RIP Walter White

This fan-made obituary ran in the Albuquerque Journal.

 

Toaster's Ramblings - San Diego Comic Con Edition

So the San Diego Comic Con has ended. What was once an actual convention involving comic books has now become little more than a pop culture drive-by shooting. Its like Cannes for geeks, except instead of showing films, we get clips and Q & A panels. Once upon a time Jonny Prophet and I wanted to attend SDCC, but now it seems like a clusterfuck... nothing but crowds and lines and the desperation to be part of something limited to a few hundred seats or a few thousand exclusive copies. Not really our cup of tea.

As with any SDCC season, we are left with lots of news and trailers and such. I figured I would touch on a few tidbits and highlights that stuck out to me this year.

- Bryan Cranston is a freakin' genius! He attends the convention dressed as his character Breaking Bad Walter White! Nobody is going to expect the guy wearing the Bryan Cranston mask to actually be Bryan Cranston! But now that this trick was revealed, I just fret that future attendees doing cosplay might be assaulted by ravenous fans. Remember, just because he's wearing the Spider-man outfit doesn't mean its actually Spider-man.

- In speaking of Spider-man, Fox is just pumping out those films, aren't they? As long as they are as good as Amazing Spider-man, I'm okay with them squeezing out every last drop of life before they lose the franchise to "the Mouse."

- I call bullshit on Hasbro releasing the first of their 6 inch Star Wars figures (something I have wanted for years) as a SDCC exclusive. I call even bigger bullshit that its Boba Fett! WTF?! Okay, sure they said Fett would be re-released in the exact same colors in Wave 2 of the actual set, but come on! Plus, I doubt that one will have Han Solo in carbonite! Now I just have to wait for Wave 2 and not give into the temptation to drop a hundred or more on the exclusive. (I'm not that strong, dammit!)

- DC comics is apparently dropping 4 comic lines from its 52 line-up. They claim to be unable to support that many lines at once (Jonny and I think that number to be a lot lower... like around 30, but nevertheless). So now they can't be the New 52 anymore. Now what do I call them? How about the "Oh, Great... 48"? I think it can catch on.

- So the Thanos clip at the end of Avengers was for Guardians of the Galaxy? I guess that's cool. Kind of an odd cast. We have buff Andy Dwyer as Star-Lord, Batista as green Batista... I mean Drax the Destroyer. (Oh, Mr. Bautista? I'm sorry, Drax might be able to take Thor, but no way he can beat Hulk. Not gonna happen.) Michael "Merle Dixon" Rooker as Yondu? Yondu was part of the future GotG team! Lee Pace, the pie maker from Pushing Daisies, is Ronan the Accuser? That's just weird to me. Benicio Del Toro is awesome, but I don't know about him as the Collector. The whole time I'll have "flashbacks" to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. (As your attorney I advise you to take a hit out of the little brown bottle in my suitcase.) Zoe Saldana as Gamora is probably the best casting I have heard for the flick.  

- So GotG is going to have the team itself along with Ronan the Accuser, another Kree Accuser (whose name I forget and don't feel like looking up), Nebula, The Collector and Thanos? I hope this doesn't get too bogged down. Hmmm. I wonder if Fox has the rights to the Shi'ar since they were affiliated with the X-men?

- BTW, Karen Gillan with a shaved head? Still hot.

- I'm cool with Avengers 2 being 'The Age of Ultron', but I've heard that Dr. Henry Pym is not Ultron's creator. Considering that Pym is getting his own movie soon (Ant Man) that's just stupid. Why not introduce him early on? Please don't tell me Tony Stark made Ultron. Iron Man does not have to be the center of the Avengers universe you know! Wait, do you think the dunce cap wearing robo-arm that Stark has evolves into the human hating Ultron all because Tony was an asshole to it? Now that would be karma!

