It appears that Sony is on the search for a 2 year old Caucasian toddler with red hair for the upcoming comic book sequel Spider-Man 4. SpoilerTV has intercepted a casting notice for the film, which strangely only features one role, a character named “Toddler Boy”.

Here is the decription from the casting breakdown:

2 or 3 year old boy to play 2 year old, Caucasian with RED HAIR, an adorable toddler with an engaging personality, on set experience preferred. IDENTICAL TWINS ONLY

The fact that they are looking specifically for young boy with RED hair leads many people to believe that the child will be of relation to Mary Jane (played in the series by Kirsten Dunst).

Fox Searchlight has debuted the trailer for Scott Cooper's Crazy Heart starring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal as well as Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall

Crazy Heart is both written and directed by actor/filmmaker Scott Cooper, who wrote the script for For Sale by Owner and is making his directorial debut with this film. This was shot last year but hasn't shown at any film festivals. Fox Searchlight will be bringing Crazy Heart to limited theaters starting on December 11th.

Seen below is Fox Searchlight's official poster for Crazy Heart from the LA Times. The trailer arrives on Monday. Crazy Heart is the latest big Oscar contender, and it already has a lot of support. Jeff Bridges plays a broken-down, hard-living country music singer in a kind of Wrestler-like story.

Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can't help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean, a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician.

When James Franco’s short stint on General Hospital was announced, I figured it was something he was doing to challenge himself and set different acting boundaries. In any case, I was excited to see how it would turn out.

Movieline spoke to Carter, a guy who has collaborated with Franco on a variety of image-related artistic endeavors. The salient bit is this, with respect to Franco taking the soap gig:

It was an idea that I posed to him, and it’s tied to another film that he and I are working on now. It’s not specifically for another project, because I know that he’s really enjoying the challenge of working on a soap — it’s a very taxing job, and an interesting thing for him to be doing — but it does have to do with another film that he and I are working on.

The intended end result is a feature film that will be scripted, involve other actors and all the traditional stuff that features have. But Carter says it could be “pretty abstract, for a larger audience,” i.e., an audience outside the art crowd. Beyond that, details are sketchy to non-existent. He’s careful to emphasize that Franco isn’t just doing the General Hospital character for a laugh, that it is real work.

Franco’s own statements support that. He talked to Vulture about how much he had to shoot in one day — 65 pages or so!

I’ve worked one day on it. It’s one day of a few. But I think we packed seven episodes of my material in. They gave me a script for the day that was as thick as a film script and that’s what we planned to shoot in a single day. No ad-libbing. If I needed it, they said they had a TelePrompTer, but the regulars didn’t use it so I didn’t want to use it, either.

Joel and Ethan Coen are preparing to shoot their own take on the Charles Portis novel that became the John Wayne film True Grit. We’ve known for a month that the brothers plan to give Jeff Bridges the role of Wayne’s character Rooster Cogburn. The drunk, stubborn, eyepatched character won Wayne an Oscar, and I’m excited to see what Bridges does with it. Now we’ve got two more big, great names to add to the cast that is already looking like one of my faves of 2010.

Variety reports that Matt Damon and Josh Brolin are both in talks to join the cast. Damon would be La Boeuf, Glen Campbell’s lawman who, with Cogburn and a 14-year old girl, tracks the man who killed the girl’s father into dangerous Native territory.

Brolin would play Tom Chaney, the killer being tracked by Cogburn and La Boeuf. That’s a nice flip from his role in the Coen’s No Country For Old Men, and a solid bit of casting in general.

A few big roles remain to be cast and/or announced. First up is Mattie Ross, the girl who propels the plot. There’s also Ned Pepper, the leader of the gang Chaney joins up with, originally played by Robert Duvall.

The Coen adaptation of the original novel is said to be more faithful to the text than the existing film. So we’ll likely see Mattie as an old spinster, who in the novel narrates the tale. There are likely to be a few other big differences, too, but I won’t outline them to keep the spoilerish stuff to a minimum.

Chris Pine  is attached to the Ben Affleck scripted crime-drama The Blade Itself based on Marcus Sakey's novel of the same name. Aaron Stockard co-wrote the screenplay with Affleck after first writing the script for the actor's directorial debut Gone Baby Gone back in 2007, but apparently it's not in the cards for Affleck to direct.

The Blade Itself follows childhood friends Evan and Danny as they become a duo of petty thievery until a botched pawn shop robbery sends Evan to prison. While Danny turns over a new leaf, Evan bides his time in prison until his release seven years later when he sets out to bring Danny back into a larcenous lifestyle at the risk of exposing his secret past of theft.

