Marion Cotillard's role in The Dark Knight Rises might not be what you expect

Stan Lee explains why his cameo in The Avengers is totally different, while Stellan Skarsgard explains how he fits in among the superheroes. What’s the future of Tara on True Blood? Plus new Man of Steel and R.I.P.D. set photos!

It’s all spoilers from here on out!

Top image from In Time.

The Dark Knight Rises

Marion Cotillard revealed that the character she plays has no basis in the comic books. When pressed about this, she repeatedly and emphatically said that she’s definitely not playing a character from the comics. That would seem to indicate that she is not secretly playing Talia al Ghul, as everybody has speculated.

That’s a bit of an unexpected development, because multiple set photos from the recent Pittsburgh filming made it look as though her character was up to something nefarious, and possibly commanding a shadowy league of some sort. (A League of Shadows, if you will.) She also did apparently let slip a while back that her stated role, Wayne Enterprises executive Miranda Tate, was a cover for the secret role she was actually playing. So then, either that original statement was wrong or somehow garbled,this secret role is a newly invented character, or she’s lying and is actually playing Talia al Ghul (or someone else from the comics, I guess). Your guess is as good as mine about all this, quite frankly. [MTV Splash Page]

Here’s a pair of new set videos from the Los Angeles filming. [Shockya]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0DSJahDxoY

And here’s a photo of the Batwing.

The Avengers

Stan Lee discussed the filming of his cameo:

There was only one thing – when I was doing my cameo for The Avengers, after the third take, [Joss Whedon] asked could I take off my glasses because somehow the flash of the floodlights were hitting the lens and there was a glare. So I did my cameo without wearing my glasses – so the chances are you won’t even recognize me. That was the only decision he made that I felt should’n’t have made (laughs) He should’ve fixed the lights.

I can’t talk about [the cameo], but I can tell you it is a very funny cameo – probably the funniest line that I’ve had to say yet. And I say it to Captain America. You may notice with my cameos, they don’t like me to do my cameo with the stars, because the star doesn’t need that much competition (laughing). But this time Captain America was fierce and went along with it.

[Comic Book Movie]

Stellan Skarsgard, who is reprising his Thor role of Erik Selvig in The Avengers, says he wasn’t aware of his role in the coming film when he shot Thor, and it was only months later that he was asked by Joss Whedon to come back, leading to the Whedon-directed Thor post-credits scene where Selvig is brought to S.H.I.E.L.D. to see the Cosmic Cube. He explains:

Well, as you can see in the tag scene in Thor, Loki [played by Tom Hiddleston] starts to mess with my character’s mind a little bit. So my character is not played the same way in Avengers as he is in Thor but it’s also a much smaller role in Avengers. There are so many superheroes fighting for attention in that film.

Which characters does Selvig interact with?

Most of my work is with Jeremy Renner, who plays Hawkeye, and Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki.

[Movieline]

Man of Steel

Here’s a Chicago set video. [Man of Steel Facebook Page]

And here’s a set photo from downtown Chicago. [@mogulnick via The Cineaste’s Lament]

In Time

Here’s a new poster for Gattaca director Andrew Niccol’s new sci-fi film. [FirstShowing.net]

Real Steel

Here are a bunch of posters for the real stars of the movie: the gigantic robot boxers. [ComingSoon.net]

Check out the link for a brief video of robots beating the cybernetic crap out of each other. [Underworld Overthrow]

R.I.P.D.

Here are some Boston set photos of undead cop Ryan Reynolds and main villain Kevin Bacon. [Celebuzz]

Men in Black 3

The film will be released in IMAX alongside regular theaters on May 25, 2012. [ComingSoon.net]

Doctor Who

Here are some dialogue teasers for this week’s episode, “The God Complex” by Toby Whithouse:

“Your civilisation is one of the oldest in the galaxy.”

“Praise him.”

“You’re doing it in your pants.”

“I don’t see any huge hats.”

“This is not Earth.”

You can read five more at the link. [Cultbox]

And here are five general hints for what’s in the episode:

– An item from “Night Terrors” makes a return.

– We discover more about the Doctor’s education

– “The Eleventh Hour” is referenced. More than once.

– Keep an eye out for some familiar aliens…

– The mop makes a return, but no fez.

