Smallville, Garfield 2, X-Men 3: The Comic Reel Wrap for August 12th

CBR

By Hannibal Tabu

Published Aug 12, 2005

Lex gives himself to the dark side, Bill Murray gets furry one more time, and people are intent to make Halle Berry happy, cape and all, in the week's last look at links, lies and legends.

SMALLVILLE

It's barely news, but Lex Luthor is heading closer to his dark destiny, and given this promotional image over at Kryptonsite, he wants you and Clark to come along. Yeah, it's a slow news day, what of it?

GARFIELD

Several outlets, including Moviehole are reporting that legendary actor Bill Murray will once again lend his vocal talents to the animated lasagna loving cat for a sequel. What? That's it, move along ...

X-MEN 3

According to Variety's new magazine V Life, Halle Berry was tired of fan pressures about her role as Storm, speaking before she signed on. "I suffered through the two movies where die-hard fans would come up to me and say, 'How come you let them make Storm wimp out all the time?'" she said. "As if I have any control. Last time I asked them to let Storm do something more than drive the plane, and she drove the plane. Storm is a formidable fighter in the comic books; she has a cape and can fly. I've never flown anywhere in two movies except behind the wheel of that plane. I'd hate to not be part of the final film, but I won't spend five months standing around, even though we all stand to get paid a lot of money this time."

Screenwriter Zak Penn is certain Ms. Berry will be pleased. "As one of the writers of the last film, I'd say it's true she ended up with mostly exposition and plane-flying," Penn said. " "There was a whole sequence at the beginning of the last film that showed the origins of her character in Africa, and it got cut simply because there are 14 characters to service. But 'X3' has a couple of big twists, and Storm is right in the center of them. The fact that Halle is a very good actress who was underused compounds the wish for her to have a better role."

THAT'S A WRAP

If you have the scoop on anything related to comic book movies, TV adaptations or just want to give us a briefcase full of cash, no questions asked, drop us a line and let's coordinate. You can choose an alias if you'd like, or be mentioned by name -- we honor requests for anonymity. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is your humble scribe Hannibal Tabu saying thanks for your time and indulgence, whadda ya mean you haven't bought a copy of my novel yet, and "don't blame me, I'm drunk too!"