Hollywood has always been fascinated with biopics. Whether its actors playing as historical figures, authors, killers, even other actors, biopics will always be a compelling way to tell the story of one’s life. Recently Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho moved from Paramount Pictures to 20th Century Fox, and during that transition, Academy Award winning actress Helen Mirren joined that cast of the movie adaptation based on Montecito’s adaptation of the Stephen Rebello non-fiction book.

If Mirren does sign on to play, she will join Anthony Hopkins, who is attached to play Hitchcock, and Sacha Gervasi (Anvil! The Story of Anvil), who is directing. The script comes from Black Swan writer John McLaughlin. With the deal in the early stages, the movie expects to start filming sometime next spring. [THR]

A while back we reported that Robert Redford was in talks to star in Brian Helgeland’s Branch Rickey biopic, 42. The movie would focus on Rickey, who made the decision to sign Robinson onto the Brooklyn Dodgers, which was considered a risky move in the business in 1945. Now Deadline is reporting that Redford is no longer attached to the film and there are talks that Harrison Ford could be filling in to play as Rickey.

With Les Miserables ready for production, The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper looks to finalize the casting process. Collider (via The Playlist) reports that Sacha Baron Cohen will be lending his vocal talents to the character of Monsieur Thenardier. Hugh Jackman is set as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe is taking on Javert, Anne Hathaway is poised to play Fantine, and Eddie Redmayne is onboard as Marius. There are still a few more roles to cast before Hooper can move on with shooting the movie, with Taylor Swift, Lea Michele, Scarlett Johansson and Evan Rachel Wood in the running for Eponine and Cosette.

Hours ago we reported that Patty Jenkins is in talks to direct Thor 2 and now EW has revealed some new plot details for the sequel. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said that Thor would be visiting new worlds.

[We're going to] take Thor literally to other worlds,” Feige told EW, “…[It will] primarily be the journey of that character, of he and Jane Foster and how the new dynamic with his father is working out, as well as what are the broader stakes for The Nine Worlds.”

These new details seem to hint that Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) and Odin (played by Anthony Hopkins) will have some roles in Thor 2. Seeing that Foster is studying how these realms are connected and Odin is the all seeing father of the nine realms, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if they were in it. We have already visited Earth (Midgard as its called in Marvel Universe), Asgard, and Nifflehiem, so the question is would we see another three new realms in the sequel or all six together at once? The latter might convolute the film as we probably won’t get that much time to see them, so it’s a possibility that we could see three new worlds. But then again that is just my guess.

Seeing that the general audience loved the world of Asgard so much, I wonder how much time would be split amongst the new realms we would see in Thor 2.

What worlds would you like to see in Thor 2?

It isn’t clear if both actors (Hopkins or Bardem) are up for the same part, or if they will act alongside each other as dual villains should both sign on.

Hopkins is close to signing a deal to appear as 007′s nemesis in James Bond 23, but it appears that he is having an issue with how many sequels he needs to come back for.

“The only stumbling block seems to be the number of films he is signing up for. There is a chance the character they want him to play could become a regular feature, like Blofeld back in the day.”

I am sure we will hear official casting announcements very soon, as James Bond 23 is heading into production later this year. Daniel Craig and Judi Dench will return as Bond and M.

Production on the film begins in January of 2010 with Kenneth Branagh directing and Chris Hemsworth playing the hammer-weilding Thor. Paramount has set the release date for May 20, 2011.

As the wife of Norse god Odin, to be played by Anthony Hopkins in the film, Frigga is the queen of Asgard. She’s also the step mother of Thor and foster mother to Loki, the pic’s primary villain, played by Tom Hiddleston.

Natalie Portman will be playing Thor’s love interest.

I think Russo is a good actress and the cast is definitely taking shape, I’m just hoping they will all blend well together to make an awesome movie.

What Do You Think?

(Via Movieweb) Variety has reported, but then removed the article, saying that Marvel Studios and Thor director Kenneth Branaugh has set Stuart Townsend, Ray Stevenson, and Tadanobu Asano to play the trio of Asgardian adventurers who fight alongside the Norse god, called The Warriors Three. Being that the article has been removed means possibly this information came out a little too early.

The Warriors Three is a group of fictional characters who served as supporting cast members in the Thor comics. They are made up of Asgardians Fandral, Hogun & Volstagg. Though the characters are gods of Asgard, they are original creations of the comics and not based on characters from Norse mythology.

Fandral (presumably Townsend) is the most dashing of the three and has somewhat of a Errol Flynn look to him. Fandral is a warrior of Asgard and an adventurer. He is an irrepressible swashbuckler and romantic. His bravery and optimism often puts the group in highly disadvantageous positions.

Then there is Hogun the Grimm (presumably Asano). He is characterized as brusque, taciturn, and often short-tempered demeanor. He is the brooding pessimist of the group, as opposed to Volstagg’s (the third of the Warrior’s Three – presumably Stevensen) irrepressible good humor and Fandral’s brash heroism. He is a fierce and unrelenting warrior, a collector of weaponry and often the voice of reason for the Warriors Three.

The cast of the movie already includes Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore, Samuel L. Jackson and Stellan Skarsgard.

Cinematical and Ain’t It Cool News have just released the first two new posters for the film which is set for release on February 12, 2010. This is some of the best promotional art I have seen for the film.

Heat Vision Blog reports that Sir Anthony Hopkins is “in negotiations” to play the Norse god and ruler of Asgard Odin, also the father to Thor. In the adaptation of Marvel’s comic being directed by Kenneth Branagh with and already impressive cast. We already know that cast includes Chris Hemsworth as the god of thunder Thor, Tom Hiddleston as his evil brother Loki, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Jaimie Alexander as Sif and Colm Feore as an uknown villian and with the also rumored Robert De Niro and Jude Law.

Odin is the ruler of Asgard, the mythical world where the Norse gods reside. He first appeared in Marvel’s Journey into Mystery #86 in 1962 and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The story in the movie is about 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.

This is a super casting and I couldn’t be more excited about this movie. Hopkins is the man! His talents combined with the rest this superb cast Marvel’s Thor could be one the best comic movies ever made.

Universal Studios has unleashed eleven brand new photos from Joe Johnson’s highly anticipated update of the monster movie classic The Wolfman. A Redux of the classic monster film this is one that has been shuffled around multiple times on the release date list. The story revolves around a man and upon his return to his ancestral homeland, an American man (Del Toro) is bitten, and subsequently cursed by, a werewolf. The movie has a great cast though consisting of Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Art Malik.

Check out the trailer and some Hi-res photos below:

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