Again, you can read five more at the link. [Cultbox]

And here are a bunch of promo photos. [Blogtor Who]

Fringe

Here’s a synopsis for episode two, “One Night in October”:

A SERIAL KILLER FORCES THE TWO FRINGE TEAMS TO WORK TOGETHER – As the victims of a highly intelligent serial killer “Over There” stack up, the Fringe Division “Over Here” is asked to assist. As the two sides tangle and innocent people remain at risk, the suspect’s doppelganger “Over Here,” a professor who teaches Forensic Psychology, is brought into the fold and forces the team to consider the notion of sending civilians to the other side.

[Fringe Spoilers]

Here’s a video narrated by John Noble, breaking down the two Walters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M60dkkuYLf0

Game of Thrones

Fintan McKeown, who played Captain Janeway’s one-time love interest Michael Sullivan on Star Trek: Voyager and Odin on Merlin, has reportedly been cast as Amory Lorch, “a landed knight in service to House Lannister.” Meanwhile, 7-foot actor and stuntman Ian Whyte is reportedly taking over the role of Gregor Clegane from the similarly giant Conan Stevens, who played the character in season one. [Winter-Is-Coming]

In a move that will hopefully do wonders for the show’s quotient of batshit insanity, Doomsday and The Descent director Neil Marshall will reportedly direct one of the season two episodes. It’s his TV directing debut. There’s a full list of season two directors at the link. [The Live Feed]

True Blood

Rutina Wesley discusses the whole “losing half of her head” thing, and what this means for her season five role:

I don’t know what their plans are for next season. I know that Alan has said there are “big plans,” but I don’t know what that really means, and things can always change. I’m not for sure, but I trust him completely. At the end of the day, it’s hard to see how I’m coming back, seeing as half of my head was just blown off. I don’t know. They may figure something out. I mean it’s True Blood. There’s always flashbacks. There’s phantasms. There’s all this crazy stuff. It’s very possible. But I’m excited either way. If it does all end, I’ve had the most amazing time of my life. It’s really great.

In your mind, is Tara dead?

Well I mean half my head is missing. I’m just gonna keep saying that. You know, it’s True Blood. I feel like anything is possible. If anything, it is the golden hour though. If she is able to be saved, it’s like she’s got 20 seconds. It’s not a lot of time. I’m curious to see what they’re going to do with all of it. I hope I’m back. But again half my head is missing [laughs].

That said, she pretty much confirms what everyone was sort of suspecting – Tara might be missing half her head, she might even be dead, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be back next season:

It’s out there that Alan [Ball] has already said that he has big plans for Tara [in season five]. But things change. I don’t know exactly what they have in store for me and how long that will be. It’s tricky. And if I did know, I’m just not going to say. [Laughs] But again – half the head is missing. The cool part is people are talking. And that’s the question is: Is she dead or is she not? Because people can survive head wounds. But we have people on the show that can make things happen – you know what I mean? I don’t know what’s going to happen the first episode of next season. I’m just as excited and curious you are. I hope it’s good. I hope I stick around for a while. That would be nice. [Laughs]

[EW]

The Walking Dead

New showrunner Glen Mazzara explains how he’ll approach the show after Frank Darabont’s departure:

“I think the show would be inauthentic if I tried to mimic’s Frank’s voice. I’m not Frank Darabont and I shouldn’t try to be. I think that would hurt the show. Let me be honest, it was rough. There’s an emotional connection to Frank that they’re never going to have to another writer/producer. There’s been all this concern that I’m going to f- up this show, and really, we’re just trying to get it done.”

He also reaffirms that the show will continue to follow the plan set out by Darabont:

“We all did a lot of work on plotting this season under Frank, and part of the reason we’ve had such a smooth transition is that it’s a fully articulated world. This [season] is consistent with the material that we did last year. I think, like any second season, you work out the bugs. You try to improve. What you’re seeing is the usual growth of any TV show, creatively. There’s no plan to deviate from what we worked out, there’s no different vision of the show.”

Finally, he explains that the show won’t be completely bleak, and that there’s room for some comedy:

“You need to break the tension. This is not a bleak world, it is an intense world, but you need to have humor and hope in it otherwise it’s a very bleak, ugly world and that’s not something we’re interesting in doing.”

[TV Guide]

Here’s a Rick Grimes focused teaser for season two.