GOTHAM Casts Young Bruce Wayne & Selina Kyle

It feels a bit like DC Comics' Batman: Li'l Gotham series, doesn't it?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming Fox series Gotham has found their young versions of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, who eventually grow up to become the iconic DC characters Batman and Catwoman.

David Mazouz, 14, is playing Bruce, and Camren Bicondova, 13, will portray Selina.  Mazouz is best known as Jake Bohm on the Kiefer Sutherland TV series Touch, while Bicondova is a relative unknown, having appeared in an obscure movie called Battlefield America.

Bruce is described in the article as "the son of Thomas and Martha Wayne.  The preteen character is sentenced to a solitary life after the tragic slayings of his wealthy parents.  Young Bruce is serious and soulful, and relies on the guidance and protection of Alfred Pennyworth and James Gordon."

Mazouz is the latest in a long line of actors to potray Bruce Wayne, starting with Lewis Wilson in the 1943 film serial Batman, and followed by Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and soon to appear, Ben Affleck.

As for Selina, she's described as "a teenage orphan who is suspicious and wholly unpredictable.  She's a street thief and skilled pickpocket who is dangerous when cornered."

Prior to Bicondova, Selina Kyle/Catwoman was played by Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriwether, Michelle Pfeiffer and Anne Hathaway.  In 2004, Catwoman received a rather horrible solo film, starring Halle Berry as a knockoff version named Patience Phillips.

The two actors are the last of the regular cast, joining Ben McKenzie as James Gordon, Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, Robin Lord Taylor as The Penguin, Zabryna Guevara as Captain Sarah Essen, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean, Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney, and Drew Powell as Butch Gilzean.

Already given a series order by Fox, Gotham is currently expected to air sometime this fall.

Filming Begins on CW's THE FLASH Pilot

And so, it begins.

Just two days after the first photo of Grant Gustin wearing his Flash costume dropped, filming has officially begun on the pilot for the proposed CW series The Flash.

The pilot, directed by Smallville and Arrow veteran David Nutter, started production today in Vancouver, with several creators including executive producer Andrew Kreisberg and DC Comics chief creative officer Geoff Johns posting a few pictures on Twitter.  Here's what we've received so far, with further updates as they come in...

On your marks... Get set... GO! #TheFlash pic.twitter.com/ZKnuToEgRu
— Andrew Kreisberg (@AJKreisberg) March 2, 2014

It begins... pic.twitter.com/yBYJGavta5
— Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns) March 1, 2014

  

Anyone thirsty? #TheFlash pic.twitter.com/ufhjpJ5x3E
— Andrew Kreisberg (@AJKreisberg) March 2, 2014

The coffee shop CC Jitters is based upon the Jitters introduced during Johns' period writing The Flash (vol.3) from 2010-2011.  The shop is a particular favorite of Candice Patton's character Iris West, who has a considerable coffee addiction in the comics.

Swift safe service! #TheFlash @GBerlanti @AJKreisberg @grantgust @candicekp pic.twitter.com/se73UgRYHU
— Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns) March 2, 2014

  

STAR WARS EPISODE VII Casts Adam Driver in Villain Role

Score one for the Dark Side.

Variety reports that actor Adam Driver is close to signing on to play the lead villain role in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars Episode VII.  Little is known about Driver's character, but according to the article, it's "said to be in the vein of iconic Star Wars villain Darth Vader."

The 30-year-old actor is best known as Adam Sackler on the HBO series Girls, and also appeared as Samuel Beckwith in the film Lincoln and Al Cody in Inside Llewyn Davis.  Reportedly, Michael Fassbender and Hugo Weaving were also under consideration for the role.

Driver is the first of the Episode VII cast to be revealed and more announcements are expected over the next month.  The movie is scheduled to begin filming in April at London's Pinewood Studios and is expected to feature the return of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in their iconic roles of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo.

There had been rumors of Driver's involvement, but the delay in making a decision was due to scheduling issues with Star Wars and Girls.  According to the article, it wasn't just Season Four that was the problem, but also future seasons, since future Star Wars films could create conflicts.  Apparently, the scheduling issues have been worked out and a deal should be finalized shortly.

