Tom Hiddleston made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2011’s ‘Thor,’ starring as the mischievous brother Loki. He would go on to make several appearances in the MCU culminating in a spin-off show for Disney Plus where he encounters the female “variant” of himself named Sylvie, played by British actress Sophia Di Martino.
Di Martino recently sat down with NME to discuss getting the part and how she was informed that she was joining the ‘Loki’ series. She met director Kate Herron on the set of a different film where she told the actress that she had another project she was working on that Di Martino would be interested in.
“Kate messaged me to say that she was working on something, but it was massively top secret and she couldn’t say what it was,” she explained. “She told me to expect an email from someone asking me to do a tape. It was all very sort of vague and secretive. But I recorded a tape, and then before I knew it, I was on FaceTime with Tom Hiddleston in New York getting cast in Loki. I never actually even met anyone in person.”
Di Martino said, “It still somehow felt quite indie because it was so collaborative.”
“Kate really included me and Tom in everything. It was still always a conversation, always talking about the script and always working together,” she continued. “It also helps that Tom had been working on that character for 10 years. I obviously didn’t do an impression of Tom’s Loki, but it was great to draw from his energy and that sense of mischief that he embodies when he plays him.”
“There were days when it was it was a bit overwhelming, but on the whole it was a really positive experience because the people I was working for did everything they could to support me,” she added. “I was just so grateful that I could go to work and do my job, but also be a parent and a mother. It isn’t possible in a lot of jobs to bring your baby to work and feed them, and I think it should be.”
Asked about how the fan reaction to her character, Di Martino answered, “The majority of things that people have been saying have been really nice. I try to make sure I see people’s artwork and things because people put so much time into it. And they’ve obviously connected with the character, which is a good thing. It means I’ve done my job. It’s nice to know people love Sylvie as much as I do!”
She discussed the character previously in a featurette for Marvel Studios:
Loki Actress Sophia Di Martino Recalls Getting Told By Tom Hiddleston She Was Joining The MCU
‘RE-MAIN’ Sports Anime Is Getting An English Dub
The sports anime ‘RE-MAIN’ from studio MAPPA was launched in July 2021 with a planned first season of twelve episodes. The series is written by Masafumi Nishida who also co-directs with Kiyoshi Matsuda and aired on the Japanese channel TV Asahi. Its popularity has led to an announced English dub by Funimation, who is releasing the show on their streaming service.
“The summer might be over, but it’s not too late to get in the pool! We’re excited to announce that the RE-MAIN English dub is officially on its way to Funimation, and we’ve got details on cast, crew and more,” Funimation said on their website. “Episode 1 the RE-MAIN English dub will arrive on Funimation, so if you haven’t experienced the action of this water polo series yet (or want to re-live it!), it’s the perfect time.”
They add, “The English voice cast for the series includes Robbie Daymond (Jujutsu Kaisen, Sailor Moon) as Minato Kiyomizu, Caleb Yen (No Guns Life, Pretty Boy Detective Club) as Eitaro Oka, Mark Allen Jr. (The Day I Became a God, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans) as Jo Jojima and David Matranga (My Hero Academia, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen) as Shugo Amihama.”
You can check out the trailer for the anime:
According to MyAnimeList, the synopsis explains:
“When Minato Kiyomizu wakes up in a hospital, he learns that he has been comatose for 203 days. As it turns out, a car accident has caused him to lose all memory of his middle school journey. Eventually, he discovers his former glory in water polo and desires to continue where he has left off. However, embarrassingly becoming aware of the massive disparity between his old and current self, Minato begins intensive rehabilitation in hopes of starting anew—a life without water polo.
Yet, Minato is promptly reminded of his past prowess and a promise on his very first day in Yamanami High School. Soon enough, despite being completely aware of his ineptitude, he joins the school’s water polo club! While needing to relearn the sport’s basics, he, along with his clubmates, must recruit new members to attain the required seven-man roster. With that, Minato tries to rekindle his deeply buried talent for water polo—and become one of Japan’s renowned players once again.”
Combine These ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Statues For A Price
We saw the new Carnage and Venom statues listed at Sideshow. They’re produced by Iron Studios but haven’t shown up on the official site yet. The combinable statues are listed at $210 each and will be due out in the fourth quarter of 2022. Both statues stand nearly 12″ tall, are made of polystone, and are hand-painted.
The movie, Venom: Let There Be Carnage will hit theatres on October 1st, 2021, here in the States. It may still feel a bit weird to have a Venom movie without Spider-Man, but when you throw Carnage into the mix, that sin is forgiven.