Marvel Studios will begin shooting Thor in January. With Kenneth Branagh’s tale of the Norse thunder god on schedule and finally about to go before cameras, hopefully we’ll soon see some production design, costumes and other materials. Meanwhile, here’s a rundown of what we know so far.

The movie’s story sees the god of thunder Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions re-ignite an ancient war. As punishment, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans. Once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends dark forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) is Thor, Anthony Hopkins is his father Odin and Natalie Portman is Jane Foster, who in the comics is nurse to Thor’s human alter-ego Donald Blake. Tom Hiddleston is the villanous Loki, Jaimie Alexander is the Asgardian warrior Sif, and Colm Feore is a villain whose identity is being kept secret. Stellan Skarsgard is in the cast, too.

Another rumor to chew over this fine Friday afternoon. CHUD is reporting that Canal+ from France is gearing up to remake Carol Reed's 1949 classic The Third Man that starred Orson Welles and Bernard Lee. Apparently none other than Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire are already cast and helping develop the project. While they say it doesn't have a director yet, the screenplay is being written by Steven Knight, of Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises. Sounds like a lot of great talent, but of course, is a remake of The Third Man even necessary or desired? It's a true noir classic that really can't be topped.

The Third Man is a noir mystery set in Austria's capital city Vienna, devastated and recovering from the World War II. An American pulp writer arrives in Vienna only to find that the friend who waited for him is killed under mysterious circumstances. The ensuing mystery entangles him in his friend's involvement in the black market, with the multinational police, and with his Czech girlfriend. Criterion released a Blu-Ray of The Third Man earlier this year. According to sources, the remake is just going out for bidding now and it always could fall through, though if it's at Canal+, it will probably get funding soon. We'll keep you updated!

Yesterday Walt Disney Pictures released the official movie trailer for Mike Newell’s big screen adaptation of the popular video game Prince of Persia: The Sand of Time. Today a new international cut of the trailer has been found online at TrailerAddict. The trailer features a bit of new footage, and is a completely different edit. This cut seems to be a little less ADD and a little less “trying to be everything.” Unfortunately, it still has the annoying voiceover by Gemma Arterton.

From the team that brought the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy to the big screen, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME, an epic action-adventure set in the mystical lands of Persia. A rogue prince (JAKE GYLLENHAAL) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (GEMMA ARTERTON) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Set in the mystical lands of Persia, PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME is an epic action-adventure about a rogue prince (JAKE GYLLENHAAL) and a mysterious princess (GEMMA ARTERTON) who race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will hit theaters on May 28th 2010

The film definitely has a Pirates of the Caribbean type of feel to it. I have never actually played the games, although I've heard great things. Actually, I'm quite impressed by Gyllenhaal in this so far also. Sometimes he can be a bit annoying and whiny, but it seems like he may have actually delivered a pretty good performance. I'm interested.

Or at least that’s what Nikki Finke is reporting.  Roger Ebert quips, “They have Lakers tickets.”  The search continues on.  Steve Martin and Tina Fey are not available.  Hugh Jackman has graciously declined being pigeonholed.

Apparently Odin, Thor's father, will be played by none other than Anthony Hopkins in Marvel's upcoming Thor movie. THR's Heat Vision Blog reports that Hopkins is "in negotiations" to play the Norse god and ruler of Asgard in the adaptation being directed by Kenneth Branagh. We already know that the cast also includes Chris Hemsworth as the god of thunder Thor, Tom Hiddleston as his evil brother Loki, Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore, and apparently Robert De Niro and Jude Law. Talk about a very impressive cast!

Score. Let's just hope he doesn't just play Hannibal Lecter. I feel like Hopkins can turn in great performances and weak ones. Certainly looks the part though. Should be quite fun.

Joss Whedon has penned a hilarious note to the franchise owners in an attempt to acquire the franchise with a mighty fine $10,000 check. Says Whedon: “That’s four — FOUR! — zeroes after that one. That’s to show you I mean business. And I mean show business.”

He goes on to list the myriad of brilliant ideas he has for the franchise, including  Terminator of the Rings (”Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far… back to when there was dragons and wizards?”), liberal use of Summer Glau, and a throat lozenge for a certain Mr. Bale.

