The movie, Gravity, was originally conceived as a vehicle for Angelina Jolie, before she dropped out following original studio Universal's refusal of the project. Now ensconced at Warners, Cuaron (who co-wrote the script with son Jonas) plans to shoot the movie this summer, allowing Downey the chance to be free for this fall's shooting of the second Sherlock Holmes. Assuming deals can be worked out, Downey will play the commander of a space station who loses his crew when an asteroid explosion kills them during a spacewalk, and has to work out a way to get back to Earth with only one remaining crewmember. Like so many other projects in this post-Avatar world, Gravity will be shot in 3D, making exploding asteroids that little bit more real.

Downey Orbits Cuaron's 3D Gravity [Deadline Hollywood]

At the Jimmy Kimmel Show Robert Downey Jr. revealed a few details as to how Mickey Rourke got into character — apparently he went a little method on the crew. We really hope he went full Wesley Snipes method, and walked around with an accent trying to whip people. But so far, all that's been revealed was that he looked at pictures of dead pets to get angry — oh, and he made the director hold them up like flash cards. Crazy, we love it.

Jon Favreau says the new movie is darker than the first, but not as dark as you'd expect — it's definitely not as dark as the "Demon In A Bottle" storyline, in which Tony grapples with alcoholism. Instead, Favreau says Tony struggles with "his own identity in the face of being a larger than life character who is. in fact, saving the world." Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash, is indeed a combo of Whiplash and the Crimson Dynamo in the comics, and that primitive harness you see him wielding in the clips and promo pics is, as you'd suspected, just his first stab at creating a new technology.

The film opens with Iron Man's mood and armor both "grimy and ragged," in the middle of a major struggle that's not going well.

And it sounds as though Sam Rockwell's industrialist character, Justin Hammer, talks Tony Stark fan Ivan Vanko into hating Tony. And Hammer makes the War Machine armor for Rhodey, who's on the outs with Tony. And Don Cheadle says that if all goes well, there'll be a third film with the same cast, but he doesn't expect there to be a War Machine spin-off. (And Favreau says that they considered having ScarJo play a different role in the film than Black Widow, that of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.)

Most of all, the theme of the second movie is that "no man is an island," says Favreau, who says Tony realizes he needs other people. Adds Robert Downey Jr., at one point, Nick Fury asks Tony what it's like not to have any back-up. Tony faces issues that are more pressing than survival and more complicated than even his mega brain can handle.

Separately, a screencap from the most recent trailer shows what could be the "Extremis" enhance from the comics, which turns Tony into more of a cyborg and gives him a second skin and more of a healing factor:

Note also that in the scenes in the trailer where Tony seems to be fighting War Machine, his armor's central light is more triangular, along the lines of the Extremis armor in the comics. [Comic Book Movie and Comic Book Movie via DailyPop]

The upcoming Cowboys and Aliens is based on Platinum Studio's 2006 graphic novel about cowboys and Apaches versus extraterrestrial invaders in 1800s Arizona. Fortunately for Iron Man fans, it seems that Favreau holds no ill will against Downey for going with the Holmes sequel. Yesterday Favreau tweeted, "Academy members: Please keep Downey for Holmes and Sam Rockwell for Moon in mind."

Favreau's presumable next move will be to secure a new leading man to play Cowboy and Aliens gunslinger hero, Zeke Jackson.

[via Entertainment Weekly and NewsOK]

The Daily Beast is reporting that Jon Favreau and RDJ will be reuniting in July to start filming the film based on the comic Cowboys And Aliens, written by Action Philosphers mastermind Fred Van Lente. The script is from Star Trek and Transformers scribes, Orci and Kurtzman, so expect a lot of action, humor, and bold acts of heroism, which is exactly how we like our Downey. Plus, the whole thing will be in 3D, which The Beast claims is due to the Avatar effect.

It's not that surprising that this is happening so fast. RDJ has said himself that he's a happy little workhorse, he piled on the film projects last year, so we can believe that he's anxious to start another movie. But it does put him on a super tight schedule, what with the Iron Man 2 release and press tour. Plus maybe they want to get a jump on all the other alien films coming out in late 2010 and 2011, such as Battle for LA and Battleship.

