Derek Mears to Play SWAMP THING

Swamp Thing Derek Mears

Well, this sounds like an absolutely inspired piece of casting. Yes, it appears that Derek Mears is getting set to tackle the titular role in DC Universe’s upcoming live-action Swamp Thing series.

This news has been reported by Bloody-Disgusting, although DC Universe – the hotly anticipated on-demand streaming service – has yet to officially confirm any of this. Given how we now know that Swamp Thing himself will be made up of practical SFX and prosthetic work, Mears seems like the absolute perfect fit for the role.

While the ever-charming Mears – himself a huge fanboy of all things horror and genre – landed on the radar of many as Jason Voorhees in 2009’s Friday the 13th remake, he’s also impressed in the likes of The Hills Have Eyes II, Men in Black II, Predators, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Dead Snow 2, Sleepy Hollow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Flash, and will soon be soon in Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel.

It’s believed that Mears won’t be playing Alec Holland – the human form of Swamp Thing – but instead will be driving the series forward as its titular being.

The early word on Swamp Thing reads:

The drama follows what happens when CDC researcher Abby Arcane returns to her childhood home of Houma, Louisiana in order to investigate a deadly swamp-borne virus. There, she develops a surprising bond with scientist Alec Holland – only to have him tragically taken from her. But as powerful forces descend on Houma, intent on exploiting the swamp’s mysterious properties for their own purposes, Abby will discover that the swamp holds mystical secrets, both horrifying and wondrous – and the potential love of her life may not be dead after all.

As a character, Swamp Thing began life back in 1971 and has appeared in a whole host of different mediums over the decades. Wes Craven would helm 1982’s Swamp Thing movie, with a sequel following in 1989. On the small screen, a three-season USA Network show ran during the early ‘90s, and there was similarly a far-too-short-lived animated series during those years.

At this stage, Swamp Thing is set for a to-be-confirmed 2019 premiere, with Mark Veriheiden and Gary Dauberman on showrunner duties.

SWAMP THING Series to be R-Rated

Swamp Thing

With DC Universe’s live-action Swamp Thing series currently fleshing out its core cast, now comes an update on the tone of the show.

Speaking to /Film, co-showrunner Gary Dauberman confirmed that the show will be an R-rated effort. As he explained, “We always set out to make Swamp Thing as hard R as we could and go graphic with the violence, with the adult themes and make it as scary as possible. Because we’re doing it through the DC streaming service, they really pushed us – although they didn’t have to push hard – for us to go as extreme as we could.”

Dauberman added, “We really took our inspiration from the Alan Moore run in Swamp Thing, this landmark run. Fans of that series will know it gets pretty weird and extreme and scary. We really wanted to live up to that standard that Moore set up back in the ‘80s.”

Even more exciting, the series will also utilise practical SFX for its titular hero – which sounds all kinds of cool to us!

As a character, Swamp Thing began life back in 1971 and has appeared in a whole host of different mediums over the decades. Wes Craven would helm 1982’s Swamp Thing movie, with a sequel following in 1989. On the small screen, a three-season USA Network show ran during the early ‘90s, and there was similarly a far-too-short-lived animated series during those years.

At this stage, Swamp Thing is set for a to-be-confirmed 2019 premiere, with Mark Veriheiden and Gary Dauberman on showrunner duties.

GET OUT’s Jordan Peele in Talks for New CANDYMAN

CANDYMAN

While it seems that barely a week goes by without rumblings of some sort of remake, reboot, reimagining or whatever the hip phrase of the day is, this one is certainly something that instantly grabs our attention.

Via Bloody-Disgusting, Get Out’s Jordan Peele is circling a new adaptation of Candyman. At this stage, Oscar winner Peele is in talks to produce the film through his Monkeypaw Productions company. There’s no news on whether Peele himself will end up directing the movie, but we’re sure that would be something that would excite many a genre fan should that ultimately end up happening.

