Collider announced that Laurence Fishburne would be joining Robert Rodriguez team as a character named Noland. So far, there are no details about his character, but having Fishburne around is never a bad thing. We'll take the red pill, wake up tomorrow, and hope that Predators is, in fact, the fantastic movie it deserves to be.

Perhaps Laurence Fishburne may take up the character Stans, who is a prisoner with a shaved head, neck tattoo, but that is all merely speculation at this point.

Latino Review has a sneak peek inside Robert Rodriguez's Preadators film, and thankfully it sounds like the "shoot 'em up, chase and fight" movie that belongs in the Predator franchise. No deeper meanings, no alien discovery — just them versus us.

Here are a few highlights from their report. As we know the bulk of the film takes place on the Predator home planet, which is a giant jungle similar to Earth in the Cretaceous period. Our hero is Royce, a "Steve McQueen" type.

The film begins back on Earth, when Royce gets in a fight with another human, and kills his opponent — but some Predators are watching the whole thing from behind their camouflage screens. The Predators like what they see, so they kidnap Royce and shoot him over to their home planet.

Royce, along with seven other abducted humans, all wake up after parachuting into the Predator home planet. This surly bunch of brutes were all collected because they are the best of the worst on Earth. And the Predators will be hunting these supposed baddest humans on Earth — or Earth's answer to Predators, if you will.

The seven include:

• Cuchillo A Mexican enforcer from the drug cartel, who is Danny Trejo's character.
• A Russian named Nikolai with a four barrel gas powered rotary machine gun....close to The Body's weapon.
• The token female role goes to Isabelle, a "tough as nails" lady who can speak French and carries a sniper rifle.
• A possible skin head convict, who is armed only with a prison made knife, is also in the group.
• Plus a Japanese enforcer who appears to be carrying a samurai sword,
• a member of the Sierra Leone death squad,
• and a small "unassuming" man named Edwin who was on the FBI's most wanted list.

They figure out relatively quickly that this is a "kill or be killed" game. So they make haste in this massive jungle, while being hunted by two Super Predators and their leader, the Black Super Predator. LR describes these baddes as "the regular Predator on steroids." Excellent.

Eventually the super Predators raise the stakes on the gang, including one human they pick up along the way in the jungle, and force all the madness to an accelerated climax. LR claims that there may be a Predator cameo, and drops a hint about who it could be. (Thankfully, it doesn't seem to be Danny Glover.) To learn more about the script and the rest of the team, watch the Latino Review video which contains additional details.

We reported speculation that Trejo would be in this movie in today's morning spoilers, but now it's sounding more likely. And that's a good thing for director Nimród Antal.

Punch Drunk Critics snagged Trejo and he spilled the beans that he'd be in the Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators film. Which is rumored to be filming in Hawaii very, very soon. Here's the entire interview.

And some people are interpreting Trejo's comments as meaning that Kristine Klebe, who's with him during the interview, will be in the film too.

The only other actor rumored to be in this film, according to imdb, is Michael Jai White. Who could still stand to put on a few pounds, if he wants to stand next to Predator giants like Jesse "the Body" Ventura, and the almighty Arnold. Trejo is definitely a step in the right direction.

According to a local Hawaiian site the Predator location scouting is under way.

Scouts for 20th Century Fox's $40-million creature feature are back on the Big Island for their third week of scouting Hawaii most of it where a lot of jungles have been looked at. The production would film for 18 days with an October start if the Hawaii portion is a go. That decision is expected to be made very soon…Some Hawaii production execs are being contacted about availability…

This is just further proof that Robert Rodriguez and Antal are serious about getting back to the roots of the series . So don't hold your breath for an outlandish Alien Versus Predator-style showdown — this film may be staying classy, and stripping it down to the bare essentials. Of course, judging from some of Rodriguez' recent statements, that jungle may be on an alien planet, so it won't be exactly the same as the original.

