Murphy's Multiverse

Category: News

  • EXCLUSIVE: Amazon’s ‘PAPER GIRLS’ Casting Missy Tieng Ahead of May Production Start

    EXCLUSIVE: Amazon’s ‘PAPER GIRLS’ Casting Missy Tieng Ahead of May Production Start

    A few days after announcing its four main leads, Amazon’s Paper Girls is now looking to cast a few more characters to the project that will adapt the Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang comic. We’ve learned that production is actively searching for a Chinese-American girl, who is between the age of nine to eleven. She will play Missy Tieng, who is the little sister of Erin Tieng, one of the titular characters. Missy is, as of yet, set to appear in two episodes of the series’ first season. These will consist of the pilot and the fourth episode.

     

     

    If you’re familiar with the comic series, it released 30 issues between 2015 and 2019. Missy is hardly a presence in the first few issues (the ones that should be the main focus of the first season). She shows up in the opening pages as her big sister is having a nightmare, where she must save her. Missy only frowns at her after Erin wakes her up from the said nightmare to check up on her. This way, having the character show up in more than a single episode at such an early stage of the show might deviate from the source material, and that it is taking extra care of highlighting her relationship with Erin. Especially as she has a more prominent role down the line. It just isn’t while she was eight years old. By dealing with time travel, the comic series often brings together different versions of the same character, from different timelines. Erin Tieng ends up meeting her older self, and in doing so, she also meets her little sister At that time, Missy was a helicopter pilot, which comes in handy as the story progresses. This way, having Missy have a bit of a larger role early on might enhance her presence further down the line.

     

     

    Paper Girls will be shooting in Chicago from May 17 to June 24, and with principal photography less than a month away, we should expect several actors to join the cast. So, we could older versions of the girls or even the villains, which the comic series certainly has a lot of. The series premiere on Amazon’s streaming service is unannounced as of now. It’ll be interesting to see what other changes we might expect once the show enters production and expands its cast.

  • ‘Young Rock’s Uli Latukefu Joins The Cast of ‘Black Adam’ In Undisclosed Role

    ‘Young Rock’s Uli Latukefu Joins The Cast of ‘Black Adam’ In Undisclosed Role

    Production on the long-awaited comic book blockbuster, Black Adam, has finally kicked off after spending years in development hell. The film is set to star Dwayne Johnson in the titular role of Black Adam. It will tell the origin of the hero from the old days of Kahndaq up until his battle with the Justice Society of America. Most of the cast seemed to be locked in, but Deadline just reported one new addition is joining the Black Adam family.

    Deadline is reporting that actor Uli Latukefu will join the cast of the upcoming comic book adaptation in an undisclosed role. The actor previously worked with the Rock on his NBC comedy Young Rock. Latukefu portrayed the actor’s teenage and college years. It’s stated in the article that they aren’t exactly sure what role he’d be playing, but it seems very likely he’ll be a young Theo-Adam. The film will take us back to the anti-hero’s origins, as he grew up in Kahndaq. So, it’s a safe assumption, but they could still surprise us.

    Black Adam is currently set to hit theaters on July 29th, 2022, and will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. The film sports a stacked cast with Quintessa Swindel as Cyclone, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher alongside, James Cusati-Moyer, Mo Amer, Bodhi Sabongui, and Marwan Kenzari.

    Source: Deadline 

  • ‘Judas and Black Messiah’s Dominique Fishback Lands Lead in Steven Caple Jr’s ‘Transformers’ Film

    ‘Judas and Black Messiah’s Dominique Fishback Lands Lead in Steven Caple Jr’s ‘Transformers’ Film

    It looks like Paramount has been busy, as Deadline is reporting that the upcoming Transformers film has cast their next lead to star opposite Anthony Ramos. His casting was announced around a month ago for Steven Caple Jr.’s adaptation of the iconic Hasbro franchise. The studio wants to refocus its efforts with the once cash cow that hasn’t seen a new entry since 2018’s Bumblebee. Judas And Black Messiah‘s Dominique Fishback is now in final negotiations to join the project that is eyeing a June 2022 release.