Candyman itself actually began life as a short story in Clive Barker’s Books of Blood. Originally titled The Forbidden, the story was famously adapted as a 1992 Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen-starring movie from Bernard Rose. Plot-wise, the movie version took place in a semi-demolished housing development in Chicago. Todd’s Candyman was an artist and the son of a slave, murdered by bees by his lover’s father after first having his hand lopped off. From there, the urban legend of the Candyman is that if you say his name five times while looking in the mirror, he’ll appear behind you – and likely slice you up good ‘n’ proper. Sequels followed with 1995’s Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh and 1999’s Candyman: Day of the Dead, and despite mild rumblings over the decades, the franchise has remained dead since that ’99 effort.

As ever, expect more on this as we get it.

Crystal Reed and Maria Sten Land Key SWAMP THING Roles

Crystal Reed Maria Sten Swamp Thing

Right now, one of the things that has people talking the most is DC Universe; the upcoming streaming service that will feature a ridiculous amount of impressive DC-driven content – both old and new. And in amongst the new is a live-action Swamp Thing show. Well, that series has moved to make a couple of new additions over the weekend.

Said new additions are Gotham’s Crystal Reed as Abby Arcane and Straight Outta Compton’s Maria Sten as Liz Tremayne. Both characters will be key components on the series, and the official blurb on each reads as:

Abby Arcane: A CDC doctor whose strong sense of empathy puts her at the centre of a horrific life-threatening epidemic in her hometown where she faces emotional demons from her past… while a chance meeting with scientist Alec Holland takes her into a world of horror and the supernatural, and of the elemental creature known as Swamp Thing.

Liz Tremayne: A close childhood friend of Abby’s who splits her time between reporting for the loca paper and bartending at her aging father’s roadhouse bar. Her no-nonsense attitude belies a deep compassion for her friends and family as she sets out in her uncompromising quest to expose the secrets that threaten her beloved hometown.

As a character, Swamp Thing began life back in 1971 and has appeared in a whole host of different mediums over the decades. Wes Craven would helm 1982’s Swamp Thing movie, with a sequel following in 1989. On the small screen, a three-season USA Network show ran during the early ‘90s, and there was similarly a far-too-short-lived animated series during those years.

At this stage, Swamp Thing is set for a to-be-confirmed 2019 premiere, with Mark Veriheiden and Gary Dauberman on showrunner duties.

New Chance to See John Carpenter’s MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN

Invisible

As if John Carpenter fans didn’t have enough to be excited about this coming October, what with the new version of Halloween and a second world tour for his music both just around the corner, now comes news that the director’s oft-forgotten 1992 cult sci-fi comedy Memoirs of an Invisible Man is getting a re-release courtesy of UK label Fabulous Films! Available on both DVD and Blu-ray, the title will be available to buy from October 1st.

Read on for more details!

The laughs and visual effects are out of sight as Chevy Chase stars in Memoirs of an Invisible Man alongside Darryl Hannah (Splash), Sam Neil (Jurassic Park), Stephen Tobolowsky (Momento, Groundhog Day) and Michael McKean (Spinal Tap, Better Call Saul).

The legendary John Carpenter (Halloween, Big Trouble In Little China) directs this classic 1992 sci-fi comedy with eye opening special effects conjured up by the dream weavers at Industrial Light and Magic. Carpenter said due to the effects work “we essentially had to shoot the same movie twice”, as after normal takes the effects team would set up their bulky VistaVision motion control cameras to film the same elements again while gathering digital data for the computer-generated imagery.

Chase would wear a blue bodysuit below his clothing, so that computer artists would erase his body through chroma key and match the clothes with computer-generated replicas so that even the inside of the clothing could be seen, along with other touches such as erasing the shadow made by Chase’s body. Along with blue eyeball sized contact lenses, Chase had to have his teeth and tongue stained with blue food colouring to make him disappear on the blue screen during filming.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man was based on the book of the same name by H.F. Saint. It was Saint’s first and only novel. He was a business man in New York, and submitted his novel to publishers prior to completion as he thought it would give him the incentive to actually finish it. He got a $5000 advance and then his agent managed to secure an additional $2.5 million in film and book-club rights. Saint hasn’t been seen since, that’s not a joke, it’s thought he moved to Europe with his family and retired.