[Via Bloody Disgusting]

In the first clip, we see Spader as Mr. Black motivating (and periodically firing) the employees of Black Box, the ominously ill-lit Apple send-up that employs the entire town:

Here, our hero Tobin "Toe" Thompson (whose parents are the ill-fated team leaders in the clip above), stands up to school bully (and daughter of Mr. Black) Helvetica by insisting she's in love with him:

Toe's bully-confronting strategy gets a little help from the wishing rock he finds, which enables him to conjure up a crew of aliens who prove as strong as they are tiny:

But naturally the wishes don't always go as planned, as when Toe's friend Loogie wishes for one of their crew to become super smart:

Or when "Nose" Noseworthy summons forth a sentient monster made from his own boogers:

We also get two clips from the Black Box employee party. First, Jon Cryer and Leslie Mann get too close for comfort:

Then Toe has another violent encounter with Helvetica:

Antal's involvement was confirmed by Rodriguez - who's "overseeing" the movie, as well as co-writing - on Ain't It Cool, where he also spilled a small amount of beans about what'll be happening in it:

I can't go too much into the story right now, because we're still writing. But it still involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors (that are not always from outside their group). So like the original movie, the title does have a double meaning. Aliens was a different take on the Alien idea, and an original movie in it's own right, and that's what we want to do with this.

So, let's see - Aliens made the original movie's title plural and upped the ante by taking characters to (potentially) the home planet of the first movie's monster, whereas Predators will make the original movie's title plural and up the ante by taking characters to (potentially) the home planet of the first movie's monsters. Hey, I've got a great idea for a sequel to The Thing - I'm calling it The Things. Anyone want to guess what the plot is?

Snark aside, Rodriguez explained what we should expect from the new movie:

When I was hired to write the original draft back in 1994, i was only brought on as a writer. I never thought I'd get to work on it in any other capacity. So a few months ago, when Alex Young at Fox contacted me about re-inventing the franchise using my original draft as a template for getting as far away as possible from the AVP movies, I jumped on it... Alex came down and saw Troublemaker Studios, and the facilities and crew that I've built up over the past 12 years, and he felt right away that this is where the movie should be made and that doing it down here would be the best way to protect it from the studio system. He was keen on making a very "non-studio" picture... As to how this movie will be viewed, one of the guys at Fox told me "No one is ever going to talk about AVP again after this film, I will stake my life on it." And he's a really nice guy, so I don't want to see him dead. Now that lives are at stake, it's no longer a job it's a mission. Failure is not an option.

A non-studio studio relaunch for the franchise to make people forget all about Aliens Vs. Predator? We can get behind that... as long as it's much less of an Aliens rip-off than it currently sounds.

Nimrod Antal is directing Predators - Q&A with Robert Rodriguez reveals more!!! [Ain't It Cool]

The Marshall rumor comes from Bloody DIsgusting, which cites a "100% reliable source" for the buzz that the Doomsday and The Descent director is close to signing with 20th Century Fox to helm Predators, a movie that reportedly involves a team of commandos facing down a whole race of the dreadlocked aliens. Robert Rodriguez, who co-wrote the script, backed out of directing it last month but will still produce. The film, which may or may not feature a return-visit cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is due in July 2010.

Now, we may have gone a bit overboard in our enthusiasm for Doomsday, but then, so did Marshall in directing it. We hereby endorse him for the Predators gig. In fact, if he doesn't get the job, heads will roll. Then again, if his Predators is anything like Doomsday, plenty of heads will roll if he does get the job.

Shorts takes place in a private town where a little kid stumbles across a rainbow rock that makes dreams come true. I actually think this film looks cute and is a welcome step away from movies aimed at kids that are all flash and no wit.

Plus, James Spader is playing the evil corporate guy, and I've loved him since he was a smarmy rich kid always putting down the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Shorts, which comes out August 7th, looks like a lot of fun and I hope it challenges other writers (Rodriguez also wrote this script) to think past "Hey let's make talking guinea pigs and chipmunks."