- I'm glad that Warner Bros. is not releasing Justice League in 2015 like I had heard, but 2017 isn't that much better when (unless they plan to count the Green Lantern flop) Man of Steel is the first movie leading to it! And Superman vs Batman in Man of Steel 2? I'm not sure how that will work, both in making sure Batman doesn't come across as a villain and him actually fighting the most powerful man on Earth. It does seem desperate, though. Sad that the only DC Superhero movie currently planned between 2015's Man of Steel 2 and 2017's Justice League is The Flash. I guess Wonder Woman and Aquaman will have to pop up real quick in Justice League. I'm sure it won't take long to explain the Amazonian warrior princess demigod and the half Atlantean king in a 120 minute movie... just so long as there isn't a villain. (The first movie is about them becoming a team. You'll have to wait for the sequel for them to fight anyone.) 

- X-men: Days of Futures Past looks more and more like it will be a train wreck. Jonny and I both cringed at Right after Bryan Singer took over for First Class director Matthew Vaughn, he made Jonny and I cringe upon saying "Days of Futures Past is going to fix the problems with First Class." What problems, Bryan? Okay, there was a little bit of continuity problems like Alex "Havok" Summers being Cyclop's younger brother who was in the 60's before Scott was born or Emma Frost being an adult in the 60's and a kid in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But beyond those, First Class was the best of all the X-men films as far as Jonny and I are concerned. Honestly, Mr. Singer, I would be more concerned with fixing the problems of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Those movies had real problems.

And now I will leave you with this simple message from your lord and master... Loki.

All hail Loki.

Live Action Casting: Justice League - The Dynamic Duo (part 1)

Here we are with the next in our series of fantasy castings for films based on DC Comics characters leading up to our dream version of a Justice League movie. Today’s installment is our reboot of the Batman franchise which we are calling The Dynamic Duo? Why that name? Because we can’t call it ‘Batman and Robin’ now can we? Jonny Prophet and I wanted this Batman franchise to shine a light on the origin and development of Dick Grayson who in the comics was the first Robin. Since the new Superman movie Man of Steel is titled after one of the character’s nicknames, we figured The Dynamic Duo would work just fine.

So naturally we begin by casting our Bruce Wayne/Batman. We wanted someone who is a decent actor, in his late 20’s/early 30’s, has the right look and can do action.

We have chosen Armie Hammer. This isn’t really that world shattering as he was already cast as Batman in the previous failed attempt at a Justice League film called “Justice League Mortal,” a project ultimately doomed by the 2007 Writer’s Guild Strike.  There’s a damn good chance he will be officially cast again as The Caped Crusader if The Lone Ranger does well. Hammer certainly has what we want for the part.

The next role to fill is that of Dick Grayson, the young acrobat who would become Batman’s crime fighting partner Robin. We wanted to avoid the mistake of the previous movie Robin by actually casting a kid (instead of twenty-something Chris O’Donnell). We also needed a kid who could do fight scenes and could be believable as an acrobat. We think we found someone perfect.

We pick Leo Howard. You might remember him as young Snake Eyes from GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra where he had an awesome fight sequence against young Storm Shadow. Or maybe you remember how bad ass he was as young Conan in the recent Conan the Barbarian film. Howard is fifteen and a black belt! Jonny and I think he is perfect to play Batman’s sidekick!

Now the part of Alfred Pennyworth is a tricky one. Michael Caine not only raised the bar for that part, but he then took that bar and chucked it off a suspension bridge into the ocean! I see no way to top that performance, plus Alfred’s role in this franchise will be far more scaled back (since he was arguably the “Robin” to Bale’s Batman). We want our Alfred to be comforting but also witty to provide some comic relief.

We are going with legendary British comedian John Cleese. He carries that proper Englishman persona that is perfect as Wayne Manor’s butler but is a comedic genius who will bring some great comedy, something necessary for a dark Batman movie.

We move on now to the role of Commissioner James Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department. Just like with Caine’s portrayal of Alfred, Gary Oldman made an amazing Gordon. We felt that we needed someone who had strong acting skills and could both be convincing and look the part.

We picked Bryan Cranston. We didn’t want to, not because we dislike Cranston, but that it was too easy… too predictable. Hell, Cranston even voiced the Commissioner in the DC animated feature Batman: Year One! That being said, he is perfect for the part. I am a big fan of Breaking Bad and Bryan Cranston has blown me away as an actor. (He’s come a long ways since being Malcolm’s dad!)

