Let’s do some new kind of Casting Couch – this time with a limited range of actors – I only want to cast winners of the Golden Globes 2010.

These include:
Sandra Bullock – (Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: ‘The Blind Side’)

Jeff Bridges – (Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: ‘Crazy Heart’)

Meryl Streep – (Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical: ‘Julie & Julia’)

Robert Downey Jr. – (Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical: ‘Sherlock Holmes’)

Mo’nique – (Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: ‘Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire’)

Christoph Waltz – (Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: ‘Inglourious Basterds’)

Julianna Margulies – (Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama: ‘The Good Wife’)

Michael C. Hall – (Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama: ‘Dexter’)

Toni Collette – (Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical: ‘United States Of Tara’)

Alec Baldwin – (Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical: ‘30 Rock’)

Drew Barrymore – (Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television: ‘Grey Gardens’)

Kevin Bacon – (Best Performance by an Actor In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television: ‘Taking Chance’)

Chloë Sevigny – (Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: ‘Big Love’)

John Lithgow – (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: ‘Dexter’)

And now let’s think about something supernatural including 7 female and 7 male characters – and of course including some love story, so we can add it to OpenBookSociety Valentine-month theme.

What did I choose? The ‘X-Men’ series, of course. There are lots of supernatural beings and there is also a lot of love – and of course also lots of jealousy. The love-triangle between Wolverine, Phoenix and Cyclops, the love that Rogue has to Wolverine and last, but not least, the love Professor Charles Xavier has to all of his ‘kids’.

Professor X/Charles Francis Xavier – Alec Baldwin
He is the founder of the X-Men and original headmaster of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.

Powers: World’s most powerful telepath, capable of astral projection, mind control, illusion casting, memory manipulation, psychic blasts, as well as sensing the presence of other mutants in a limited radius.

Scott Summers/Cyclops – Robert Downey Jr.
Summers was the first of the team’s founding members, and has been the longtime leader of the X-Men. He is the former headmaster of the Xavier Institute and former leader of the original X-Factor.

Powers: Can project a beam of ruby-colored concussive force from his eyes, which act as inter-dimensional apertures between this universe and another.

Robert Louis “Bobby” Drake/Iceman – Kevin Bacon
Drake is the second founding member and X-Men’s youngest.

Powers: Generates freezing temperatures to create and manipulate ice. Can also transform his body into organic ice.

Dr. Jean Grey-Summers/Phoenix – Julianna Margulies
She is the fifth and final of the team’s founding members, although she had met Xavier before the series. She is the wife of Scott Summers, Cyclops.

Powers: Possesses vast telekinesis and telepathy. As the template of the Phoenix Force, she is able to generate enormous amounts of energy, and she can convert herself into pure energy. Can also manipulate objects on a subatomic scale with her telekinesis.

Ororo Iqadi T’Challa-Wakandas/Storm – Toni Collette
Second field leader and longtime leader of the team. Has been a continual member of the main team longer than any other.

Powers: Weather manipulation (lighting bolts, wind, rain, etc.), flight by ‘riding’ wind currents.

James “Logan” Howlett/Wolverine – Michael C. Hall
Nicknamed, and best known as, Logan. Arguably the team’s most iconic member. Field leader of X-Force.

Powers: Healing factor (regeneration of tissue, immunity to virtually all toxins and pathogens, slowed aging process), enhanced senses, and retractable bone claws. Has the indestructible metal adamantium bonded to his skeleton, allowing enhanced physical attributes and sharp adamantium claws.

Anna Marie/Rogue – Chloë Sevigny
Has served as a field leader. Once had the powers and memories of Ms. Marvel; was forced to absorb Sunfire’s abilities permanently in Rogue; lost those abilities when cleared of all personalities not her own.

Powers: Absorbs powers, memories, and personalities through skin-to-skin contact. Prolonged contact can cause her to permanently absorb someone’s traits and potentially kill them.

Raven Darkholme/Mystique – Sandra Bullock
Former leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, foster mother of Rogue and mother of Nightcrawler.

Powers: Shapeshifting, with her natural form having blue skin and yellow eyes. Possesses minor healing and reactive abilities and a slowed aging process.

Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler – Christoph Waltz
Son of Mystique. Former leader of Excalibur and a former Catholic priest.

