Harry Potter:

IGN visited the set of this movie and watched a scene in the Great Hall before a big quidditch match. Ron has just joined the team and is feeling the pressure. Explains Daniel Radcilffe:

It's the point where Ron comes in [to the Great Hall] and he's absolutely terrified; a nervous wreck. To restore his confidence Harry pours - or appears to pour - Felix Felicis [luck potion] into Ron's orange juice.

There's an ad-libbed moment where Ron and Harry high-five, to Hermione's annoyance. Also, Ron's new love interest Lavender Brown gushes "You're going to be brilliant today... I just know it!" Ron is dating Lavender because he finds out Hermione kissed Krum. Also, the movie starts out with Harry at the train station, flirting with a waitress, not at Privet Drive. [IGN]

Also, David Yates explains why he left out the original ending, featuring Dumbledore's funeral:

We had [the funeral] in the script at one point and it was a really strange experience. But after the courtyard scene and Dumbledore's died, it felt like going to the funeral just felt like we were suffering from ending-itis. It felt like another end.

[MTV]

The Last Airbender:

A few new shots show us our first looks at Jackson Rathbone (Sokka) and Nicola Peitz (Katara) in their costumes. Plus new looks at Aang and Zuko. [AceShowbiz]

G-Force:

What's the message of this guinea-pig spy movie? Tracy Morgan explains: "at the end of the day, family is everything." [Newsblaze]

And here are some new promo pics. [IGN]

Eureka:

Here's the sexiest scene from this Friday's new episode of Eureka. Jo Lupo in a red dress, doing a torch singer thing... and then she gets really saucy. [Syfy]

Lost:

Titus Welliver says his character, the mysterious guy in black who sits opposite Jacob in that crucial scene in the season finale, has a name, and it's significant in some way. The producers withheld the character's name for a reason. And he explains more about the dynamic between Jacob and his character:

Liz Sarnoff, one of the writers on the show, is actually an old colleague from a show that we did with David Milch, Big Apple, and from Deadwood. Her explanation was that Jacob sees man as being a flawed creature, but that there is always hope, whereas my character has a much more cynical but in some ways realistic view of man. She said, "Now extrapolate from that what you will. Are they waxing philosophical? Are they gods?"

Also, the producers told Welliver not to do any Snidely Whiplash-style "hand-wringing," and to understand that "this is kind of a chess game." [TV Guide]

A TV Guide editor visited Oahu and noticed that the wooden set from which the Jughead was dangling is still in place — and usually this show is meticulous about getting rid of sets when they're no longer needed. The show's producers said "No comment" as to why this set is still around. [TV Guide]

Heroes:

We tracked down the actual casting call for that cello player we mentioned the other day:

25-30, Male. Must be a skilled cellist. A sensitive troubador in Central Park has a magical experience when a stranger plays his cello.... this role might not have any lines.

"A stranger plays his cello?" Is that what they're calling it nowadays? [Casting call]

Separately, Lisa Lackey says Matt Parkman's wife Janice could possibly have superpowers of her own — but if so, they haven't manifested, as of the fourth episode of the new season. [TV Guide]

Smallville:

Monique Ganderton, who's served as Cassidy Freeman's stunt double, has been cast as "Alia," the "femme fatale" and assassin with links to Krypton. [Kryptonsite]

True Blood:

Some set photos from episode 10, featuring some mayhem in Bon Temps including a bit of graffiti. [TrueBlood-Online via SpoilerTV]

Green Lantern: First Flight:

She played the animated Black Cat, now Tricia Helfer is voicing female Green Lantern Boodikka. She explains the character:

Boodikka's a fighter, a protector. She is very honorable in that she does what she thinks is right, even if some things go against the grain. She's certainly not an evil character per se, but she does things that she thinks are good for society. She's not really sexy in terms of her personality, so she's not trying to reel Hal in – that relationship is more like comrades. So I wanted to play Boodikka both strong and sweet.

And here are some pics. [Warner Bros.]

