The Week In Geek:Action Comics #1 Sells For Crazy $$, Aronofsky’s Noah,Trek II And More

Action Comics #1 sells for $2 mil+

Once upon a time, before the bad real estate choices and problems with the IRS, actor Nicolas Cage actually made good financial investments. One of those was a copy of Action Comics #1 that he bought back in 1997 to the tune of $150,000. Now, only 14 years later, the book which introduced Superman to the world in 1938 has jumped to over $2 million dollars ($2.16 at auction, to be exact).  Even with inflation, that is quite a jump in such a relatively short amount of time. Smart thinking on Cage’s part, I gotta say. And it is only through sheer luck that he ever got his copy back in the first place; his copy was stolen from his house back in 2000 and only recently recovered by the LAPD, when an unidentified man bought the contents of an abandoned storage locker in the San Fernando Valley. Cage reported it stolen on January 21, 2000, after noticing that it, along with two other rare comics, had been stolen from security frames mounted on the wall of his home. One of those comics that was not recovered was Batman’s first appearance in Detective Comics #27. But who knows, maybe that comics will show up in some random weird ass place at some future date. Stranger things, right?

Enders Game’s Casting News Galore

It seems like the long gestating film version of classic sci-fi novel Ender’s Game from author Orson Scott Card might actually be happening this time, after what seems like a million starts and stops over the past few decades. Summit Entertainment is looking for their next big thing now that Twilight is ending, and an adaptation of Ender’s Game is part of that strategy along with The Hunger Games. Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) is directing, and now he has found his lead in 14 year old Asa Butterfield, most recently seen in Martin Scorcese’s Hugo. Butterfield will play the titular Ender, who is enrolled in a futuristic military battle school after Earth suffers an alien invasion. True Grit Oscar Nominee Hailee Steinfeld has also been offered the part of Petra Arkanian, one of the only girls in the battle school. The part of grizzled Colonel Hyrum Graff has been offered to none other than Harrison Ford. If Ford says yes, this would be his first real sci-fi movie in almost thirty years (assuming you don’t count Cowboys and Aliens, and really why would you?). The movie is set to start filming early next year, with a release date of March 2013. 

I am excited that the millions of fans of this novel will finally get to see it come to life on the big screen. I however will wait to see it till it’s free on cable or Netflix, as I’m not putting one penny into the bank account of odious homophobic author Orson Scott Card. I’m usually pretty good at separating the art from the artist, I still watch Roman Polanski movies after all, and I have not thrown out my copy of The Dark Knight Returns despite Frank Miller recently going bat shit crazy. But considering that Card thinks that not only should gay marriage remain illegal, but that homosexuality should be actually criminalized in this country, I just can’t bring myself to pay for this flick when it comes out. I won’t begrudge a single geek who goes to see it, I understand the lure of a beloved space epic come to big screen life, but you all are gonna have to fill me in on this when it comes out…. ’cause my ass won’t be there opening weekend.

Alice Eve To Star In Trek II?

The sequel to JJ Abram’s Star Trek is starting to really heat up; as I mentioned in my last column, Benicio del Toro has been offered the role of the lead villain -who has yet to be named, and may or may not be Khan. Now actress Alice Eve has been offered an unspecified role. Although the rumor mill says the part is to be an all new one, for my money she’s  probably going to be playing Carol Marcus, who as Trek fans know is the mother of Kirk’s son David from Wrath of Khan.  The backstory of Kirk and Marcus was never really shown, so this would be an interesting opportunity to showcase that love affair. Another rumor mentions that the new female lead might be a Vulcan female and possible love interest for Kirk, to mirror the Vulcan/Human relationship of Spock and Uhura. 

Aronofsky’s Noah – Bale out, Fassbender In?

After writer/director Darren Aronofsky bailed on doing The Wolverine for Fox, he quickly set up his next project, a big budget version of the Biblical story of Noah and the Ark. Concept art for Noah has already been seen in the trailer for his graphic novel version of the story which is set to be released soon. (Aronofsky released a graphic novel of his script for The Fountain before the film ever hit theaters as well.) His first choice for Noah was Christian Bale, but I guess after The Dark Knight Rises he wants something smaller and less epic-y.  The rumor mill is leaning towards actor Micheal Fassbender as Bale’s replacement, which means that after Inglorious Basterds, X-Men: First Class and the upcoming Prometheus, this might seal his rep as THE geek movie icon of the decade….and it’s only 2011. The synopsis for the graphic novel has already been released, and one can imagine the movie will follow the same template:

“It was a world without hope, a world with no rain and no crops, dominated by warlords and their barbarian hordes. In this cruel world, Noah was a good man. Seasoned fighter, mage and healer but he only wanted peace for him and his family. Yet every night, Noah was beset by visions of an endless flood, symbolizing the destruction of all life. Gradually he began to understand the message sent him by the Creator. He had decided to punish the men and kill them until the last. But he gave Noah a last chance to preserve life on Earth.” 

Chris Meloni To Join True Blood

In a last bit of casting news, actor Chris Meloni (Oz, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit) has been offered a major part in the fifth season of HBO’s True Blood which is set to start filming pretty much any minute now.  Meloni is set to play a an incredibly old and powerful vampire who is a key player in the whole vampire “Authority” that has been mentioned as running the vampire world from behind the scenes since way back in season one. He is going to be joined by actress Lucy Griffiths, who is also set to join as a member of the Authority as well as Eric Northman’s “sister” Nora. True Blood season five is set to premiere in June of 2012.

Bryan Singer Set To Direct The Munsters For NBC 

In my previous column, I mentioned that the television reboot of classic sitcom The Munsters for NBC got an interesting producer in the form of Bryan Fuller, formerly of Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls. And now things got a little more A-list, with X-Men and Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer attached as the director for the pilot episode. This wouldn’t be the first time Singer has directed a pilot for television; he also directed the pilot episode for Fox’s House, for which he remains an executive producer.  Both Bryans Fuller and Singer give this whole endeavor a level of class that it seriously needs if it intends to click and not go the way of the recent reboot of Charlie’s Angels. Good or bad, my feeling is that the very concept of The Munsters is a little too quirky for modern day network audiences, who only want variations of CSI, NCIS or Law and Order, with reality shows thrown in. It seems cable tv is the home for something like this.