Powers: Neomorphic physiology grants him a prehensile tail, blue fur, invisibility in shadows, night vision, and wall-crawling. Possesses line-of-sight teleportation.

Katherine ‘Kitty’ Pryde/Shadowcat – Drew Barrymore
Active as Sprite, Ariel and Shadowcat. Longtime lover of Colossus.

Powers: Can pass through solid matter (‘phasing’), also allowing her to disrupt electronics and walk on air.

Magma/Amara Juliana Oliva Aquilla – Mo’nique
Formerly a New Mutant member, a resident of Xavier’s and a member of the teaching staff.

Powers: Geokinetic powers allow her to create earthquakes and volcanoes. Can project heat and flame and can also transform into living magma.

Beast/Dr. Henry Philip “Hank” McCoy- John Lithgow
Hank is the scientist on the team.

Powers: Is physically enabled superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, and mass. Ambidextrous with his hands and feet, and can write with hands and feet at the same time. Has minor pheromone manipulation, and feline-like form gives blue fur, night vision, and claws, and has the same agility of a great ape and the acrobatic prowess of an accomplished circus aerialist.

Vange Whedon/Evangeline Whedon – Meryl Streep
The X-Men team’s lawyer.

Powers: Metamorph whose transformation into an enormous red dragon can be triggered consciously or by the presence of blood.

Max “Magnus” Eisenhardt/Magneto – Jeff Bridges
The team’s longtime enemy was briefly “redeemed” and appointed leader of the X-Men and the junior team the New Mutants; became headmaster of the Xavier Institute but lost his powers on M-Day; was recently restored by the High Evolutionary’s experiment.

Powers: Able to generate and control magnetic fields for manipulating metal, flight, force fields, electrical bolts, and electromagnetic radiation.

So, what do you think about this … can you visual this years ‘Golden Globe’ winners to become a part of the ‘X-Men’ universe?

Please tell me HERE. – Thank You!

The Twilight Saga News Wrap-up:

HOW DID THEY MAKE THE CGI WOLF PACK? FIND OUT!
PATTINSON’S ‘LITTLE ASHES’ POSTER

Read more HERE

BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD PROMISES JUICY BLOCKBUSTER IN ELCIPSE!
TWILIGHT STARS IN SEPERATE DEVELOPMENTS

Read more HERE

BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD CONFIRMS ROLE IN EASTWOOD’S SUPERNATURAL FILM

Read more HERE

CHARLIE BEWLEY SAYS ‘THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE’ WILL BE MORE ‘REAL’

Read more HERE

Movie News Wrap-Up:

IS PETER JACKSON ADAPTING THE ‘MORTAL ENGINES’ NOVEL SERIES?
IRON MAN 2 TOPS THE LIST OF GEEK FLICK PICKS FOR 2010

Read more HERE

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS WILL SUPERSEDE X-MEN ORIGINS: MAGNETO
TOY STORY 3 COLOR SCRIPT ART

Read more HERE

io9’s 2009 SCIENCE FICTION POWER LIST

Read more HERE

10 THINGS PARENTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS Movie Review
BEST MOVIE LINES OF ‘09

Read more HERE

Author & Book News Wrap-Up:

THE DECADE IN READING – HOW BAD IS IT?

Read more HERE

CHARLAINE HARRIS’ ‘DEAD IN THE FAMILY’ CHAPTER ONE RELEASED

Read more HERE

MAGICAL REALIST MARS: IAN MCDONALD’S ‘DESOLATION ROAD’
COVERT ART: JES BATTIS’ ‘INHUMAN RESOURCES’ AND RACHEL CAINE’S ‘KISS OF DEATH’

Read more HERE

BEST SELLERS FOR THE WEEK OF DEC 24TH

Read more HERE

TV Show Wrap-Up:

COULD THE VAMPIRE CRAZE RESURRECT ‘MOONLIGHT’?
BRANDON QUINN TO JOIN VAMPIRE DIARIES CAST

Read more HERE

TRUE BLOOD SEASON 3 CASTING ROUNDUP
TWOP 10: CHARACTERS WE’D LIKE TO REGIFT (THE 2009 EDITION)

Read more HERE

OBS Fun News Wrap-Up:

