The wait is over. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For has finally found its dame.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog states that Eva Green has signed on to to play Ava Lord in the Sin City sequel.   Both Miller and Rodriguez are fairly high on her, or at least spinning it that way.

“Ava Lord is one of the most deadly and fascinating residents of Sin City,” Rodriguez and Miller said in a statement. “From the start, we knew that the actor would need to be able to embody the multifaceted characteristics of this femme fatale and we found that in Eva Green.”

After both Angelina Jolie and Rachel Weisz passed on it, you mean. The directorial pair pretty much admitted that they were pursuing Jolie for the role.

In my opinion, this is a quite a step down. The role is a not only a major one, but also a difficult one. Ava Lord is presented as the type of woman so alluring that men lose their senses around her and do stupid things around her. But she is also presented as being shrewd and intelligent enough to take advantage of that stupidity to her greatest advantage. In other words, a hyper-charged version of your prototypical femme fatale.

I think Jolie could have done the role in her sleep. Weisz would have been an interesting choice–not perfect, but with potential to be really special. But as for Green? To be honest, I have not seen much of Green’s work. But from what I have seen, she doesn’t appear to be in the same league as Jolie or Weisz. Is Green beautiful? Yes. A good actress? In the right role, yeah. But not dead solid perfect.

Who knows? Maybe I am wrong and Rodriguez and Miller saw more in her than just her willingness to actually take the part. I guess we’ll find out on October 4th of this year.

Back in May, I couldn’t wait to write this column. I started this yearly recap of comic book films mainly as a counterpoint to the number of articles in the mainstream media bemoaning the fact that comic book films exist at all and the journalists who are trying to speed up them going out of favor.

So, when The Avengers broke big, setting all sorts of box office records and becoming not only the highest grossing film of the year, but also the third highest grossing film of all time, I thought 2012 was going to turn out to be one of the best years for comic book films in their entire history.

And it was. But it was also one of the worst years as well.

In the early morning hours of Friday, July 20, James Eagan Holmes entered the crowded Theater 9 of the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora, Colorado. The theater was full of fans eager to be the first to see The Dark Knight Rises, the last film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. They would become victims of one of the most violent crimes in recorded history. Holmes, dressed in armored clothing and carry numerous firearms with him, opened fire in that crowded theater. By the time shooting had stopped, 58 people would be injured, and 12 people would be killed.

It is impossible to talk about the year in film in any context without talking about the Aurora shootings. The joy of seeing a film in a crowded theaters full of your fellow fans is forever tainted. This type of exuberant film fan became prey that night.

Now, four months on, it is still easy to look back on that night and see only the darkest part of human nature. An evil man methodically came up with a way to kill as many people as he could. It doesn’t get more sinister than that.

But I found that when great darkness shows its face to the world, there is always a bright and shining light that rises up to greet it. It’s natural to focus on Holmes and his despicable acts. But I also look towards the example of Matt McQuinn, who shielded the bodies of his girlfriend and brother with his own, sacrificing his life to save theirs. I look to Jarell Brooks, a young man who was wounded getting a woman and her two small children, people he didn’t know, to safety. I look to Emma Goos, who stayed in the theater to tend to the wounds of an injured victim while the shooting was going on. I look to All C’s Comics Collectibles, the Aurora comic shop that started the Aurora Rises charity to help benefit the victim’s and their families and I look to the numerous comic artists and writers that helped make that charity an ongoing endeavor  I also look to Christian Bale, who, on his own with no fanfare and publicists in tow, visited the Aurora area after to shootings to give his fans whatever comfort he could.

Yes, the Aurora shooting gave us a glimpse of the worst that humanity had to offer, but it also gave us a glimpse of the best that humanity has to offer as well. And while we filmgoers will never be free of the paranoia that night in July caused (especially when just two weeks ago a plot to do a similar shooting in Missouri during a showing of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 was, thankfully, stopped before it could be put into fruition), we should never let that fear stop us from doing the things we enjoy. We might never be able to stop bad things from happening, but we can always be there to help each other out when they do.

Now that I’ve said what I needed to say on that, let’s go back to the frivolous world of comic book films.

