addition.

THR reports that the wonderful, Oscar-winning Tilda Swinton is in talks to join Marvel’s upcoming Doctor Strange standalone movie. The project already has Benedict Cumberbatch set to play the supernatural titular character, a former surgeon who loses his hands and in his last attempt to heal himself he discovers magic.

What’s perhaps most intriguing about this announcement is who the actress is set to play. Apparently she will be featuring as the Ancient One, Strange’s mystical Tibetan mentor. Why is it intriguing? Because the role is written as male and Marvel were indeed on the lookout for a suitable male actor – names like Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe and Bill Nighy were all mentioned at different stages – but they have switched up genders for the big-screen version, set for release next year.

Although most celebrated for dramas like We Need to Talk About Kevin and Michael Clayton (for which she won a Best Supporting Actor), she is no stranger to mythical and fantasy roles. She played the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as the angel Gabriel in 2005 comic book adaptation Constantine. More recently she blew everyone away with her fantastic, spectacularly odd performance in the post-apocalyptic train-set Snowpiercer (a film that infuriatingly doesn’t even have a distributor in the UK!).

Nothing is concrete yet – Marvel has yet to make a comment or announcement – but I think Swinton would fit in fantastically well to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and by the sounds of the character she would be well suited to it, even with the difference in gender; she’s an actress that’s always had a certain striking, otherworldly quality to her. We’ll update when her casting has been confirmed (or, indeed, disconfirmed).

Doctor Strange is scheduled to start shooting this November under the direction of Scott Derrickson (Sinister) and set for UK release on October 28th, 2016.

Source: THR, Getty Images

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I'm a freelance film reviewer and blogger with over 10 years of experience writing for various different reputable online and print publications. In addition to my running, editing and writing for Thoughts On Film, I am also the film critic for The National, the newspaper that supports an independent Scotland, covering the weekly film releases, film festivals and film-related features. I have a passion for all types of cinema, and have a particular love for foreign language film, especially South Korean and Japanese cinema. Favourite films include The Big Lebowski, Pulp Fiction and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

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The Hulk Might Return in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ 0 1462

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As was the case with the first movie, far and away one of the most entertaining aspects of Avengers: Age of Ultron was Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk, who had a film-stealing fight scene with Iron Man that rivalled the end of Man of Steel in terms of city destruction.

The last time we saw The Hulk in Age of Ultron he was [SPOILER ALERT] in the Quinjet, which supposedly crashed and the man or beast hasn’t been seen by the rest of The Avengers, SHIELD or anyone else since. He probably jumped out and swam to Fiji, said Nick Fury. However, we may now have word about when we’ll next see him.

Now take this news with a grain of salt but Joblo is reporting that The Hulk will next appear in Thor: Ragnarok, the third solo movie for Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder. The plot of the film, which recently had Flight of the Conchords director Taiki Waititi attached, is currently under wraps but Joblo reports it amounts to, “nothing less than the Norse Apocalypse.” The Hulk would certainly be a welcome fighting partner, then!

If true, Ruffalo joins the already confirmed returnees Tom Hiddleston as trickster Loki – the last time we saw him he had [SPOILER ALERT!] faked his death and claimed the Asgard throne for himself – and Jaimie Alexander as Thor’s female ally Lady Sif.

Do you believe Ragnarok is when we’ll next see The Hulk? Is he a good fit for Thor’s solo storyline?

Thor: Ragnarok is currently scheduled for a October 27th, 2017 release.

Source: Joblo

Leonardo DiCaprio Producing Volkswagen Scandal Movie 0 1409

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Wow, talk about things moving fast in Hollywood!

It may have only been a few weeks since the scandal erupted around the Volkswagen fuel emissions cheating but there’s already a movie in the works. DiCaprio is on board to produce the film alongside Jennifer Davisson through his Appian Way company.

There’s no mention of stars, writer or director yet – one might assume that DiCaprio might star himself but he’s a known environmentalist who has produced these types of themed films before (the climate change documentary The 11th Hour chief among them) so it wouldn’t surprise me if he kept himself strictly as a producer for this one, too.

Paramount is the studio behind the movie, having nabbed the presumably sought-after rights to the upcoming book by Jack Ewing. Variety has the details on what it exposes:

“…The company placed illegal software in their clean diesel cars that could tell when a car was being tested for fuel emissions and would turn on the emissions control to cheat the test and meet EPA standards. During normal driving conditions, emission control software was shut off  — resulting in as much as 40 times more pollution than allowed by law. Volkswagen is currently facing up to $18 billion in fines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

If there’s one thing Hollywood loves it’s a true story and, more specifically, a controversial one. Getting this one made and out in the world will be crucial for it to feel relevant to audiences. DiCaprio being attached can’t exactly hurt its box office chances.

The actor will next be seen in the amazing-looking The Revenant.

Source: Variety