MOVIE REVIEWS: AVATAR

Read more HERE

OBS AUTHOR PROFILES: GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

Read more HERE

BETRAYED: HOUSE OF NIGHT QUIZ

Read more HERE

OBS ANNOUNCES EVENTS & APPEARANCES FOR JANUARY 2010

Read more HERE

OBS TOP 5/10: CHRISTMAS EDITION

Read more HERE

OBS A-Z: TRUE BLOOD – SEASON 1

Read more HERE

OBS SPEAKS OUT: MUST-SEE LIST ‘TRUE BLOOD’ EDITION

Read more HERE

OBS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BECCA FITZPATRICK

Read more HERE

“Avatar” Midnight Screenings Pull in $3.5 Min

Director James Cameron’s big-budget film “Avatar” took in $3.5 million at its initial midnight screenings on Friday in the United States and Canada, ticket tracker Hollywood.com Box Office said on Friday.

That figure pales in comparison to other, recent openings of highly anticipated films like “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” which raked in a record $26.3 million for its debut midnight screenings in November.

But “New Moon” already had a large fan base from 2008’s first “Twilight” movie and the best-selling vampire romance novels by Stephenie Meyer on which the films are based.

“Avatar,” by comparison, has no predecessor film or book and is based on an original idea from “Titanic” director Cameron. Box office watchers will be following its full weekend debut to begin charting its financial success or failure.

Read more HERE

Can ‘The Runaways’ movie eclipse ‘Twilight’ for Kristen Stewart?

Team Edward? No thanks – I’m reading ‘Breaking Dawn’ now, man does he need to grow a pair.

Team Jacob? I’ll pass. Dude can’t handle pressure at all.

Sign me up for Team Joan Jett…

The fact that most Twilight fans don’t know who she is doesn’t matter – because they will after they see her portrayed by Kristen Stewart in The Runaways this spring.

The movie is written and directed by Floria Sigismondi – I’m a fan back from her Marilyn Manson, Living Things video days – so I’m expecting it to have more of an edge than typical Hollywood fodder like, say, maybe the Twilight series (I know, I’m mean to Twilight – I can’t help it, it’s everywhere, and Bella makes me sick to the stomach… though she’s redeeming herself in the final book, so hopefully I’ll come around!).

Read more HERE

Taylor Lautner And Summit Entertainment Book A Trip To ‘Cancun’

The decision-makers at Summit Entertainment know a good thing when they see one. By good thing, I mean Taylor Lautner. By Taylor Lautner, I mean shirtless Taylor Lautner fighting bad guys and stuff.

That’s the method to Summit’s madness as the movie studio is developing a new action film for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” star Lautner titled “Cancun” based on a spec script from Eric Champnella and Grant Thompson. Lautner is developing the film alongside his father Dan Lautner.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Cancun” focuses on “an out-of-place college kid who travels with a girl to Cancun on a break. While there, the girl and her friends are taken hostage by a drug cartel and he is forced to save them.”

Read more HERE

Bryan Singer to Direct New X-Men Movie

Bryan Singer, the guy who made the two good X-Men movies, is returning to the franchise to make X-Men: First Class.

Singer left the franchise after the second movie, going on to direct the less-than-awesome Superman Returns, leaving X-Men: Last Stand in the hands of Brett Ratner.

First Class is still in the very early stages of development, but will focus on the first meeting between Xavier and Magneto and the creation of the Xavier Institute. The script is currently being re-written by Jaime Moss, who worked on the Keanu Reeves movie Street Kings.

Read more HERE

Taylor Lautner Entertains an Offer to Star in ‘Vision Quest’

After rising to a new level of stardom playing a werewolf in the Twilight Saga franchise, Taylor Lautner is ready to sink his teeth into a new type of genre as he is being considered for a role in the remake movie Vision Quest, E! Online reports.
According to E! Online, the seventeen-year-old beefed up actor would play the role of a high school teen on the wrestling squad as he falls head over heels for an artist in the recreated 1985 romance flick.

And although Taylor’s rep hasn’t confirmed his leading role, a source reported by E! Online reveals that the New Moon star, rumored to be dating twenty-year-old, 8 time Grammy nominated Taylor Swift, can’t wait to get involved.

Read more HERE

What do you think about today’s movie news? Are you excited for Taylor Launter and his career?