Vampire Diaries:

A couple new clips from this eagerly anticipated vampire drama:

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

The Big Money notes that Paramount's YouTube version of the trailer received 237,000 viewings and nearly 2,300 text comments in its first four days, but wonders if teasing a movie so far in advance of its release is a sign of desperation that could lead to backlash:

Hollywood is a firm believer in the axiom [that it's] never too early to start building buzz. It doesn't even matter if the crew is still in post-production, evidently... But at some point you'd wonder if teaser trailers posted online a full 13 months before the movie hits theaters is a good strategy? How do you keep interest high then over the long autumn, winter, and spring? By producing trailer after trailer? Hollywood will watch this strategy closely to see at what point trailer fatigue sets in or whether it needs to build interest even earlier in its expensive summer blockbusters.

Of course, Airbender's 13 months in advance isn't anything approaching a record; the first teaser trailer for this summer's Star Trek ended up being released 16 months in advance of the movie's release - admittedly, the movie's release was pushed back during that time - and The Incredibles had a teaser released 18 months before the movie itself. But the question is a good one nonetheless; Watchmen's first teaser came out eight months before the movie, but by the time the movie was released, it already felt outdated (As much as, if not moreso, Trek) - is there a statute of limitations on when we should first see footage from a movie? Or should moviemakers just hold back the amount of footage they allow in trailers no matter when they're released? How much teasing is too much?

Paramount's Premature Promo? [The Big Money]

Last Tuesday io9 was a guest of Paramount, along with a few other reporters, on the set M. Night Shyamalan's latest film, The Last Airbender. We headed over to Night's favorite cinematic city Philadelphia, to see what the the director of The Sixth Sense would do with an expansive fantasy world. Night is, in a sense, building an entire world with only the cartoon and a specific, but loyal, following of fans to keep him in check (some of the biggest fans being his own daughters, who were the inspiration behind his tackling the project).

For those of you not familiar with the Avatar world, the fantastical realm is divided up into four nations: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. They lived together in peace, until the Fire Nation took out the other three, plummeting the land into war. Many years later, a bald little boy Aang (played by the adorable and new Noah Ringer) awakens to find he is the last of his kind, the Airbenders and the balance of the nation's future rests on his shoulders. Together with his newly acquired friends, a rowdy brother and sister pair Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) and the waterbending Katara (Nicola Peltz), the three set out to put the nation back on the track towards peace.

Unfortunately for them, the Fire Nation isn't too keen on the idea of Aang, and sends out a giant army after him (which you can see in the teaser) along with Prince Zuko (Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel) who's full of spite and anger. We're actually quite excited to see this total departure from Patel's previous role.

While I'm still not sure how this film is going to be marketed to those over 20 and unaware of the Airbender franchise, Night's new world certainly has a gorgeous backdrop going for it. Each set we walked on was more expansive and detailed than the last. The ice cave that holds the Moon Spirit was completely transformed into a strange and ethereal space, with a towering cherry tree looming over a reflecting pond. Every single blossom on the twisted branches was hand painted individually, with three different shades of pink. It truly felt like a mysterious oasis where brilliant green mold grows over ice.

But that wasn't even the kicker. Night has constructed a life size representation of the Fire Nation battleships, that can unleash furious fire power and where Dev Patel told us he'd spar with his crew. Dusty crumbling temples were erected, with gold statues of past Avatars, and even those can't compare to Airbender's pièce de résistance world-building moment, which just so happens to be the largest set ever built on the East Coast... which we're saving to tell you more about later.

So how much did they diverge from the cartoon, to make a story about warring nations and it's citizens who can bend the elements believable? Producer Frank Marshall explained that they have high hopes to stick to a PG rating. "I'm not even sure we want to get in the PG-13 realm," he explained.

But the director did have to whittle some things away. While taking a break from filming in the dusty floors of the North Air Temple Night told us what had to be cut: "I took away a little bit of the slapsticky stuff that was there for the little little kids, the fart jokes and things like that. We weeded that stuff away and the other stuff came out. We grounded Katara's brother, who's the comic relief in the show. We grounded him, and that really did wonderful things for the whole theme of the movie."

For a man building an entire world, he seems supremely calm and focused on set, but I was relieved to see that even he was at times overwhelmed by the sheer size of this project, "There are two and a half weeks left of not being as scared to death, but there were plenty of days where I was scared to death of what I'm doing." This film is really the first time Night has worked with elaborate CG backgrounds, or worked on constructing his own franchise, for that matter.