Carnage, however, looks amazingly accurate to his original appearance way back in 1992. Like the original incarnation, the film version of Carnage is attached to the host Cletus Kasady. Unfortunately, Cletus isn’t a very nice guy, and the symbiote exacerbates that to a terrifying degree.
The symbiote played a big part in the Spidey comics in the ’90s and continued to evolve with new hosts and new personalities. Though, personally, I always preferred the originals.
Both Venom and Carnage appeared as the main villains and heroes of two Genesis/SNES games called Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage and Separation Anxiety. If you’re curious about these two, Maximum Carnage is the better of the two and has an excellent soundtrack by Green Jello.
What are your thoughts on the Venom films? At this point, should Spider-Man be included, or should they stand apart? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
[Source: Sideshow]
An ALF Action Figure From NECA? Where are the POGs?!
NECA really enjoys harvesting those memberberries. Every time I walk into the store, I see a new action figure from my childhood showing up on the shelves, ready to snatch some money outta my wallet.
The company responsible for many complicated explanations to my spouse is hitting home with America’s most beloved extraterrestrial. Yes, the one and only ALF. What? You think I meant E.T.? No one likes that little weirdo. Ya kidding me?
We saw ALF over at Figures.com. Labeled the “Ultimate ALF,” this figure comes with all the features you’d expect from a NECA toy. ALF has multiple points of articulation, Lucky the cat, food, and radio for attempting to communicate with other Melmacians.
Gordon Shumway, better known as the acronym ALF “alien life form,” crash-landed on the garage of the Tanner family and has been their semi-unwanted house guest. The series started on NBC in 1986 and ran until 1990. ALF shared a high degree of stardom in his time. He was on everything from lunchboxes to tiny LPs from Burger King.
Eventually, ALF got a couple of animated Saturday morning shows, though they were short-lived. He even joined other children’s icons in a particular cartoon about drugs and all the other fun stuff the Bush’s told us not to do.
Thoughts on ALF? Something worth exploring in the 2020s or better left to the rose-tinted nostalgia of the 1980s? Let us know in the comments.
[Source: Figures.com]
Spider-Man Of The Year 2099 Joins Mezco’s One:12 Collective
The web-slinger of 2099 will be making his way into Mezco’s One:12 collection of highly detailed figures. Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099, is now available for pre-order. He will be $90 and will ship between December 2021 and February 2022.
Unlike Peter Parker, Miquel’s transformation into a spider-powered hero was a bit more sinister. I won’t spoil it for those who somehow missed out on this Spider-Man’s origins from decades ago. Like most things in the 2099 universe, life is rough and no one is your friend.
The One:12 Collective Spider-Man 2099 wears an Unstable Molecules suit, a material created by Sue Storm and Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. The suit features a web cape with integrated posing wire, spiked forearm gauntlets, and raised chest insignia. The web-slinger features three head portraits – masked, partially unmasked, and a fully unmasked Miguel O’Hara portrait.
Spider-Man 2099 is loaded with accessories including a removable wrist communicator featuring Lyla – Miguel’s A.I. assistant, multiple weblines in different styles that attach to his wrists, a web mask that fits over the heads of other One:12 Collective figures, and more.
Spider-Man 2099 comes with the following features and accessories:
- One:12 Collective body with over 32 points of articulation
- Three (3) head portraits
- Hand painted authentic detailing
- Approximately 17cm tall
- Twelve (12) interchangeable hands including
- One (1) pair of fists (L & R)
- One (1) pair of web shooting hands (L & R)
- One (1) pair of web holding hands (L & R)
- Three (3) teams of posing hands (L & R)
- Fitted Unstable Molecule suit with spider insignia
- Web cape with integrated posing wire
- Wrist gauntlets (permanently affixed to wrists)
- Boots
- One (1) wrist communicator
- One (1) wrist communicator with Lyla projection FX (attaches to wrist communicator)
- One (1) web mask
- One (1) web base
- Four (4) web lines in different styles (attaches to wrists)
- One (1) One:12 Collective display base with logo
- One (1) One:12 Collective adjustable display post
When 2099 launched, my two favorite characters from this future timeline were Spider-Man and Ravage. However, I was always confused about Miguel’s costume color. Sometimes it was blue; sometimes, it was black. When covering a convention, I asked a Marvel artist about this, and he told me that the suit was indeed black, but the blue was used to do the highlights. However, toy companies and others just thought it was blue, and that became the standard.
