Del Toro’s Crimson Peak releases trailer, SNL 40 lineup, Cotillard joins Assassin’s Creed and castings and images fro Deadpool

Until fairly recently, the gaming adaptation Assassin’s Creed was still set for a ridiculous August 2015 release date, before production and most of the casting, but there was then a eighteen month delay. Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Prometheus, 300, Shame, 12 Years a Slave) will star as a modern day man who’s forced to relive the memories of his ancestors, who are members of an ancient order while Justin Kurzel (Snowtown) directs.

A new addition is Marion Cotillard, the French-born Oscar winning star of Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Big Fish, Two Days One Night, Rust and Bone, Contagion, La Vie en Rose, Midnight in Paris and Public Enemies. She teams with her future Macbeth co-star Fassbender in a undisclosed role.

Safe House star Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller have been lobbying for a greenlight for so long on mutant spinoff Deadpool and it’s finally on its way. On on set image reveals Wade Wilson’s iconic mask, pleasingly not tampered with from the comic book depiction, while some strides are being made in the casting department. Gina Carano (Fast and Furious 6, Haywire) has joined while three time X-Men star Daniel Cudmore will reprise his rule as Colossus.

It came close to topping our most anticipated list for 2015 and we can now reveal the very first look at Crimson Peak. Pan’s Labyrinth’s Guillermo Del Toro brings us this bold new horror entry which sees a young author lured into a reclusive house by her secretive new husband. It stars Mia Wasikowska (Stoker, Maps to the Stars), Tom Hiddleston (Thor, War Horse), Jessica Chastain (Interstellar, Zero Dark Thirty), Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim, Sons of Anarchy) and Doug Jones (Hellboy).

Many Americans will know that this weekend heralds the fortieth anniversary of the sketch show Saturday Night Live and we’ll give a special mention to the phenomenal ensemble of their new special including:

Adam Sandler (actor – Happy Gilmore)
Alec Baldwin (actor – 30 Rock, The Departed, Beetlejuice, The Hunt for Red October)
Amy Poehler (actress – Parks and Recreation)
Andy Samberg (actor – Brooklyn Nine Nine)
Bill Hader (actor – The Skeleton Twins)
Bill Murray (actor – Ghost Busters, Lost in Translation, Groundhog Day)
Billy Crystal (actor – Monsters Inc, When Harry Met Sally)
Bradley Cooper (actor – Guardians of the Galaxy, American Sniper, The Hangover)
Catherine Zeta Jones (actress – The Terminal, Chicago)
Charlie Day (actor – Horrible Bosses, The Lego Movie)
Chris Rock (actor – Madagascar, Top Five)
Christopher Walken (actor – Catch Me if You Can, Pulp Fiction)
Dan Aykroyd (actor – Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers)
Eddie Murphy (actor – Shrek, Beverly Hills Cop)
Edward Norton (actor – Fight Club, The Bourne Legacy, Birdman)
Emma Stone (actress – Easy A, The Amazing Spider-Man)
George Lucas (director – Star Wars, American Graffiti)
Glenn Close (actress – Guardians of the Galaxy, Mars Attacks)
JK Simmons (actor – Whiplash, Spider-Man)
Jack Nicholson (actor – The Shining, The Departed, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Batman)
James Franco (actor – 127 Hours, Spider-Man, The Interview)
Jim Carrey (actor – The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dumb and Dumber)
John Goodman (actor – The Artist, Argo, Monsters Inc, The Big Lebowski)
Kristen Wiig (actress – Bridesmaids, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
Martin Short (actor – Innerspace, !Three Amigos!)
Maya Rudolph (actress – Bridesmaids, Away We Go)
Melissa McCarthy (actress – Bridesmaids, The Heat, St Vincent)
Michael Douglas (actor – The Game, Wall Street, Ant-Man)
Mike Myers (actor – Wayne’s World, Shrek, Austin Powers)
Paul Rudd (actor – Anchorman, Knocked Up)
Robert De Niro (actor – The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Heat, Casino)
Sarah Silverman (actress – School of Rock, Wreck It Ralph)
Sigourney Weaver (actress – Avatar, Aliens)
Steve Martin (actor – Cheaper by the Dozen)
Steven Spielberg (director – ET, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws, Raiders)
Tina Fey (actress/writer – 30 Rock, Mean Girls)
Tom Hanks (actor – Toy Story, Cast Away, Forrest Gump, Captain Phillips, Saving Private Ryan, Big)
Will Ferrell (actor – Anchorman, The Lego Movie, Elf, Step Brothers)
Zach Galifianakis (actor – The Hangover, The Campaign, Into the Wild, Birdman)

