Access Week In Geek (July 2, 2010)

A new web-slinger has finally been found! Alice Eve moves to the head of the “Class.” Plus, a look at Wonder Woman’s modern day makeover! It’s all in the latest Week In Geek…

SPIDEY REBOOT FINDS ITS PETER PARKER

Andrew Garfield’s life changed mere minutes before a presentation yesterday in Cancun, Mexico held by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The (as of now) little known 26-year-old Brit was announced as the new Peter Parker in the “Spider-Man” reboot set for a July 3, 2012 release. The Marc Webb-directed film will be shot in 3D and reportedly be budgeted in the $80 million range, a far cry from the cost of “Spider-Man 3” which may have ballooned above $250 million when the dust settled. To put it in perspective, the scaled down numbers for the new Spidey film place it in the budget range of what “Sex and The City 2” and “Grown Ups” ended up costing their studios to make. So that probably means the filmmakers are pretty serious about focusing on high school teen angst over extended FX-laden action sequences.

ALICE EVE IN TALKS FOR “FIRST CLASS”

Alice Eve (“She’s Out of My League”) is in talks to join the rapidly expanding cast of “X-Men: First Class” as Emma Frost, according to Deadline Hollywood. The British blonde bombshell was also reportedly among the finalists for the female lead Peggy Carter in “The First Avenger: Captain America,” but stayed high on Marvel’s speed dial for the Frost role, which would appear to be a fine career choice as well. James McAvoy (“Wanted”) and Michael Fassbender (“Inglorious Basterds”) have already been announced to portray Charles Xavier and Magneto in their early mutant days in the Matthew Vaughn (“Kick-Ass,” “Stardust”) directed prequel to the “X-Men” movie series. The Emma Frost character appeared at the end of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (played by Tahyna Tozzi), as one of the young rescued mutants taken to Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters alongside the teenage Scott Summers/Cyclops.

Also in other Marvel movie news, Tommy Lee Jones has officially enlisted to play General Chester Phillips in “The First Avenger: Captain America,” joining Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, Neal McDonough and Hayley Atwell (who scored the Peggy Carter role). Dominic Cooper has also been confirmed by Marvel Studios to portray Howard Stark (father of Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man/Tony Stark) in the movie, which is set mostly during the World War 2 era. Cooper’s role will serve as a bridge character linking the 1940s and modern day parts of the film using the Stark family tree.

ANDY SERKIS SIGNS ON FOR MORE MONKEY BUSINESS

Andy Serkis, best known for voicing and providing the motion capture movements for Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, has joined the cast of 20th Century Fox’s “Rise of the Apes” as their head chimp, Caesar. Serkis will not have to endure hours in the makeup chair for prosthetics as all the previous actors since 1968 had to do for their simian roles in the “Planet of the Apes” movies. Instead of makeup and a furry costume, Serkis will be once again wearing a skintight body suit with motion sensors that capture and translate his movements into a computer so a photo realistic CGI chimpanzee can be created for the film. WETA Digital (Peter Jackson’s special effects house that provided the FX on “Rings”), will be creating the visuals for “Rise of the Apes.” WETA also used a similar process for 2005’s “King Kong,” trading in the traditional ‘man in a monkey suit’ for a computerized version of the great ape. To no one’s surprise, Jackson recruited Serkis to provide Kong’s movements for his big budget remake, which in turn made him an obvious choice to work with WETA to create Caesar, the Apes’ evolved uprising leader.

WONDER WOMAN’S MODERN DAY MAKEOVER

The New York Times gave us the first look at Wonder Woman’s new modernized costume to coincide with the iconic DC Comics heroine’s revised origins. While other DC characters like Superman and Batman have had relatively minor tweaks and changes to their famous costumes over the years, Wonder Woman’s new look (courtesy of artist Jim Lee) is a drastic street fighter-esque overhaul, adding black long tights, a dark half jacket, a choker and larger armored golden bracelets that cover her hands in addition to her wrists. No word yet on whether her golden lasso will be an accessory.

Recently Lauren Shuler Donner, producer of the “X-Men” films told Collider.com that she is actively campaigning Warner Bros and DC Comics let her bring the Amazon Princess to the silver screen and join her Justice League teammates Superman and Batman at the movies. Certainly this new costume would translate well on film, and probably play better in the real world situations than the swimsuit style costume most famously brought to life by Lynda Carter in the 1970’s “Wonder Woman” TV series.

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