by Kim Filchak, Reporter

Rumors Today: Who is going to play Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange? What is going to be the next Disney live action fairy tale? What is the deal with Jupiter Ascending? We will answer these questions and more in today’s Rampant Speculation.

HBO- First off, because this is the news that may have incited dolphin noises from me when I saw it in my Facebook feed this morning, Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Black Swan) is adapting Margaret Atwood’s “MaddAddam Trilogy” (“Oryx and Crake”, “The Year of the Flood” & “MaddAddam”) as a series for HBO! This news is amazing. I have been longing for someone to translate the trilogy for the screen and the fact that not only is it getting the full HBO treatment but that Darren Aronofsky is charge, with Margaret Atwood involved as a consulting producer, makes me very excited. Deadline initially released the news and Margaret Atwood later posted it on her Facebook page.

“HBO has announced the production of a new series based on best-selling author Margret Atwood’s “MaddAddam Trilogy”, to be directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan). Details on the timing of the “MaddAddam” adaptation are to be determined. This is a continuation of Aronofsky’s exploration of religion and survival, having just directed and released his biblical epic, Noah, a vivid rendering of the biblical flood story.”

Please TV gods, this really needs to be awesome.

Avatar 2, 3, & 4: James Cameron spoke at the LA Times’ Hero Complex Film Festival about the process of writing the next three films in the Avatar series and here is what he had to say via Slashfilm.

“We tried an experiment. We set ourselves a challenge of writing three films at the same time. And I could certainly write any one of them but to write three in some reasonable amount of time – we wanted to shoot them together so we couldn’t start one until all three scripts were done and approved. So I knew I was going to have to “parallel process” which meant I would have to work with other writers. And the best experience I had working with other writers was in television when I did Dark Angel. The television room is a highly collaborative, fun experience.

So we put together three teams, one for each script. The teams consist of me and another writer on each one of the three [films]. So I’m across all the films and then each one of them would have their own individual script they were responsible for. But what we did that was unique was we sat in the writing room for five months, eight hours a day, and we worked out every beat of the story across all three films so it all connects as one, sort of, three film saga. And I didn’t tell them which one was going to be there’s individually to write until the last day. So everyone was equally invested, story wise, in all three films.

So, for example, the guy that got movie three, which is middle one of this new trilogy, he now knows exactly what preceded and what follows out of what he’s writing at any given moment. We all consider that to be a really exciting, creative and groundbreaking experiment in screenwriting. I don’t know if that necessarily yields great scripts but it certainly worked for us as a process to get our minds around this kind of epic with all these new creatures, environments and characters and all that.

Cause the first thing I did was sat for a year and wrote 1500 pages of notes of the world and the cultures and the different clans and different animals and different biomes and so on. And had a lot of loose thematic stuff that ran through that but I didn’t a concrete story. I wanted to approach it more like, “Guys we’re going to adapt a novel or series of novels.” Because I felt that kind of detail, even if movies can’t ever be that detailed – it can be visually detailed, it can’t be that detailed in terms of character and culture. But you always get this tip of the iceberg kind of thing. You sense it’s there off camera or in the past of the moment that you’re seeing. So I felt that was the way to do it.”

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice– We have a further update on Wonder Woman’s outfit! As reported previously in Rampant Speculation there are some rumors out there that the Amazon Princess’s “super suit” will be based on Jim Lee’s redesign from a few years ago, which includes pants and a kicky jacket. The plot has officially thickened. Batman V Super: Dawn of Justice costume designer Michael Wilkinson tweeted a photo from JCK, the Las Vegas jewelry trade show, of a bracelet and noted it was his favorite thing he’s seen there so far. As Wilkinson was at the trade show scouting for jewelry with the tag #BatmanvsSuperman it is possible that this could end up being his design inspiration for Wonder Woman’s iconic bullet deflecting bracelets. And it looks like something you would get your mom from Neiman Marcus that Christmas after you finally started making some real money.

Dudes, I don’t know. I mean yes there has been a lot of interest in what Wonder Woman’s look is going to be but seriously, can’t they leak anything else about the character besides her clothing and accessories? Ah well, moving on!

Beauty and the Beast: Disney is clearly fully committed to re-envisioning their classic fairy-tale cartoons as life action films and the next to get this treatment will be Beauty and the Beast. Twilight: Breaking Dawn director Bill Condon has been brought on to tell the story of an angry, rude, shut in and the crazy girl he Stockholm Syndromes into loving him and as the man who closed out the epic/crazy love story of Edward and Bella I can see how he could work as director (I kid! Belle is one of my favorite Princesses!).

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- Look who has a new kick ass poster!

Doctor Strange- Despite the ongoing Ant Man drama Marvel Studios is moving full speed ahead with Phase 3 of their plans for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The most recent announcement is that they have chosen the director for Doctor Strange, Variety is reporting that Marvel Studios has tapped Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) to helm the film. With his background in horror Derrickson seems a good choice for the film about “Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme” and his dealings with darkness that which waits and watches from other dimensions.

Now that the director has been announced the next step in the reporting process is throwing out the names of every actor between the ages of 18 & 78 as the potential Stephen Strange. Moviepilot offered a pretty good break down of some possible candidates, with Oscar winner Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club, Requiem for a Dream, My So Called Life) getting the top spot as Marvel Studios rumored favorite.

Guardians of the Galaxy- Vulture is reporting that Thanos with be a consistent presence in the upcoming movie. From the description they are providing  it seems he will be used much the same way the Emperor Palpatine was used in the first Star Wars Trilogy, with the dark mentor/boss dude (In this case Thanos) giving orders via holographic messages to his student/underlings, Ronan the Accuser and Nebula as played by Lee Pace (The Fall, Pushing Daisies) and Karen Gillian (Doctor Who).

Jupiter Ascending: Right now it looks like Jupiter will not be ascending any time soon, as she is currently in a holding pattern. The latest film from Lana and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix, V for Vendetta) and staring Mila Kunis (Black Swan, That 70’s Show) and Channing Tatum (Haywire, Magic Mike) has had its release date pushed pack seven months. The lush space opera was originally due to open on July 18th but Variety has reported that it’s release date was pushed back to February 6th, with the explanation that they needed more time to complete the over 2000 special effects shots in the film. Make of that what you will.

Star Wars: Episode VII- J.J. Abrams is not happy with leaks that have sprung in his production. Over the last week unauthorized set photos have spread all over the web like the flu through a preschool. Gossip Mega-site TMZ has been by far the worst offender, using their mysterious powers and seemingly endless bank account to get a hold photos of the creatures from the film and providing photographic evidence that the beloved piece of junk that has it where is counts, the Millennium Falcon, will be making an appearance in Episode VII.

J.J. was not pleased. In response he posted his own photo asking for privacy on the shoot while also teasing the presence of the famous cargo ship that “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.”

Also in Star Wars news Mark Hamill (Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII) showed off his slightly more Jedi-esque  facial hair and athletic appearance at Disney Worlds wildly popular Star Wars Weekend (June 6th, 7th, & 8th).

That is it for today, I will be back on Monday morning with further Rampant Speculation until then…

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