Robert Downey Jr weighs in on Black Widow and LFF line up announced

In just six years, Marvel have introduced and greatly developed seven central characters – Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury – three of whom now have their own mulit-billion franchises. There’s now a great demand for Black Widow, played by Lost in Translation’s Scarlett Johansson, to at last get her own standalone film; she’s so far only had supporting roles in Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Avengers. X-Men and Watchmen’s writer David Hayter and Game of Thrones’ Neil Marshall have both expressed interest in directing the project while Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) has criticised Marvel for not yet confirming the film.

Robert Downey Jr is now weighing in on the discussion. “It just seems like whatever Scarlett does people want to go see it,” the star of Zodiac, Chaplin, Tropic Thunder and Sherlock Holmes explained. “The funny thing is honestly at this point everyone deserves a franchise,” Downey continued. “I think Jeremy Renner is — when folks see the Avengers: Age of Ultron –  he’s just a rockstar. And Ruffalo is pumped. He does great work. I’d like to hear them talk even more seriously about a Hulk franchise, because that’s been one of the toughest ones to get right. But I’m sure that my parent company is feeling expansive and bold after the summer they’ve had.”

The British Film Industry’s London Film Festival (BFI LFF) is back this autumn and at last the full line up has been announced. The festival opens with wartime drama The Imitation Game. Headhunters’ Morten Tyldum directs the biopic of codebreaker Alan Turing. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness), Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean, Never Let Me Go), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Kick-Ass), Charles Dance (Game of Thrones, Gosford Park), Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Stoker) and Rory Kinnear (Skyfall, Southcliffe).

Also featuring in the festival are the following: Sporting drama Foxcatcher, although it is far from its wide release, is already an Oscar favourite after causing a great stir at Cannes. Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) directs the cast of Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller and Mark Ruffalo. Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Judy Greer, JK Simmons, Jennifer Garner and Emma Thompson star in Jason Reitman’s (Juno) comedy Men Women & Children. Timothy Spall is the title character of multi-award winning Mr Turner, from Mike Leigh (Topsy Turvy, Another Year).

Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Mud) may be on her way to a second Oscar with Wild, the new directorial effort from Jean Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club, The Young Victoria). A slightly more mainstream event arrives in the form of epic sequel Monsters: Dark Continent, from first time director Tom Green. The festival’s conclusion will be marked by a screening of WW2 thriller Fury. David Ayer (End of Watch) directs the cast of Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Jason Isaacs.

London Film Festival – October 8th-19th

Black Widow – 2017?

New trailer for Monsters: Dark Continent and first look at Julianne Moore in Hunger Games 3

British film-maker Gareth Edwards made his directorial debut in 2010’s sci-fi/horror/drama Monsters – a major critical success from a micro-budget, mainly dedicated to its homemade yet fantastic special effects. The film, depicting a young couple journeying through the Kaiju infested Infected Zone (a post apocalyptic Mexico), picked up a BAFTA nomination and six British Independent Film nods, including Best Film, Best Leading Actor and Best Director (which it won). Edwards is well on his way to becoming a Hollywood big shot (he directed the new Godzilla you know) but he’s left the directing job to Misfits’ Tom Green for Monster’s sequel Dark Continent, which just unveiled its first proper trailer. The film will star Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones, Skins), Johnny Harris (Atonement, Snow White and The Huntsman) hopefully revive the same epic scale but lo-fi drama of the original.

Finally, we’ve got the first official images from what could be 2014’s biggest movie. Swooping in after this summer’s hype is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, which finally gave a first look at some of its supporting players from previous films as well as the fresh face of Alma Coin (four time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore – Boogie Nights, Magnolia). The film stars Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook), Woody Harrelson (Now You See Me, No Country for Old Men), Sam Clafin (The Quiet Ones), Liam Hemsworth (Paranoia), Jena Malone (Into the Wild), Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right), Jeffrey Wright (Source Code), Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones), Donald Sutherland (MASH), Willow Shields (Beyond the Blackboard), Toby Jones (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Elizabeth Banks (Man on a Ledge) and Stanley Tucci (The Terminal) as well as one of the final few performances of the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master, Capote) – a cast helmed by the directing talent of Francis Lawrence (I am Legend).

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – November 21st

Monsters: Dark Continent – September 26th