Synopsis: Just a quick nap and stock analyst Nick Halloway is sure he’ll emerge good as new. Instead he wakes up good as gone. Vanished. Poof. Thin air. A nuclear accident has made Nick invisible. Invisibility makes it easier to spy on agents (particularly chief adversary Sam Neill) who’d put him in his predicament. But now he can romance a lovely documentary producer (Daryl Hannah) in a way she’s never ” seen” before.

Cast: Chevy Chase, Daryl Hannah, Sam Neill, Michael McKean, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jim Norton.

BOND 25 Director Shortlist Down to Three Names

James Bond

With Bond 25 currently on the hunt for a director following the recent departure of Danny Boyle, now comes an update on who could be in the frame to replace Boyle.

Courtesy of Variety, it’s believed that the current shortlist of names is made up of The Imposter’s Bart Layton, Mistresses’ S.J. Clarkson, and ‘71’s Yann Demange. At this stage, it’s believed that Demange is the frontrunner for the Bond 25 gig.

Previously, Bond 25 was booked in for a November 9th, 2019 release, although that has been thrown up in the air a little following Danny Boyle’s exit. The last we’d heard, the film’s release was to be delayed a little, although if a new director can be brought in pronto then EON and MGM may still be able to hit that November 2019 date.

As ever, expect more on Bond 25 as it continues to develop.

Burt Reynolds 1936 – 2018

Burt Reynolds

In some tragic news, Burt Reynolds has died at the age of 82.

The Oscar nominee passed away in a Florida hospital with his family at his side after suffering a heart attack.

A career that began in 1958, it was 1972’s Deliverance that puts Reynolds on the map in a major way. From there, he would go on to become one of the most recognisable movies stars on the planet, with him famously playing the iconic Bandit in the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy. Other credits include the likes of Shark, The Mean Machine, The Cannonball Run, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Evening Shade, All Dogs Go to Heaven, The Player, Striptease, and the uber-cool Boogie Nights for which he received a Best Supporting Actor nom at the 1998 Oscars and also won a Golden Globe for his turn as porn director Jack Horner. More recently, 2017 saw Reynolds star in the utterly stunning The Last Movie Star, in which he played an aging movie star who reflects back on his dwindling glory days, and he was signed up for a role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The thoughts of all here at STARBURST go out to the family, friends, and fans of Burt Reynolds. Rest in peace, Bandit.

VIDEO NASTY Comic Writer to Direct First Film

nasty

Mario Covone, writer of 2014’s critically acclaimed Reaper Comics horror series, Video Nasty, has announced that he will make his feature film directorial debut helming horror movie Overtime.

From the press release:

Overtime centres on a teacher working late into the night at school, seemingly alone. But a presence is watching him from the shadows. Stalked through the winding corridors and trapped within, a sinister secret holds the key to his survival.

No stranger to political subtext within his work, Covone’s movie, which he has also written, explores the real-world issues of violence in schools, and the dangers of media scaremongering, whilst maintaining a traditional horror backdrop with twists and turns aplenty.

The cast and creative team will be revealed soon, as will the poster artwork, being designed by horror industry legend Graham Humphreys. Humphreys also painted the covers for Covone’s Video Nasty comic book run.

After the success of Video Nasty, Britain’s biggest selling independent comic series of all time, Covone set up his production company, Miracle World Productions, which is producing the film, due to start shooting in Jan 2019.

Covone said today: “Comics will always be a passion of mine, both reading and creating. But I feel the urge to test my metal in a new medium, one that I’m equally passionate about”.

Stephen King’s IT Character Stars in New Short

georgie

Georgie Floats Back?

