Film News: Avengers: Age of Ultron cast on working with Joss Whedon; Christopher Nolan talks Interstellar

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN ON INTERSTELLAR
Director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception, The Prestige) has spoken out this week about his new film Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey. Speaking to Empire, the British director was full of praise for McConaughey's turn as a scientist who discovers a wormhole that may be a portal to another dimension. "I needed someone who is very much an everyman, someone the audience could experience the story with," says Nolan. "He's just a phenomenal, charismatic presence in the movie. His performance is shaping up to be extraordinary."

He also spoke about the movie's approach to special effects, which he tried to minimise: "We have spatial interiors… We built closed sets and shot it like a documentary, like they were really there," the director comments.  

ROBERT DOWNEY JR., CHRIS EVANS, SCARLETT JOHANSSON & SAMUEL L. JACKSON TALK AVENGERS 2: AGE OF ULTRON
In an interview with Variety this week, Robert Downey Jr. talked about reprising his role as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the upcoming Marvel superhero sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron. Downey revealed that Hawkeye, the deadly bow-and-arrow wielding hero played by Jeremy Renner, would play a key role in the Joss Whedon-helmed summer blockbuster. "My two-year-old is crazy about Hawkeye, and I think Jeremy has a lot to do with the plot," he said. "There are always so many plates to spin to get these things half-right, and I'm really excited about this one."

Downey also speculated that his own involvement with the franchise would not last forever, saying: "The smart money is you have to look at everybody's age." In terms of which Avengers role might be re-cast first, Downey commented: "I'll put myself at the top of the list. Sooner or later, they've got to start over and get somebody young," but added: "I'm not there with them yet."

Later in the week, Downey's co-stars Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) also spoke about the forthcoming film, and working with director Joss Whedon, offering some thoughts on the sequel to Total Film at a press junket to promote Captain America: The Winter Soldier. "Joss writes from a fanboy perspective. He has an intimate understanding of comic books, genre and what makes them work," says Jackson. Watch the interviews below.

**WARNING!** Contains spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Solider from 1:44.

THE RUMOUR MILL: BRADLEY COOPER COULD BE THE NEXT INDIANA JONES, NEW CHEECH & CHONG MOVIE IN THE WORKS, JOHN BOYEGA TAPPED FOR TERMINATOR: GENESIS ROLE, SCARFACE REMAKE GETS A DIRECTOR, BILLY CORGAN'S WRESTLING FEDERATION COMES TO AMC FOR NEW REALITY SHOW
Prepare to engage nerd-rage – Bradley Cooper could be in line to be the first actor other than Harrison Ford to play the iconic role of Indiana Jones, which reports say new franchise owners Disney intend to re-cast in the tradition of other high-profile characters like Batman and James Bond.

The rumour regarding Cooper comes courtesy of Latino Review, and could well be pure speculation – series producer Frank Marshall has already addressed the rumours on his Twitter page, stating: "Due to the ridiculous rumors that keep popping up, like agents pipe dreams, I will stop commenting on our projects until I have real news." He added: "I can only confirm that Katy Perry will NOT be the new Indiana Jones." His answer did not, however, rule Cooper out, or confirm that Ford would return for the role.

More reliable are reports that epic stoners Cheech & Chong might soon be returning to the silver screen, with a new project being considered for Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin, courtesy of director Jay Chandrasekhar (Super Troopers). The report comes from the wonderfully-named Celeb Stoner (man). Tommy Chong is on record as saying the project is going ahead, revealing: "It will be about us going to a festival called the Burning Joint. All sorts of shenanigans happen. It's going to be a lot of fun."

Attack the Block star John Boyega is being courted for a role in Terminator: Genesis, the new re-boot of the franchise which sees the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the iconic role of the Terminator, a killer robot from the future. Collider reports that Boyega may be playing the role of the son of scientist Miles Dyson in the film, but that his casting could be contingent on whether or not J.J. Abrams hires him for a role in Star Wars VII. 

The planned remake (of a remake) of Scarface gained a director this week – according to The Wrap, Pablo Larraín (No) will helm the film, which will see the iconic Tony Montana character reimagined this time as a Mexican immigrant. We'll keep you posted as more details of this sacrilege – sorry, project – are revealed. 

And finally... Billy Corgan's Resistance Pro wrestling league is set to become the subject of a new reality TV series from Breaking Bad network AMC, according to Variety. "Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan pulls back the curtains on the pro-wrestling world as he takes over creative direction for the independent wrestling company Resistance Pro," reads the listing on Variety. In case you missed it, here is Corgan with some of his wrestlers, shilling for a furniture store in a cringeworthy commercial. Le sigh.

TRAILERS: JUPITER ASCENDING, MICHAEL BAY'S TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Jupiter Ascending is the new film from the Wachowskis, and despite a rather hackneyed plot – Mila Kunis is an 'ordinary girl' who discovers she is 'the chosen one' – this trailer wins us over with its eye-popping visuals, a fairytale-like space opera aesthetic, and some jaw-dropping fight scenes. Meg has never looked so badass. 

Look, shut up about Michael Bay, okay? Yes, he's an epic monger of cinematic cheese. No, we will never forgive him for Pearl Harbour (the movie, not the atrocity... although the movie was also an atrocity). But we have warmed to him in recent years – he is executive producer on the rather fantastic pirate-based TV series Black Sails, he directed the very funny Pain & Gain last year, and we haven't let his work on Transformers eclipse our love of undeniably great Nicolas Cage movie The Rock. And lets face it... who else would you tap to direct the umpteenth reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise? Snyder's busy. And this, to be fair, looks like it has the potential for Awesome. 

And finally, the full-length, spoiler-heavy trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past, Bryan Singer's epic return to the X-franchise, which has more mutants in it than an entire series of Jersey Shore. Magneto actually looks like Magneto from the comics, McAvoy faces off against Jean-Luc Picard, and more stuff explodes than is strictly necessary. For our money, this looks like the X-film to rule them all.