In an interview with InContention, Bridges explained that the Marvel superhero movie rushed into production to make its release date, with the director and star making up scenes as they went along:

"They had no script, man. They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn't know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, 'You got any ideas?' Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on."

Bridges, director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. would literally act out sequences during primitive rehearsals, Downey taking on Bridges's role and vice versa, to find and essentially improvise their way to full scenes, the actor recounts. Bridges says that the entire production was probably saved by the improv prowess of the film's director and star.

"You've got the suits from Marvel in the trailer with us saying, 'No, you wouldn't say that,'" Bridges continued. "You would think with a $200 million movie you'd have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script, ‘Oh, we'll have the script before that time,' and they don't have their shit together.

"Jon dealt with it so well," Bridges continues. "It freaked me out. I was very anxious. I like to be prepared. I like to know my lines, man, that's my school. Very prepared. That was very irritating, and then I just made this adjustment. It happens in movies a lot where something's rubbing against your fur and it's not feeling right, but it's just the way it is. You can spend a lot of energy bitching about that or you can figure out how you're going to do it, how you're going to play this hand you've been dealt. What you can control is how you perceive things and your thinking about it. So I said, ‘Oh, what we're doing here, we're making a $200 million student film. We're all just fuckin' around! We're playin'. Oh, great!' That took all the pressure off. ‘Oh, just jam, man, just play.' And it turned out great!"

First off, that's amazing that he called them "suits." He really is The Dude. And second, this is just hilarious. I can't believe they let Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau just run with this stuff. But, thank goodness they did, because what came out was a pretty great action flick blended with biting humor. Still I can't imagine what it must have been for everyone else on set. [InContention via Worst Previews]

Still can't wait to see the giant exploding, Robert Downey Jr. quipping madness that is another Iron Man movie. The film will be released May 7, 2010.

May 7, 2010 is so far away. But so far, it all looks really, really good. Except Mickey Rourke's Whiplash costume...

[Via Entertainment Tonight]

The Hollywood Reporter claims that Favreau and RDJ are teaming up once again to bring the live action comic book adaption to life.

Favreau will be directing under executive producers and Star Trek writers Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof. The estimated release is in 2011.

Here's the synopsis:

In Silver City, Arizona, Apache Indians and Western settlers must lay their differences aside when an alien spaceship crash lands in their city.

Asked about the rumor, Rice was effusive in her hopes that Downey could take on the role:

First off, I cannot confirm or deny the rumor. I have not received official word as to the truth of it yet. But I can say without hesitation that I love Robert Downey Jr. and I think he would make a fabulous Vampire Lestat. He is a major actor, a powerhouse of talent and personality, and he evinces an irrepressible and seductive charm. He would bring great energy and skill to the role. I would love to see this happen. I've loved Robert Downey Jr. ever since I saw him in Restoration years ago, and I thought he was magical and powerful in Iron Man. — So I hope the rumors are true. - I've posted on my Facebook "fan" page saying pretty much the same thing. Some are saying he is too old to play the part. This is absolutely not true. He is quite youthful. Besides, Lestat is a man when he is made into a vampire. A twenty year old man in the 18th century is the equivalent of an older man today. Age just shouldn't be an issue here, not with an actor of this scope and charisma. - I'm thrilled at the prospect that this rumor might be true.

Anne Rice on Downey Jr. and Vampire Chronicles Movies? [BSC Review]

According to Bloody Disgusting, Robert Downey Jr. is in negotiations with the studio to play Lestat Du Lioncort in this new incarnation of the franchise, following 1994's Interview With A Vampire and 2002's Queen Of The Damned. There's no word on which of the Rice novels would be filmed this time around, nor on who would write and direct, but the presence of Downey would attract a lot of attention, even if we're worried a third franchise would stretch him too thin.

Anne Rice's 'Vampire Chronicles' Returns, Who is Lestat?! [Bloody Disgusting]

We got a few minutes with RDJ right after the amazing blow-you-away Iron Man 2 footage was debuted at San Diego's Comic Con. The one thing we really wanted to know was, how dark is the new Tony going to be? We'd heard rumors of alcoholism (RDJ leads us to believe that's not the case) and dark thoughts but we had no idea he Iron Man 2 would find our millionaire hero so down in the dumps. At the SDCC roundtables RDJ shared his thoughts on where Tony is today.

How has Tony changed since Iron Man 1?

