It looks as if there actually may be something to last week’s rumor that Warner Bros. wants to fast-track its Justice League of America movie. The Los Angeles Times reports that JLA is one of the projects the studio hopes to rush into production before a potential talent strike essentially shuts down the film industry next summer.

Contracts with the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America expire on June 30, which means studios must start filming by March 1 to beat the strike deadlines. It also means Warner Bros. will have to hire a director immediately and begin casting.

Although earlier rumors suggested Christian Bale and Brandon Routh might star Justice League, that’s beginning to look unlikely. In fact, Bale says he won’t be in the movie, and thinks it would be better if JLA were to come out after the third Batman.

So, who’ll play Batman and Superman? In what seems like joke casting, CHUD.com passes along the unlikely rumor that Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson have been selected for the roles. While CHUD cites a “trusted scooper” as its source, not even they seem to believe this one: “… [H]ey, if you don’t like this rumor, I could always make another one up.” Right.

Another casting rumor that was floated and the quickly shot down: that Smallville’s Tom Welling will play the Man of Steel. IESB.net said yes, but the Superman Homepage went straight to series executive producer Al Gough who said, “Hasn’t happened, won’t happen, he is under contract to Smallville through season 8.”

But what about that other rumor, that Justice League will be entirely, or mostly, motion capture, ala Beowulf? IESB.net now says that while the movie will employ motion capture for some sequences — underwater scenes, the supposed OMACs — it will otherwise be a traditionally made production.

So, make of that what you will.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 8:02 am and is filed under DC Comics, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.