A rumor is going around that Michael B. Jordan will be playing the Human Torch in director Josh Trank's reboot of Fantastic Four.
This is news for one reason: it would cast a black actor in a traditionally white role. But this isn't the first time ethnicities have changed when the character went on-screen.
The practice is known as "Race Bending" and is widely done in Hollywood for a bunch of reasons.
Read on for the most bewildering race changes in genre movie history.
#25 Aang (Noah Ringer) in The Last Airbender (2010)
Original Ethnicity: Asian
New Ethnicity: Caucasian
#24 Captain Nemo (James Mason) in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Original Ethnicity: Indian
New Ethnicity: Caucasian
#23 Catwoman (Eartha Kitt) in Batman (1966)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#22 Uhura (Zoe Saldana) in Star Trek (2009)
Original Ethnicity: African-American
New Ethnicity: Hispanic
#21 Heimdel (Idris Elba) in Thor (2011)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian (Nordic)
New Ethnicity: African-American
#20 Johnny Rico (Casper Van Diem) in Starship Troopers (1997)
Original Ethnicity: Filipino
New Ethnicity: Caucasian
#19 The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) in Iron Man 3 (2013)
Original Ethnicity: Asian
New Ethnicity: Caucasian
#18 Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams) in Batman (1989)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#17 Goku (Justin Chatwin) in Dragonball Evolution (2009)
Original Ethnicity: Asian
New Ethnicity: Caucasian
#16 Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)
Original Ethnicity: Persian
New Ethnicity: Caucasian
#15 Robert Neville (Will Smith) I am Legend (2007)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#14 Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) in GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra (2009)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#13 Catwoman (Halle Berry) in Catwoman (2004)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#12 Alice 'Teeny' Fletcher (Queen Latifah) in Sphere (1998)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#11 Ford Prefect (Mos Def) in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian (Appearance)
New Ethnicity: African-American
#10 Kingpin (Michael Clarke Duncan) in Daredevil (2003)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#9 John "Ray" Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) in Jurassic Park (1993)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#8 Pete Ross (Sam Jones III) in Smallville (2001)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#7 Robin (Marlon Wayans) in Batman Returns (1992)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
Note: According to Wayans, he was supposed to play Robin in Batman Returns. He was cast and paid, but his role was cut from the film.
#6 James West (Will Smith) in Wild Wild West (1999)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#5 Bane (Robert Swenson) in Batman & Robin (1997)
Original Ethnicity: Hispanic (Caribbean)
New Ethnicity: Caucasian
#4 Agent Zero (Daniel Henney) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian (German)
New Ethnicity: Asian (Korean)
#3 Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington) in Fantastic Four (2005)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#2 Bolivar Trask (Bill Duke) in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Original Ethnicity: Caucasian
New Ethnicity: African-American
#1 Bane (Tom Hardy) in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Original Ethnicity: Hispanic (Caribbean)
New Ethnicity: Caucasian
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In honor of the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, Nick Bosworth at Joblo.com created an epic montage of all the Star Trek movies. It includes clips from all the movies from The Motion Picture to Into Darkness. Here's the description:
As "Star Trek Into Darkness" opens today, I wanted to unleash my inner-Trekkie for everyone to enjoy in the form of an ultimate tribute to all the films of Gene Roddenberry's epic sci-fi franchise. "Star Trek" remains iconic in so many ways from the technology, ideas, adventure, legendary characters and so much more. Enjoy this special tribute in honor of those incredible efforts.
What did you think of the video? Which movie is your favorite? [Image Source: YouTube]
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Star Wars Empire Strikes Back animated gif by Folds Five
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire
Strikes Back is 124 minutes long but, thanks to one artist, you
can
watch the entire movie as a two-minute long 8-bit animation.
The Empire
Strikes Back was released in US theaters on May 21, 1980. That's
33-years-ago on this day. To celebrate we're hosting this image.
The animated gif was actually first posted on Folds Five back in 2008. Since then, it hit Reddit,
and has taken the Internet by storm. You can watch it in it's entirety
below.
What do you think of the gif? What's your favorite scene?
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On May 21, 1980, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back premeired. Widely considered by fans to be the best film of the entire series, we decided to honor the release with some special photos. Vanity Fair released some never-before-seen photos taken on the set during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. Here are seven of the most illuminating.
Filming the iconic scroll
Directing the Wampa
Filming the AT-AT Walkers
Getting ready for the dinner scene
Carrie Fisher and Peter Mayhem clowning around
Filming the "I am your father" scene
A casual moment on the set
Which was your favorite photo? What are your memories of The Empire Strikes Back?