That's the question I think he's asking himself. I think that it brings up a lot of internal conflict. Because he was thought of as this kind of charming prick. Then he was almost killed and then he exerts his own escape, kind of heroic but really on his own behalf. I think that there's probably a bit of an impostor complex as soon as he said, "I am Iron Man," he was wondering what that really means. If you have all this cushion, like he does, and the public is on your side, and you have immense wealth and power, I think he's way too insulated to be okay. And I think the footage has tipped [off] that he's struggling with some sort of contamination of his own system, and he has a very formidable guy saying, "I don't care what everyone thinks of you, I know that you come form a family of murderers and thieves. And I'm going to take you out of your misery." And maybe he almost half wants that to happen.

There's a lot going on. It's bad-ass. This story is really sweet. We're so proud of it because we literally worked so hard, and spent so much time together and spent so many weekends. And tore our eyebrows out, to try to find the best way to express the most streamlined version of the complexities of what really would happen.

Is Tony Stark's alcoholism in this film?

It would be a shame to waste [the alcoholism subplot] in a movie that is already spinning so many plates. But as previously mentioned, is he was making some poor choices and then decided to throw himself to a birthday party expect that birthday to be a bacchanalian just disaster.

We saw you in a night club with Scarlett [Johansson]. Can you explain that scene to us?

I would imagine that, that is a piece from his birthday party and he would not have his birthday party in a nightclub. He's going to probably blow his own roof off.

Iron Man 2 will be in theaters on May 7th.

Says Silver:

To an extent. I wouldn't go that far. It's not Wild Wild West, where there's lots of [crazy gadgets]. It really is 1891, but it is as if we shot it then. There's no real artifice, it feels like it's shot in 1891, but with incredible camera work and dollies. And yes, there is a part of the industrial revolution that's happening then, but it's not so much what's going on. The details aren't that deliberate.

Sherlock does know more than anybody else. Officially, he's the only character admitted to the Institute Of Chemistry, or what's the story like that? He actually was thought of as an actual chemist in the way Doyle wrote about him. Holmes knows everything. There's a great line where someone says to him, "How did you see that?" and he says, "Because I was looking for it." They had the worn books in their hands, and they were trying to go back to the books and take lines... like Sherlock would say, "I can't make bricks without clay." Those are Conan Doyle's lines. It really feels like the way it should be.

And screenwriter Lionel Wigram adds that they tried to keep the gadgets in the film authentic and true to what had been invented at the time. If anything, this is a more realistic depiction of the grit and unwashedness of Victorian London than we've seen in previous incarnations of the great detective.

There are a lot of conflicting reports regarding Oobermind, which probably has something to do with the multiple changes to its cast, crew, and even title in the two years since it was first announced. Oobermind began life in April 2007 as Master Mind, written by first-time screenwriters Alan Schoolcroft and Ben Simons, with Ben Stiller attached to play the title supervillain. At the time, the story was said to be about "Master Mind, a baddie who goes into a depression when he accidentally kills off his archrival Uberman."

The project seemed to remain in stasis for over a year until August 2008, when it was announced that Robert Downey Jr., fresh from his career-revitalizing success in Iron Man and Tropic Thunder, was taking over the Master Mind role. Tina Fey also joined the cast around this time. Stiller, who was now also a producer on the film, had apparently switched to a different role.

An interview Stiller gave around the time of Downey Jr.'s casting shed some light on the project's history - including its origins as a live-action film - and provided a very different summary of the film's premise:

"It's a script that my company Red Hour got that was written as a live action movie but we thought it would work as an animated movie so we brought it to Jeffrey Katzenberg and now we're in pre-production.

"I'm in it and Robert Downey Jr. plays an evil superhero villain. Basically it's about a bad guy who loses to the good guy that he's fighting all the time, so he has to create another good guy for him to fight."

It's hard to know whether Stiller simply botched his explanation of what Master Mind was about. Certainly, it doesn't really fit with either the 2007 or 2009 versions of the story, both of which concern a villain who vanquishes his archenemy. Even so, it would appear the idea of a villain making his own hero did take hold at some point, as can be seen in the most recent synopsis, released last week:

When super villain Oobermind defeats his archrival Metro Man, the world should be his oyster. But instead, Oobermind falls into total despair. It turns out that life without a rival is life without a point for him. So he creates a new superhero rival. Unfortunately, the new hero wants to be a super villain too. Who can we turn to? Who has what it takes to stand up to this menace? Who will defend the innocent? Oobermind! That's who.

