Amy Adams has just been cast as intrepid reporter Lois Lane for the new Superman reboot being directed by Zack Snyder. In what must have been an exhaustive search, Hero Complex is reporting that the production landed on the three-time Oscar nominee who brings an enormous amount of acting talent to the project as well as a trademark pluckiness to a plucky, iconic character. This is outstanding news, and a great casting choice not only because of the fit, but because of Adams’s skill level. Snyder has insisted that this will be his most realistic movie yet, and to that end he commented on the casting, saying, “It goes back to what I’ve said about Superman and making him really understandable for today. What’s important to us is making him relevant and real and making him empathetic to today’s audience so that we understand the decisions he makes.  That applies to Lois as well. She has to be in the same universe as him [in tone and substance].” If seeing yet another superhero adaptation (especially the same old superheros) is tired, this production just got a little life to it, and I for one can’t wait to see Snyder dress up Adams in a pin up girl outfit, and have her fight Lex Luthor with a samurai sword in slow motion, realistically. Jokes aside, this is a hell of a great casting call.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s holding out for a hero ’til the morning light. He’s gotta be sure, it’s gotta be soon, and he’s gotta be larger than life. We lead tonight with images from this evening’s episode of Community, which took a jaunt into Pulp Fiction territory and played around with some Tarantino aesthetic. I haven’t watched it yet, as I’m contractually obligated to watch it with my lady and I won’t see her until tomorrow night, but I’m told that it was a new high mark for the show.

Visionary director Zack Snyder took some questions about his upcoming Superman movie at a recent press junket for his latest film Sucker Punch and had some interesting things to say about his approach. So far in his career we’ve seen Snyder do a lot of surreal, ultra violent, ultra stylized action stuff. That’s fun and all in its proper context, but it doesn’t explain how it got him the job of making a Superman movie. When asked about what his approach to this film would be, Snyder said, “I feel like, I mean I’ve said to the studio that this will probably be the most realistic Superman movie ever made. It takes place in the real world much more than [my previous films]… I mean, I’ve just never had the subject matter that needed that, you know what I mean? Like everything I’ve done up to this point really has the benefit of existing in a stylized world.” When the project was first being put together, word was that Christopher Nolan was overseeing it and it was going to take a similar approach to the material that he took when making Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. While Nolan is a pretty universally beloved filmmaker, it seemed like the studio was missing the boat. Just because gritty and street level worked for Batman doesn’t mean it’s going to work for Superman. They’re two completely different characters. And once Snyder’s name was attached to the project, it fanned the flames even

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

Warner Bros. has announced the second bit of casting news for their upcoming reboot of the Superman franchise via press release. First they announced that the relatively unknown Henry Cavill was cast as Clark Kent, and now comes the news that veteran screen hotty Diane Lane has signed on to play his mother Martha. That’s right; Diane Lane is playing Clark Kent’s kindly old farmhouse mother. I never thought I would say this, but I can’t wait to oogle Superman’s mom in some patented Zack Snyder slo-mo. Immediately I’m picturing a sequence where a pie is taken out of an oven, a finger dips in for a test, and then some piping hot pie filling is sucked off. Slowly. Probably Clark will fly in through the kitchen window at this point and the rush of wind will cause her hair to blow around. Slowly. Snyder states in the press release, “This was a very important piece of casting for me because Martha Kent is the woman whose values helped shape the man we know as Superman. We are thrilled to have Diane in the role because she can convey the wisdom and the wonder of a woman whose son has powers beyond her imagination.” Values and wisdom? Has he seen Unfaithful? But in all seriousness, Lane is a great actress and I’m sure she’ll do well with the part. I’m excited to see that this take on Superman is drawing an A-lister. That’s a good sign, and it does nothing

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

Zack Snyder has been a busy beaver ever since he made 300. That film, an adaptation of a graphic novel by Frank Miller, was able to cross over and hit both the comic book nerd and the frat boy demographics in a way that nothing else ever has, thus creating a perfect storm of young male disposable income going into studio pockets. Execs were so pleased with what Snyder did on the project that his follow up film Watchmen was heavily billed in its advertisements as coming “from visionary director Zack Snyder”. That’s right, three films in and the man had not only hit director’s name in the voice over status, he also got a really cool adjective attached to his name. But today it seems like the upward trajectory of Snyder’s career might have hit a momentary snag. Vulture claims to have inside knowledge that the upcoming sequel to 300, Xerxes has been taken out of Snyder’s hands. This is largely because they need him to focus on his upcoming Superman film. You see, due to a historically long lawsuit between the people currently schlepping Superman product and the estates of Superman’s creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Warner Bros. only has until 2013 to get a Superman movie out before they lose the rights to key elements of the franchise. Rumors abound that Snyder’s upcoming film is suffering from some serious script problems; more specifically that it doesn’t have much of a third act. Speculation is that the