While hilarious, the piece could also be seen as spitting on the grave of the recently departed Sarah Connor Chronicles. It was very clear come last season that Fox was willing to only keep one Friday sci-fi show on the air, and that ended up being Whedon’s Dollhouse. Ultimately, I think Fox made the right choice because Dollhouse has gotten steadily better since the midpoint of season one. Sarah Connor was good campy fun, but Dollhouse has a greater chance of approaching greatness, as episodes like “Epitaph One”  and “Echoes” have shown.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 will not be the only gaming platform with the ability to stream movies from Netflix platform for long. After a long period of speculation, the streaming Netflix option will be coming to Sony’s PlayStation3 in November.

The press release says only ‘next month’, so we don’t yet know the official launch date for the service. When it does go live, Netflix subscribers who have at least the $8.99 per month plan will be able to stream movies to the PS3.

(Request a disc for the service here: http://www.netflix.com/InstantStreamingDisc)

Sources say Jackman has declined the job over the past few weeks, and while he won’t rule out hosting future ceremonies, he didn’t want to do it two years in a row.

I honestly think that Jackman was the best host since Billy Crystal. The dude is a big time triple threat and pulled out all the big guns that helped make the last Oscars so memorable. Sure, the show had some other issues, but Jackman was not one of them.

This kind of disappoints me as I was really hoping to see him take a stab at it again.

So now the question remains, who should host the 82nd Academy Awards?

There's actually more to his quote than just that, but we'll get to that. As a reminder, Joe Quesada is the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics. Essentially, he's the head honcho of the comics division who has a good say on the movie side of things as well (since he knows all of the characters so well). Quesada recently appeared at a panel at the Big Apple Comic-Con and Comic Book Resources was there to cover his talk. If you're a fan of comics as well, the entire update is worth reading, but I'm specifically pulling out his small update on The First Avenger: Captain America. He doesn't say anything new, but it's a good quote.

Sticking with Hollywood, Quesada offered a brief update on "The First Avenger: Captain America," with which he's had some involvement. "I've seen a couple of outlines and an initial screenplay, and it's going to rock everyone's socks off," he said. "It's very unexpected, the kind of movie it is." Quesada added that "Captain America" sets up "The Avengers" in "a fantastic way" and also mentioned that there is an undisclosed wish list of actors to play the star-spangled superhero.

There’s a new trailer for Joe Johnston’s remake of Universal’s The Wolfman. The first trailer, I thought was INCREDIBLE, even though it offered us little insight into the wolfman himself. This trailer is definitely darker, and shows off quite a bit more of the gore, effects, and makeup we can expect to see in this movie.

Apple has the trailer in HD, and I really recommend checking it out in that format. The Wolfman is directed by Joe Johnston (of the upcoming Captain America) and stars Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving. It opens on February 12, 2010.

Media Rights Capital has committed to fund District 9 filmmaker Neill Blomkamp’s next film, an untitled science fiction movie which will be set on another planet. MRC committed to the new project after hearing Blomkamp’s pitch. Details are thin right now, but Blomkamp tells BFDealMemo that the project will “hopefully be commercial”:

“Hopefully, this will be a bit unique, very much a reflection of me. It is absolutely another science fiction film, quite different from `District 9,’ but some of the blending of genres and the tone might be within the same realm.”

At Comic-Con this year, Blomkamp told us:

I’ve got one science fiction idea that I’m absolutely in love with, which I’m pretty sure is going to be my next film. 99% sure…It’s totally original, it’s my own story…It’s set on another planet, but it’s cool. It’s violent, very violent, and very unique hopefully. We’ll see.

The few details we have does not  sound like your typical Hollywood production. Blomkamp says that the film will be more of his vision (”very much a singular film, that comes directly from me”) than District 9, which was a learning experience under producer Peter Jackson, who will not be involved this time around. Bill Block will produce. The MRC deal is big because they are not only giving Blomkamp creative freedom but also an ownership stake in the finished product. That’s a HUGE deal for a filmmaker to get on only his second film.

MRC will be funding the project, which will cost somewhere north of District 9’s $30 million, but not a lot higher. Blompkamp has said that he’s “not particularly interested in massive budget films, or creating huge spectacles that some young directors might be attracted to.”

The filmmaker plans to immediately start writing and prepping the visual effects for the film, which will begin production by the middle of next year. A distributor will be found at that time. Blomkamp definitely has an option to make a District 9 sequel afterwards if that is what he wants.