[via Nickelodeon]

In an interview with MTV Robert Rodriguez revealed that they're writing the script right now and hoping to begin filming next year. So let's get started: who's gonna be the most beloved cartoon girl of the future, with the white hair? Here's what I would like to see.


Rachel Bilson


Why She's Our Space Girlfriend: Look at that innocent face and doe-eyes. Bilson knows how to work it sweet and innocent like no other.
Why She's So 20th Century: Slightly dated actor, so she may not get the part. She may be over the whole high-schooler thing as well.

Elisha Cuthbert


Why She's Our Space Girlfriend: She really looks the part.
Why She's So 20th Century: Elisha you're great, but the acting... well, it's not our favorite thing about you.

Alison Lohman


Why She's Our Space Girlfriend: Full package: looks, youth, acting chops — remember her adorable face in Matchstick Men? she can play any age.
Why She's So 20th Century: I really don't have a problem with her as Judy at all, but she may be a tiny bit too old. On the other hand, this is Hollywood.

Selena Gomez:


Why She's Our Space Girlfriend: This is the most likely of the selections: she'll bring in the tweens and teens, plus she's massive pop fodder and is super adorable.
Why She's So 20th Century: She may be too young. I can't imagine a lot of 20 and 30-somethings getting excited about a character from their past being brought to life by someone they don't really know.

Upon hearing the rumors that Rodriguez wanted Schwarzenegger to appear in the new movie, Moviehole did some snooping and heard that an offer was definitely made a couple days ago, and now the filmmakers are waiting to hear back from the governor. Their source explained:

"They've written a role for him" a second source later told us via email. "Rodriguez is as against the idea of a straight-up remake as much as anyone – which is why they're considering this an official sequel to John McTiernan's film. Like Terminator, they know Schwarzenegger's a vital ingredient of the franchise. Ideally, Arnold will see it that way too. Ball is in his court now."

Considering Schwarzenegger's hectic schedule, it's hardly surprising they haven't heard anything back yet. He did ultimately agree to appear in Terminator Salvation, so it's not out of the question that he signs on for a cameo in Predators. Of course, there's a massive difference between allowing your image to be used and actually signing on for a couple days worth of filming, which this role would almost certainly entail.

He also already turned down a chance to return as Dutch in Predator 2, and that was back when he wasn't busy running the world's eighth largest economy. Still, I'm going to remain optimistic Terminator Salvation has started a trend of Schwarzenegger returning to all his old movies. Personally, I think Schwarzenegger should take over the role of the woman the new Quaid hides inside in the Total Recall remake.

The source also gave a report on the script for the film, which is gearing up to start production in the near future. Everything sounds very positive thus far:

"The script is terrific... I hear. It's partly the old Predators script Rodriguez did, but mostly new stuff by [Alex] Litvak. And it's violent – like the original. Everybody here at [name removed] has pointed out how much better it is than [Paul W.S] Anderson's abomination. Doesn't sound like there's any reason to worry."

It sounds like there's every chance Predators will be a decent flick with or without the governor's involvement, but a confirmed Schwarzenegger appearance would instantly make this one of the movies I'm most looking forward to. Predators is currently on track for a July 2010 release.

[Moviehole]

Talking to MTV, Rodriguez explained that the movie's death came about from a mixture of budget concerns and a love of family:

It came to the point where [a company from] Germany offered us a $70 million budget, which would have been by far the biggest budget I ever would have had for a movie... But I had to shoot it in Germany and post it in Germany. Nothing against Germany, but I have five kids and I was like, ‘God, I don't know if we can do that. I don't know if I can be away that long.'