Personally, I like the suit if it were all black with the red skull spider. What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
[Source: Mezco]
Have the Ultimate Trip With Super7’s 2001: A Space Odyssey Ultimates
Stanley Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is not something I personally think of when I think action figures. HAL, sure. A talking HAL has been done, and it was a pretty cool little desktop toy, but figures of Dave, Frank, and Heywood? I had never thought anyone would take that gamble. Super7 proved me wrong.
The main cast of Kubrik’s 1968 science fiction masterpiece is coming to Super7’s Ultimates line of action figures. Yes, even the monolith and the Moon Watcher primate-man-thing will be included. Of course, HAL is there, too. But, sadly, there’s no giant Space Baby Dave … yet.
Each figure stands at 6″ tall, comes with some accessories, and will cost $55 each. They are due in the Fall of 2022, but you can pre-order here.
Super7’s Ultimates line is a collection of highly detailed action figures based on properties ranging from Transformers to ThunderCats to Disney to even SpongeBob. The figures typically come with several accessories. These figures are not mass-produced, so there is a bit of a premium in the price tag. Those prices range from $50+.
What are your thoughts on a 2001 action figure collection? Perfect for the Kubrik fan or too esoteric for the general public? Let us know in the comments.
[Source: Super7]
Editor For ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Breaks Down The Film
‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ unites Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson as the Marvel Comics rivals Venom and Carnage, respectively. The Sony Pictures film is directed by Andy Serkis and is a sequel to the 2018 movie. The film’s editor Maryann Brandon sat down with SyFy recently to discuss the process of making the project.
“I think it has a smilier tone to the first one, although Carnage is a scarier character,” she explained. “Now there’s another [symbiote]. Woody Harrelson and Tom Hardy have a really good dynamic together … Venom 2’s gonna be really good fun.”
When comparing ‘Venom’ director Ruben Fleischer to Serkis, she opined, “They’re hugely different filmmakers.”
“Venom’s a tricky film because you like Venom, but he’s scary. You’re always on the edge of like…you don’t want it to be campy, but you want to like him. And you don’t want to be too scared and you can’t be too horrific with it. Venom’s kind of a horrific character, isn’t it? Which is why Tom Hardy’s brilliant because he manages to do that, [and] Andy Serkis is great at this stuff,” Brandon said.
She reflected on how she was recruited for the project and how the pandemic impacted filmmaking.
“I was just brought in when COVID hit,” she continued. “Sony had asked me to do it and I was like, ‘Look, I can’t, I’m doing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and I’m exhausted … I can’t.’ And they were like, ‘Ok, ok.’ Then they hammered me, they wouldn’t leave me alone, and then COVID hit and they were like, ‘Will you help us now?’ So I wasn’t around for any of the shooting or the first cut. I came in and rejiggered a bunch of stuff. So I didn’t work as closely with Andy Serkis as I did with Ruben.”
“I don’t know anything about the comic book and I didn’t read it because I didn’t really want to be influenced as opposed to Star Wars [where] I knew everything about [it] when I went into it,” Brandon added. “I’m always being told, ‘Well, Carnage can do this’ or ‘Venom can do that’ and I’m like, ‘Oh…ok.’ But I don’t feel beholden to the comic per se because we’re [making this] for a much wider audience, aren’t we? Venom appeals to 12-year-olds as well as 50-year-olds.”
You can watch the trailer for the film:
New Spy Flick ‘Assassin Club’ Begins Filming In Italy
Filming for the Film Bridge International spy thriller ‘Assassin Club’ has begun in Italy with ‘Transporter: Refueled’ director Camille Delamarre helming the action film. The cast features several heavy-hitters including Henry Golding (‘Snake Eyes: G.I Joe Origins’), Noomi Rapace (‘What Happened To Monday’), Sam Neill (‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’), and Daniela Melchior (‘Suicide Squad’).
Deadline reports that “‘Assassin Club’ takes place in the world of international spies and elite assassins. In this world of contract killers, Morgan Gaines (Henry Golding) is the best of the best. When Morgan is hired to kill six people around the world, he soon discovers all the targets are also assassins unknowingly hired to kill each other. Rapace plays Falk, the only assassin with skills to match his own. Under the guidance of his mentor Jonathan Caldwell (Neill), Morgan must defeat Falk and the other assassins to keep himself and his girlfriend Sophie (Melchior) alive.”