List taken from BoxOfficeMojo.com (http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2012&p=.htm)

As of last night, comic book adaptations hold three of the top five spots on the yearly highest grossing films list. I’m sure Skyfall and the aforementioned Breaking Dawn, Part 2 might have some say if The Amazing Spider-Man stays in the Top 5, but even if it does fall out, we will have three comic book adaptations in the Top 10. And that has never happened. The closest we came to that was in 2008 when The Dark Knight and Iron Man were one and two and the original superhero comedy Hancock was number four. Add to that the fact that a sequel to another comic book adaptation, Men in Black 3, was #11 this year and you have a very good year for the comic book film.

Even Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, a film with a well-deserved 18% fresh over at Rotten Tomatoes and which debuted an underwhelming third in its opening weekend was able to make over $132 million worldwide against a $57 million dollar budget. Yes, I am a fan of comic book movies and even I am stunned by that fact. That’s why Nicolas Cage keeps on getting to make movies.

The only true flop of this year’s six comic book adaptations was Dredd, whose $30,931,946 worldwide take was considerably less than its $50 million budget. I can only assume that the Sylvester Stallone version killed just about any interest anybody might have had in the character, which was a shame. I found the film a faithful adaptation of the original source material which held up well as a film on its own.

As lucrative as this year was for the comic book film, it is a year in flux. The Avengers marked the end of the first phase of Marvel’s film slate, and Phase 2 begins next year with Iron Man 3 in May and Thor: The Dark World in November. It will be interesting if they can carry any Avengers momentum over into those releases, or will fans force the studio to prove itself all over again.

And The Dark Knight Rises closes the Nolan era on DC/Warners’ Batman property. They start anew with their Superman franchise with The Man of Steel in June. There’s a lot riding on this new take on the character, as Warners is looking to not only get a franchise to replace Nolan’s Batman films on their docket, but also potentially use the film as a springboard into their planned Justice League film and to bring other DC comic heroes to the big screen.

In addition to those three films, there are at least nine other comic book adaptations scheduled for next year, including Hugh Jackman returning as Logan in The Wolverine, sequels to Red, Kick-Ass,300 and Sin City, and properties from publishers such as Dark Horse, Boom! and other smaller companies. 2012 proved that people still are willing to go to see comic book films. However, odds are that not all of the films released next year will be great successes, so we can expect the mainstream doubters to start the chorus of the comic book films doom next year. But for now, let’s bask in the highs the comic book film rose to, and take a moment to contemplate the lowest lows they experienced this year.

When I first read The Green Mile in its original, monthly serialized form, I was struck by two thoughts. First, that it would make one hell of a movie. Second, that it would be unlikely to ever become one, because it would be nigh impossible to cast the character of John Coffey, the black 6′ 8″ hulking simpleton who was falsely accused of the rape an murder of two young white girls in the novel.

Michael Clarke Duncan was three inches shorter than John Coffey, but other than that he was perfect for the role. He had been an actor for five years prior to landing the role, typically in small roles as bouncers (in Married With Children, Bulworth and A Night at the Roxbury) or guards of one sort or another (in Back in Business, Living Single and The Players Club) in a number of films and TV shows. Arguably, his largest role prior to The Green Mile was as a member of Bruce Willis’ crew in Armageddon.

But his playing John Coffey was a thing that happens all too rarely in Hollywood–the absolutely ideal marriage of an actor and role. His physical appearance matched the fearsome and imposing figure Stephen King described in his novel, but  Duncan’s acting captured the nuanced characterization–the sweet innocence and simple nature–that King wrote into the character. It’s telling that in a film where awards season favorites such as Tom Hanks, David Morse, Patricia Clarkson, James Cromwell and Sam Rockwell gave bravura performances, Duncan was the only member of the cast to get a Oscar nomination (for Best Supporting Actor, which he lost to Michael Caine for Cider House Rules).

Unfortunately, while Hollywood has no shortage of roles that Duncan’s physical presence would be ideal for, few of these roles would play up to his acting talents. Regardless, he would fulfill his dream of becoming a working actor, typically in science-fiction and comic book genre films.