So what do you think of the promises associated with Blomkamp's next film? Do you think he can truly pull off another sci-fi spectacular? And when do you think we can see him trying something different? I know it's really early on in his "sure to follow" career. But as of right now, he is quite reminding me of someone like a young James Cameron, or a young Ridley Scott. As for if he can live up to that - it will be interesting to see (although I certainly wouldn't want to have to fill those shoes)

Months ago we knew that Spike Jonze would be working again with Kanye West, for whom he’d recently directed the video for Flashing Lights. At the time we heard the new collaboration would be a short film called We Were Once a Fairytale, but we didn’t know if it would be an extended music video, a true short film, or somewhere in between. Now, just as Jonze has had a great weekend with the opening of Where the Wild Things Are, his Kanye collaboration  has been released/leakedm and we can see that it’s definitely in the ’somewhere in between’ realm.

Set vaguely to the tune of ‘See You in My Nightmares’, this depiction of a drunken club night is probably exactly like one of Kanye’s nightmares. In the film, he staggers from one conversation and encounter to another, but here he’s the drunken buffoon (no surprise to many, after the VMA incident) who is making everyone uncomfortable. Eventually there’s some real/imagined backroom sex and then, about halfway through, things actually get weird. How weird? How about vomiting flower petals, strange little rat demons and a little bit of hari-kari.

On Friday, /Film’s Russ Fischer said of Devil, the upcoming Dowdle Bros. film from a story by M. Night Shyamalan and script by Brian Nelson, that “The film starts shooting in Toronto a week from Monday, and that’s all we’ve got. It’s tightly under wraps, and has been for a while. Which, I suspect, really means that there’s some info out there that we haven’t dug up yet.”

Be wary of potential spoilers as you read on.

Hollywood.Com. Here it is, word for word, the films loglines:

A group of people are trapped in an elevator, and one of them is the devil.

In further Devil news, The Hollywood Reporter have rounded up a more comprehensive cast list. As well as Chris Messina they name Bojana Novakovic, Bokeem Woodbine, Geoffrey Arend and Caroline Dhavernas. Place your bets now on who will be the eponymous evil. I’m betting on there being a real angel in there too.

I think this may work. A story by Shyamalan, and directing and writing duties going to someone else? Sounds like it could turn out well. Although I'm a fan of almost all of Shyamalan's work.

Black Lightning, a Russian film produced by Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov. Timur apparently said at one point that this is the "Russian response [to] Transformers and Batman,"  thanks to Quiet Earth, the first full-length trailer has arrived, unfortunately still in Russian.

BloodyDisgusting has confirmed that Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II director Ivan Reitman is 100% attached to Ghostbusters 3. He hasn’t decided yet if he wants to direct the project, but is definately on board to produce. This shouldn’t come as much of a shock as almost everyone associated with the first two films are also on board for a third film if it goes into production.

 J.J. Abrams and writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are out talking with press (via Collider) about the potential for Star Trek sequel(s). The sequel is just barely being developed, and even though they're still "just brainstorming," the ideas seem to be there, and the three each hint at what we might see in a sequel.

Although Kurtzman and Orci have answered the "sequel" question countless times already in regards to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, they were asked again what makes great sequels so great. I always feel like that's a perfect place to start by putting everything into perspective before hearing specific ideas.

"There's Empire Strikes Back, Superman 2, Aliens, Terminator 2, Star Trek 2. What do all those movies have in common? Well, they're amazing stories, all on their own. You didn't have to see the first movie. And, there was some incredible, emotional test of character, in all of those movies. Superman has to give up his powers for love. The Spock and Kirk relationship is tested by Khan. Ripley finds a daughter. All of those things are such big ideas, in and of themselves, and you really can't tell those stories in movie #1 because movie #1 is very much about establishing a world." -Alex Kurtzman

So if they can now start to explore some of those more broader ideas and tests of character in a sequel to Star Trek, where might they go? Could they explore other stories from the Star Trek universe, including even The Next Generation? Afraid not: "I think our instinct would be to first look at The Original Series before we considered that." Let's turn to Abrams next, who has a lot of great things to say about a sequel.

"In going forward, the fun of this movie series is that we will have the opportunity, given its alternate timeline, to cross paths with any of the experiences, places and characters that existed in The Original Series, but we have to be really careful, doing that. I don't want to do something that is so inside that only die-hard fans will appreciate. We're just now working on the script and just beginning the process of story breaking, but I guarantee you, whatever the story is and whatever the final movie ends up being, I know it will be something that will work on its own terms and be something that you don't need to know and study Star Trek to get, but if you are a fan, there will hopefully be gift after gift of connections, references and characters that you hold near and dear. At least, that's the intent." -J.J. Abrams

Kurtzman and Orci said: "now that we've established the characters, we can have a more philosophical allegory, where what's happening in the future represents our world.