But I know you all want to know, what of Appa the giant white Sky Bison who flies? You've been asking ever since the film was announced. How will is it even possible to bring such a mythical creature to life? While we got to glimpse the enormous white furry top half of the magical six-legged creature (who will be part mechanical and part CG, the top half being mecha for the actors). Production Designer, Philip Messina, answered our Appa questions, reassuring us all that "I think once you see him on screen, you will see the Appa from the cartoon realm brought to life, but [that] still has the essence of his character. He has a character and a personality, he's an actor in the film to some extent."

Good luck getting those six-legs in order, guys. Even though the crew has recently wrapped filming, they still have a long road ahead of them.

The official movie site is now up and running and has HQ trailers available for download.

The clip comes in a trailer for tomorrow's Entertainment Tonight, leading Ain't It Cool to assume that the first trailer for the much-anticipated (and somewhat controversial) movie will be released online tomorrow and accompany Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen into theaters this Wednesday. We're not sure if this snippet is enough to make any judgement calls, but it does make us curious to see the whole thing...

District 9:

Here's a better quality version of the trailer we showed you a week or so ago for this alien-internment movie, directed by Neill Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson.

Moon:

Sam is in the last two weeks of a three-year stint on the Moon when he starts cracking up. And after he meets himself, he starts facing up to questions about his mission, the company that employs him, and his life itself. [MSNBC]

You'll think you know where this movie is going, thanks to its similarity to classics like 2001 and Silent Running, but then it'll surprise you. In particular, it's easy to assume that Gerty, the robot voiced by Kevin Spacey, has sinister intentions, but that may not actually be the case. [Associated Press]

Gamer:

John Leguizamo plays Freek, the comic relief in this film about prisoners who are forced to become living video game avatars for the rich to control remotely. "I'm like a Renfield in the Dracula story, that crazy guy who's locked up in an insane asylum. I'm in there; I have all this information, and I'm in the prison. I'm in the game." He sports a kind of "heroin look" to play the character. [Sci Fi Wire]

New Moon:

Here are some new set pics, showing extras in red robes and Bella's fountain in the Italian town. More at the link. [Radar]

The Last Airbender:

Another piece of casting for this M. Night Shyamalan film may assuage critics of the film's original lily-white casting somewhat: Korean-American child actor Isaac Jin Solstein, a black belt in Tang Soo Do and Soo Bahk Do, was cast as "Earthbending boy," which fans are guessing is actually the character of Haru, one of the good guys. [Slashfilm]

Lost:

Matthew Fox did a Q&A at a movie festival in Monte Carlo, where he gave away some stuff about season six. He says he's been told Jack and Locke will go "head to head" a lot in season six, but he didn't specify whether that was the real, dead Locke or the imposter, who fans are now calling "Darth Locke." The opening scene of the season premiere will explain what happened at the end of season five, and it'll be surprising and confusing at first.

And about a third of the way through the season, he says "both timelines" will be "solidified into linear time," and from that point on, there will be no more flashbacks or flashforwards — just time moving forward on the Island. (And no, I'm not sure what he means by both timelines, either. Could be two divergent timelines, could be a flash-back timeline and the present day.) The ending of the show itself will be beautiful, sad, redemptive, moving and awesome. [The ODI via Lyly Ford]

Fringe:

Remember those casting pages we reviewed, for the show's new tough female FBI agent, Sonia? It sounds like they really do come from her first episode. Or at least, she really will be introduced when she investigates the case of a fellow FBI agent who vanishes into thin air without warning. And there's a hint she may be a new love interest for Peter. [TV Guide]

Stargate Universe:

Some new episode titles. Episode 14, written by a new freelancer, is tentatively called "Lucid," and it focuses on Robert Carlyle's character, Dr. Rush. Episode 15, by former SGA producer Martin Gero, is "Sabotage." And episode 16, by another freelancer, is "Lost." [Gateworld]

Warehouse 13:

This new Syfy show is a mash-up of X-Files, Relic Hunter and Noah Wylie's Librarian TV movies. Two Secret Service agents who don't get along have to team up to track down arcane artifacts. Peter Latimer is a cavalier rule-breaker who may have psychic powers — or at least, he gets "hunches" which he once ignored, to his father's peril. Myka Bering is a straight shooter who likes to make detailed plans and follow protocol, and she's a rising star in the Service. They get recruited by the mysterious — and ageless — Miss Fredric, to go work at Warehouse 13 together, where they encounter crazy artifacts like a car that runs on human energy (which Henry Ford had rejected) and a lamp that may be Aladdin's. Then they get sent off to Iowa to investigate a domestic abuse case involving a college student and his girlfriend that may involve "a crazy relic that makes people crazy." [TV Overmind]

True Blood:

Evan Rachel Wood describes her vampire queen character: "Sophie is half Patrick Bateman, half Paris Hilton. She loves to tell people what to do-like, she could tell Bill to go play Yahtzee or something-but she's not going to sleep with him, because she likes the ladies." [E! Online]

Also, Wood tells Movieline that Sophie is 400 years old and the "vampire queen of Louisiana." Every state has a queen. "She's kind of a cross between Patrick Bateman and Paris Hilton." And Sophie will have a lesbian love interest. And she'll be in at least two episodes. [Movieline]

And here are some cute behind the scenes pics. [SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Spider-Man 4:

I've been trying to avoid posting too many items about this movie where people speculate wildly because Sam Raimi coughed in the middle of an interview or mentioned that he likes anchovies. (That's a hypothetical example, but if Raimi did happen to mention he likes anchovies, that would mean the Sub-Mariner is in the film.) In any case, Raimi gave an interview where he was asked about the possibility of the new movie having Morbius the vampire in the film, and he gave a sort of non-committal answer. But he kind of winked. So, there ya go. [Fearnet via MTV]

Iron Man 2:

Jon Favreau and crew are building a massive set for this film. What do you think it is? More pics at the link. [Superhero Hype]

The Last Airbender:

Here are high-res versions of the two photos we ran the other day, plus another Dev Patel photo. [Slashfilm]

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus:

Here's a bit of a plot synopsis for this Terry Gilliam film:

Doctor Parnassus (an absolutely wonderful Christopher Plummer) is immortal as the result of a pact made over 1000 years ago with the devil, known here as ""Mr. Nick"" and played with gravelly aplomb by Tom Waits. In contemporary London, the doctor, his teenage daughter Valentina (Lily Cole) and troupe members Anton (Andrew Garfield) and Percy (Verne Troyer, perhaps best known as Mini Me, in a straight role) give impromptu performances from their portable theater. Playing mostly to the poorer areas of the city, they invite patrons to walk through a slit-down-the-middle mirror that leads to fantastic and unpredictable landscapes.

Ledger played Tony as a fellow who may be helpful, may be harmful and should definitely be dead. (Given Ledger's untimely demise, much will be made of how Tony cheats death, but those scenes should be read as long-percolating fantasy and not ironic wishful thinking.)

All four Tonys sport a white suit and similar facial hair. The three adjunct Tonys take on some of Ledger's mannerisms but also bring theirown flourishes to the part (one of the special effects that Law ends up with really stood out for us).

The result is an epic, frequently comical and always imaginative showdown between good and evil, played out with a slightly overbearing mix of declaiming and flailing and rescued by wonderful set pieces in the Imaginarium itself.

Although there are dark and scary moments along the way, the ending is both satisfying and happy.

[NY Post ]

Cowboys And Aliens:

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman talk this comic-book adaptation, due out in 2010. It's about an invasion of extraterrestrials who want to enslave humanity, but a group of cowboys and Apaches stand in their way. They'd like to see Robert Downey Jr. in the film, but it depends on his schedule. And they say there are some things in the graphic novel that don't translate to the screen, so they're having to make some changes. [Sci Fi Wire]

Scott Pilgrim:

Director Edgar Wright posted some hilariously awesome photos of stuff in this graphic novel adaptation. [Edgar Wright]

Doctor Who:

More about those awesome rumors that Timothy Dalton would be appearing in the final Tennant episodes. A totally unreliable source says Dalton is staying in Cardiff because he's just been filming Doctor Who. Also, they claim Dalton was fitted for a "Time Lord costume" back in London. [Doctor Who Forum]

Also, the show's first writer for 2010 (apart from Steven Moffat) has been confirmed: an agent's website says Gareth Roberts is writing one episode of the new season. [Life, The Universe & Combom]

Sarah Jane Adventures:

The BBC press release includes more details about season three of this awesome Doctor Who spinoff, including another hint about that wedding:

The series includes 12 weeks of brand new adventures featuring a new alien race, the reptilian Veil and their enemies the Judoon, alongside an extraterrestrial girl that can make people play games against their will.

There will also be a living painting, the inhabitants of a supposedly haunted house, monsters who want to infect Earth with a strangely aggressive weed and a chance for Sarah Jane to find personal happiness with someone who could be the perfect person to complete her family

[Planet Gallifrey]

Sanctuary:

Producer Damian Kindler Tweeted a bunch about episode eight of season two, in which there's a trapped helicopter and a dead oil rig, and a deadly sea creature. Robin Dunne is involved, which makes fans speculate that the "sexual tension" Kindler mentions involves Dunne's character, Will. And the trapped helicopter will be "hanging over the water." [Sanctuary Daily]

Additional reporting by Alasdair Wilkins.

Despite the controversy M. Night Shyamalan's movie has stirred by casting a predominantly white cast to portray characters and stories based on Asian culture — even with the addition of Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel as the villain — the production is still moving forward.

The first photos of a shaved Aang and Zuko (played by Patel) are here. What do you think? For a better look check out USA Today. Will this satisfy the fans? Shyamalan has to be hoping so, since he's planning on making a trilogy.

The release date is set for July 2, 2010.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine:

So one question about the leaked "workprint" of the stabby one's big movie has been answered. Does it include the extra footage that director Gavin Hood shot with Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Liev Schrieber and Dominic Monaghan in Canada earlier this year? No, it doesn't, says Fox Chairman Tom Rothman. The leaked print was an early version, before those extra scenes were filmed. The final version of Wolverine will be about 10 minutes longer and will include a bunch of extra scenes. Fingers crossed that it's the best 10 minutes in movie history. [EW]

The Last Airbender:

M. Night Shyamalan is filming in Reading, PA, and the local newspaper has a bit of a plot synopsis:

The movie's screenplay (written by Shyamalan) focuses on Aang (Noah Ringer), the title character and a so-called Air nomad, who emerges from frozen hibernation inside an iceberg to discover that his village has been annihilated. The Fire nation is waging war on the other three: Air, Earth and Water.

And here are some set pics. (More at the link.) [Reading Eagle via Slashfilm]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

I don't think we've featured these promo photos before... [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Dragonball Evolution:

James Marsters (who really does seem like an obsessive Dragonball fan) explains his character:

I play a character that was in prison for two thousand years with no mirrors. I play a character who was beautiful, powerful and sexy and he gets put into prison. The prison has no mirrors, he's in prison for two-thousand-years, he breaks out, looks into a mirror and he's old and decrepit. He hates the sheriff who put him into prison and he wants to kill the sheriff, the sheriff's family and kill the whole town that the sheriff was trying to protect. That's where Piccolo is, except the whole town in this instance is the Earth...

I'm playing this guy as a prison guy. He's spent a long time in prison and he meets this little pup that thinks he's going to stop him from getting his dragonballs. You got to be kidding me? He thinks he wants a fistfight? I've been in prison for two thousand years; I'm going to pants you, bro.

And Marsters says Piccolo isn't evil, just a guy who got on the wrong side of the Mystics and is pissed off. Also, apparently the message of Dragonball is "You can't chop off your own balls." (Well, it's a bit more lengthy than that.) [Comic Book Resources]

Director James Wong explains a bit more about how that pantsing comes about:

By itself, each dragonball doesn't do anything but if you get them all together, the legend is they will grant the holder one perfect wish. Goku gets this crazy gift on his birthday, but is trying to be a normal teenager. He's interested in a girl too but what happens is his grandfather is killed by Piccolo, who is also looking for the dragonballs. We discover in Earth's history, Piccolo was a warrior who came from another planet to conqueror us. In the past, he was captured by these mystics and entombed. Piccolo, Goku, and his band are in a race to get these dragonballs because something is going to happen when the blood moon eclipses the sun in a few short days.

