Well, it’s been a few days so it’s time for another fresh batch of rumors related to Warner Brothers upcoming superhero team-up epic Justice League. It has been a while since I’ve last seen a project attract as much hub-bub, substantiated or otherwise, flying around it as this one. Warners is certainly taking its time in announcing any news of substance.
Late last week, Moviehole reported that in addition to preparing Justice League, director George Miller has re-opened up an office for his on-again off-again Mad Max: Fury Road. Their informant speculates that the Mad Max sequel, which Miller plans to recast as he wants a “younger face” in the role, may hit theaters before the Justice League film does. To do so, Miller would have to begin shooting Mad Max 4 almost immediately in order to have principal photography wrapped on Justice League before any potential Screen Actors Guild strike at the end of next May.
Rumors as to who will play Wonder Woman seem to be the most popular right now. Moviehole – those guys are located in Australia where Miller plans to direct the film, so they probably have some really good pipelines into Fox’s studio down there – has heard that Aussie actress Teresa Palmer (right) will be cast as the heroic Amazonian hero. Their source is an unnamed director who had recently worked with Palmer on another project. Meanwhile, the Australian Daily Telegraph is reporting that model Megan Gale is actually in contention for the role and that an announcement should be made this week. As for the long in development Wonder Woman stand alone film, producer Joel Silver told SciFi Wire that he’s putting the project on the backburner until after Justice League is released to see how it performs.
Two other League members who may or may not be getting their own spin-off films are The Flash and Green Lantern. Both projects have been development for a while – Remember back when comic fandom collectively freaked out, and not in a good way, after it was briefly reported that Jack Black was being considered for the lead in Green Lantern? – and both have had a bit of news released about them over the weekend.
MTV Movies Blog reported over the weekend that The Flash has changed directors, with Wedding Crashers helmer David Dobkin taking charge from a departing Shawn Levy. Dobkin told the site that his film is “designed to work as a spin-off from [‘JLA’], so we’re honoring the story and we’re working in tandem with the storytelling.” Dobkin also stated that the version of The Flash that they’ll be using is that of Wally West, who had trained under the previous Flash, Barry Allen. However, Patrick Sauriol over at UGO reported that the Justice League Flash would definitely be Barry. Discrepancy? Spoiler? Misinformation? You decide.
Finally, Variety reported on Sunday that Greg Berlanti has been given the job of directing a Green Lantern feature. Berlanti’s background is mostly in television, having served as a writer and/or executive producer on such series as Dawson’s Creek, Everwood and Dirty Sexy Money, though he did direct the 2000 feature The Broken Hearts Club. Working on the script with Berlanti will be Marc Guggenheim, who wrote for several Marvel Comics series, and Michael Green, who is a co-executive producer on NBC’s superhero drama Heroes. While there is no official word if the film’s casting will be tied to Justice League or not, but I’d say that it’s a fair bet that it is.
Previously:
Justice League Rumor Roundup
Justice League: Rumor Roundup, Part 2