Abrams recently announced that the script he co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan was finished and that they would soon begin focusing on casting decisions.  Michael Arndt wrote the original draft, with Kasdan and Abrams taking over last fall after a "difference in opinion of which characters to emphasize."

Star Wars Episode VII is currently expected to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2015.

DOCTOR WHO Casts Samuel Anderson as New Companion Danny Pink

It's like the First Doctor, Ian and Barbara for the twenty-first century...

The BBC has officially announced that Series Eight of Doctor Who will have a new recurring character, with Jenna Coleman's former Emmerdale co-star Samuel Anderson joining the cast.  Anderson will play Danny Pink, a teacher at Coal Hill School where Coleman's character Clara Oswald has been teaching since "The Day of the Doctor."

"I was so excited to join Doctor Who I wanted to jump and click my heels, but I was scared I might not come down before filming started!" said Anderson.  "It’s a quintessential part of British culture and I can’t believe I’m part of it.  It’s an honor to be able to work alongside Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman and I can’t wait to show people how my character becomes involved with such a fantastic duo!"

Steven Moffat, lead writer and showrunner, added, "For the fourth time in Doctor Who history, Coal Hill School is coming to the aid of the TARDIS.  In 1963, teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright accompanied the First Doctor.  These days it’s the turn of Jenna Coleman as Clara Oswald.  And very soon now, Sam Anderson as Danny Pink will be entering the world of the Doctor.  But how and why?  Answers are coming later this year in Peter Capaldi’s first series of Doctor Who!"

Moffat's "first series" statement there feels somewhat important, considering recent speculation that Peter Capaldi is going to pull a "Christopher Eccleston" and appear in only one season as the Twelfth Doctor.  A possible attempt to reassure viewers this isn't the case?

And interestingly, the official BBC announcement only refers to Danny Pink as a  new "recurring character," but the Radio Times piece refers to him as a "new companion."  Given the emphasis of the announcement, my money's on full Companion status as well.

Filming recent began on episodes four and five of Doctor Who Series Eight, with the Series rumored to air sometime this fall.

HEROES to Be REBORN with 13-Episode Miniseries in 2015

As if there isn't enough going on in 2015, NBC wants you to save the cheerleader, save the world.  Again.

During tonight's broadcast of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, NBC aired a fifteen-second promo that teased the return of the superhero series Heroes.  Similar to the TV miniseries 24: Live Another Day, Heroes will return sometime in 2015 with a 13-episode miniseries titled Heroes Reborn.

Created by Tim Kring, Heroes ran for four seasons on NBC from 2006 to 2010 and featured a random group of people who discover they have distinct superhuman abilities following a strange solar eclipse event.  The series was notable for launching the careers of Zachary Quinto (Gabriel Gray/Sylar) and Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet), in addition to featuring actors such as Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura) and Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet).

The decision to bring back Heroes is an interesting one, considering the series started off with a fantastic first season, only to drop considerably in quality during Seasons Two and Three, and finally rebound slightly in Season Four, but too late to recover its diminished ratings.  However, with high-profile superhero movies The Avengers: Age of Ultron and the still-untitled Superman/Batman film scheduled for 2015, and the rising number of superhero TV projects from various networks, it seems NBC is hoping to get some of that for themselves.

"The enormous impact Heroes had on the television landscape when it first launched in 2006 was eye-opening," said NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke.  "Shows with that kind of resonance don’t come around often and we thought it was time for another installment.  We’re thrilled that visionary creator Tim Kring was as excited about jumping back into this show as we were and we look forward to all the new textures and layers Tim plans to add to his original concept.  Until we get closer to air in 2015, the show will be appropriately shrouded in secrecy, but we won’t rule out the possibility of some of the show’s original cast members popping back in."

You can check out the 15-second teaser below, in all its vague and uninformative glory, thanks to NBC's official YouTube account...

 

CONSTANTINE Casts Matt Ryan as John Constantine

Well, at least he's from the U.K....