Even though the movie will never happen, it doesn't mean that Rodriguez has entirely walked away from the project, however; he hopes to release the pre-production artwork in some form, because he loves it so much:

We had all this artwork and screen tests of what it would look like. It was a really cool, R-rated, sexy-almost like that [1981 animated] movie, ‘Heavy Metal'-version of a ‘Star Wars' movie. Something that no one ever could get to see. It was gonna be really great... People said, ‘Why are you doing ‘Barbarella?' And I showed them the artwork and explained it. They would go, ‘Ooooh, okay!'

And meanwhile, Bloody Disgusting is reporting that Rodriguez' script for Predators is getting a new coat of polish from Alex Litvak (Medieval). It's now being described as a sequel to the original Predator, in which a team of commandos face down a whole race of vicious monsters. And while Rodriguez is still producing, through his Troublemaker Studios, he's no longer in line to direct. The film is on a fast track to come out July 9, 2010 from 20th Century Fox... which is awful fast, since no director is even signed up yet.

[MTV Movie Blog and Bloody Disgusting]

In an interview with Ain't It Cool News, Rodriguez discussed his plans for the dreadlocked beasties. The director mentions that his treatment to the monster film is very R rated, which is a step in the right direction. He also discusses that adding the "s" to the end of Predator sounds like more of a nod to what James Cameron did for Ridley Scott's Alien, but I get the feeling that this could mean that there will most likely be more than one big bad alien, which sounds like a bad idea. I'm wary of his ideas to explore the alien universe, with more than one Predator running around. The core brilliance of this franchise comes from its simple concept, which is "Human versus beast."

Rodriguez talks about his original treatment and ideas for the feature, which have not been fleshed out yet with an actual screenwriter, so bare in mind these are just ideas... that will most likely be used in the film.

"I set it on a jungle-like Predator planet. It was just a writing assignment, so I didn't have to worry about budget constraints or how the movie would actually get made with the technology that existed back then, so I just wrote any cool thing I could come up with... "

"We'd create new otherworldly characters while not taking away from the draw our main Predator has. I think another reason I called it Predators was to mark it as a project that should be taken seriously by a filmmaker to make a worthy follow-up to a classic, much in the way Cameron made Aliens a compelling work on its own, following Ridley Scott's Alien."

Hmmm introducing new aliens, I'm not so sure how I feel about that. One of the reasons I adore Predator is because that ONE alien alone is so unstoppable that it can destroy an entire city, or a team of trained killers, all juiced-up on steroids and red meat. Until the beast comes up against Dutch, and it becomes a mano-a-alien showdown of biceps and wits. He'll conquer the beast with his savvy skils and muscles, or die trying. A herd of Predators would wipe out the human population, especially on their own turf.

Sure, Danny Glover wasn't a juiced up commando, but he had the home team advantage. And of course, the second film did show more than one Predator at the end, but only one of them went hunting, because that was the Predator code. Remember the final scene — it's about respect for the mutual warriors not an all out assault. Featuring more than one Predator changes the rules completely, and you risk spawning another AVP.

While new aliens are always nice, I'm much more interested in the alien-human throw down than exploring a new universe. I hope that if they're going in this direction, it eventually becomes a stripped down one on one fight and not a whole space battle, because in truth, that's all I really want from my Predators.

In an interview with IESB director Robert Rodriguez came clean about the many movies he's been rumored to be making.

"I'm going to be able to shoot my upcoming Machete here, a sci-fi action film called Nerverackers, a re-boot of the Predator series called Predators, and a couple of smaller movies called Sin City 2 and The Jetsons."

Making both the Jetsons and a Predator reboot is a pretty brave move, seeing as die-hard Predator fans are very protective of the franchise. And The Jetsons - well, my expectation for a futuristic family is so high, I don't know how you could accomplish such a feat without green-screening the entire thing. Which we all know RR loves to do, but who knows how that will look when you use other colors, besides just black, white and red? We'll have to wait for more information on both, but I'm filled with so much simultaneous dread and excitement, it's causing me to laugh-cry.