If the anticipation for IT: Chapter Two (the second part of the film adaptation of Stephen King’s IT) is killing you, Constant Readers/viewers can get an extra fix in the shape of a short film, which is coming on the horizon. Creepy Kingdom are bringing IT’s George Denbrough back to screens in a ‘what if?’ scenario called (unsurprisingly) Georgie. The television miniseries’ original Georgie, actor Tony Dakota, is returning to his role in the short, which is being crowdfunded via Indiegogo.

Stephen King’s original story opens with Georgie Denbrough (Dakota) racing into a raging rainstorm to play armed with nothing but a yellow rain slicker and a paper boat made for him by his big brother, Bill (Jonathan Brandis in the miniseries). Georgie has an altercation with the eponymous, monstrous IT in the guise of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Tim Curry), leading to his play session being cut abruptly short. Mayhem that is part of a centuries-long cycle of death ensues.

The idea for the Georgie short came about after a feverish ‘what if’ session resulted in Creepy Kingdom’s John Campopiano contacting Dakota and inviting him to reprise his role. The actor has also appeared in programmes from 21 Jump Street to MacGyver and had stint with John Candy in Who’s Harry Crumb?

This short imagines what could have happened had the little boy fared significantly better at the fangs of Pennywise by focusing on how he may have grown up in Derry (where the story’s set). It’s a place where people turn away from abuse and pretty much ignore murder. As the Georgie press release puts it, the short focuses on how ‘grief, memory and childhood trauma’ have an effect on us all.

This project has pedigree and is one of several focusing on IT and it’s cultural significance. Production company Creepy Kingdom is John Campopiano as producer and co-writer, Ryan Grulich as director and co-writer and James H Carter II as Executive Producer. Campopiano previously co-wrote and directed the FEARnyc award-winning Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary and is also in post-production with Dead Mouse Productions for IT miniseries documentary, Pennywise: The Story of ‘IT’. Campopiano has also been interviewed by STARBURST’s Charlie Oughton for the writer’s own forthcoming book on the story.

IT Chapter Two is currently slated for release in September 2019.

To support Georgie, check out the short’s Indiegogo page here. Perks start at $10. The campaign will float to a close on September 13th 2018.

Timothy Dalton Joins DOOM PATROL

Timothy Dalton

DC Universe’s Doom Patrol is already on many genre fans’ must-watch list, and now it’s upped the ante by bringing in former Bond, Timothy Dalton.

Courtesy of Deadline, Dalton has been brought in to play the leader of the titular team, Dr Niles Caulder, aka The Chief. If you’re keeping up with us, you’ll be well aware that Bruno Bichir was reported to be playing that role in Titans. As such, it remains to be seen whether Dalton is replacing Bichir in Titans or whether Doom Patrol is just going for a different actor as their Chief – which, frankly, would make no sense given how both shows exist in the same universe.

With that said, it could be that Bichir was incorrectly reported as playing Chief – as in, he’s got another role – or maybe it’s just that he’s had to drop off, and as such has been replaced by Dalton.

The official blurb on Doom Patrol reads:

Doom Patrol is a re-imagining of one of DC’s most beloved group of outcast Super Heroes: Robotman, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, and Crazy Jane, led by modern-day mad scientist Dr. Niles Caulder (The Chief). The Doom Patrol’s members each suffered horrible accidents that gave them superhuman abilities – but also left them scarred and disfigured. Traumatized and downtrodden, the team found purpose through The Chief, who brought them together to investigate the weirdest phenomena in existence — and to protect Earth from what they find.

Part support group, part Super Hero team, the Doom Patrol is a band of super-powered freaks who fight for a world that wants nothing to do with them. Picking up after the events of Titans, Doom Patrol will find these reluctant heroes in a place they never expected to be, called to action by none other than Cyborg, who comes to them with a mission hard to refuse, but with warning that is hard to ignore: their lives will never, ever be the same.

Doom Patrol will debut next year on DC Universe.