Getting back on topic, Kurtzman and Orci were asked about making Star Trek 2 and 3 back-to-back, which seems to be what all the fans really want to see, but not anything that any studio has actually wanted to do.

"It's very, very important to us to make sure that each movie is good, not 'Hey, let's do as many as possible.' We feel like we've inherited this incredible honor and this mantle of Star Trek, and the most important thing is to make sure that we're protecting that first."

"So, if the studio wants more than one, great. But, our thinking is going to be very much about the story and whether the story prescribes that there will be more than one. Part of what is great about Star Trek is that it's a continuing adventure, so you naturally think that there will be many, hopefully, but we only focus on what comes next, and then build off of that. Right now, we're not thinking specifically about making 2 and 3. It may come up, but it's not where our heads are at right now." -Alex Kurtzman

And how about another wild idea - 3-D? Abrams answers that one, saying that Paramount talked about making the first one in 3D, but he decided against it because he was so worried about just making a good movie. I thought it would be another dimension of pain-in-the-ass. I was just like, 'I want to make a decent 2-D movie.'" But on the second go around? "I'm open to looking at it because now I feel a little bit more comfortable. And, if I, in fact, direct the Star Trek sequel, 3-D could be really fun, so I'm open to it." Abrams also references Avatar, like everyone in Hollywood right now, saying he likes what he's seen so far.

Lastly, one of the reasons why I love J.J. Abrams is because he's such a humble filmmaker. Not only is he brilliant (and a damn fine director), but he hasn't let any of the fame get to his head, and he always speaks so well in interviews. Here he is asked whether he sees himself involved with the Star Trek franchise "for the foreseeable future" or only on "a movie-by-movie basis." His answer is the perfect place to wrap this up.

"That's a wonderfully optimistic question and I appreciate that, but the answer is that it's obviously just movie-to-movie. The fact that we are now actively discussing the second film is surreal and very nice, and I'm thrilled. I hope that that results in something worthy of your time. But, it's one of those things that you just don't know. And so, I cannot presume it's gonna be a series that goes beyond those. Do we have ideas for a few movies and have we discussed them? Of course." -J.J. Abrams

You can read the full J.J. Abrams interview on Collider here and the full Kurtzman and Orci interivew on Collider here.

FANTASTIC interview and approach to answering questions by all three chaps. Every time I read or listen to Abrams talk, I love the guy more and more. He is so humble and genuinely seems like a great filmmaker who is just interested in telling great stories. His interest in Sci-Fi and his blatant awesomeness for directing skills only make him better.

I can't wait for the Blu-Ray of Star Trek which I'm sure won't leave my PS3 any time soon after purchase.

Bryan Singer says he wants to return to the X-Men franchise. Of course he does. While Singer has several projects lined up — a potential Excalibur remake/update, that Battlestar Galactica feature, and what should be his next, Jack the Giant Killer — the director now says he’s interested in going back to the superhero franchise with which he had such success in X-Men and X2. But what does that mean for the series?

Speaking at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea, Singer said (as reported by THR):

I’m still looking to possibly returning to the ‘X-Men’ franchise. I’ve been talking to Fox about it. I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast.

The same writing team hired to make a graphic-novel style, adventurous take on Moby Dick for Timur Bekmambetov and Universal have sold a pitch to Fox that would see them re-telling the story of Moses in the style of Zack Snyder’s 300.

Adam Cooper and Bill Collage are the writers, and while this could be just a big update of The Ten Commandments with modern effects (i.e. a Roland Emmerich-worthy parting of the Red Sea in addition to the aforementioned plagues) the fact that they’re ’sprucing up’ Moby Dick combined with the liberal tossing around of 300 as a stylistic signifier for this version of Moses’ story says to me that this will in fact be much more than a simple update. (Or, shall we say, much different, since ‘much more’ implies a rise in quality.)

Toy Story 3 is being directed by Lee Unkrich, another one of Pixar's creative masterminds who previously co-directed Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo. The screenplay was written by Michael Arndt, the Oscar winning screenwriter of Little Miss Sunshine who is a newcomer to the Pixar family. Disney is bringing Pixar's Toy Story 3 to theaters everywhere in digital 3D starting on June 18th, 2010 next year.

Paramount has vowed to give the film a full-on nationwide release in every city, big or small, as soon as 1 million demands are registered at www.Eventful.com/ParanormalActivity. If the running tally on the site is accurate, the demands nationwide are creeping toward 400,000. That’s an incredibly healthy start, but there’s still a long way to go.