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

Ilya Salkind, a 63-year-old native of Mexico City, has reportedly gone missing. TMZ reports that Salkind had recently returned to his hometown to wrap up some loose ends involving an inheritance after the passing of his mother and was last seen leaving his estate to “handle some errands and get some dental work done.” He never returned and friends have filed a missing person report with Mexican police. Salkind has had a near 40-year career working in Hollywood, but he is best known for acquiring the live action rights to the character Superman in 1974, which led to Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman. Salkind served as an executive producer on the first three films of that franchise. If there’s any way that any of us can use our obsessive-compulsive comic book nerd powers to help find him, his friends have set up a website to help with the search.

Now that Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman film has found it’s Clark Kent, it only makes sense that they would begin testing for a Lois Lane that works well with him on screen. What’s Playing got the ball rolling by releasing a list of names that were in the running. The list included Kristen Stewart, Malin Akerman, Dianna Agron, Jessica Biel, and Rachel McAdams. The speculation began. Which of these girls has the right mix of brunette and feisty to pull the part off? Stewart was taken off the list pretty early, mainly due to having too many commitments, but probably also do to a complete lack of feistiness. Akerman was dismissed as being too old for the role, because that last Superman movie worked so well with casting high school kids as decades seasoned reporters with a six year old kid. So that left the choice as being between Rachel McAdams, Jessica Biel, and some girl I’ve never heard of. Decisions, decisions.

So that one guy from that one show is going to be playing The Man of Steel, and it’s big news. However, since we live in a beautiful age of information, we can also daydream about the movies that might have been if only that one other guy had been cast instead. In the case of the new Superman, Henry Cavill is taking on the tights, which happens to leave four other actors back out looking for work. Who are they, and would it have mattered who got the job?

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, Awards Season junkie and editor-in-chief of In Contention, Kris Tapley, joins us to shoot the bull on the Oscars. We’ll be roasting that bull on a spit and serving it for our live-blog next month. Could Natalie Portman lose her sure-thing Oscar? Why did Inception never have a chance at Best Picture? Who will win Best Costume Design?!? We ask the tough questions. And then answer them. Plus, we also review The Mechanic in case you’d rather see something blow up besides an actor giving a thank you speech. Listen Here: Download This Episode

Mixed-up hip-hop lyrics aside, Henry Cavill (who you may remember from The Tudors, Stardust, and Tristan + Isolde) has scored the highly coveted role of Clark Kent who (spoiler alert) is Superman. Superman: Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder, now has its star. The positives are clear: he’s a young actor who’s just well known enough to be recognizable, but not nearly well known enough to overshadow the role with his stardom. Plus, he’s just about as square-jawed as they come. The negatives are really just questions. He does a strong job as Charles Brandon on The Tudors, but it’s a radically different role from Supes. It’s unclear what kind of job he’ll do, but he clearly showed something to the casting team, and he’ll be surrounded by the Warners machine, Snyder, and Christopher Nolan. Not a bad group to have in your huddle. Thus, Jon Hamm has been passed over for the role and a 27-year-old will be playing an ace reporter that’s risen through the ranks in the big city. Also, Nicolas Cage will yet again not be playing Superman. Rejoice and lament in equal measure. [Deadline Missionville]

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this stuff late at night, what do you expect?

What is Movie News After Dark? This is a question that I am almost never asked, but I will answer it for you anyway. Movie News After Dark is FSR’s newest late-night secretion, a column dedicated to all of the news stories that slip past our daytime editorial staff and make it into my curiously chubby RSS ‘flagged’ box. It will (but is not guaranteed to) include relevant movie news, links to insightful commentary and other film-related shenanigans. I may also throw in a link to something TV-related here or there. It will also serve as my place of record for being both charming and sharp-witted, but most likely I will be neither of the two. I write this shit late at night, what do you expect?

You’ve stumbled upon Circle of Jerks, our sporadically published, weekly feature in which we ask the questions that really matter to our writers and readers. It’s a time to take a break from our busy lives and revel in the one thing that we all share: a deep, passionate love of movies. If you have a question you’d like answered by the FSR readers and staff, send us an email at editors@filmschoolrejects.com. What movies would you recast/recrew? My answer:  Topher Grace as Spider-man.  Tobey Maguire is humorless.  And I’d somehow keep Ryan Reynolds from being the Green Lantern so he can be The Flash instead. And I’d like to have seen Preston Sturges direct just about any romantic comedy. – Sara F.