In Black Falls all the houses are identical and everyone works for the corporation Black Box. Main character discovers a magical rock from space - or something like that - that grants wishes. But we all know that wishes are never what they you expect. Shorts will be out in theaters August 7th.

Bloody Disgusting spilled the beans that 20th Century Fox is in the process of rebooting the Predator, with genre lover Robert Rodriguez leading that way. No word if he's directing or producing, but he's involved in so much at this point, I assume his involvement would be as a producer.

I was always okay with more Predator movies being tacked on to the franchise. AVP had it's own special "why-not" appeal that held my attention, for however long it ran. But actually remaking the original Predator? I'm sorry, I just don't believe it can be done.

Even though I believe Rodriguez is as about as close as you can get to someone who understands over-the-top explosions and working with gladiator actors (let's not forget Mickey Rourke's amazing turn as Marv in Sin City) we just don't have that crop of actors that can recreate Predator without delving into CG hell — or setting up shots just for the sake of getting a video game out of it (Hey Indiana Jones IV, I'm looking at you).

The leaked plot of the reboot sounds pretty close to the original, except that there may be more than one Predator in this movie, which seems wrong because we all know the point of the original Predator is man versus alien, not man versus tons of aliens. But anyways, here's the plot:

In the reboot a team of commandoes face down a mysterious race of vicious monsters.

Just the word "commandos" puts me in a tailspin. Commandos, in the 80s, meant a completely different thing than it does now. These days action movies are full of Bourne Identity secret ops "commandos." Heck just look at the new G.I. Joe posters, they're all in black bat-suits, trying desperately to look realistic. That's supposed to be tough? Sure, Snake Eyes gets points for his painted-on abs, but the rest of them would be beaten into a bloody pulp if the original Predator team met those kids in the jungle (Snake Eyes would survive, though). Gone are the Carl Weathers, Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Arnolds of yester-year. And if the new Predator isn't full of 6'4" 250 pound ripped human lunatics, then I do not want.

The original's collection of ridiculous men was the reason that I loved Predator. It was, at its heart, the ultimate man versus the ultimate Predator. Why wasn't Predator 2 as great as the original? Because Danny Glover was never a believable menace to the beast. Sure he was crafty, but I don't think Predator 2, in its entirety, could hold a candle to the moment in the original when Sonny Landham (Billy) takes a knife to his chest waiting for his time with the alien warrior.

I don't want to see a group of modern-day commandos in chemical gear stalk a team of alien Predators with modern day technology and stealthy techniques. I want to see men in tank tops, smoking cigars and hoisting 50-pound guns on their backs with bandoliered ammo crossing their chests. Then I want them to make weapons from sticks. That's the Predator. Hell, even if said remake somehow manages to strip down both teams to a battle of wits and fists like the original, you will not be able to convince me it's a fair fight. The Body, Weathers and Arnold were the best of their time. I want to see a human gladiator go up against another world's gladiator with sharpened sticks, just so you can have that slow burn fight leading to the ending face-to-face reveal.

Rodriguez, I beg of you, find these men. I do not think they exist anymore in Hollywood, but find them. Go overseas if you must. Abandon the Matt Damon and Hugh Jackman cut physiques that are populating the movies of today and go back to the Arnolds. That's who fights the first Predator, mano-a-mano, in my mind.

Do I want to see a Bourne Identity with an alien in it? Hell yes! Do I want to see a Bourne Identity Predator, or a more realistic Predator at all? No, thank you. Please get it right — make it big and bring back the 1980s action that we've started losing over the years. Or you could just leave it alone, and let the original stand on its own, which wouldn't be a bad idea either.

When the names of Rodriguez's children — Rebel, Rocket, Rogue and Racer, and daughter, Rhiannon — were revealed to us so many moons ago, we first began to suspect the director of the best movie made for $5000 ever, El Mariachi...of something.