He played Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin, in 2003′s Daredevil, played Manute in 2005′s Sin City, and voice the alien trainer Kilowog in 2011′s Green Lantern. In addition, he had pivotal roles in 2001′s Planet of the Apes, 2002′s The Scorpion King, and 2009′s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

Duncan would also appear in a number of comedies, notably 2000′s The Whole Nine Yards, 2006′s Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby and School for Scoundrels, and 2009′s The Slammin’ Salmon. And his deep baritone lent itself to voice overwork in animation and numerous video games.

In a multi-part series, Comic Book Film Editor William Gatevackes will be tracing the history of comic book movies from the earliest days of the film serials to today’s big blockbusters and beyond. Along with the history lesson, Bill will be covering some of the most prominent comic book films over the years and why they were so special. This time, the Bat-franchise goes back to the beginning with Batman Begins and to the Academy Awards with The Dark Knight.

After the debacle that was Batman & Robin, Warner Brothers was looking to start over at square one. Joel Schumacher thought that was an excellent idea, and said as much in a 1998 interview with Entertainment Weekly:

It’s unlikely the studio will stick with the shticky tone of Batman & Robin. But if it does, count Schumacher out. ”The only way I would do another Batfilm is if we went back to the basics,” says Schumacher. His ideal Batman movie would be based on Miller’s Batman: Year One, a prequel to The Dark Knight Returns, a no-frills account of Batman’s first year of crime fighting. ”It would be nice to take the bigger-is-better concept out of it,” he says, ”and just go pure.”

Schumacher had originally wanted to adapt Frank Miller’s legendary origin redo when he signed on for Batman Forever, but Warners’ executives, wanting a more kid accessible piece, ignored his wishes. They would ignore his wishes again. But this time, it would be with him doing a reboot based on Batman: Year One.  The studio thought that was a good idea, but were looking to Miller and director Darren Aronofsky to handle it.

While this seemed like a comic fans’ dream—Miller co-writing a script with a hot, up-and-coming director in Aronofsky—it was not meant to be. The version of Miller’s script I read had more in common with his Sin City comics than his 1987 storyline that the film was named after. This version found Bruce Wayne living on the streets, working as a mechanic at a garage in the bad part of town, directly across the street from a whorehouse. It was heavy on violence and adult themes, something that would have been perfect for the Martin Scorcese/Robert DeNiro pairing in the 1970s but ill fitting for a 2000 Warner Brothers studio looking for a PG-13 film to bring in the teens.

The studio, after briefly considering a Batman vs. Superman film, would turn to Christopher Nolan next. Nolan gained much acclaim for co-writing and directing the inventive indie drama, Memento. He was still a relatively unproven director—this film would only be his third big studio film he directed—but Warners made an excellent choice. The film Nolan made, Batman Begins, ranks up there with the best comic book films ever made.

Nolan paired with David S. Goyer, a Hollywood screenwriter with comic book writing experience, to create a film that while wasn’t  directly adapted from any one particular comic book, drew pieces from the overall Batman comic book history to create their narrative. The plot involves Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne’s training to become Gotham City’s protector, eventually saving it from destruction by his former mentor, Ra’s Al Ghul (Liam Neeson).

The entire cast of the film is the best cast any comic book film has had or likely will have. It was chock full of Oscar winners (Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and, eventually, Bale), Oscar nominees (Tom Wilkinson, Ken Watanabe, Neeson) and quality actors like Cillian Murphy and Gary Oldman. Oldman, who would eventually get an Oscar nod too, was especially good as the film’s moral center, James Gordon. Playing against type as a decent, honest man, Oldman gives one of his best, if somewhat underrated,performances of his illustrious career.

It seemed like it would be almost impossible for Nolan to top what he did with Batman Begins, but he did it on The Dark Knight with the help of a spectacular addition to the cast—Heath Ledger.

Heath Ledger’s untimely death of an accidental prescription drug overdose has added a mythic quality to his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight, that his deep immersion in the character scarred his psyche in a manner that led to his overdose (the drugs found in Ledger’s system are commonly used to treat anxiety and insomnia). It feels unseemly even to bring it up, but I do so to make the point that the performance would have been mythic even if Ledger survived.  His Joker is the defining Joker. And I am saying that while having the utmost respect for the work Jack Nicholson and Mark Hamill have done with the character.

