First Glance: Scarlett Jo In IM2 & Jake G In Prince of Persia

Iron Man 2 is in the thick of filming right now and we’re getting some new information about the film, as well as our first look at the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson. Scarlett Jo plays Russian superspy Natasha Romanoff (aka the Black Widow), who is hired as Tony Stark’s assistant, which inevitably sparks romantic tension between Stark and former assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Potts has been promoted to CEO of Stark Industries. I wrote a post at the end of May discussing my conspiracy theory regarding the on-set cat fight between Scarlett Jo and Paltrow, and how director Jon Favreau was using Twitter as an indirect outlet for PR damage control. Check that out to get caught up on some of the juicy tidbits that have occurred on the set of IM2 thus far.

Back in June, I posted the first revealed picture of Mickey Rourke as the Russian villain Whiplash. We now have our first look at another Russian character, Scarlett Jo as the super-sexy Black Widow. Friday’s cover of Entertainment Weekly features an exclusive inside look at Iron Man 2. Check out the cover featuring Scarlett Jo as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash; as well as a close up look at Scarlett Jo, via SlashFilm.

I was hesitant at first, thinking that Scarlett could pull this off. But it appears as though she has, at least as her look is concerned. See what I mean HERE. The only thing that I am concerned about now is her Russian accent. She’s attempted British accents before (The Prestige, The Other Boleyn Girl), but they haven’t been extraordinarily note-worthy. I really hope she’s been working her butt off with an accent coach, just has she has with a personal trainer to prepare for the film physically. We shall see, but so far, so good.

SlashFilm also broke down some of the new information about IM2 reported in this week’s Enertainment Weekly. The new info. is as follows:

• Sam Rockwell plays a fast-talking weapons manufacturer named Justin Hammer, “who fancies himself the next Tony Stark”
• Mickey Rourke plays Russian criminal Vanko, who creates his own battle-suit while incarcerated in a Soviet prison.
• Whiplash’s suit “shoots devastating, whip-like beams.”
• Hammer and Whiplash join forces to take on Stark/Iron Man,
• Rourke insisted that his character have a cockatoo, which he talks to and gets drunk with while he’s making the suit.

Next up we have our first pic of Jake Gyllenhaal as the Prince Dastan, in a film adaptation, titled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, of the popular and badass Prince of Persia video game series . A Brief synopsis of the film adaptation is as follows:  Prince of Persia tells the story of an adventurous prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Dastan (Jake G) must join forces with Tamina (Gemma Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time. Alfred Molina and Ben Kingsley co-star. Check out the first official pic of Jake G as the Prince of Persia, via Entertainment Weekly.

Looks pretty good. I love Jake G. I have ever since Donnie Darko. The dude’s a great actor and a nice guy.  Although, I am confused about how a Caucasian actor, such as Jake G, was chosen to portray the Prince of PERSIA. I mean, it’s obviously Hollywood and there’s no real well-enough known Middle-Eastern actor that could carry the load of a $125 million+ action film, but it’s just a curious observation for you to chew on.

The director Mike Newell, of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Donnie Brasco previously, has a decently impressive resume, so I’m expecting good things from him. Sir Ben Kingsley has been cast as the film’s main villain, Nizam. Great choice, as Kingsley is brilliant and is from Indian descent. We now enter the unknown. The film is being brought to us from none other than, super-duper-mega-blockbuster-popcorn-master-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney. Now I’ve had my squabbles with Bruckheimer on The Movie Mash before, but I’ve had time to reflect on the purpose movies and I don’t have THAT much of a problem with him anymore. And in this case, I’m actually glad that he and Disney are tag-teaming this project.

To this date, every video game adaptation has failed miserably (i.e. Doom, Max Payne, Hit Man, etc.) because the stories are atrociously written and are TOO serious for a very limited fan base. This is what I meant by the “unknown.” So far studios have been trying to make video game adaptations TOO badass and serious, trying so hard to appease the “faithfulness” of the video game’s lore and mythology. Bruckheimer and Disney have been able to learn from the mistakes of previous attempts and can now make them fun for everyone and bring in a bigger audience. Let’s face it, Disney and Bruckheimer know how to make fun action-adventure franchises (i.e. Pirates). Persia could turn out to be just like that and prove to be the first successful video game film adaptation. Although the Persia video game series was rated MA for strong violence, Pirates did a successful job of walking the fine line of “tasteful action-violence.” I think that’s going to be the format with this Persia series, as well as Disney’s trademark humor, which could make this a very fun summer action-blockbuster.  Plus there is so much back story to this franchise, that if Disney, Bruckheimer and Co. get it right this time around, a trilogy would undoubtedly be on the table.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens next May. Check out this brief behind-the-scenes discussion with Jerry Bruckheimer, courtesy of SlashFilm. Looks very promising.

What Do You Think? Discuss.