USA Today scores the first photo from IRON MAN 2

USA Today has the first official photo of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2.

And of course it looks awesome!

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In the accompanying article, returning director Jon Favreau says the new film takes place six month’s after Tony’s very public confession at the end of the first movie that he’s Iron Man. He asks, “How many superheroes are open about their true identities? We wanted to play with that idea. But it obviously has consequences — in his relationships, on the team. There are a lot of areas we can explore.”

You can follow Favreau’s updates from the set right here, and we’ll get to see the finished product on May 7, 2010!

Bale talks Batman

I just read on Batman on Film that the folks over at Total Film talked to Christian Bale about his current projects and what’s up with the next Batman movie.

Given how successful and amazing The Dark Knight was, I couldn’t have asked for a better answer:

“Will we do a third movie? It’s got to be the right story. You can’t make something like The Dark Knight and then come out with something disappointing.”

And then he says something even better:

“I would like it if people say, ‘You’ll never make a good third movie.’ I say, ‘OK, let’s make a third movie in that case, let’s prove them wrong.’ But that’s just me.”

Sign me up. I admire the fact that he wants the story to be right, and that he accepts the challenge of making sure the third one honors what they accomplished in the first two — finding the heart of Bruce Wayne without compromising the power of Batman.

I know what I’d like the third one to be. I know how I’d like it to end. And I’m sure that Bale and Christopher Nolan and the rest of their team will once again deliver something better than I could possibly imagine.

Bale also talks about The Dark Knight and the Oscars:

“Heath winning Best Supporting Actor was fantastic. I had dinner with his family a couple of nights before the awards and liked very much they were the people who were picking it up for him. Of course I was really delighted that it did go that way.”

And:

“I’m not surprised by The Dark Knight not getting more Oscars though. I’m not really surprised by anything to do with awards. Hey listen, awards or not it’s a wonderful movie. Chris Nolan did such a fantastic job of it and you look back at the history of the Oscars — some of the best movies never got shit.”

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With Christopher Nolan making a science-fiction thriller called Inception next, it will be a while before production begins on a the new Batman movie.

In the meantime, look for Christian Bale this summer in Terminator Salvation and Public Enemies. (For trailers and information about Bale’s other upcoming projects, click here.)

HERCULES … begins!

When I was little, I loved spending the night with my grandparents, Nanny and Pop Vance, in Ramsey, Indiana. While Nanny would cook the best fried chicken ever made, I’d line up all of my Star Wars figures on the kitchen table and tell Pop the story of each and every one of them. And he’d just listen and smile.

Inevitably we’d end up at the Pic-Pac grocery store in New Salisbury to grab one thing or another, and Pop would always buy me the latest issue of Famous Monsters magazine.

Even though the color photo of John Carpenter’s The Thing plastering its bloody self across an Antarctic research station’s ceiling scarred my childhood, I still loved reading the articles and looking at pictures covering everything from classic Universal monsters to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first Conan movie.

That’s why I’m so excited that some VERY BIG NEWS has been broken on the website of a magazine that was so important to me while I was growing up.

Russian actor, author, writer, producer, and bodybuilder Alexander Nevsky is making a Hercules movie.

And he just told Famous Monsters who’s writing it:

Famous Monsters: Nevsky Still Intending to Explore Hercules

WHAMMY!

I can’t even begin to express how happy and proud I am to be a part of this. My uncle Richard once recorded Conan the Destroyer off of HBO for me, and I watched that tape every day before running around the woods behind my parents’ house with a plastic sword, slaying monsters and saving maidens.

That’s what I want this movie to be.

And I promise it’s going to be awesome.

Thanks to my writing partner, brother, and friend Kevin Rice for convincing me we could write movies.

And HUGE thanks to Alexander Nevsky for believing in Kevin and me by asking us to help him tell this story.

alexander-me-katyaWith Alexander and his lovely wife, Katya, on the set of Magic Man last summer in Las Vegas

alexander-me-daviWith Alexander and film legend Robert Davi

Kevin and I have worked really hard on this, and we’re infinitely proud of the plot that does some new and thrilling things with Hercules while honoring the classic mythology. Alexander has given us input, help, and direction every step of the way, and we truly believe this will be something mighty, magical, and massively awesome for action fans old and new.

More news on this as it happens!

For more information about Alexander, his new movie Treasure Raiders arrives on DVD on June 2!

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His previous movie, Moscow Heat, is already available. I’ll post reviews of both of them here soon. In the meantime, you can become a fan of Alexander on his Facebook page.