The Hollywood Reporter has word that 33-year-old Welsh actor Matt Ryan has been cast in the lead role of John Constantine for the Constantine pilot for NBC.  Ryan is perhaps best known as Mick Rawson on the series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior and as Richard Pace on The Tudors.  He's also appeared in the movie Layer Cake and the Torchwood episode "Meat."

The project was announced last September with John Constantine originally described as "an enigmatic and irreverent conman turned reluctant supernatural detective, who is thrust into the role of defending the human race against dark forces from beyond."

Providing a few more details, this latest article describes Constantine as "a working-class Londoner with deadpan humor who is a mysterious conman and occult detective
haunted by the recent loss of a young girl's soul.  No stranger to the dark underworld that exists parallel to our own, Constantine has been studying the dark arts since he was a teenager.  He's taught himself spells, rituals, curses and conjuring, but the one person he most wishes to see -- his mother, who died giving birth to him -- remains out of reach, at least so far.  When Liv, the daughter of a late friend, is targeted by demons, Constantine steps in to save her and the two form an alliance."

The character of John Constantine first appeared in The Saga of the Swamp Thing #37 in 1985 and was created by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben.  Based physically on the musician Sting, Constantine proved popular enough in 1988 to be spun off into his own VERTIGO series Hellblazer, which ran for an impressive 300 issues until earlier this year.  The replacement series Constantine immediately followed, after Constantine was brought back to the relaunched DC Universe as part of "The New 52" to lead the supernatural team Justice League Dark.

Ryan will be the second actor to portray the character in live action, after Keanu Reeves starred as an Americanized version in the 2005 film Constantine.

Game of Thrones' Neil Marshall will direct the pilot from a script by Dexter's Daniel Cerone.  Batman Begins and Man of Steel screenwriter David Goyer will executive produce.

ARROW's Suicide Squad Roster Revealed

Suicide Squad...assemble?  Nah, too derivative.

Two and a half weeks after the CW series Arrow teased DC Comics' team the Suicide Squad, the entire group has now been revealed.  Comic Book Resources has posted photos showing the full roster, which includes (from left to right) Michael Jai White as Bronze Tiger/Ben Turner, Sean Maher as Shrapnel/Mark Scheffer, Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Amanda Waller, Michael Rowe as Deadshot/Floyd Lawton, Audrey Marie Anderson as Lyla Michaels, and series regular David Ramsey as John Diggle.

Waller, director of the organization A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans), first appeared in the season two episode "Keep Your Enemies Closer" to get Diggle and Arrow's help in retrieving Lyla from Russia.  She later returned in the episode "Tremors" to recruit Bronze Tiger into the Squad, hinting at its upcoming appearance in the series.

At a press event earlier this month, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg remarked, "Dig was our way into Amanda Waller, and in this episode, Amanda comes to Dig and Lyla, and she recruits Dig for a mission, and tells him he's going to need a team -- and she saddles him with the Suicide Squad."

The episode, naturally titled "Suicide Squad," was written by Keto Shimizu and Smallville writer Bryan Q. Miller.  As previously revealed, Diggle will receive his own flashbacks during the story, set during his time in Afghanistan with former friend Ted Gaynor (Ben Browder).

Created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru, the Suicide Squad first appeared in 1959's The Brave and the Bold (vol.1) #25 and was comprised of four nonpowered adventurers that fought against dinosaurs, monsters and superpowered opponents.  The Squad's leader, Rick Flag, Jr., was carried over into a more modern version that debuted in 1987's Legends #3 as a team overseen by Waller, but made up of supervillains taking on dangerous missions as a way to offset their prison sentences. 

In addition to Flag and Waller, Bronze Tiger and Deadshot were central characters in this version, which also included notable characters such as Captain Boomerang, Count Vertigo, Nemesis, Nightshade, Oracle, Shade the Changing Man, and Vixen.  Since Count Vertigo has already appeared on Arrow and Captain Boomerang is an enemy of The Flash, it's possible those characters could end up in a future Suicide Squad episode, if another one happens.

"Suicide Squad" is scheduled to air on The CW on Wednesday, March 19th at 8 p.m. EST.