Master Mind also went through its fair share of directors as it evolved into Oobermind. Dreamworks animators Kyle Jefferson and Cameron Hood, co-directors of the 2006 short First Flight, were initially on board to helm the project, but they apparently dropped out in early 2008. IMDB listed Gary Trousdale, co-director of Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, as the director around the time Robert Downey Jr. and Tina Fey signed on. Now Tom McGrath, director of the Madagascar films (both of which feature Stiller in the voice cast), has taken over Oobermind.

So, to recap what we know:

1. The film has always been about a supervillain. He was originally called Master Mind and was to be voiced by Ben Stiller, but now he's Oobermind and Robert Downey Jr. is playing him.

2. The supervillain has an archenemy that is a superhero. In 2007, this was Uberman, who was killed by Master Mind. In 2008, this superhero routinely defeats Master Mind. Now, the superhero is Metro Man and he is merely "defeated" - not necessarily killed - by Oobermind. In all three versions, the superhero does something to the supervillain that causes him to experience an existential crisis.

3. The supervillain creates another superhero to replace the original. In the latest version of the story, this supposed hero proves to be even more evil than Oobermind, forcing him to play the reluctant hero.

4. Ben Stiller was originally supposed to play the lead, then shifted over to producing and playing a supporting role, and he is now only listed as an executive producer.

5. Tina Fey is involved. Somehow.

Then there's this new poster for the film, which is worth a closer look.

Putting all of these facts together, I think it's fairly safe to conclude the blue guy with the giant brain is Oobermind (I mean, a mind that big is clearly of the oober variety). I'd say it's even safer to conclude the woman he's holding is Tina Fey's character. I would guess the superhero on the left is Metro Man and not the replacement superhero, considering it looks like he's doing the heroic thing and trying to thwart the villainous Oobermind. This means the one announced character we haven't seen yet is the superhero Oobermind creates. Although only Downey Jr. and Fey are currently listed as voice actors, I'd still say it's possible Ben Stiller will end up voicing either Metro Man or the new superhero.

The fact that Metro Man is (probably) on the poster suggests to me that the character has a more substantial role in the film than someone who is killed early on, as he would have been in the original Master Mind. As such, Oobermind probably doesn't kill Metro Man but instead manages to put him out of the picture for a lot of the story, which still allows him to make a climactic return.

I'm sure plenty more details about Oobermind will be revealed in the coming months, but we'll get our chance to learn exactly what's going on when the film is released. So mark your calendars for November 5, 2010 - it just might be worth it.

[First Showing]

I'm doing a Senate hearing where the government is saying the Iron Man tech needs to be turned over to the Senator and the Senator is Gary Shandling. And we had this fantastic day that was somehow this controlled chaos of a Senate hearing where I keep interrupting them and dah dah dah.

He says the Iron Man suit has been improved and is more "ergonomic," and the movie is as much about Tony's internal processes and his quirky decision-making as it is about "bad guys." It's really about a dysfunctional family, and how they save "life on Earth as we know it." [Collider]

During a press junket for his upcoming movie The Soloist, Downey was asked whether the second Iron Man movie would adapt the famous "Demon In A Bottle" storyline from the comics, in which Stark's alcoholism ruins his life and careers as superhero and corporate bigwig. His answer was surprisingly open:

Not really. As a matter of fact, I think that's probably best saved... because it's such its own storyline... We're going for the interim space [between Iron Man's origin and "Demon In A Bottle"] which is more a look behind the mask of someone who says he's Iron Man and what it really is to become a superhero.

On the plus side, that suggests that a potential third Iron Man movie would be where Tony's booze gets the better of him... and also that Downey and Marvel are definitely thinking of installments past this second one, which is definitely good news. That said, I hope this doesn't mean we're going to have to suffer through heavy-handed "Tony, don't you think you're drinking a little too much?" foreshadowing in 2010's tin-plated sequel.

