Showing posts with label Captain America. Show all posts

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Presents The Marvel Exhibition in Shoreditch - UPCOMING EXHIBITION

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Marvel ExhibitionFor me Captain America: Winter Soldier was by far the most intelligent and relevant Marvel film we have seen so far and proves that Marvel can do subtext as well as be highly entertaining. Winter Soldier is not only a throwback to the Cold War but it also reminds us that the shades of grey that have always pervaded politics and war still exist in this modern age of enlightenment.

Did I mention the many subtle hints and references to Star Wars yet? Like the sounds the ships and weapons make, the aerial battles, the scene where a one armed youth fights his father figure in the depth of a large ship and lets' not forget Nick Fury's entrance - all that was missing was the Imperial March theme tune. Worth a re-watch to see if you spot more or even disagree.

To celebrate the home release of Captain America: Winter Soldier on Marvel are putting on a free CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER PRESENTS THE MARVEL EXHIBITION in Shoreditch and visitors will be able to see artwork featuring the " from artists inspired by Marvel as well as other select items from the Universe. The exhibit will also display for the first time MONDO/MARVEL art in the UK." Sounds pretty exciting. Anyway below are all the details for the exhibition.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier

Moviecon Marvel Presentation Report

Thor, Captain America and Marvel's slateWith the news that the official Thor trailer will be online shortly I thought I would throw out some thought on Thor, Captain America, The Avengers and Marvel’s upcoming slate.

These are based on my thoughts after Marvel's presentation at Empire's Moviecon back in August.

Marvel Presentation
Traditionally I arrive a little late for Moviecon Day 2 (Saturday) and usually miss what turns out to be one of the highlights of Movie-Con. This year was no different and as Marvel kicked off their presentation - which started with a short teaser trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger and discussion I was still on my way to Movie-Con.

While the Movie-Con audience were watching the German forces storming a castle circa World War II, and Hugo Weaving before turning into the Red Skull I was on the train into Waterloo.

I’m not too upset to honest as the tone and feel of Captain America: The First Avenger is still a surprise for me and I’m still looking forward to that undiscovered country. Well, at least until the 12 trailers are plastered all over the net anyway.

Marvel Producer Kevin Feige went on to clarify that Captain America would be set entirely during World War II. Which was interesting as I had thought it would be a film of two parts the first half set during WWII and the second half when Cap is unfrozen in contemporary times. So I’m guessing that unless The Avengers is set in the 40s Captain America is going to end with him in some cold water.

Captain America: The First Avenger is scheduled for release on 22 July 2011 in the UK

As I made my way into the BFI as the 3D trailer for Thor had started so thankfully got to see the entire beautiful piece in glorious 3D. This was the same trailer that debuted at SDCC and has been popping up on the net before being shut down every now and then.



The trailer shows the world of Asgard, Thor in conflict with his father Odin, Thor being banished to earth and slowly coming to terms and finding his place on Earth.

In the meantime complications then arise when Loki his evil brother rises up to replace Odin. We end with the The Destroyer surrounded by law enforcement including S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Phil Coulson and being misidentified as possibly one of Tony Starke’s [Iron Men] before activating and all hell breaking loose.

I was ecstatic. Well almost ecstatic. The trailer looked pretty damn fine and I have to say the 3D was great. But I was immediately struck that any of the Thor scenes could have literally been footage cut from one of the Iron Man films. The character dynamics had a very similar feel and tone to Iron Man. Bear in mind that this may be a little premature as this is early footage and the film is still in post production.

Now I know Marvel have put a lot of effort into making sure that Thor’s magical universe fits into Iron Man’s world of science culminating in the seamless integration of the characters into The Avengers. And this is no doubt part of a very well thought out strategy. But I was hoping to see Thor (the god of thunder) stamp his considerable authority all over the Marvel Universe and get a real feel for his awesomeness.

