Film News: Spongebob Squarepants vs. Watchmen, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, X-Men and more

SPONGEWATCH SQUAREMEN: THE ULTIMATE WATCHMEN SPOOF
There aren't really any words to describe this Watchmen tribute from YouTube user and animator El Cid, gloriously titled SpongeMen SquareWatch. In the 2-minute spoof, lovable aquatic moron Spongebob Squarepants essays the role of Rhorschach (!!), while his pals guest star as Alan Moore creations The Comedian, Doctor Manhattan, and the Silk Spectre. As website io9.com eloquently puts it, they "can't decide if it's so awesome that even Alan Moore would approve, or if it would be the last straw that finally sends him on his inevitable murder spree through the comics industry."

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY ON CHRISTOPHER NOLAN'S INTERSTELLAR
Matthew McConnaughey, currently on something of a roll with critically acclaimed and award-nominated performances in The Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club and the wildly inventive new police procedural series True Detective, has been speaking about his role in the upcoming Christopher Nolan film Interstellar. Taking to Variety, the actor promises the film will be "the most ambitious thing [Nolan has] ever done. And he's done some ambitious stuff. There's no fucking around on set. He's a great problem solver. In that way, he's very indie. Here's a guy who could have whatever budget he wants – and we finished shooting early."

The film, which tells the story of a team of astronauts, led by McConnaughey, who travel through a wormhole, is out in November this year. Discussing how he was cast for the role, McConnaughey reveals: "He came up to me and said, 'Mud. I love that movie.' I sat down with him for about two-and-a-half hours at his house. Not one word came up about Interstellar. I walked out not sure what to think. I mean, he's not the guy who takes general meetings."

BRYAN SINGER TALKS X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
Director Bryan Singer has revealed more details about the forthcoming X-Men sequel, Days of Future Past, comparing it to his breakthrough hit The Usual Suspects. The new film about the mutant heroes is like his debut film "in two ways,” says Singer, speaking to IGN. “One structurally, and also in the way I’ve shot it, because I shot the future elements that take place in the future first. The Usual Suspects was this movie starring Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri, Dan Hedaya, Giancarlo Esposito, and then they all left, and then a new group came – the suspects. The same thing here – we had the X-Men of the future, all of them, all the actors I had worked with from the past all came, and then they left and a whole new group arrived, so you really feel like you’re making two very different movies.” 

THE RUMOUR MILL: TERMINATOR GENESIS HAS ITS KYLE REESE, BOND 24 NEWS, DOCTOR STRANGE LATEST. NEW HARLAN ELLISON MOVIE PLANNED, THE RAID SET FOR HOLLYWOOD REMAKE
The planned Terminator franchise reboot has cast its Kyle Reese, reports Variety – Jai Courtney, star of Spartacus: Blood and Sand and the execrable A Good Day To Die Hard will play the time-travelling resistance fighter in Terminator: Genesis, opposite Game of Thrones star Emilia Clark, who plays Sarah Connor, and a returning Arnold Scwarzenegger. The film is helmed by Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World).

Bond 24, the as yet untitled follow-up to Skyfall, directed once again by Sam Mendes, will not by shot by Skyfall cinematographer Roger Deakins, according to a Twitter update from editor Kris Tapley. Deakins won the American Society of Cinematographers' Outstanding Achievement Award for his work on Skyfall in 2012. Mendes returns as director, as does Daniel Craig as Bond. 

The planned Doctor Strange movie from Marvel has been providing grist for the rumour mill this week, with Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies, The Wackness) the current name in the frame to direct the film, according to THR. Mark Andrews (Brave), Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) and Dean Israelite (Welcome to Yesterday) are also being considered. Names bandied about so far for the title role include Johnny Depp and Chiwetel Ejiofor.  

Great news for fans of cult science fiction writer Harlan Ellison, the visionary mind behind the near-mythic and controversial Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever, neglected dystopian SF classic A Boy and His Dog, and countless novels, short stories and screenplays: Deadline reports that one of Ellison's best loved short stories, Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman is being considered for adaptation into a film by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski. Deadline reports that the script is finished and has been signed off by the notoriously exacting Ellison, while Straczynski is considering approaching Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro to take on producer roles.

And finally, it looks like Gareth Evans' high-impact guns-and-martial arts movie The Raid will be remade for Hollywood, with Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3) in the director's chair, according to The Wrap. Brad Inglesby (Out of the Furnace) will pen the script, with Evans producing. No casting rumours have surfaced yet.

TRAILERS: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, LOCKE, PENNY DREADFUL
The most exciting trailer of the week for comics fans has to be Guardians of the Galaxy, the new space-set adventure from the Marvel movie factory, based on the comic of the same name. With broad humorous strokes, all-encompassing CGI, and a central character who is – no kidding – a space-faring raccoon known for his skills as an armed robber, this property always had the potential to be a complete disaster, but the wacky trailer actually bodes pretty well for this new addition to the Marvel movie franchise family, especially with a bleach-blonde Benicio Del Toro starring as is-he-a-villain-or-isn't-he, The Collector (he blatantly is). 

Tom Hardy. What, you need to know more? Okay, fair point, he has made the occasional turkey – we'd all rather forget the coma-inducing This Means War, in which he starred opposite unlikely Captain Kirk impersonator and professional eyebrow farmer Chris Pine, and lest we forget, he had a (mercifully small) role in perhaps the most appalling movie ever made, Zack Snyder's excruciating Sucker Punch. But on his good days, Hardy's mere presence is enough to captivate – think of his riveting performances in Bronson, Warrior and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. If you've ever fantasised about spending two hours in a BMW with Hardy pretending to be Welsh – and let's face it, who hasn't – then his new film Locke is for you. It's written and directed by Steven Wright, the scribe of Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises, which also bodes well.

And finally, the preview for a new horror series screening online, and starring Eva Green, Josh Hartnett and Timothy Dalton, from executive producer Sam Mendes. Characters from classic fantasy literature, including Dorian Gray, Victor Frankenstein and Dracula team up... hold up just a steampunk minute, isn't this just Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in fancy britches? Poor Alan, it seems that between being mercilessly adapted into big-budget cinematic turkeys and animated mashups, victimised by Grant Morrison (he claims, at least) and having to retire from comics roughly every five minutes, he's also having his Idea Space mercilessly ransacked by Mendes. Shame, but the show does look pretty sweet.