Crimson Peak – October

Deadpool – February 2016

Assassin’s Creed – December 2016

Birdman tops Indie Spirit nominations and Andy Serkis discusses Age of Ultron

Andy Serkis is one of Britain’s great innovative actors of the century, providing the iconic roles of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit’s Gollum, Rise/Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Caesar and King Kong. While also starring in the flesh in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, he’s still by far best known for his legendary motion capture work but its unclear which format he shall take for his upcoming works, an unspecified role in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, directing and starring as Baloo in Jungle Book: Origins and a mystery shrouded appearance in Marvel’s blockbuster sequel.

In The Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer Serkis’ part was teased in a single shot in which, bearded, he turns toward the camera. He bares a great resemblance to the Marvel villain Ulysses Klaw, which’d make him the lead antagonist in 2017’s Black Panther alongside hero Chadwick Boseman. As well as this he’s assisting with the film’s mo-cap work with the characters Hulk and Ultron. He’s shed some light on that process.

“We did some work on Ultron,” Serkis reveals to Empire on their visit to his Imaginarium Studio. “On the development of Ultron before James Spader came on board. In terms of movement styles: was he gonna be human-like? Was he going to be robot-like? So we worked with a bunch of different people, from body-popping experts to dancers, to this guy called Neil who’s nearly eight feet tall.”

“We gave Mark weights, we had voice projections so he could do his Hulk roar. On screen we could have a virtual representation of the low-resolution avatar of The Hulk, so he could come out and feel that sense of scale.”

Written and directed by Joss Whedon (Serenity, Buffy and the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story), the sequel stars Robert Downey Jr (The Judge, Sherlock Holmes) as Tony Stark, James Spader (Stargate, Lincoln) as Ultron, Chris Hemsworth (Rush, The Cabin in the Woods) as Thor, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town) as Clint Barton, Chris Evans (Snowpiercer, The Iceman) as Steve Rogers, Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Lucy) as Natasha Romanoff, Mark Ruffalo (Shutter Island, Foxcather) as Bruce Banner, Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla, Liberal Arts) as Wanda Maximoff, Aaron Taylor Johnson (Kick-Ass, Anne Karenina) Pietro Maximoff, Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Margin Call) The Vision, Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) as Maria Hill, Don Cheadle (Crash, Flight) as James Rhodes, Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist, King Kong) as Wolfgang von Strucker, Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting, Melancholia) as Erik Selvig and Samuel L Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, The Incredibles, Django Unchained) as Nick Fury.

Followed by Martin Luther King biopic Selma and drumming drama Whiplash, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman, a dark comedy centred on a former but now fledging and arrogant superhero star played by Beetlejuice’s Michael Keaton, is leading the pack in The Independent Spirit Awards with six nominations. The lack of a mention for acclaimed British wartime drama The Imitation Game has caused some controversy (a calculated conspiracy to snub the Brits?). Take a look at the full list.

Best Feature:

Birdman
Boyhood
Love is Strange
Selma
Whiplash

Best Director:

Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Ava DuVemay – Selma
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
David Zellner Kumiko – The Treasure Hunter

Best Screenplay:

Big Eyes
A Most Violent Year
Nightcrawler
Only Lovers Left Alive
Love is Strange

Best Female Lead:

Marion Cotillad – The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi – The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Jenny Slate – Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive

Best Male Lead:

Andre Benjamin – Jimi: All is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman
John Lithgow – Love is Strange
David Oyelowo – Selma

Best Supporting Female:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo – Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz – Stand Clear of Closing Doors
Emma Stone – Birdman

Best Supporting Male:

Riz Ahmed – Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Alfred Molina – Love is Strange
Edward Norton – Birdman
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best Cinematography:

The Immigrant
Birdman
It Felt Like Love
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Selma

Best Editing:

Boyhood
Whiplash
Nightcrawler
A Most Violent Year
The Guest

Best International Film:

Force Majeure
Ida
Leviathan
Mommy
Norte, The End of History
Under the Skin

Robert Altman Award:

Inherent Vice; Director: Paul Thomas Anderson; Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Jena Malone, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon

Special Distinction Award:

Foxcatcher; Director: Bennett Miller; Starring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – May 1st 2015