The Joker is written in the movie as a force of nature, an agent of chaos. He exists to destroy the fabric of society. He is a cipher—his history is unknown and his motives are unclear.  This is not an easy role to play. It could be the perfect opportunity make it hammy or give a portrayal that was out of place with the film as a whole. Ledger gave a scary, realistic performance that was totally believable. All the posthumous accolades that Ledger received, including becoming the first star from a comic book movie to win an Oscar, are all well deserved.

However, all the accolades that Ledger receives takes away from a great film and the solid performances of the other new additions to the cast—Aaron Eckhart as the tragic figure of Harvey Dent/Two-Face, and Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes (a vast improvement, I must say).

The Dark Knight set yet another impossible task for the next sequel to try and top it. That task begins in a few weeks when The Dark Knight Rises is released.

This film promises to be the last in the series, introducing Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) and Bane (Tom Hardy) into the mix. It looks like Ra’s Al Ghul will be returning as well, either in a flashback or, well, if you knew the comics, you’ll know of another way he could come back. The plot is timely too, supposedly tying into the disenfranchised poor versus the entitled rich that was the basis for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Where the franchise goes from here is anyone’s guess. While Nolan is staying on to produce the next phase of the Batman film life cycle, it looks like whatever comes next will be a fresh start.

Next time, we look at a time when everything Marvel touched cinematically did not turn to gold. In fact, movies were made that we never seen at all.

Robert Rodriguez appeared last night at San Diego Comic-Con to talk about his upcoming projects and his new production company QuickDraw Productions. During the panel, he updated the crowd on a number of his long-discussed projects and we’ve bulletpointed them for you.

• Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again – We’ve already known that Rodriguez has at least one of the two sequels written, and the director announced last night that the sequels have been greenlighted and that a trailer for Machete Kills Again will appear on the end of Machete Kills. No word on a start date for the projects.
• Sin City 2 – Rodriguez once again stated that the script for his follow up to the 2006 adaption of the Frank Miller comic series is ready and contains three stories – the “A Dame To Kill For” story arc from the comics and two new storylines. He stated that the project could start filming this year, but I think that the use of the word “could” makes me suspect that there are a lot of factors that will have to come into play to make that happen. Rodriguez also stated that he would like to film he sequel in 3D as he claims to have found a way “to use 3D that no one’s used before.”
• Heavy Metal – Rodriguez announced his acquiring the film rights to the seminal French anthology comic by stating that it was something he never thought he would be able to get. He stated that he wants to approach the project asboth a film and a large scale media project. Much like the Grindhouse trailer contest yielded up Hobo With A Shotgun, which was then developed into its own movie, Rodriguez wants to give budding filmmakers the chance to make their own Heavy Metal movie and enter it into a competition. If the winner is good enough it just may appear in the actual film. (You can find more information about the contest here.) I guessthis means that the planned David Fincher/James Cameron collaboration is dead.
• Fire And Ice – The planned remake of the Frank Frazetta animated fantasy film is still on track and Rodriguez screened a reel of pre-production art. Rodriguez also stated that he is planning on opening a museum to feature the fantasy artist’s work.

Via Collider.

We continue our look back at the cinematic decade that has just passed with a look at what has become the fastest growing genre of film, the comic book adaptation.

As the 1990s came to a close, things looked grim for the comic book movie. The Batman franchise had been hammered into the ground under the campy hand of Joel Schumacher. The Superman franchise was a distant memory. A successful comic book adaptation was few and far between, usually properties that did fit the typical superhero style, like the morbid revenge fantasy, The Crow, the sci-fi/ comedy, Men in Black, and the horror/ action film Blade. However, two long in development comic properties made their debut in the next decade and would change the world of comic book movies in particular and films in general forever.

Marvel first sold the rights to X-Men and Spider-Man to film studios in the 1980s. Their time spent in development hell is the stuff of legend. A literal who’s who of Hollywood were connected to either film at one time or another. As a matter of fact, Avatar’s James Cameron was attached to both at various points of their planning. Each made it far into the development pipeline. Each had their studios declare bankruptcy and fall apart right underneath them. But it took the new millennium to actually bring them to the screen.