CEO of Film Bridge International Ellen Wander said, “Assassin Club delivers the cinematic experience audiences love.”
Film producer Jordan Dykstra echoed the enthusiasm for the movie, praising the action and the director for how the project is coming together.
“Our director Camille Delamarre came to this project with an inspired vision, and we look forward to his remarkable talents in the editing room. When the film is completed, it will be a thrilling ride for audiences throughout the world. Assassin Club is a fast paced mix of pulse-pounding action and espionage – all set within the beautiful backdrop of Italy,” the FBI exec said. “We can’t wait to share it with the world.”
Film Bridge International describes the plot as “MORGAN GAINES is the world’s most elite assassin. While on the final mission of his career, he suddenly finds himself fighting for his own life when another mystery assassin targets him. He soon discovers that several of the world’s top assassins—including himself—have all been contracted to kill each other in a deadly game orchestrated by an unknown mastermind. Morgan races to pick off the other assassins, and he must defend not only his own life, but also the lives of those he holds most dear: his girlfriend SOPHIE and their unborn child.”
Eleven Arts Acquires US Distribution Rights to New Anime Film
Yesterday on Twitter, Eleven Arts announced a new acquisition of a North American release for an anime movie called “Poupelle of Chimney Town“. The feature film is based on the bestselling book by Akihiro Nishino. This movie marks the directorial debut of Yusuke Hirota.
The movie, released in Japan in December of 2020, is with production studio STUDIO4ºC, who are known for Tekkonkinkreet and Children of the Sea. Some of the music in the movie are performed by HYDE and LOZAREENA.
Eleven Arts provides a description for the movie:
What is the secret of the town covered in smoke, where everyone has forgotten to look up? Poupelle of Chimney Town tells the story of young Lubicchi who yearns to see the stars his father told him about. One fateful Halloween night, he meets the mysterious Garbage Man Poupelle. Together they look to the sky as their adventure begins and seek to uncover the truth behind the thick smoke of Chimney Town.
Here is the subtitled trailer:
Eleven Arts will be releasing more details about the US theatrical release soon.
Toei and Sony Announce Live-Action Adaption Of ‘Saint Seiya’
Toei Animation and Sony Pictures announced that they are partnering for a live-action adaption of the Japanese manga and subsequent anime ‘Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac’ with ‘The Witcher’ executive producer Tomasz Baginski directing the project. ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ writer Matt Stuecken and Josh Campbell penned the script’s drafts.
‘Saint Seiya’ is a fan-favorite series created by Masami Kurumada and ran for twenty-eight volumes between 1986 to 1990. It would receive an anime adaption from Toei Animation along with numerous films, OVAs, and spin-offs.
‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ actor Mackenyu will star as the titular Seiya with Madison Iseman (‘Feast of the Seven Fishes’) playing the role of Sienna. The movie also stars Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’), Famke Janssen (‘X2: X-Men United’), Nick Stahl (‘The Thin Red Line’), Diego Tinoco (‘Teen Wolf’), and Mark Dacascos (‘Batman: Soul of the Dragon’).
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will be an “origin story” for the fantasy adventure and will follow “Seiya (who) embarks on a journey to conquer the ancient Greek armor of Pegasus and choose his side in a preternatural battle for the fate of Sienna (Iseman), a young girl who struggles to control her godly powers.” He will meet “Alman Kiddo, a man who recruits Seiya into the Knights order, which he founded when he discovered the reincarnated goddess. Tinoco is a man hired to kill the vulnerable goddess.”
The movie has been in production limbo for some time with various directors, writers, and actors attached to it before filming finally began in 2021.
The ‘Saint Seiya’ anime describes the synopsis:
“In ancient times, a group of young men devoted their lives to protecting Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and War. These men were capable of fighting without weapons—a swing of their fist alone was powerful enough to rip the very sky apart and shatter the earth beneath them. These brave heroes became known as Saints, as they could summon up the power of the Cosmos from within themselves.
Now, in present day, a new generation of Saints is about to come forth. The young and spirited Seiya is fighting a tough battle for the Sacred Armor of Pegasus, and he isn’t about to let anyone get in the way of him and his prize. Six years of hard work and training pay off with his victory and new title as one of Athena’s Saints.
But Seiya’s endeavor doesn’t end there. In fact, plenty of perils and dangerous enemies face him and the rest of the Saints throughout the series. What new quests await the heroes of the epic Saint Seiya saga?”
The original anime ran from 1986-1989 for 114 episodes and spun off thirty-one OVAs.
