Helen McCrory to play young M in Skyfall?

Actress Helen McCrory has been cast in the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, but her role has not yet been announced. Although there are rumors that she'll be playing Miss Moneypenny, wouldn't she be perfect as a young M (who is played by Judi Dench)? Part of the plot of the movie is that "Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her", so it would make sense for there to be flashback scenes with a young M.

Chloë Grace Moretz the daughter of Michelle Pfeiffer?

Back in February I saw the 30 Rock episode "TGS Hates Women" which guest-starred the young actress Chloë Grace Moretz. She was fantastic in it, continually stealing scenes from Alec Baldwin, a known scene-stealer himself. I didn't know who Moretz was at the time, but I kept thinking that she looked so much like Michelle Pfeiffer that she might have been Pfeiffer's daughter. When the episode was over, I looked her up only to find out that they weren't related. I thought they should play mother and daughter in a movie at some point.

Now, many months later, I saw the first official cast photo from Tim Burton's new movie Dark Shadows. Chloë Grace Moretz plays the daughter of Michelle Pfeiffer's character, and was cast in that role just two months after the 30 Rock episode aired. I guess I wasn't the only one to see the resemblance.

"That's a big Twinkie."

I just saw what Ernie Hudson looks like now. Is he supposed to be in Ghostbusters 3? I don't know if their "the Ghostbusters are too old to be Ghostbusters anymore" schtick is going to work with Winston being in the best shape of his life.

FOR GONDOR!!!

The Stewart Of Gondor?

Superhamm, The Hamm Of Steel

Several months back, before Henry Cavill was cast as the new Superman, there was a lot of talk about Jon Hamm being a good choice for Superman. I never would have thought of it myself. Although I wasn't completely sold on the idea, I thought it was very possible it could work quite well.

A lot of people seem to think Hamm is too old, including himself if his jokes to Conan O'Brien were any indication. I've read various comments on sites saying things like "maybe if he was playing the Kingdom Come Superman", which I think is bullshit. It's been quite a while since I read Kingdom Come, but I figured he was supposed to be at least 60 years old in that book. Hamm is soon going to be 40 years old, and for years to come, could easily pass for a man in his 30's. In a lot of the comics, Superman seems like he's supposed to be in his 30's or 40's. In my opinion we still haven't seen a live-action Superman that has the classical masculinity that I feel the common comic book version of Superman has, and I could imagine Jon Hamm being that superman. Those were my initial thoughts.

Then I saw a photoshopped image someone made of Jon Hamm's head one another live-action Superman's body. I couldn't tell whose it was, but it was probably Christopher Reeve's body. The photo just looked terrible, and made me have second thoughts about the idea of Hamm playing Superman. I was clearly conflicted, but in the end I figured it probably just didn't look good because it was simply a bad photoshop job. I'm not going to link to it because I don't feel like trying to find it again.

Fast-forward several months. A friend of mine on facebook linked to a piece of artwork which I think looks amazing.

This image perfectly captures the classically masculine look of Superman from the comics. I know someone else has already been cast in the new movie, and they're probably going in a totally different direction with it, but this image makes me wish they were making a separate movie with Jon Hamm and taking it in a different direction, capturing the feel of classic Superman comics.

Clerks III: Revenge Of Leonardo Leonardo

Seeing as how I've already gotten one famous movie director to check out my blog, I figured maybe I can manage to lure in another.

Today while I was swapping out various Windows sounds on my computer to replace them with hilarious audio clips of Alec Baldwin's character Leonardo Leonardo (from Kevin Smith's Clerks: The Animated Series) simply to amuse myself, I decided that if Mr. Smith ever makes another Clerks movie, Alec Baldwin should appear in a cameo role as a live-action version of Leonardo Leonardo. Complete with goatee.

Although compared to the Clerks movies, the storylines in Clerks: The Animated Series are pretty out there (including anything having to do with Leonardo Leonardo), I think he could fit logically into the slightly more grounded-in-reality world of the Clerks movies. I don't know if Mr. Smith has the rights to use the character, or if those rights only have to do with the character's animated likeness, but if it is legal for Leonardo Leonardo to be in the movie, I'd love to see it. Many of the wonderful lines written for the character, and Alec Baldwin's delivery of those lines are some of the best moments of Clerks: The Animated Series. Considering Alec Baldwin's surge in relevance and popularity among the general public in recent years due to his role on 30 Rock, I'm sure his appearance in a new Clerks movie would be well received even by those who have not seen Clerks: The Animated Series.

I don't know if Kevin Smith will ever read this blog, but in case he does...

Dear Mr. Smith,
   If you do make another Clerks movie, consider everything I've written above. Also, feel free to hire me for my good ideas. I'm only half joking about that. Thank you for reading.
   Sincerely,
   A CINEMATIC MIND