‘Iron Man 2' Won't Feature ‘Demon In A Bottle' Storyline, Reveals Robert Downey, Jr. [MTV Splash Page]

The facts are these, as Jim Dale used to say: First, we had Robert Downey Jr.'s cryptic comments that the heavy metal sequel will not be what we're expecting:

The enemy comes from within... It's very very much about, it's one thing to say you're Iron Man, it's another thing to understand that responsibility. And, if that sounds like a familiar theme, trust me, it's not.This film is three times more fun... and strange [than you'd expect]. Like, it used to be, my weird thing was "Can everyone siddown" at press conferences, and people were like "Boy, Robert's really doing some strange stuff." We're going real far out in this one.

And now we hear that the first prop to be built for the movie is a toilet. For Tony Stark to be sick in.

So, was Downey's comment about his former "strange stuff" a veiled addiction reference? Is this second movie going to be all about Tony turning to drink when he can't deal with life as a superhero and the CEO of Stark Industries? It's beginning to seem that way... although we'll be amused if it's all a swerve and the toilet vomiting comes as the result of some villainous plot from the Black Widow, whoever ends up playing her.

At least, that's what I can glean from the official description of The Days Before, which Wanted helmer Timur Bekmambetov is also in talks to direct. According to Production Weekly (via Sci Fi Wire), the aliens travel back in time and wipe out humanity one day at a time, "yesterday by yesterday." Downey Jr.'s character keeps traveling back and trying to warn people that the end is coming, over and over again. It's not clear whom Witherspoon would play.

It sounds like a fun combination of Groundhog Day and that Star Trek: TNG episode where the Enterprise keeps blowing up. At the very least, with Bekmambetov involved, you know it'll look groovy.

Image by WENN. [Sci Fi Wire]

Sure, the Doctor (version II, anyway) eventually got to tell Rose Tyler he loved her, and they shared a nice smooch in Doctor Who's season 4 finale. But if you watched the Confidential, you know that actors David Tennant and Billie Piper provided much sweatier minutes of mackage than the two-second bit that was deemed appropriate for the kiddies. (I suggest watching it in slow motion for maximum shortness of breath.)

If you're not yet excited to see Eliza Dushku stretch her thespian legs in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse — or turned on by Dexter's Desmond Harrington — you certainly will be after this little firebomb of a clip. Wrong Turn may be from a dumb horror movie that pits college students against cannibalistic mountain men, but it's certainly got one scorching moment in it, and here's the proof.

Julianne Moore is something like the duchess of psychological sci-fi horror, with impressive stints in movies like Children of Men and Blindness (we won't talk about Evolution). In this deleted scene from The Forgotten, she and Dominic West can barely keep their hands off each other — and so they don't.

The Iron Man trailer seemed to promise us an onscreen meeting of the lips between Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, but it never quite happened. They did, however, film it, and this montage of set pictures gives us a glimpse of what could have been ... in Tony Stark's mouth.

All right, this last one isn't a kiss, but finding a cut kiss for this show would have been impossible: No kiss is too naughty for Torchwood. BBC Two did, however, draw the line at a Jack/Ianto crotch grab — so I guess it's a good thing we have the internet to show us the things that television won't dare to. John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd are in top (and bottom) form in this thrilling deleted scene.

(Yes, I know there are two "Other"s - I am a moron. Kindly ignore the one that doesn't give you the chance to write-in your choice.)

Voting is open until 12am Tuesday morning. Vote early, vote often.

Stiller told MTV:

The idea is that Uberman, who is the big hero of the city, dies, and Master Mind is left without someone to be evil to. He sort of loses his sense of what his purpose in life is, so he has a midlife crisis of sorts. And he falls in love. It’s dealing with the emotional life of a supervillain.

Okay, we'll admit it - It kind of reminds us of Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog as well, albeit one where Captain Hammer dies and Penny is more likely to - spoiler warning - make it to the end of the movie, but still: We're hopeful about the project, nonetheless. After all, Robert Downey Jr. is providing the voice of Master Mind, and we'll happily listen to him do anything (within reason). Also, the subject of the love lives of supervillains is ripe for investigation, but also almost as old as modern supervillainy itself. After all, didn't Marvel's Mole Man turn to the Earth Threatening game because he kept getting turned down for dates? We rest our case - and look forward to seeing what this Anti-Incredibles has to offer.

Ben Stiller’s Animated ‘Master Mind’ Shifts Robert Downey Jr. From ‘Iron Man’ Hero To Supervillain [MTV Splash Page]