Call Sheet: THE AVENGERS at Comic-Con, Brad Pitt in WORLD WAR Z, Jim Carrey, Katherine Heigl, Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton

Call Sheet: THE AVENGERS at Comic-Con, Brad Pitt in WORLD WAR Z, Jim Carrey, Katherine Heigl, Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton

Jul 26

Call Sheet: A weekly run-down of movie casting news and rumours from around the web.

Comic-Con 2010 is underway in San Diego leading the way with most headlines across the web this week. Amongst all the preview footage, panels, exhibitions and guest appearances, only a handful of casting news has trickled out of the convention.

Without a doubt the biggest casting news out of Comic-Con came when the cast of The Avengers movie gathered on stage, live, in person, causing fans to go into shock-gasm at the pure awesomeness of the occurrence. Or so I’m led to believe. I’ll get excited if the film itself actually turns out to be any good. On stage were: Clark Gregg as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Hemworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, and then Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) showed up and announced Mark Ruffalo will indeed be playing the new Bruce Banner/HULK, and Jeremy Renner will be Hawkeye. I have no doubt these silly hero names are fucking awesome if one is aware of the comic.

News that I actually did get excited about was that of Brad Pitt attaching himself to star in the movie adaptation of the Max Brooks apocalyptic zombie novel World War Z. It was common knowledge that Pitt’s production company Plan B had purchased the rights, but now that it is official Pitt will be the leading guy, a distributor and green-lit script seems likely. Brooks himself told MTV of the news.

Disney released a statement, detailing how director Guillermo del Toro surprised the 6,500 fans gathered at his Comic-Con panel with the announcement that he is currently developing a new film based on the classic Disney theme park attraction, The Haunted Mansion. Apparently it’s going to be fun for the whole family, but still scary. So really, not scary. At all.

Heat Vision notes that Simon Pegg is in talks to likely return as his MI:3 character Benji Dunn in Mission Impossible 4, should Paramount decide to green-light it. Any day now.

Slashfilm landed the scoop from producer Roy Lee that Tim Burton will be directing Universal’s ‘adaptation’ of Monsterpocalypse. What the fuck is Monsterpocalypse, you ask? I had no idea either… Apparently it’s a kaiju-themed collectible miniatures board game that involves battles against a variety of enemy monsters that take place in a metropolis. Paint it black, Tim.

Cinemablend talked to Anchorman director Adam McKay who confirmed there will be no Anchorman 2. Thank fuck for that.

Shocktilyoudrop reports that Daniel Radcliffe will star in a 3D supernatural thriller adaptation of Susan Hill’s novel The Woman In Black. It’s being produced by Hammer Films, the same company behind Let Me In. So long as he doesn’t wear glasses, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Variety reveals that Sam Raimi will be direct and produce Earp: Saints For Sinners, a modern-day reimagining of the classic western hero, Wyatt Earp. It’s based on the graphic novel of the same name created by Matt Cirulnick (who is also writing the screenplay) and David Manpearl. So much for Oz: The Great And Powerful and World of Warcraft (for now).

Deadline reports that Larry Charles (Borat, Bruno, Religulous) has signed on to direct Jim Carrey in the comedy Pierre Pierre. Carrey plays an obnoxious Frenchman who transports a stolen painting from Paris to London.

Finally, THR notes actress Katherine Heigl will star in Andy Tennant’s Adaline, a film about a young woman, born at the turn of 20th century, who is rendered ageless after an accident. I suspect it’s a romantic dramadey and Katherine will look stunning.