§ Today’s option: THE FORGOTTEN has been picked up by producers John Wells and Don Murphy. The comic book, by Evan Young and Jareth Grealish, was self-published and concerns a man who gets forgotten five minutes after he does or says anything.

While it gives him great power and leeway as far as investigations and problem-solving, it leaves him incredibly alone. When the son of a long-lost friend is charged wrongly with murder, he uses his powers to get to the bottom of a conspiracy.

§ The management/production agency Circle of Confusion has hired Stephen Emery as exec VP of features, says Variety. We mention that here because the piece reveals a bunch of comical type properties in development that we’ve either never heard of or haven’t heard much about lately, including David Lapham’s SILVERFISH, with Joel Schumacher attached to direct; CRYPTOZOO, based on a screenplay by Joe Gazzam, from the graphic novel of the same name; THE PSYCHO, based on the DC graphic novel; and SHAOLIN COWBOY, an animated feature written and directed by Geof Darrow. Now THAT would be interesting!

§ In case you have somehow managed to miss it, Terrence Howard is still very, very upset that he won’t be in any more Iron Man movies:

“It was a very, very bad choice,” fumed Howard, who played Iron Man’s Army buddy Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes in the first film, to Parade magazine about Marvel Studios’ decision to reboot the part with Don Cheadle in the role. “You don’t make $800 million and then try and shake everyone down. That’s not nice,” he said to MTV News, exaggerating the film’s worldwide box-office gross by a mere $200 million. “It was the surprise of a lifetime,” he told NPR. “There was no explanation. The contract just…up and vanished.”


That quote comes from a larger piece by Rachel Abramowitz looking at the pros and cons of keeping actors in the same roles for all the sequels and spin-offs that make up Hollywood’s daily output these days.

But don’t cry too much for Howard; he’s consoling himself with dreams of playing Black Lightning: ““I don’t think he’s really been explored.”

1 COMMENT

  2. Man, I must be the only person on the planet that thought that Howard’s performance in Iron Man was really stiff and weak. I was thrilled to hear about the replacement because Cheadle has been unfailingly great in everything I’ve seen him in and I’ve had to fast forward through Howard’s scenes the 2 times I’ve seen IM since the theater.

    That being said, Marvel has been huge, huge dicks regarding the contracts and money. I’ll give Howard that.

  3. I actually also thought that Howard was not only stiff, but annoying. I’ve never liked his whiney, little girl’s voice. Can he really play masculine? He’s a very effeminate actor, who has never been convincing to me on any of the roles he’s played.