    Deadline offered some more details, as it seems that Ramos has been the front-runner for quite some time and was screen-testing with various female actresses. Fishback won and brought their relationship full circle, as they have worked on a play together in college. It seems that fate has a weird way of bringing people together. She has been building up quite the career since that play, as she recently got nominated for a BAFTA playing Deborah Johnson. She will also be playing opposite Samuel L. Jackson in the upcoming Apple series The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey.

    The return of the Transformers franchise has been highly anticipated, especially now that Michael Bay has parted ways after 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight. The studio has been focused on revamping the property and even created an entire writer room to develop multiple projects. 2018’s Bumblebee was one of them but momentum died down since. It’ll be interesting to see if this project takes some of the design cues from the 2018 reimagining or if they will still take some inspiration from Bay‘s run on the characters.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘Borderlands’ Finds Its Mad Moxxi and Sir Hammerlock

    ‘Borderlands’ Finds Its Mad Moxxi and Sir Hammerlock

    Adaptions of popular video game franchises have always been quite a hot topic. They always end up in one of two categories. However, in recent years these adaptations have become increasingly better with films like Detective Pikachu and Mortal Kombat breaking the mold. These projects managed to give the fans of the franchises a fun time seeing these projects adapted in live-action. Next up on the block is the ever-popular franchise Borderlands. The franchise tells the tales of vault hunters, who take on the full force of Hyperion and are after the riches that lie below the surface of Pandora. The adaption is set to be helmed by Eli Roth alongside an all-star cast that’s just now rounded out its ranks, as production moves on.

    Deadline is reporting that actress Gina Gershon has joined the project as the fan-favorite character Mad Moxxi, owner of the red light bar. We previously reported that she was in the film months back. Alongside Gershon is actor Charles Bobabola who’ll play the role of Hammerlock. He might be better known as Sir Hammerlock, the rugged victorian adventurer equipped with cybernetic limbs.

    They’ll also be joined by Cheyenne Jackson as Jakobs, Benjamin Byron Davis as Marcus, Steven Boyer as Scooter, and Ryann Redmond as Ellie. Borderlands currently has no release date but is set to be directed by Eli Roth. The rest of the cast will be round out by some heavy hitters like Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Edgar Ramirez, Ariana Greenblat, and Florian Munteanu.

    Source: Deadline

  • Leaked ‘Hawkeye’ Set Photos Reveal New Comic-Inspired Hawkeye and Echo Outfits

    Leaked ‘Hawkeye’ Set Photos Reveal New Comic-Inspired Hawkeye and Echo Outfits

    We’ve all been wondering if Hawkeye might get a new costume in the upcoming series. We know that it will introduce Kate Bishop and will be strongly inspired by Matt Fraction‘s My Life as a Weapon run. It will also introduce us to the Daredevil character Echo, who will be played by Alaqua Cox. We did get a first look at her some time ago at the actress but the costume only had some elements from her original design. Well, a new posting on Instagram reveals a more comic-accurate design but also a new look for Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye, which might be familiar to comic fans as well. Echo even has some leftovers of her iconic white hand face paint, which may hint at it also appearing in the series.

     

    Let’s start off with Cox‘s Echo costume. It’s interesting that we only really see the fingers of the facepaint but not the rest. The second image in the gallery also adds. lot more color to it that echoes (pun intended) Hawkeye’s color scheme. It may point to her all being a student of the archer. The costumes shown later seemed a bit darker n color,w which could also be due to the lighting. Still, it looks like we’ll get the evolution of her costume throughout the series’ run. Renner‘s new costume looks like it was stripped straight from the comics with the purple arrow. It may be the costume that many connect with the character. So, it is perfect that it gets a spotlight in his upcoming original series. Hopefully, we might also get a look at the comic-accurate costume for Hailee Steinfeld‘s Kate Bishop that was teased by Marvel Studios in the series’ reveal.