The first salient fact in the case against RR is that George Lucas invited him to Skywalker Ranch after hearing of his interest in effects. Fortunately Trey Parker has done the important job of thinking through exactly what might have occurred that day. Whatever happened, he began using complicated effects done cheaply in his films as he worked with his wife, producer Elizabeth Avellan (right), and their disgustingly named children.

To be fair, Rodriguez' half of Grindhouse does have its thrills, including a phenomenal Josh Brolin turn as a sadistic doctor, but McGowan spends most of the film's 90 minute running time practically running in front of the other actresses on screen. And off screen, she was pretty much doing the same thing in front of the married Rodriguez:

"It was the worst-kept secret on the set. They were going off to his trailer, having meals together," our source said. "Rose thought some of the crew were treating her differently, and the attitude was, like, well what do you expect when you're [bleeping] the director?"

The two bonded instantly, with McGowan telling People, "He's my best friend. We instantly became really good friends." Rodriguez's better half was apparently hearing what everyone on the set was — as well as people in neighboring municipalities. Production on Planet Terror shut down for almost a month.

For McGowan's Rodriguez-produced 2009 project Red Sonja, her paramour aimed high, choosing the guy who directed the second unit on the new Tekken video game franchise-based flick. Is this how you treat the woman you love?

Apparently, yeah. McGowan was flashing around her ring at the Style Awards over the weekend:

"I just want to go to an island somewhere and pay somebody else to deal with it," said McGowan, who wore a $28 Victoria's Secret turtleneck and Fendi shoe boots. "Quentin (Tarantino) is going to be my bridesmaid," she said, laughing.

Of the proposal itself, she said, "It was lovely and very personal."

We can stifle our vomit at that, but not at the actress' forthcoming slate. Robert and Rose's idea of coming up with projects consists of seeing if the lead part in a remake looks like McGowan. Does the world really need a $100 million remake of Barbarella? Studio execs decided the role needed a bigger star for the movie to succeed.

She moved on from a Susan Cabot movie (based on this John H. Richardson essay: pdf), thinking that if you play a B-movie star, you might just become one, to possibly portraying porn star Linda Lovelace opposite Bill Pullman as Hugh Hefner in Inferno.

The soon-to-be Mrs. McGowan better hope he isn't waiting for the dark McGowan-esque good look of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist star Kat Dennings to go legal, because Dennings was caught privately worshiping RR on her blog from the set of Rodriguez's latest film, the kid-friendly Shorts.

The coming years will see Rodriguez sticking to his biggest successes — appealing movies for kids. But I swear that if he casts Rose McGowan in The Jetsons, I will become the guy behind the Watchmen protests quicker than he can get the current director of Jonny Quest fired. I will run on a treadmill outsider his Troublemakers Studio, and I will do it for George Jetson, dressed as George Jetson. Mark my words.

According to the USA Today article about the Red Sonja movie, McGowan came to Rodriguez with a script about the scrappy warrior who vows never to sleep with a man until he's bested her in combat. He became excited by the script, but she was originally startled to be offered it. "When they first came to me with it, I thought it was funny," she said. "I do have a body made for sitting on a veranda with mint juleps and a parasol. I don't know why I always have to save the planet."

Rodriguez says McGowan is perfect for Sonja, because she's scrappy. "Rose is a pistol," he explained. "She's whip-smart, has attitude to burn, is sexy, extremely strong, yet has a vulnerable side that would surprise her closest friends. That description also fits Red Sonja."

So what's up with Barbarella? After all, it already has those half-built spaceship sets, but filming on Red Sonja (directed by Rodriguez associate Douglas Aarniokoski) starts in October. It turns out that McGowan and Rodriguez were already shopping around another script for her to star in as of last month — a women in prison TV drama called Women In Chains, according to our sister site Defamer. (I wonder if the script has the Pinocchio sex joke that every women-in-prison movie includes.) And Rodriguez is busy directing a family comedy called Shorts. So it sounds as though they'd already kind of given up on Barbarella, deep in their hearts.

[USA Today and Defamer]