Rourke To Be The Ice Man

One of my favorite posts that has been written in this site’s albeit short running time was when Phil Carlo, author of the book The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, shut down contract negotiations to turn his book into a movie because producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura wanted Channing Tatum to star (see full article here) As those talks were breaking down, Carlo floated the idea of resurrected Mickey Rourke taking the role of Richard Kuklinski and now, according to Page Six, Rourke loved the idea and is on board.

Rambo Returns… Again

Nu Image/Millennium Films have given the greenlight for Rambo 5. Sylvester Stallone is also attached to once again star and direct the continuing exploits of the Vietnam vet out for justice. He is also likely to write the screenplay as he has done for each of the previous films.

Bruce Willis is Expendable

(Photoshop!)

After a few months of rumor, it appears that The Expendables, which already features Sylvester Stalone, Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Jason Statham et. al., will be adding yet another action superstar to its already impressive roster: Bruce Willis. From MTV:

The Die Hard star confirmed to MTV News that he is leaving time open on his schedule to shoot a cameo for The Expendables, the ultra-violent, star-studded action flick written/directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone. Sly is currently putting the finishing touches on the movie…Willis said that the he will soon join Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger to shoot a very special scene for the flick.

“Not yet, I haven’t united with them,” said Willis. “I’m waiting for a call from Sly about when we’re going to try and make that happen.”

Frankly, I don’t know why Willis wasn’t attached to the project from the beginning. Like Schwarzenegger and Stalone, Willis is an action hero emeritus, bringing us one of the most memorable characters in cinema history as John McClaine, but it is understandable that he would have scheduling conflicts with Kevin Smith’s A Couple of Dicks. This is one of my biggest hopes for next year and hopefully it will have a brain unlike this summer’s list of blockbusters.

Is This Whiplash Mark II?

Cinematical has unearthed this concept art of Wiplash from Marvel and it may give us some insight as to what Mickey Rourke’s character will look like in his final form. As of now, our only indications to his appearance have been from the shots of Whiplash as he terrorizes a speedway where Tony Stark is racing, but it is apparent that this takes place early in the film, as his character as you can see his prison jumpsuit under his Mark I armor. It would appear that the concept art was made before Rourke was cast, as the body type is a bit too small and is missing the character’s inked upper-arms.

In addition to the art, the article also mentions that Marvel will be releasing a four-issue limited-series comic series titled “Iron Man vs. Whiplash,” which will investigate the origins of the character. It is not yet known if the material in the series will cover Whiplash’s character development in the film.

Photo Dump: The Expendables

If action films are a drug, than the cast of the upcoming film The Expendables should make for a peyote trip through the desert followed up by three hits of extasy. For those that are unaware, the film, written, directed and starring Sly Stallone, boasts Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Micky Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eric Roberts, Terry Crewes, Steve Austin and Randy Couture. I’ll let that soak in for a moment…

…

Okay, hopefully we have regained consciousness and can now continue. Six new photos have popped up showing everyone what action stars to best: shoot, plan, threaten, drive, plan some more and…get tattoos from Mickey Rourke. Check them out after the jump.

Comic-Con Overview

Unfortunately, because I live in New Jersey, making it out to San Diego for Comic Con wasn’t really an option, but it can no doubt be said that some of the coolest movie news comes out of Hall H in the span of a weekend than comes out in some months. That said, with the wrapping up of Comic Con yesterday, here are my favorite bits that came out over the course of the week.