    Source: Instagram

  • Amazon Renews ‘Invincible’ for Two More Seasons

    Amazon Renews ‘Invincible’ for Two More Seasons

    It looks like Amazon was sold on Invincible, as it has been renewed for two more seasons. The news came straight from the comic creator Robert Kirkman, who announced it in a fake call with actor Steve Yeun, who plays our titular hero. The very positive reception of the series was a great start as we followed the young hero Mark Grayson, who finally receives his powers but faces an unexpected family conflict. The announcement was perfectly timed as we are only a few hours away from the first season’s finale. You can check out the video announcement by Kirkman here:

    The Skybound/Image comic adaptation has a stacked cast that consists of Sandra Oh, Seth Rogen, Gillian Jacobs, Andrew Rannells, Zazie Beetz, Mark Hamill, and Walton Goggins to name a few. The series is produced by Skybound with executive producers Simon Racioppa, Dave Alpert, Catherine Winder, and Kirkman. The creator also stated the renewal separately to highlight his excitement:

    I’m extremely thankful to Amazon for the support and dedication they’ve put behind Invincible. The comic book is truly a love letter to a genre that Cory (Walker) and I grew up reading and loving, and it’s been a gratifying journey to watch our characters come to life again through the animated series. We’re beyond excited to continue this story for at least two more seasons.

    The renewal makes a lot of sense, as the animation takes a lot of time. They may also be planning to have a short break between the next seasons. Harley Quinn did something similar as it entered production for its first two seasons early on. We’ll see how often poor Grayson gets beat up in the upcoming finale. If the title card continues to fill with blood splatters, we might have a red one at the end of its runtime.

     

    Source: Twitter, Variety

  • ‘Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser Joins ‘Titans’ as Scarecrow

    ‘Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser Joins ‘Titans’ as Scarecrow

    It looks like HBO Max’s upcoming season of Titans has found its Dr. Jonathan Crane. The official Twitter account has unveiled that actor Vincent Kartheiser will be taking on the role of Scarecrow. The actor is known for his work on the WB series Angel and AMC’s Mad Men. He also just recently appeared on Netflix’s The Social Dilemma. The character of Scarecrow has been a mainstay in Batman’s rogue’s gallery for a long time. He’s appeared in the original animated Batman series, The Lego Batman Movie, Harley Quinn, Gotham, and was famously played by Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Trilogy. It’ll be interesting to see how Kartheiser reinvents the character for the third season of Titans.

    Interestingly, the tweet points to his influence from within Arkham Asylum. He may be the mastermind behind many villains that’ll make the life of the Titans a living nightmare. He will be joining a stacked cast that consists of Brenton Thwaites, Anan Diop, Teagan Croft, Ryan Potter, and Conor Leslie. The addition of Scarecrow was first teased during DC FanDome alongside Barbara Gordon and Red Hood. We don’t know how big his role will be, but he might have a larger role as the mastermind pulling the strings. The strong focus on Gotham might also see other iconic Batman villains making an appearance in the upcoming season.

    Source: Twitter

  • Kevin Feige Confirms That Gemma Chan’s Sersi is ‘Eternals’ Lead

    Kevin Feige Confirms That Gemma Chan’s Sersi is ‘Eternals’ Lead

    Marvel Studios’ Eternals has been touted as an ensemble film from the beginning. The movie features a sprawling cast of characters, played by some of Hollywood’s biggest names. Understandably, this has led many fans to believe that the project would not be centered around a specific lead. However, in a recent interview with Variety, Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed that wasn’t exactly the case. In the midst of discussing director Chloé Zhao’s big win at the Academy Awards, Feige dropped a special little nugget of information:

    […] It came down to casting. So for Sersi, for instance — and if there was a lead in this ensemble, it is Sersi, it is Gemma Chan — we looked at and read all sorts of women for that part. And ended up really believing that Gemma was best for it. And thankfully, she’s proven that to be the case in the final movie.

