Superman Returns, Priest, Spider-Man 3, Hellboy: June 26th Comic Reel Wrap

CBR

By Hannibal Tabu

Published Jun 26, 2006

The Man of Steel proves that he's worth the name, while a man of the cloth chases the children of the night, Topher Grace chooses headwear, the BPRD gets animated, plus news on the "Blade" series and "Transformers."

SUPERMAN RETURNS

Hollywood Reporter staffer Borys Kit wrote in to alert us to this blog talking in detail about one very complicated an expensive scene in the forthcoming DC adaptation.

PRIEST

Many trades -- including Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian -- are noting that actor Gerard Butler is in talks to play a warrior priest who hunts down vampires in a new film by director Andrew Douglas, adapting a tale from our friends at Tokyopop.

SPIDER-MAN 3

Tons of set reports from this weekend's filming, including a nice shot of Mary Jane hailing a cab at The Brooklyn Record, a video showing Topher Grace's dislike for golf hats at The Slug and of course a description of Cobble Hill action at Superhero Hype.

Meanwhile, actor Thomas Haden Church was very chatty on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," according to Comics Continuum. "I can't declaratively state what arch-villain I am," Church said. "They did say I can say who the guy is, and the guy's Flint Marko. And anybody who knows the comic book knows that Flint Marko has a doppelganging, arch-villainous kind of doppelganger. OK... I may or may not be playing somebody who rhymes with 'handman.' I can't confirm or deny that." Haden Church also talked about bulking up for the role. "When I met with them last year, they said, we probably need you to get in a specific physically state for the movie, do you mind if you take off your shirt," Church said. "I said, 'Not at all.' So I took off my shirt and Sam Raimi, the director, goes, 'We need you to gain about a hundred pounds of muscle.'"

HELLBOY: SWORD OF STORMSFangoria has a new image from the animated feature based on Mike Migola's large-fisted creation, which also includes a plot synopsis that some may consider spoiler-esque.

BLADE

Comics Continuum also has images and log lines from the second and third episodes of the season. The series is slated to premiere Wednesday on Spike TV.

TRANSFORMERSIGN's FilmForce has a tidbit from Hollywood agency Central Casting, which sent out a call for "16-17 year-olds and 18-23 year-olds that look like high school students" who are either SAG or non-union talent for filming July 10-12. This Thursday, there will be an open casting call in Burbank.

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, come on down to Redondo Beach and check out the ,a href="http://www.operative.net/personal/creative/poetry/readings/index.html" target="_blank">poetry open mic I host every Monday night, and [tagline sent back to development hell until something hipper can be dreamed up].