Patton Oswalt improvised a summary for the next Star Wars Episode VII for the television show Parks and Recreation (Season 5, Episode 19) and it was brilliantly animated by Isaac Moores. Oswalt's an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice actor.
It's funny that he coincidentally includes some of the ideas that I had for the next Star Wars film like Han Solo and Princess Leia breaking up, but I sure didn't come up with adding Wolverine.
What do you think of the video? Could this be the plot of Episode VII?
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Pretty soon, we'll be hearing Darth Vader say, "No, I am your azhé’é'." That's because Star Wars has been translated into the Navajo language. Manuelito Wheeler, director of the Navajo Nation Museum, worked with a team of five Navajo speakers to create a Navajo translation of Star Wars IV: A New Hope. When he reached out to Lucasfilm with it, they agreed to release a version of the movie dubbed into the Navajo language.
It's not only a big event for scifi, but for movies in general. Most movies featuring Native American languages are shown at film festivals. Relatively few mainstream movies in Native languages are shown in theaters. It's hoped that the Navajo translation will keep the language alive, and increase interest in Native languages.
Right now, Wheeler is looking for fluent Navajo speakers to record the dialogue. He's holding auditions at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. The audition involves prospective actors meeting with a prescreening group to hold a conversation in Navajo. If they pass the prescreening, they go to a recording studio. The actors hear a section of dialogue in English, and then have to translate what they hear into Navajo. If they succeed, they'll join the cast of the finished movie, which will air on July 4.
Would you watch the Navajo version of Star Wars?
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Welcome to "Geek Bits" where we share the geekiest bits of the Internet
for you. Why is Spielberg getting paid for Star Wars? Who lives longer:
Superman or Wolverine? How many Tribbles would fit in your house?
Find out in this week's "Geek Bits."
10 Best and Worst
Sci-fi Remakes of the Same Movie
1. Shichinin no Samurai (1954) dir.
Akira Kurosawa
Best: The Magnificent Seven
(1960) John Sturges - The ultimate Western with the biggest actors in
Hollywood defending a small town.
Worst: Battle Beyond the Stars
(1980) dir. Jimmy T. Murakami - A cheesy movie about a bunch of alien
races fighting an evil alien.
2. King Kong (1933) dir. Merian C.
Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack
Best: King Kong (2005) dir.
Peter Jackson - He captured the magic and even restored a deleted scene
from the original.
Worst: King Kong (1976) dir.
John Guillermin - From stop-motion to a man in a suit.
3. Gojira (1954) dir. Ishiro Honda
Best: Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
(1957) - An American dubbed version with additional footage that most
people are familiar with.
Worst: Godzilla (1998) dir.
Roland Emmerich - They evacuated the city of New York and still
couldn't find him... her.
4. The Last Man on Earth (1964) dir.
Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow
Best: The Omega Man (1971)
dir. Boris Sagal - Vincent Price at his best.
Worst: I Am Legend (2007)
dir. Francis Lawrence - Walking Dead meets Fresh Prince
5. Not of This Earth (1957) dir. Roger
Corman
Best: Not of This Earth
(1988) dir. Jim Wynorski - Stars ex-porn star Traci Lords in her first
nude performance in a mainstream film.
Worst: Not of This Earth
(1995) - They tried to take a Roger Corman film seriously.
6. The Shaggy Dog (1959)
Best: The Shaggy Dog (2006) -
A dog of a movie, but it made over $61 million thanks to Tim
Allen.
Worst: The Shaggy Dog (1994)
- The first TV movie was an even bigger dog.
7. Solaris (1968) dir.B.Nirenburg
Best: Solaris (2002)
dir.Steven Soderbergh - 2001 meets Titanic thanks to George Clooney.
Worst: Solaris (1972)
dir.Andrei Tarkovsky - The film won an award at the 1972 Cannes
Film Festival, but Tarkovsky's style makes it confusing.
8. Invasion of the Body
Snatchers (1956) dir. Don Siegel
Best: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(1978) dir.Philip Kaufman - The perfect analogy of 70s non-conformism.
Worst: Invasion (2007) dir.
Oliver Hirschbiegel - Nicole Kidman is as emotionless as the aliens.
9. High Noon (1952) dir. Fred Zinnemann
Best: Outland (1981) dir. Peter Hyams - A classic Sean Connery
space thriller.