    That’s right, it seems Gemma Chan’s Sersi will be the main focus of Eternals. This is a departure from the comics, which traditionally showcase Ikaris, who is set to be played by Richard Madden, as the major protagonist. While this news is previously unconfirmed, it doesn’t come as a total surprise. We’ve known for quite some time that Sersi’s romance with Kit Harrington’s Dane Whitman would be a major focus in the film. Using Sersi’s affinity for humans as a link to the Eternals that leads them to protect modern society makes a lot of sense. Plus, the character has a history as one of the only Eternals to join the ranks of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, so this may help to set that concept up down the line as well.

    Source: Variety

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ Malcolm Spellman Talks How Madripoor and Fontaine Were Added to the Series

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ Malcolm Spellman Talks How Madripoor and Fontaine Were Added to the Series

    We got a chance to talk with Falcon and Winter Soldier‘s head writer Malcolm Spellman, where our very own Charles Murphy discussed the introduction of a Marvel Comics icon, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. She was played by the talented Seinfeld and VEEP actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Her character was originally going to premiere in Black Widow, but due to the pandemic, she ended up in the Disney+ series first. In the interview, Spellman revealed that Val’s character evolved in the writing room:

    The way it happens was: Everything that Marvel wants you to create first and they want you to do it without worrying about it. Like, if there is obvious threads to the greater MCU, by you all put them in, they don’t oppose them on you. So, that character existed as a shady-ass CIA operative person as we were mapping out the story. Gradually, she became the Contessa, she became Val. We’ve already created the character first.

    The way she is introduced, it seemed like they were setting up a team-up project shortly, especially with the potential of a Dark Avengers story being considered at one point. Well, it seems that Val’s introduction was only added later. It is great to know that they didn’t force any story elements into this series but rather added them organically into the already mapped-out story. He also confirmed the same happened with Madripoor.

    That’s the same thing with Madripoor. Madripoor was described, it was named after a real-life city initially imagined as a real-life city where the restaurants on the streets serve endangered species and there are open gun bazars. Once we created that city, they smiled because they know, a nerd moment: “What if it is Madripoor?” and everyone freaked out.

    It makes you wish you were in these meeting rooms when their faces light up the moment they realized they could introduce Madripoor. Of course, this does mean that if we want to see the character or the fictional city return in the future, it will depend on the story that is being told. It’ll be interesting to see what other projects end up carrying on the torch set by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Malcolm Spellman Talks Carl Lumbly and A Potential Isaiah Bradley Series

    EXCLUSIVE: Malcolm Spellman Talks Carl Lumbly and A Potential Isaiah Bradley Series

    Following the finale of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, I was able to sit down for a short chat with showrunner and Captain America 4 co-writer Malcolm Spellman.

    Charles Murphy: “Carl Lumbly was fantastic; stole every scene he was in. What kind of discussions did you have with him in his prep for the role.”

    Malcolm Spellman: “Kari prepped the actors and they called me off the first rehearsal. I was getting phone calls like “Oh my God, he just gave us chills. In all honestly, when I saw the audition, that day, he had it. I kinda got choked up watching him just in the audition. That dude was dialed in. He owned that. He’s of a certain age and he owned that in a way that no one could have imagined.”

    CM: “If Marvel gave you the call and asked ‘Do you want to work with us on an Isaiah Bradley series?’, you’d be there?”

    MS: “Instantly! Instantly!”

    The Falcon And The Winter Soldier's Isaiah Bradley: Who Is He?

    There’s no doubt that Lumbly’s emotional performance caused fans across the world to react similarly to Spellman and the Marvel Studios crew. Should Marvel Studios decide to tell more of his story, a series where Bradley tells his story to his grandson, Eli, could feature flashbacks that would make his story feel even more complete.