[Newsarama]

Doctor Who:

The newest issue of Doctor Who Magazine reportedly says the final David Tennant episode features the word "Naismith" somewhere. And eagle-eyed fans spotted an advertisement on the side of "Planet Of The Dead"'s London bus, with "Naismith" in it. Is this the 2009 specials' new version of "Bad Wolf"? [Doctor Who Forum]

Also, a few more details about the filming we reported on the other day, featuring the Doctor and Wilf, at Tredegar House. Apparently the Doctor and Wilf had a scene inside the stables, where "The Next Doctor" was filmed, featuring lots of extra hay. And someone inside the house was tied to a chair. Meanwhile, here's a couple new videos of the scene where one of the party (wedding?) guests, named Joshua, runs outside and drops to his knees. The woman with him, Abigail, tries to talk to him, but when he doesn't respond she runs away. [Planet Gallifrey]

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

The official blog released a couple clues about tonight's episode:

What: The Connors close in on Skynet and battle lines are drawn. When John attempts to rescue Skynet's latest target he finds himself closing in on Weaver, but at what cost? Game plans change, causing Sarah and Ellison to reunite. Meanwhile, Weaver learns Ellison's secrets.

Why: "Let me talk to Weaver." -Sarah Connor

And there's a second clip from tonight's episode. Oh, it is on. (Also, I love the user comments on the Youtube page, about how maybe Cameron dies, but then John kisses her and brings her back to life, more human than before because she's experienced the Power Of Love. Heh.) [Fox via Sarah Connor Society]

Supernatural:

Some more details about the next episode, "Jump The Shark," which features the third Winchester brother. Adam Milligan (Jake Abel) is the product of a hookup between John Winchester (early on in his monster-hunting days) and Kate Mullany. Adam's life is changed when he transforms into a monster. [Ace Showbiz]

Eureka:

What happens in season 3.5, starting up in July? Star Colin Ferguson explains:

Nathan [Ed Quinn] dies, and Salli [Richardson-Whitfield's] character is pregnant. So that picks up right after there, where Salli is pregnant through the whole season. One of Joe [Morton's] ... I keep using the actors' names ... One of Joe's long-lost loves comes back. My character has a love interest all the way through. And then Jordan [Hinson], my daughter, deals with "Is she going to go to college and leave Eureka or is she going to stay?" So all that stuff gets resolved.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Chuck:

Here's a sneak peek at next Monday's episode:

Ashes To Ashes:

The BBC spin-off to the original Life On Mars is starting up again soon, and here's the trailer for season two. [Cathode Ray Tube]

The Day The Earth Stood Still:

Two new TV spots reveal some major plot points and a couple of great lines of dialogue from this remake of the 1950s classic. In the first, Keanu actually works the deadpan thing pretty well, when the woman asks him, "Why have you come to our planet?" And he looks mildly confused when he replies, "YOUR planet?" And in the second, the narrator and the scraps of dialog make it sound like Keanu was actually sent to wipe the human race out, not just to warn us. And the "process has begun." He can still stop the destruction, says Jennifer Connelly. But can she convince him to do it? [First Showing]

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

Toy spoilers! My favorite kind! This is a bit confusing, but here goes. Someone met with a Hasbro Product Manager for the Transformers sequel, and the guy said there will be two different versions of the Constructicon toys released along with the film. One version, the "Gestalt version," will consist of the construction vehicles in vehicle mode, which can join together to form Devastator. The other version will consist of "Deluxe" versions of the construction vehicles, which can transform into individual robots but can't join together. So it sounds as though the Constructicons will only be able to join together to form Devastator as drones "with no robot mode." It'll look similar to the Energon Optimus Prime toy, as seen in this pic. (Bigger version at the link.) [Seibertron]

G.I. Joe:

Latino Review scored a first look at Gerald Okamura in costume as the Hard Master, the Ninja master and leader of the Arashikage clan, who teaches both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow, and is connected to the rift between those two. G.I. Joe takes place in the Egyptian desert and deep below the polar ice caps. The G.I. Joe team uses next-gen spy and military equipment to fight arms dealer Destro and the mysterious COBRA organization. And no, "Hard Master" doesn't sound like a porn name at all. Bigger pic at the link. [Latino Reivew]

The Last Airbender:

M. Night Shyamalan says his next movie, based on the hit cartoon, won't be a thriller, or scary, or have a twist at the end. But it'll have other aspects of his work, like spirtiuality, family, relationships and optimism. "You'll be able to tell in 30 seconds that I directed it." He's eager to make a sequel, and will work on the script for a second film this fall. That way, it won't be a matter of "Oh, the first one made a lot of money, so let's make another one." The whole thing is a "very clear, Shakespearean story told over three movies." [MTV]

Lost:

That new character the show is introducing, the smart funny and cute 30-year-old, will be a love interest for some regular character on the show — probably Sayid, say the experts. [EW]

Some are speculating that huge car crash involving Locke in "The Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham" leaves him unable to walk, which is why he's in a wheelchair in some of the other recently filmed scenes. Also, there are rumors some of the Oceanic Six have been filming scenes where they're back on the island — but these could be flashbacks or something. [UGO]

Also, I guess I missed this the other day. Here are some unconfirmed reports about recent filming. In one scene, Sayid and Hurley have been killing some of Widmore's associates, but now Widmore's men are on their tail. So they go to a safehouse which Ben set up, but two of Widmore's people are waiting there: a man and a woman. Sayid gets shot before he and Hurley manage to overpower Widmore's thugs. Then he takes the battery out of the woman's cell phone and replaces it with a GPS transponder.

Meanwhile, Kate gets a visit from her probation officer, who's pissed because she left the state, and handcuffs her because she's a flight risk. He says he's taking Aaron to Child Protective Services, but then he gets gunned down by a mysterious person. Then it turns out the probation officer isn't really a probation officer, but someone who works for Widmore.

And finally, Locke gets captured by a tribe of the island's original inhabitants, who have dwindled down to almost nothing ever since other people came to the island. Alpert was part of this group, but then left it. Locke escapes, killing one of the tribespeople in the process. The brother of the guy Locke kills wants revenge, and the tribespeople think Locke is the bad man from "her" visions. Alpert invokes the longstanding truce between the tribespeople and the Others, but to no avail. Alpert summons the smoke monster to deal with the tribespeople, and it's different than before, in a way that terrifies Locke. Locke runs away and gathers Daniel, Charlotte, Sawyer and the others into a boat, heading out onto the water. He insists they have to stay in the water to be safe, but then they come across Jin floating out there, and his wounds require immediate treatment with the supplies back on the island. So everyone else insists that they have to go back to the beach to save Jin, over Locke's protests.

(I'm a tad dubious about this batch of filming reports, which seem made-up and also a bit too detailed just for someone watching the filming. But here they are, just in case.) [LostRumors]

Eleventh Hour:

In the Nov. 20 episode, "Surge," a government experiment to create super-soldiers goes awry. Doesn't it always? [SpoilerTV]

Supernatural:

More about that Ben Edlund-scripted episode that airs tonight. Apparently it's really insane and over the top, and features a giant seven-foot-tall teddy bear. It's all thanks to a wishing well that actually grants wishes. But in Edlund's original script, at least, the reason for the wishing well was a scary fish that's like a proto-demon. (But chances are we won't see any fish, for the same budgetary reasons we'll never see a chupacabra on the show, unless it's a guy who says, "I'm a chupacabra.") Oh, and here's a clip. [SFUniverse]

Sanctuary:

What's ahead for the Amanda Tapping show that doesn't have "gate" in the title? Producer Damian Kindler tells Sci FI Magazine:

We're going to lots of places and meeting lots of different types of abnormals," says creator and executive producer Damian Kindler. "We're going to go capture witches in Scotland. We're going to try to transport a deadly creature across the Himalayas in a plane, and that's not going to work out so well [laughs]. We're going to bring some stuff back from the Amazon that grows in our Sanctuary out of control. We're going to go the catacombs underneath Rome and deal with vampires.