[Flashback]
I used to read Thor the comic up until around 1986 issue #363. Don’t get me wrong Thor had his place in my childhood but when ever I got a new pile of comics Thor was somewhere near the bottom of the pile and issues went unread for a couple of months at a time.

Growing up immersed in the mythology of Roman, Greek and Norse Gods I could never really align the gods of old with the modern day comic versions, they always seemed less than they should be. I’m in no way underestimating the task of bringing the world of yore and trying to update it to a credible contemporary world.
Nevertheless I always had a soft spot for the tragic story of a banished son of a god, who was to earn passage of rights through his alter identity as a cripple Doctor. I think the biggest issue I had with the Thor was that he was a mighty god but every month he was tripped up by some regular douche or other, I also struggled with the magic elements of the story and it seemed the plight of Dr. Donald Blake (Thor’s alter ego) and that of the mysterious Dr. Strange (TM) seemed too similar.
[Flashback ends]

After the teaser trailer Marvel Producer Kevin Feige, Director Kenneth Branagh and Loki actor Tom Hiddleston took the stage and held a QA about Thor.

Kevin Feige went onto confirm that Thor would not have an alter ego. As they did not want two actors to play the part of Thor, presumably that would have been the only way his alter ego could have existed with any credibility. So it seems that the new Thor along with Iron Man and presumably Captain America and The Avengers are to be extensions of The Ultimates universe - Marvel’s reinvention of many of their characters in the 2000s. I always hoped that The Ultimates were Marvel’s way of moving their characters away from their “un-filmable” roots to a more modern world. The stories were presented in a very cinematic way and this was after all where we were introduced to a Samuel L. Jackson look alike as Colonel Nick Fury.

In the Ultimates Thor is not initially believed to be a god, but a delusional eco warrior of sorts. Eventually his mighty powers convince the world otherwise.

Kenneth Branagh went on to say that although the 3D was a conversion all the CGI bits were created in 3D.

Curious to know their thoughts on the similarities to Iron Man I asked the dreaded question: “With the overwhelming success of Iron Man, will that become a template for further Marvel films, or will Thor be darker or have more pathos?”

The gist of it is I felt that the early footage we saw screamed - it worked for Iron Man so we are going to do it again. After the many previous failures Marvel and Jon Favreau created something fresh, clever and special with enough anchors to keep it grounded within the Marvel Universe.

Too be honest I was hoping Kenneth Branagh to pick up the mic. and smack me down with a “Iron Man was good. But forget about Iron Man that’s yesterday’s news. Thor is my story and it’s going to be full of Hamlet or Richard III like darkness and it’s going to a dark place where few have successfully trodden, That’s why Marvel asked me to get involved. I am the foremost Director of this type of film and will bring an overwhelming amount of credibility to Thor’s story.” cue the audience cheering, standing and ovating (not a real word).

Instead Branagh passed it over to Feige. My question of course touching on future Marvel franchises and Feige has a wider and broader sight of the Marvel Universe.

From the Empire Blog this is pretty much verbatim what Feige said “The larger Marvel thing is that we're not going to put every one in a mould. That's a classic Hollywood mistake, where you hit something and try to make everything else like that. But Thor's a very different character”. Wow! Sounds like he had the right answer on every level, lined up to that question.

Branagh continued with something to the effect that the film was customised to the demands of the story and once you have a cast new dynamics come into play that can be incorporated.

Hiddleston jumped in with “Also, doesn't Tony Stark live in Malibu? Thor lives in ASGARD!”

For some reason and I’m not sure why - I wasn’t convinced it all felt a little bit like Stephen J Cannell

The Establishing Shot: What might Captain America and Bucky look like?

Captain AmericaNow that Marvel have cast Chris Evans as The First Avenger: Captain America and his sidekick Bucky will be played by Sebastian Stan. We wonder what the two might look like?

Something to consider -will The First Avenger: Captain America be taking place in 2 time periods? We are guessing that two suits will be involved, a Golden Age style suit from the origin part of the tale which will then be updated to contemporary times.