Director Name: Bryan Singer

Director:
- Lion’s Den (1988)
- Public Access (1993)
- The Usual Suspects (1995)
- Apt Pupil (1998)
- X-Men (2000)
- X2 (2003)
- House M.D. (2004, 3 episodes)
- Superman Returns (2006)
- Football Wives (2007, TV)
- Valkyrie (2008)
- Battlestar Galactica (2011)
- Jack the Giant Killer (2011)
- Excalibur (2012)

Producer:
- Public Access (1993)
- The Usual Suspects (1995)
- Burn (1998)
- Apt Pupil (1998)
- X2 (2003)
- The Triangle (2005, TV mini-series)
- Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman (2006, TV)
- The Science of Superman (2006, TV)
- Superman Returns (2006)
- Color Me Olsen (2007)
- Football Wives (2007, TV)
- Trick ‘r Treat (2008)
- Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler (2008, TV)
- Valkyrie (2008)
- Dirty Sexy Money (2007-2009, 23 episodes)
- House M.D. (2004-2009, 119 episodes)
- Battlestar Galactica (2011) (pre-production)
- Excalibur (2012) (pre-production)
- Sellevision (2012) (announced)

Awards:
1993 Critics Award for ‘Public Access’
1996 Empire Award for ‘The Usual Suspects’
2001 Saturn Award & Empire Award for ‘X-Men’
2007 Saturn Award for ‘Superman Returns’

Short Bio and Review:
Singer was born September 17, 1965 in NYC and was adopted by Norbert and Grace Singer. He was raised in Princeton Junction New Jersey. He began making films at the age of 13. Bryan attended New York’s School of Visual Arts for filmmaking. Although Singer has dyslexia he enjoys comics and short stories. His love of comic books is evident in Superman Returns and X-Men. Singer is currently working on Battlestar Gallactica and Sellevision.

I have liked Bryan Singers’ work since I saw him answer questions on a panel at Comic-Con. He is intelligent and passionate about his work. I’m excited to follow him as he directs and produces more in the coming years.

Read more on Bryan Singer brought to us by OBS owner Dawn here.

scifiwire.com:

If the Marvel/Disney merger doesn’t mess things up, get ready to be dazzled come 2012 by a $1 billion theme park based around Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer and other superheroes.

Unfortunately, it won’t be that easy for most of us to go “Flying with Spidey” or visit the “X-Men: Danger Room”, since the park, a joint venture of United Arab Emirate-based Al Ahli Group and Marvel Entertainment Inc., is going to be built in Dubai (that is, if Dubai’s current economic woes don’t kill the project outright).

More here

Wow, the art looks amazing! A Marvel’s fan dream come true, but why so far?! I still don’t know how I’ll get to Harry’s theme park and now I have to go to Dubai

What do you think of this?

blogs.coventrytelegraph.net: TWILIGHT MANIA is an inescapable part of the entertainment world at present, with the second film New Moon doing record-breaking box office business on its debut last weekend.

As I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of other vampire film projects lurking in the shadows, ready for their turn at sparkling in the spotlight.

But not everyone wants to leap on the bloodsucking bandwagon. Marvel Comics says it will avoid any cash-in projects.

The publisher’s editor-in-chief Joe Quesada says they won’t be capitalising on the teen craze for vampire romance.

He told Comic Book Resources: “No. It’s not something we’ve actively looked to saying, ‘How do we get our own Twilight?’ I think that’s fool’s gold.

“It’s the same thing when you look at Harry Potter. It’s very much the same concept as X-Men, except you replace magic with mutant powers. But the whole school aspect of it has it all there. If you dig into Twilight, you’ll see some themes of the stories we already do, but I think it’d be foolish to chase that trend.”

He added: “I’m not saying we wouldn’t do a vampire story here or there. We’ve done them in the past. But we wouldn’t say, ‘Hey! We want to capture that Twilight audience!’ because I don’t think it’s the prudent thing to do, because by the time we catch up, a trend like that could be over. And it exists because they caught magic in a bottle.

More here

I agree, they shouldn’t follow the trend. One thing is that there’s a bunch of twifans in love with vampires, but “twi-vamps”, not Blade. You can’t throw a Marvel project at them to like, the young ones might not even know what comics belong to Marvel, and there’s comics that should stay comic and not become movies. Don’t take advantage because you never know what may happen

What do you think? Should Marvel follow the trend? If so what would you like to see?