SPIDER-MAN 3

Actor James Franco told MTV that he was heading back in front of the cameras. "The next thing I'm shooting?" Franco said. "Re-shoots on 'Spider-Man.'" Revealing that director Sam Raimi has put out the call for "more action," Franco said he's being called back to the set of the blockbuster. "Probably next month," he added.

TRANSFORMERS

What pictures were they talking about in the live interview? Faithful reader Mark Brooks knew, and he emailed us the link to get very early concept images of "Incinerator" (probably Blackout), Optimus Prime, Scorponok and Starscream.

Those self same images have caused some stir amongst the die-hard fan community, and reader Thom Pratt sent in this link from the Allspark Forums, with a note from producer Don Murphy to the early outrage. "You hate and you haven't SEEN a damn thing yet," Murphy wrote. "Oh sure, Prime doesn't look EXACTLY like he did in the cartoon. The Autobots are only five. The Decepticons don't have Soundwave. There are complaints out the wazoo. Well you know what? I have complaints too. There are things I wanted in this film which are not going to be in there. But I know what some of you know -- filmmaking is not a democracy. Hell, Adam Goodman is in charge of production at Dreamworks. He's the guy who BOUGHT this film. He is working day and night to get this ready for July 07. There are things I know he wishes were in the film. But they aren't. You've talked online here to Brian Goldner. He owns the property but everything is not EXACTLY as he wishes. Tom Desanto is the most devoted producer out there- I know there are things he wishes were in there. You saw that Alex and Bob didn't get everything they wanted. And Michael Bay, who spends 16 hour days shooting this mega-film? Michael Bay who sets up every shot himself and oversees to the point of operating the camera at times? He's made a zillion compromises to get a great film he can be happy with. No, filmmaking is a series of happy accidents ... No one is trying to make anything but a great film here. When I say you haven't SEEN anything, think about it. You've seen a toy mold. A truck still. A Bumblebee model with a guy underneath it."

QUIET ON THE SET

Crikey, what a slow news day. Well, here's where you get in on the action. Did you see a link we didn't catch? Have you snuck into a closed movie set, and have inside data? Maybe your cousin is dating somebody who knows something, and they had to tell you? Whatever it is, we wanna know it all -- fire off an email and let us know whether you want your name used or your contributions to geekdom to go down anonymously. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is novelist/karaoke host/all-around lunatic Hannibal Tabu saying thanks for your time and indulgence, and [tagline sent back to development hell until something hipper can be dreamed up].