Also could Bucky's Winter Soldier persona play a role in the film? Either way below we have covered some scenarios:

Chris Evans as updated Classic Captain America and new Captain America, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes and as The Winter Soldier

Chris Evans as Classic "updated" Captain America
Chris Evans Captain America
Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier
Sebastian Stan Winter Soldier
We said it before and we'll say it again. We are hoping that they dress Captain America up in the updated Classic look or the very cool variation modelled in The Ultimates. See the intro for the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game from Blur studios below for a better look. End of Line.

Video: Marvel - Ultimate Alliance (Intro)

The Establishing Shot: What might Captain America and Bucky look like?

Captain America casting Alex Ross's thoughts

Now that the search for Captain America is over and Chris Evans has beaten Channing Tatum and Sebastian Stan to the 3 picture deal offer (as yet unsigned). Alex Ross has offered some sagely advice.

Alex Ross is the artistic genius who reinvigorated Marvel Comics in the 90s much in the same way Allan Moore and Frank Miller did for DC in the 80s. He also also redesigned Captain America twice, once for the dark and revolutionary Earth X series in the early 1990s, turning Cap into an aged, bald and battle scarred warrior and again when he "modernised" Captain America in late 2007.

Earth X Captain America - 1990




Modern Captain America - 2007

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usImage Hosted by ImageShack.us

So Alex Ross knows Captain America and this is what he had to say to Entertainment Weekly magazine:

"We've been saying for years, if you don't sign Jon Hamm to play this part, you're crazy.

"Captain America is supposed to be the patriarch of the Marvel universe. To get a guy in his early to mid-20s is only thinking about where the character began, not what he ultimately needs to become."

Captain America casting Alex Ross's thoughts

Fan made Captain America teaser trailer

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Hugo Weaving will be playing Captain America's nemesis The Red Skull we thaw this fan made teaser for The First Avenger: Captain America and bring it to the future.

Based on the Marvel Comics character from World War II. A brave, yet mild-mannered young soldier named Steve Rogers volunteers to undergo a series of experiments for a US army Super Soldier program. The military succeeds in transforming him into a human weapon, but quickly decide that their Super Soldier is far too expensive a creation to risk in combat. So, they decide to put him to use as an army celebrity and parade him across Europe to boost morale by performing in USO shows for American troops. He is even given a costume that bear the colors of Old Glory for the stage.



Then, when a Nazi plot reveals itself Rogers must rise up and and become the First Avenger, in order to save his country. Steve Rogers becomes Captain America and he earns his way into the hearts and souls of every American, bringing hope and justice to a war-weary nation. Later, during a mission to Germany to stop his archenemy - the Red Skull, from launching rockets at the allies, Captain America sacrifices himself and winds up frozen in ice for almost six decades! Revived, Steve Rogers now must join forces with new heroes and become an Avenger of the modern age.

Fan made Captain America teaser trailer

Captain America needs you!

Marvel has confirmed the list of candidates for the Steve Rogers aka Captain America role includes; Chace Crawford, John Krasinski, Scott Porter, Mike Vogel, Michael Cassidy and Patrick Flueger.

They have also said that they are weeks away from making the official announcement casting. In the meantime:

CAPTAIN AMERICA NEEDS YOU!


Captain America begins shooting in London on June 28th and they are looking for extras. Here’s the address where you can send your photo and resume if interested in applying:

Guys and Dolls Casting
Trafalgar House
Grenville Place
Mill Hill
London
NW7 3SA

Also, this address is for London area extras only. You must have a UK National Insurance number to work in the United Kingdom. If you would like to register with the agency, you can also email and photo (no photos over 2MB), resume (if available), and contact information to: russell@guysanddollscasting.com.

They are casting more principal roles in L.A. & London as well.

You can submit photos and resumes by mail via the addresses below:

Principal Actor Casting (Los Angeles):
Randi Hiller
721½ N. La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90069

Principal Actor Casting (London, UK):
Priscilla John
PO Box 22477
London
W6 OGT
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