TRANSFORMERS

According to Variety (subscription required), "Josh Duhamel, Bernie Mac, John Turturro, Megan Fox and John Robinson are expected to round out the cast. Travis Van Winkle and Shia LeBeouf have already been announced." The DreamWorks-Paramount project, which bears a $100+ million price tag, starts filming later this month under the direction of Michael Bay and is slated to open July 4, 2007.

Meanwhile, producer Tom DeSanto talked to IESB and went on record supporting Frank Welker and Peter Cullen for the roles of Optimus and Megatron.

FANTASTIC FOUR 2

Speaking of the trade, Variety also reports that the Silver Surfer could play a role in the sequel. The decision hinges on whether the studio chooses between a script by X2: X-Men United scribe Mark Frost and another by Don Payne, who scripted Fox/New Regency's "My Super-Ex Girlfriend." According to the trade, Payne's script is the frontrunner and includes the Surfer.

ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL

Superhero Hype has an interview with creator Daniel Clowes where he discusses the upcoming adaptation of his work. "All we got from the short story was the title and the idea of doing something set in art school," Clowes said. "The producer who produced 'Ghost World' had a terrible ordeal getting somebody to make "Ghost World" with that title. These people were like, 'Where's the ghost? I read 80 pages of it and there's no ghost!' She liked [the title] 'Art School Confidential' because it was completely literal. You get where's it set, and you get what it's about. So that's what we have: a title and a place, a setting and that's all I took from there. I told her I could write any number of miniseries about art school, because I had so many thoughts about it and I remember it so vividly. The first thing that popped into my head was, 'What would be the plot of the thing?' I thought about the movie 'High School Confidential,' which is where I took the title, obviously. Basically, Russ Tamblyn is an undercover jock in high school trying to bust up a drug ring, so I thought, 'What if this kind of thing applied to art school?' That would be a much different situation. Originally, that was more of an event that propelled me through the script and then it submerged more and more as my own issues came to the forefront."

THE FLASH/BATMAN BEGINS 2

IESB caught up with directors David Goyer and Christopher Nolan at the 32nd Annual Saturn Awards for a video interview, where each one gave an update on their DC Comics-related film work. Nolan was close lipped and had no comment on Josh Lucas rumors, but Goyer said that he turned in the script for the Flash to producers and the studio will get the script by the end of the month. He still hopes to have Ryan Reynolds attached to the project.

X-MEN 3

Los Angeles' KTLA has a new video clip (Windows Media required) from the movie available for your viewing pleasure. Meanwhile, Superhero Hype has some new production photos from the film.

JUSTICE LEAGUE

Speaking of video clips that are Windows Media only, the Cartoon Network has posted a look at the upcoming episode "Alive."

IRON MAN

Jon Favreau has been talking to everybody about his plans for the adventures of Tony Stark, including Sci Fi Wire. "I want to see a lot of stuff blowing up," Favreau said. "That's part of it. I've always been a big fan of 'RoboCop.' And using today's technology to create a hero that has that kind of, you know, magnitude could be a lot of fun. There's also a whole geopolitical aspect of it that you you don't really see with other superheroes. And the politics are a little more complicated. So it deals with a lot of issues. I hope that we could, on the one hand, make it an enjoyable movie, [and,] on the other hand, explore certain subject matter that you wouldn't normally see in a comic-book movie."

Favreau also got caught in a two-part video interview at IESB.

SMALLVILLE

The Project Mercury blog has been updated with Lex Luthor's chase for Milton Fine, and apparently there are hidden codes within the material, like the earlier Ezra Small materials.

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL

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].