Worst: High Noon (2000) dir. Rod Hardy - TV movie starring Tom
Skerritt
10. Piranha (1978) dir. Joe Dante
Best: Piranha 3D (2010) dir.
Alexandre Aja - Cheesy, trashy and goofy. Perfect.
Worst: Piranha (1995) dir.
Scott P. Levy - They didn't reshoot the special effects, but just cut
in the original footage.
The Top Ten Bits This Week
10. The Full length trailer for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (via Geek Girl Diva)
"Welcome to level seven..."
9. Reviews of Star Trek Into
Darkness are in:
6. Decades ago, when Spielberg and Lucas were both working on a movie
they made a bet (via Geek
Tyrant):
"[Lucas] said, ‘Oh my God, your movie is
going to be so much more successful than Star Wars. This is
gonna be the biggest hit of all time’. [Spielberg] said, ‘You want to
trade some points? I’ll give you two and a half per cent of Star Wars if you give me two and a
half per cent of Close Encounters.’ I said, ‘Sure, I’ll
gamble with that, great.’ Close Encounters made so much
money and rescued Columbia from bankruptcy. It was the most money I
ever made, but it was a meager success story. Star Wars was a
phenomenon and I was the happy beneficiary of a couple of points from
that movie which I am still seeing money on today." Celebritynetworth
5. "Superhero Life Expectancies" It's a good thing the Hulk doesn't smoke...
4. Summary for Dawn of the Planet of
the Apes: "The film takes place 15 years after "Rise of the
Planet of the Apes." Caesar leads a band of genetically evolved apes,
but the humans that survived the deadly virus a decade earlier threaten
their existence. A truce is formed, but things quickly spin out of
control as war breaks out in the fight for dominance. Jason Clarke
("Zero Dark Thirty"), Gary Oldman ("The Dark Knight Rises"), Keri
Russell ("Mission Impossible III"), Judy Greer ("The Descendants") also
star, with Toby Kebbell ("RocknRolla") and Enrique Murciano ("Traffic")
newly added to the cast." (via MTV
Movies)
3. "How many Tribbles would fit in your house" calculator. In 60 hours
my house would have 19,230 TRIBBLES!
1. Darth Vader (Brian Kidd) wearing a kilt and riding a unicycle.
(Thanks Hart!)
REVIEWS
TV
Doctor Who "Nightmare in Silver" Plot: On a visit to an interstellar theme park
they come across a Cyberman graveyard which comes to life. Written by Neil Gaiman with super-fast Cybermen, an evil Doctor
("Mr. Clever") and Warwick Davis make this the most enjoyable episode
of the second half of the season. (4/5 stars)
Revolution "The Longest
Day" Plot: When Monroe launches an all
out attack that wipes out their forces, the Georgia Republic is on the
verge of surrendering.
All the characters seem stuck in one spot emotionally and I have no
idea where the show is going. The explosions were cool though. (2/5
stars)
The Neighbors "Pilot" Plot: Marty Weaver (Lenny Venito)
just wants the best for his wife Debbie (Jami Gertz) and their three
kids. That’s why he’s moving them to Hidden Hills, New Jersey, a gated
community complete with its own golf course. It turns out the community
is home to stranded aliens.
I missed this on TV, but started watching on Hulu Plus. It's
surprisingly funny! The twist of having normal people living among
aliens is a lot more interesting than having aliens living among normal
people. The relationship between the alien couple Larry Bird (the Simon
Templeman) and Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Toks Olagundoye) is the best part. Yes, they're all named after sports stars.
BOOKS
The
Wind Whales of Ishmaelby Philip Jose Farmer Summary: Ishmael, lone survivor
of the doomed whaling ship Pequod, falls through a rift in time and
space to a future Earth - an Earth of blood-sucking vegetation and a
blood-red sun, of barren canyons where once the Pacific Ocean roared.
Here too there are whales to hunt - but whales that soar through a dark
blue sky....Hugo Award-winner Philip José Farmer spins a fascinating
tale of whaling ships and sailors of the sky in a bizarre future world
where there are no seas to sail and no safe harbor to call home....
This is a strange book. The writer is very popular and the characters
are strong, but the world-building is so bizarre I couldn't suspend
disbelief enough to enjoy it. Plants that
have tendrils that suck your blood. Animals and plants that are living
hot air balloons. I just couldn't get into it. (Not Recommended)*
*Book provided
by publisher Titan Books. This in no way affected my opinion of the
book or it's contents. The views and opinions expressed in this article
are those of the author.
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