Personally, I cannot wait until Saturday’s Marvel panel at San Diego Comic Con. Hopefully, at that panel, we’ll get a definite answer to all these casting rumors once and for all.

The latest rumor making the rounds on Twitter is that Adrien Brody’s name has been attached to role of Hank Pym, a.k.a. Ant-Man in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man film.

Does this mean Nathan Fillion is out? Was he ever in? Or is Ant-Man like Queen Elizabeth I or Steve Prefontaine that it can support two actors playing the same role so close in succession. The carefully worded tweets in question might give us a little clue.

This rumor is reported by Bleeding Cool’s Brendon Connolly, quoting tweets from two prominent film bloggers.

The first up is John Campea, formerly of The Movie Blog and now in charge of AMC’s Script to Screen. 

Personally, I like the “take it for what it’s worth” caveat. That’s covering yourself. But it wasn’t necessary because it was later confirmed by El Mayimbe of Latino Review:

My thoughts on the matter?

1. Adrien Brody os an Academy Award winner. But while there are Oscar winners who are recognized for consistently good work (Your Meryl Streeps, Your Jack Nicholsons, Your Denzel Washingtons, Your Morgan Freemans), there are others either through poor post-Oscar role selection or them just not being that good of an actor (your Mira Sorvinos, your Cuba Gooding Jrs, your Hallie Berrys, your Roberto Benignis, your Nicolas Cages) where the Oscar win seems to be more of a fluke. I think Brody falls into the latter category
2. Campea makes a point that Brody would play Ant-Man for Edgar Wright. This could be interpreted as Ant-Man is not in The Avengers, or the Ant-Man in The Avengers could be portrayed by another actor or a flaw came up with Marvel’s casting of Fillion. Since Nathan Fillion already pretty much confirmed that Hank Pym would be in Joss Whedon’s film,  that leaves the other two. I doubt that Marvel, a company that is trying to build continuity between all of its franchises, would allow two actors play the same role in the same continuity twice. Since we are now facing an Ed Norton-less Bruce Banner, having Fillion and Brody both play Hank Pym would be silly. I hope this doesn’t mean Fillion is out. I doubt that contract could be an issue. I could see, however, Marvel going with Brody having more prestige and name recognition. If that is true, and this is all just speculation on my part, it’s the kind of thing that makes you say “grrr”
3. El Mayimbe’s tweet quotes Brody’s agency as they were “pursing”, which I take to mean pursuing, Ant-Man, not the other way around. I read this like Brody wants to play Ant-Man and is trying to sell Marvel on the idea. So the Fillion could still be valid. And if this whole leak was a way for Brody’s people to get the idea of the actor as Ant-Man out their hoping the public would be all abuzz in a good way over the casting (not saying it is, I have no inside information), it didn’t work for me. I’d prefer a charismatic actor in the role over an idiosyncratic one any day.

But I stress to say that this is all rumor. It’s just as likely actor other than Brody or Fillion would be announce for the role, or no announcement be made what so ever. Regardless, we should find out in four days.

1. Marmaduke (Fox, 3,213 Theaters, 87 Minutes, Rated PG): Okay, I am not what you call a fan of the  Marmaduke comic strip. The only enjoyment I get from it is reading Josh over at Comics Curmudgeon compare the dog to a flesh-eating, demon beast.

But I have read the strip and I can say in no uncertain terms that Marmaduke does not talk. DOES NOT TALK!!!

I know that with the success of Garfield and Alvin and the Chipmunks, the market for talking cartoon animals is through the roof. But why go and adapt a comic strip, no matter how lame it is, to the big screen if you are going to change the basic elements of it to make it fit. This film didn’t need to be based on Marmaduke. It could have been a truly original concept about a really big talking dog. Because whatever good will and audience the film will get will be shot once Owen Wilson’s voice comes out of the dog’s mouth.

Besides that, it looks completely awful.

2. Killers (Lionsgate, 2,859 Theaters, 100 Minutes, Rated PG-13): Katherine Heigl seems to be channeling her inner Goldie Hawn for this flick, being part ditz/part savvy. This is not a bad thing and makes me more responsive to this film that any of her previous efforts.

Another selling point is Ashton Kutcher, who has dial back the pompous assness he usually bring with him to any film he does.

The plot involves a woman who is swept off her feet by the man of her dreams, only to find out that he is a spy and has a hit out on him. Instead of going on their honeymoon, they go on the run.

I think this has the potential to be a slice above the normal romantic/action comedy. But , then again, with the track record of the people involved, that isn’t a given.

3. Get Him To The Greek (Universal, 2,696 Theaters, 109 Minutes, Rated R): This film is the ipso facto sequel to 2008′s Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Why ipso facto? Because this film has made a few major changes.

Russell Brand’s Aldous Snow was in both movies, but in the former, he was a spacey, self-centered, narcassistic twit, and in this one, he is a drug-addled, flighty, childlike twit. There might not seem to be that much difference between the two, but it is telling when you see it in action.

At least Brand is playing the same character. In the first movie, Hill played a creepy, obsessive fan by the name of Matthew the Waiter. In this film, he is still a fan of Snow’s, but is a record executive by the name of Aaron Green.

I don’t know why they felt the need to change the characters around so much. There was potential for a caper film with the characters from the first movie staying just the way they are. Well, anyway.

Look for a possible cameo by FBOL head honco Rich Drees during one of the concert scenes. If you see someone who looks like an emaciated Bruce Campbell, that is probably him.

4. Splice (Warner Brothers, 2,450 Theaters, 104 Minutes, Rated R): The “Scientists thumbing their nose s at science only to have sciene thumb it back at them hard” scenario has been a horror convention for as long as there has been horror. So powerful is the plot that is still alive today.

Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley play scientist forbidden from practicing their brand of science–cloning people. The pair decide to scoff at the law and combine human and animal DNA to create a new lifeform. Said lifeform grows up into a mythological-like creature who has major issues with its parents. Chaos and destruction ensues.

This film seems to have all the elements that makes this kind of story a winner. Unfortunately, it’s coming out on a very busy weekend. And how could anything in this film ever match the horror that is Marmaduke?

Adrien Brody and Topher Grace will be joining Danny Trejo in fighting Predators, the Robert Rodriguez-producedreboot of Twentieth Century Fox’s science-fiction franchise.

According to the Hollywood Reporter-

Brody is a man who ends up inheriting the mantle of leader and is known as a hunter of men. Grace would play an accountant-type whose unassuming facade masks a dangerous serial killer.

Joining the Brody , Grace and Trejo on their unasked for trip to the Predator homeworld are Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The 4400), Walt Goggins (The Shield) and UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov. Production is set to start soon with a release date already set for July 9, 2010.

Admittedly, neither Brody or Grace are the first actors to spring to mind to headline a film in a franchise best known for having featured Arnold Schwarzenegger. But I think thatis what makes the choices work. No one will ever be able to match the impression Arnold makes in the film, so the best course of action is to not even try. From the simple, one line description of each character, the both sound dangerous in their own way. Grace has already shown us a bit of a dark side in his work in Spiderman 3.

Now all that remains to be seen who will, like Schwarzenegger and Predator co-star Jessie Ventura, will run for state governor later on.

Opening the 45th annual New York Film Festival tomorrow is the latest film from Wes Anderson, The Darjeeling Limited. Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Adrian Brody are three estranged brothers on a cross-country train trip in India hoping to renew their relationship through some “life-changing experience” or “spiritual awakening.” The film is typical Anderson, and I mean that in the best possible way. Click here for my full review.