In upcoming episdes, "Magnus and Will's relationship evolves from episode to episode. That they really do challenge each other, support each other, have moments of doubt with each other, but they really are meant to work together. He really is the protege she's been waiting for 100 years, and I think every episode he proves why." ... As for Magnus' daugher, Ashley, "she does go through hell," he says. 'Her relationship with her mother is completely rocked to the core because very, very sensitive and powerful information comes to light that Magnus has been hiding from her ... She does get some really juicy stuff to play, but she also does a lot of cool ass-kicking, she shoots stuff, blows stuff up, and fights and gets quippy."

[Subduction Leads To Orogeny]

Additional reporting by Katharine Duckett.

Talking to reporters on a conference call, Shyamalan explained:

Basically, I feel like I'm making the movie right now, like I'm editing it and all that stuff, because I'm doing the [pre-visualizations]. Like, if you were here, I could show you the last 30 minutes of The Last Airbender in animatic form, and it is an amazing and emotional experience just to watch that. I'm like, 'Oh, this is so exciting.' It gives you such safety, because it's such a different kind of movie than I'm used to making. But yet, as we all were, we all came kind of born out of Star Wars, and somewhere in there is the desire to return to fantasy on that level.

Sorry Night, no matter how hard you try, you are not going to make Star Wars, no matter how many times you use the word religion.

"And sometimes in my movies, like Signs, they're more overt, but sometimes — like in The Happening — they're more about faith, and not necessarily religious faith. So when he steps outside, it's really just a holy moment."

I need another director to step in and check up on this project post haste.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Night claims Airbender and Star Wars will be similar based on the religion they create. I could see why he would want that to be true, but just because you make three of something that has an ancient code and a deep fictional history, that doesn't automatically make it the next Star Wars. Still Night shared a production update with an excited room and briefly talked about casting, filming plans and why he wanted to make this movie.

The Last Airbender will tell the first book of the three-part Avatar series. It will follow Aang the reluctant hero, who is an Avatar and a protector of the world. He's the people's only hope to restore balance between it's four nations of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. It all started when the Fire nation attacked, and Aang has to use his martial arts, and his abilities to bend nature's elements, to fight.

The very rough Airbender teaser trailer took old movie footage of martial arts fighting and then spelled out, "The nations lived together in peace until Fire Nation Attacked." Pan out to a shot of the Avatar planet with a blue arrow imposed over the top, referencing Aang, the savior of a world. The teaser also showed lovely sweeping landscape illustrations of each nation on the planet that looked pretty similar to the cartoon's representation — but alas, no illustrations of Aang, Azula or Katara.

All of the concept art for the movie is done, and every single frame has already been story-boarded. Like the cartoon, there will be multiple martial-arts fighting scenes, almost 20 of them, but they will be done his way. That means the fighting will extend the story and enhance the character, and Shyamalan has applied the same rule to his CGI use. The elements react to some of the characters emotions, so that among the mountain homes and alien characters will all have to be CGI. Sets are going to be built in August this year and some of the exotic locations picked for filming are Greenland and Vietnam. Casting has started and Shyamalan hints that he thinks he's found the next big star. So perhaps Aang will be played by a fresh face.

Shyamalan wants to create, as he called it, religion around this movie similar to the religion that inspired him from other films. "Star Wars had religion and I mean that," explained Night. "Something that connects us with these stories which is what they had in the Star Wars and the first Matrix. Those movies caused religions to happen." Methinks he's confusing religion with just heavily layered story-telling, yet in his defense there are many Jedi orders throughout the country. Do you think he wants more costumey fans running around Tai Chi bending the elements? It would be good marketing, I guess.

Shyamalan admits that Star Wars was a movie that made him want to make movies and he had been searching for a story like this. So it's cute that it was his youngest daughter that introduced him to the cartoon series. Shyamalan hopes that after watching this movie, "Every kid at every breakfast table should be trying to bend the milk out of their cup." Airbender is set to release over the 4th of July weekend in 2010.