Gallifreyone has revealed that Veteran Brit actor Richard Briers is set to appear in series two of Torchwood, the Doctor Who spinoff show that follows a team of investigators tackling alien threats in present day Cardiff.

The actor shared the news during an interview on BBC News 24 and said the script that he’d read scared him. In addition to this, in an interview with Michael Parkinson on BBC Radio 2 he added that he will play a 90 year old man ‘rehearsing for the end’.

Briers is best known for playing Tom Good in the classic BBC sitcom, The Good Life and has spent much of his career in theatre work, including appearances in plays by Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw.  Briers also appeared in films such as Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and was Polonius in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet. In the classic series of Doctor Who, he appeared with the 7th Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, in the 1987 story called Paradise Towers, where he played The Chief Caretaker.

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Posted in Doctor Who, Television •

Following the recent news about the appearance of Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), the trend to cast actors in Smallville who have been involved in other avenues of the Man of Steel’s universe continues.

Now former Supergirl star Helen Slater has signed on to appear as the aunt of Smallville’s recently cast Supergirl (Laura Vandervoort).

Slater will appear in the sixth episode of the upcoming season, two weeks after ex-Superman Dean Cain is scheduled to appear. The late Christopher Reeve also famously appeared as Dr.Virgil Swann in series 2 of the hit show that focuses on Superman’s early years.

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Posted in Television •

Forbes reports that French video game developer Gameloft have signed a distribution deal with Paramount Pictures to create a mobile game adaptation of the forthcoming Beowulf movie. The Paris-based outfit will develop, publish and distribute the game in over 75 countries.

‘Beowulf is not only one of the greatest legends, but now it will be brought to the silver screen and we’re excited to work on the mobile game adaptation’ said Gameloft’s president, Michel Guillemot.  The game should be available to download this November, when Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf movie hits theaters. Judging by Gameloft’s current prices, it should only cost around 3 euros ($4.11) to play the troll-hacking Geat warrior.

Posted in Movies, Sci-Tech & Video Games •

Riding on the back of the 70s TV nostalgia wave generated by Life on Mars, Hollywood News reports that Nick Love (The Fooball Factory) is adapting the hit British 1970’s TV show The Sweeney for the big screen.

It looks like Ray Winstone is set to star as Jack Regan, the tough, no-nonsense DI played by John Thaw in the original TV show.  Love is co-writing the screenplay for the big-screen adaptation with original series creator Ian Kennedy Martin.  Although the role of George Carter, originally played by Dennis Waterman, has yet to be cast, it should be noted that Danny Dyer has appeared in all of Love’s previous movies.

The Sweeney was the first really modern British TV police-based series and depicted a police force that were brutal and violent in dealing with London’s hardened criminals, prone to cutting corners and bending laws. The series showed a side of the police which often had a disregard for authority, rules and the ’system’, as long it got the job done.

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Posted in Movies •

A tipster at AICN has claimed that Tom Hanks could be set to play Guy Montag, the book-burning fireman in Frank Darabont’s take on the classic Ray Bradbury novella Fahrenheit 451.

The story takes presents in a future in which all books are banned and critical thought is suppressed. Guy Montag, is employed as a fireman and the 451 degrees Fahrenheit of the title is the temperature at which book-paper catches fire, and burns.

The story was originally published as a shorter novella, The Fireman, in the February 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.  A film adaptation, by François Truffaut, was released in 1966.

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Posted in Movies •

AICN has managed to lay their hands on the official cast breakdown for the upcoming Star Trek franchise reboot.  It reads as follows:

STAR TREK
Feature Film
SAG
PARAMOUNT PICTURES/BAD ROBOT

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Posted in Movies, Star Trek •

Kotaku.com have posted a report from BlizzCon with updates on the upcoming Warcraft movie.

At a panel hosted by Paul Sams and Chris Metzen from Blizzard Entertainment and CEO Thomas Tull and Chief Creative Officer Jon Jashni from Legendary Pictures, press and fans got their first opportunity to find out more about the project.

During the event it was confirmed that:
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Posted in Movies •

A member at The Planet Forum over at BlueTights.net has claimed that they have managed to quiz Superman Returns writer Mike Dougherty about the upcoming sequel, Superman: The Man of Steel.

The ‘Brain’ writes -

‘I am a police officer at the U.S. Capitol. Today while I was making my way through the Capitol, I ran into Mike Dougherty as he was on a tour of the building. I thought he looked familiar, so I asked him if his name was Mike. He looked startled probably because a police officer was asking. He responded, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘You look familiar. Are you Mike Dougherty?’ His eyes lit up and he said, ‘Yes. Do I know you?‘ I told him no and that I was just a huge fan of Superman Returns and appreciated the fact that they put the franchise back on the big screen. He was shocked saying, ‘I never figured anyone would be able to recognize me.’

Now to the good stuff…

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Posted in Movies •