Film News: Arnie talks Terminator Genesis, Star Wars VII plot details revealed, and more

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER ON THE "HARDCORE ACTION" IN TERMINATOR: GENESIS
Arnold Schwarzenegger has given an interview to Collider about the forthcoming reboot of the Terminator franchise, Terminator: Genesis, in which the former Governor of California will reprise his iconic role as the time-travelling killer T-800 robot. The film will stick close to the mood and tone of what is widely acknowledged to be the franchise's most successful movie to date, Terminator 2: Judgement Day. "It is going to have the exact same feel," says Arnie. "The way it reads, it has the same feel of Terminator 2. It’s big. There’s hardcore action and it has some really great visual effects in there, but not over the top."

Schwarzenegger continues: "It’s not a Thor-type of movie, even though it’s the same director [Thor 2: The Dark World's Alan Taylor]. It has good special effects, but just enough to say, ‘Wow, where did that come from? How did they do that?’" Arnie goes on to say he sees the role of the T-800 as similar to that of James Bond or Batman: "I think that it’s just so wild to have a franchise that has been around for that long, and then after 30 years, to get asked again to be the only character in a movie that is the same character is unheard of, in movie history... You always switch out, like with James Bond and Batman, but not here. That, to me, is an extraordinary situation and a great opportunity. Of course, I was honoured when I was asked to come back and play the character." Read the full interview here.

THE RUMOUR MILL: STAR WARS VII PLOT DETAILS REVEALED, GAME OF THRONES - THE MOVIE, DOUG LIMAN TO DIRECT SPLINTER CELL MOVIE, CAPTAIN AMERICA 3 PLOT RUMOURS, GHOSTBUSTERS 3 DIRECTOR RUMOURS, SOFIA COPPOLA EYES LIVE-ACTION LITTLE MERMAID
Star Wars VII must rank as one of the most talked-about films of all time, before a single frame has been shot, and before most of the main cast have even been confirmed – the only reasonably airtight casting rumours so far are those of Adam Driver (Girls), who is reportedly in line to play the villain, and those of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, whom it is strongly rumoured will reprise their roles from the original trilogy.

This week, the J.J. Abrams camp revealed some key details about the film's plot in a post on StarWars.com, confirming that cameras will begin to roll in May of this year. The new film will be set 30 years after the end of Return of the Jedi, and will feature a trio of new, young characters, who will go on to become the focus of Abrams' new trilogy. This new information strongly suggests that the rumours about the original cast are true, and it is looking increasingly likely that the young leads will go to Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad), Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years A Slave) and John Boyega (Attack the Block), although this is still all to be confirmed.

George R.R. Martin, the author behind the record-breaking Game of Thrones books, has been speculating about the possibility of a big-screen outing to finish off his epic saga. Speaking to Collider, G.R.R.M. ponders: "The books get bigger and bigger. It might need a feature to tie things up, something with a feature budget, like $100 million for two hours. Those dragons get real big." Martin also squashed rumours that the TV series' creators would soon run out of books to adapt, saying that he doesn't see that happening any time soon – read his comments in full here.

Black ops military video game Splinter Cell will get the big-screen treatment at the hands of The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman, it was revealed this week by Heat Vision. Director Peter Berg was previously attached to the project. The film will follow the adventures of covert operative Sam Fisher, as he sneaks and kills his way around a military-industrial complex. Tom Hardy will play the role of Fisher.

A brief bit of (very speculative) rumour-mongering from the duo behind Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier – screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely spoke to Den of Geek this week and made some predictions about what might happen in the now-confirmed follow-up. "We’ve definitely set out on a more realistic road in the Cap movies," says Markus. "Even more grounded than in the other [Marvel] movies. And so it kind of rules out Cap fighting the Dinosaur Man or something like that."

Discussing their ideas for the sequel, Markus says: "There are some that aren’t gonna start and other ones that – I mean there’s a couple we’re playing with right now that we really want to take elements from. Which we’ll not reveal," before letting slip: "All I’m saying is psychotic 1950s Cap." This is a reference to a story from the original Marvel comics that saw two fake Captain America's powered up by super-serum fighting the communists while Cap was still frozen in a glacier. This is, of course, massively unconfirmed – but we love the idea of Cap fighting a drug-crazed, Commie-killing double.

The long-planned sequel Ghostbusters 3 lost its director this week – original choice Ivan Reitman has stepped down, according to Deadline, but the film is still going ahead. Citing the death of his long-time friend and collaborator Harold Ramis as the reason for his departure, Reitman said: "A lot of things happened in the last few months, the most significant of which was the passing of Harold, who was a very good friend who was extraordinarily influential in my career. We did five movies together including both Ghostbusters." He also spoke about the multiple scripts written for the planned sequel.

The original "was a really good script, but then it became clear that Bill [Murray] really didn’t want to do another Ghostbusters and that it was literally impossible to find him to speak to for the year or two we tried to get it going. When Bill finally…well, he never actually said no, but he never said yes, so there was no way to make that film. We decided to start over again, and I started working with Etan Cohen [Men in Black 3, Tropic Thunder], with Dan lending a helping hand. Harold got sick about three years ago, and we kept hoping he would get better. I kept pushing forward on the Etan Cohen and we now have a draft that is very good, that the studio is very excited about... It’s a version of Ghostbusters that has the originals in a very minor role. I’m not going to say how many Ghostbusters there will be in the new cast, but we are determined to retain the spirit of the original film, and I am pleased that all of this seems to have happened organically."

A few days after Reitman's comments were made public, speculation began about who might replace him on the movie – Deadline editor Nikki Finke has hinted that The Lego Movie duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller could be the top choices, with Reitman acting as producer. We'll keep you posted as and when this one gets confirmed.

And finally, probably the weirdest rumour of the week – Sofia Coppola is in line to direct a live-action version of The Little Mermaid, the fairy-tale by Hans Christian-Andersen best known as an animated Disney film. Quite how this will work, and whether Coppola will pitch it as a kids' movie or a grown-up, darker take on the classic tale, remains to be seen – but we strongly suspect there won't be a crab with a cod-racist Jamaican accent in the new version.

TRAILERS: FARGO – THE TV SERIES, THE SIGNAL, THE MAZE RUNNER
Taking a classic, Oscar-winning movie and unpacking it into a long-form TV series is an inherently risky business - sometimes you get Hannibal, a painterly, chilling and expertly-acted show that cleverly references the various source material it draws upon, from Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs to the original Thomas Harris novels. Sometimes you get the dire-seeming schlock of Robert Rodriguez's new stab at From Dusk Till Dawn, which we previewed in a previous Film News. So which way is the new TV series of Fargo, starring Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton, going to lean? Here's the first trailer, tell us what you think...

Science fiction thriller The Signal was a massive hit at Sundance – Laurence Fishburne stars as a professor who might not be all that he seems, who takes his students on a field trip, only for Bad Things to Start Happening. Artfully shot, with an intriguing, mysterious premise, the trailer below poses more questions than it answers.

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And finally, an adaptation of James Dashner's YA fantasy book The Maze Runner, from director Wes Ball. A group of teenyboppers awake in a maze, with no idea how they got there. They must find there way to the castle at the centre of the labyrinth and confront the Goblin King's capacious codpiece... no, wait, that's another film. The trailer looks great though, with lush cinematography complementing the intriguing premise.