Daily Loaf

A double-whammy of casting news for John Favreau’s follow-up to last year’s blockbuster Iron Man. First, Scarlett Johansson has signed up, replacing Emily Blunt as Black Widow. Per the story at /Film, Blunt had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict, opening the door for Scar-Jo. If this works out, expect to see the actress reprise the role in several Marvel flicks due over the next few years.

And in a long rumored move, current critical darling Mickey Rourke and Marvel finally came to terms for the actor to play Iron Man 2’s Russian villian. (The studio had been low-balling Rourke with a paltry $250,000 offer.) I’m sure Putin is going to love this.

Main man Robert Downey Jr. will also be back, along with a double-shot of Sams (Rockwell and L. Jackson), with Jackson under contract for as many as nine (!!!) Marvel flicks.

Iron Man 2 is set for release in 2010.

Based on the first season of the Spike TV modern ‘anime’ series (which is in turn based on the manga) by the same name, Afro Samurai has just about everything you would expect from something with Samuel L. Jackson’s name on it. There’s violence; blood; (cartoon) gore; revenge; and half-naked women. Just add in the word ‘fuck’ liberally, stir to taste, and you get the general idea. That’s okay, because the core demographic this game (and indeed the Spike TV channel itself) is geared towards will likely eat this game up with a spoon.

With a cel-shaded style that is becoming more and more common in games these days, the look of Afro Samurai doesn’t disappoint. Backgrounds are lush in the earlier levels, becoming starker as Afro makes his way through the dark revenge story-line. The voice acting by Samuel L. Jackson, and soundtrack partly performed by RZA (the rest is “inspired by”) is nothing short of awesome. I definitely couldn’t say playing wasn’t a hell of a lot of fun – at first.

Read the rest of this entry »

Spoilers alert! io9 has the latest scoop on Watchmen, Star Trek and Transformers 2.

Nazi-killer looks: Brad Pitt as the rugged lead in Quentin Tarantino’s WWII flick, Inglourious Basterds (yes, it’s really spelled that way).

Bond doesn’t do Norse code: Daniel Craig says he turned down the lead in the upcoming Marvel Comics flick, Thor.

Samuel L. Jackson gets more Fury-ous: Jackson’s character Nick Fury, who appeared at the end of Iron Man, will reportedly have a larger role in Iron Man 2.

More bucks for Chuck: Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Haunted is heading to the big screen; gets a director.