X-Men came first and comic fans waited for it with breathlessly. They greeted each casting announcement with joy (Patrick Stewart is perfect for Professor X!) and trepidation (Russell Crowe doesn’t want to do Wolverine? They lost that Dougray Scott guy? Who is this Hugh Jackman? An actor known mostly for his performance in stage musicals? Ugh!). The characters were not all that well known amongst the general public as Batman and Superman were, but they were enormously popular with the comic fans. The stakes were high.

A character who was well known by the general public was Spider-Man. He was one of the few characters to come close to becoming part of Americana. He had a long history of cartoons, TV shows, toys and merchandise in its history. There was many a person who never held a comic book in their life who could recite the story of how Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider. The stakes were high.

Both movies pleased the hard core fans. They weren’t slavishly faithful to the original books, but they were faithful to the spirit. They were done by creators with histories of quality film work who treated the subject matter with respect. They applied such outlandish concepts as symbolism and metaphor to the films. They were great films that could be enjoyed by all audiences.  But, most importantly, they were resounding financial successes. They showed the studios that comic book movies could be an untapped goldmine for their studios.

This cause an explosion of comic book adaptations to made each year. Before this decade, if you had four comic book films in any given year, you had a lot. Now, if there are only four, it’s a light year for comic book adaptations. They have replaced the sci-fi set pieces and explosion filled action films as the new summer blockbuster. 2009 was the first year since 2001 to not feature a comic book film as one of the Top 10 Highest Grossing Films of the year (X-Men Origins: Wolverine ranked at #11). 

The increased attention to graphic novels and comic books as source material exposed the diversity of medium as an art form. Not every film adapted had spandex-clad superheroes beating the crap out of each other. Independent comics such as Ghost World and American Splendor made their way to the screen. Thought provoking dramas like History of Violence and Road to Perdition got their start as graphic novels. Many non-comic savvy are shocked when they find out these films came from funny books.

Comic book films went from movies that actors such as Russell Crowe would refuse because they feared acting in one would hurt their careers to actors like Heath Ledger acting his heart out on the screen, giving his all to make a comic book villain live and breathe on the screen–and winning an Oscar for it.

But as the comic book film has gotten respect from those that make films, it is another story from some members of the media. Much like the way comic books are viewed as some how being substandard to the rest of printed matter, comic book films are treated as being inferior to other forms of cinema. It is a case of not seeing the trees for the forest. The broad grouping of comic book movies has caused some critics to not view each film on its merits, but instead treat the entire genre with a blanket condemnation.

I have seen a number of “Enough with the comic book movies” statements in magazines and on websites over the last few years. I am puzzled by this attitude. Do they really find The Dark Knight to be totally devoid of value? Are they really unimpressed by Sin City’s visual style? Does the fact that Road to Perdition came from a graphic novel completely invalidate its excellent acting and directing? Granted, there have been a lot of bad comic book movies in the last ten years. But there has also been a lot of bad non-comic book movies as well. If you are going to condemn comic book films by the worst they have to offer, then you’ll have to invalidate film making as a whole due to the simple fact that Meet the Spartans got made.

But if you consider the last ten years of comic book movie dominance to be a horrible phase the film industry has gone through, I hate to disappoint you. There are over 20 comic book film in various stages of development, with films planned to hit theaters well into 2012. The decade of the comic book movie is going to last for at least another two years. Deal with it.

1. Inglorious Basterds (Universal, 3,165 Theaters, 153 Minutes, Rated R): The criticism aimed at Quentin Tarantino’s last effort–”Death Proof” in Grindhouse–was that he played up to his own excesses, that it was too much of a Quentin Tarantino movie.

I wonder what those critics will say about this one. They’ll probably not have to go any farther than the plot, which focuses on a battalion of WWII Jewish-American soldiers who land behind enemy lines, killing and scalping (yes, I said scalping) any German soldier they see.

Granted, this time he is not trying to ape the “grindhouse” style of film, but if anything is a QT film, this one is.

Could it be too over the top? Could the fact that it came together so quickly be to its detriment? Does any of this matter? Because good or bad, there is no other film in theaters quite as interesting as this one.

