Rumour Mill: Cloverfield 2, Leading Men and a Tablet

In today's Rumour Mill, we look at giant monsters, a whole slew of casting rumours, and the much talked about Apple special event on January 27th.

Cloverfield was a critical and financial success from a team of young up and comers, and we all know what Hollywood likes to do when something is successful: milk it for all its worth. That's why ever since Cloverfield hit screens in 2008, there have been rumours of a sequel. Yesterday, director Matt Reeves spoke to MTV about his new film Let Me In and the topic of a Cloverfield sequel reared its head:

It continues to percolate. There are ideas that come up and they go away and come back and, to be honest, I can't really tell you whether or not, or how exactly, it will happen, and, in fact, it may happen with me in a very differently capacity. I might not even direct it. It really just completely depends on how things come together. I know that there definitely is an intention to do something, and we really want to do something great, and it just comes down to how things develop. Obviously, J.J. is always busy with a million things, and he's got a personal project that he is really crazy about, in addition to a new TV show, and also he just came off of that little movie called "Star Trek," which was amazing. And, actually, [writer] Drew [Goddard], he just did a movie, which is supposed to be just fantastic, "Cabin in the Woods." All of us would obviously want to find a way for him to work on the film. But everyone is doing stuff. We definitely want to do something, and I know J.J. has some ideas for some things he wants to do too in terms of it, so we'll see how it develops. I truly can't tell you anything beyond that, because it is literally constantly evolving, and it may come out in a form that is completely surprising and very, very different.

So basically he is saying that sometime in the future a film, which may or may not be called Cloverfield 2, may or may not come out and it may or may not involve any of the people from the first film in any of the roles they had on that film. Reeves is obviously being evasive on purpose so he doesn't commit himself to anything, but to anyone that was a fan of Cloverfield this is good news. The fact that the project is still being talked about and considered is a good thing, much better than Reeves flat out saying it ain't going to happen.

Whether or not a Cloverfield follow up is necessary is another thing. Half the enjoyment of Cloverfield came from the relatively unique viewing experience where audiences were constantly surprised by what was going on and couldn't guess what would happen next. It had an intensity and realness to it. Some of that would probably be lost in a sequel as it has lost its mystery. Another issue that would come up for the sequel would be the hand held filming style that divided the original's audiences.

The Spider-Man re-boot continues to make waves around Hollywood, finding itself in the news nearly everyday since it was announced. Most of that news has centered around two things: who will direct and who will star. The director question has been answered (Marc Webb) but we are still no clearer on who will play the lead.

Rumours have stretched far and wide in regards to the casting of Peter Parker. Actors like Robert Pattinson, Joseph-Gordon Levitt, Jim Sturgess and Michael Cera have all been linked to the role, but a Hollywood Reporter article containing some details for the movie has squashed these rumours. The movie will look to cast relative unknowns and focus heavily on Peter as a high school kid. So expect to see some young up-and-coming guy from a fairly unknown movie or TV show to come in and take the role.

The more I hear about the project the harder it is for me to make up my mind about it. The same article says the film will have an $80 million budget and focus on the Ultimates storyline where villains took a backseat to the dramas of growing up as a teen and angst of knowing you could have saved your uncle from death. The story and budget seem suited to Webb and I think he would work well with some unknowns, but this is Spider-Man and a comic book movie so there is an expectation of ass-kickery and general coolness which this project may be lacking.  

Another movie which has been hitting the headlines a lot in regards to the casting of its leading man is Guillermo Del Toro's The Hobbit. British tabloid The Sun ran an article which stated that Tobey Maguire had definitely been given the role of Bilbo Baggins after he was dropped from Spider-Man by Sony. Maguire had been rumoured as being cast for a while and while the star himself had said nothing official had happened, he didn't rule himself out of the running. Unfortunately for Maguire, the story was false with both Del Toro and Peter Jackson contacting Ain't It Cool News to debunk the article. Jackson said, "No truth at all, although we're all big fans of Tobey. We are currently auditioning for Bilbo, and [are] a month or two away from any announcements," while Del Toro dimply said "It's not true". Once again it doesn't completely rule Maguire out, it just states that he hasn't been signed yet and that they are still auditioning for the role.

Meanwhile Maguire is facing competition on the Bilbo front as rumours are now spreading that Doctor Who star David Tennant is now in the running to play Bilbo. The probability of this rumour is very slim as it is based on some tweets regarding Simon Pegg's Burke and Hare. Tennant left the production and Andy Serkis (Gollum in LOTR) has come in to replace him. One fan believes that Simon Pegg's tweet “Looks like David Tennant will be visiting Middle Earth” was the reason why he left Burke and Hare. However there is no evidence of that tweet ever happening. The folks over at Latino Review tried searching for it and found no trace of it and the reader who posted it has no evidence either. Therefore this rumour is being treated for what it is: bullshit.

The final rumour of the day is about Apple. Ever since they announced that they are having a super secret press conference on the January 27, people have been speculating that this will be the unveiling of the next big thing from Apple: the "iSlate". The "iSlate" is reportedly a tablet device that will incorporate touch-based gaming capabilities similar to the iPhone. That sort of thinking has been sent into overdrive as the Wall Street Journal is reporting that "Apple is also working with videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc. to show off the tablet's game capabilities." It'll be interesting to see what caliber of game is showcased on the tablet, whether it is something more akin to an actual PC's capabilities or something in-between an iPhone and a PC. Spectators will also be watching to see what other features the "iSlate" will have. Either way we should find out on the 27th whether it truly is the unveiling of Apple's tablet device, and if so, just how good it is.