In our quest to find a Commissioner Gordon not named Bryan Cranston, we considered one of our favorite and underrated actors Vincent D’Onofrio. The problem is, Vincent has gotten kind of… big. I know, we all get older, metabolisms don’t work like they did, but D’Onofrio just doesn’t look like Jim Gordon to me. But who he does look like is Detective Harvey Bullock! This works well because we wanted to introduce another of the GCPD…

… Renee Montoya. We need a decent actress to play the Hispanic detective. She needs to be tough, look the part… oh, who are we kidding?

The role of Renee Montoya was practically made for Michelle Rodriguez! Jonny and I cannot come up with any actress better suited for the part and we aren’t alone. Rodriguez is a popular fan casting for the part.

Truth be told, we wanted to introduce Detective Montoya in The Dynamic Duo to lay the groundwork for a movie of The Question! However, we also think it would be cool to make a stand-alone GCPD movie within the “World of Batman” where Gordon, Bullock and Montoya have to take on the mob, like a classic gangster flick but with a cameo by a certain crime fighter. It’s at least a cool idea to consider.

In speaking of cameos, we wanted to include a little something for the fanboys with an appearance by former heavyweight boxing champion Ted Grant, who some may know as the Justice Society’s Wildcat. In the movie, we want Grant to run a training gym in Gotham City and also allude to the fact that he did help train Bruce Wayne years ago.

Jonny insisted that the part of Ted Grant be played by one of his favorite actors, Kurt Russell. I can’t knock the choice. The man was Snake Plissken. He can easily pull off the tough, hard nosed retired boxer.

And now we move onto the bad guys! First up with Tony Zucco, the mobster who killed Dick Grayson’s parents. This isn’t necessarily a huge role, but it is very prominent. We wanted someone believable as a lower tier gangster that could be ruthless and conniving.

Jonny and I want to go with Eli Roth. We loved him as “The Bear Jew” in Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. He kind of looks like he could be a hitman for the mob, doesn’t he? We aren’t sure what kind of acting chops Roth has, but the part won’t require much. Come on, if the lead singer of the band James could play Mr. Zsasz in Batman Begins, Eli Roth should be able to play Tony Zucco?

For the main villain of the movie, we wanted to go with Black Mask, a character never before shown on film. The biggest plus of Black Mask is that he doesn’t require that much of a back story, so more time can be devoted to Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne. For the part, we need an actor with some serious skill. He has to portray the greedy and manipulative Roman Sionis and his rise to power, then after the accident that grafts the mask to his face, he must become more ruthless and slightly paranoid.

For the part of Black Mask, we are going with British actor Dominic West. You may know him from The Wire, the BBC America show The Hour, or as Jigsaw from Punisher: Warzone. It’s that particular role as Jigsaw that convinced me that West, with his amazing amount of range, was more than able to become the twisted, unstable and violent Black Mask. 

For the last part to fill, we wanted Black Mask to have a right hand man who helps him become the king of Gotham’s underworld. I thought it would be great to make this underling a more obscure villain from Batman’s rogues gallery and for this villain to bring some serious fighting skills to set up a showdown with the Caped Crusader. We settled on KGBeast. Since he would have to be pretty old to have been in the KGB, Anatoli Knyazev will be referred to by his nickname of “the Beast” due to his violent reputation in the Russian mafia as a “cleaner.” We would have the character dressed in an outfit similar to the comic book attire, complete with concealed face and his dialogue would be kept to a minimum. Consider “the Beast” to be kind of like a Russian hitman version of Boba Fett.

Jonny and I want Ray Park as “the Beast.” With his knowledge as a martial artist and stuntman, Ray Park has made many a film better. He was the best thing about Episode I and his work as Snake Eyes has made the GI Joe movies a lot better than they should have been. We figure Park could be the Fight and Stunt Choreographer, which would be freakin’ awesome. Just imagine… it would be like Snake Eyes versus Batman! Just the mere thought of that is enough to send fanboys into geek-gasms!

For note, Jonny and I were also considering making a couple of cameo parts for Adam West and Burt Ward, the Batman and Robin from the 1960’s program. Jonny thought of Ward as the C.C. Haly, the owner of the circus that featured The Flying Graysons. I thought West would be great to play the judge that makes the adoption of Dick Grayson by Bruce Wayne official. 

(Continued in Part 2)