2. Shorts (Warner Brothers, 3,105 Theaters, 89 Minutes, Rated PG): If you follow either Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez, you know they are friends and frequent collaborators. That means that usually if there is a weekend with a film with each of their names attached, it’s one where they are working on it together.

Not so this week, as they are going head to head with the two films with the biggest theater counts. But even this competition isn’t really competition, as Rodriguez returns to the realm of the kid-friendly flick that he had so much success with doing the Spy Kids franchise. So I doubt people who want to see Inglorious Basterds will go see Shorts instead and I doubt there will be many kids getting into Inglorious Basterds.

The plot for this one is rather simple. A group of kids find a rock that grants wishes. This causes problems not only with the wishes they get, but also with adults who want to steal the rock for themselves.

3. Post Grad (FOX, 1,958 Theaters, 89 Minutes, Rated Pg-13): I wonder if the studios got together to come up with a schedule for this weekend that would entertain the heck out of me, because if they did, it worked. I am amused the heck out of.

This film stars Alexis Bledel, who was one of the stars of Sin City, which was directed by Robert Rodriguez and, you guessed it, Quentin Tarantino. If Frank Miller is in anyway involved with that X-Games Movie, I might just faint.

As for the plot, it is a silly little piffle about a girl who is forced to return home and live with her crazy family after graduating college. I doubt that this will be Hamlet, but with Michael Keaton, Jane Lynch, Carol Burnett, and JK Simmons in the cast, it can’t be all bad. And if you are catching a flick while your kids or younger siblings are watching Shorts, this film is exactly the same length, so you will be out at the same time if both films start at the same time.

4. X Games 3D The Movie (Disney, 1,399 Theaters, 92 Minutes, Rated PG): I really had no problem ignoring the recent X-Games while they were on my ESPN, but you got to hand it to Disney (ESPN’s parent company, by the way) for giving me the opportunity to ignore it one more time.

Yeah, I know that people who participate or watch these “X-Sports” wish they were respected as the athletic competition they are. I just see them as an extreme versions of those skateboarders who knock down old ladies at the mall. It is a sport in a way that NASCAR and Hockey are sports. People watch NASCAR for the crashes, Hockey for the fights, and X-Games for the wipe-outs. Yeah, I know I probably got it wrong, but that’s my opinion.

The question is: how do you get people to come out an buy a ticket for a movie containing events they saw practically for free just a few weeks before? Disney answers by showing the film for one week only (which means I get to ignore it for only one week. Aw shucks!) and in 3-D. I wonder if this will pay off.

And according to IMDB, Frank Miller has nothing to do with this film. So, the string of movie connections ends here.

I know what you are thinking–didn’t Wolverine come from comics? Yes. he did. But in honor of May’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Marvel Comics is carpet bombing us with new Wolverine series and collections. April is the big month for this campaign, where most Marvel Comics published will feature special “Wolverine Appreciation Variant” covers, but it starts this week, as three seminal Wolvie stories–ones that tie somewhat directly into the movie–are republished in trade paperback.

If you have ever heard comic fans saying they wished the Wolverine solo film would take place in Japan, it’s partly due to this work. This trade paperback collects Logan’s first solo miniseries. The classic work by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller (yes, of Sin City, 300, and, ugh, The Spirit fame) helped define the character of Wolverine, and introduced his ties to Japan into his mythos.

While it doesn’t tie into the film, per se, it is a great story done my two creators who were in their prime. If you want to know why Wolverine is one of the most popular comic book characters today, you’ll find some answers here.

Barry Windsor-Smith is a legendary name in comics, dating back to his work on Conan the Barbarian. In 1991, Marvel gave him the honor, if you will, to reveal the mystery behind one of the lingering questions about Wolverine–how he got his Adamantium claws. That story is what composes this trade paperback.

But Windsor-Smith did more than just that. He created a shadowy government agency, a remote secret laboratory, and a big tank of mysterious liquid for the newly metal boned Wolvie to pop out of to flesh out the tale. The story, called ”Weapon X”, was serialized in Marvel Comics Presents #72-84 and inspired what little we’ve seen of the movie Wolvie’s origin in X2: X-Men United and will play a bigger role in the upcoming film.