Superhero Bits: X-Men First Class Shoots In Three Weeks; The Avengers To Be Shot In 3D; Edgar Wright Calls Ant-Man A "High-Tech Spy Heist Film"; Karl Urban Confirmed As Judge Dredd

Superhero Bits: X-Men First Class Shoots In Three Weeks; The Avengers To Be Shot In 3D; Edgar Wright Calls Ant-Man A “High-Tech Spy Heist Film”; Karl Urban Confirmed As Judge Dredd

Got a pack of small comic book to film stories to throw out today. First,X-Men: First Classco-writerJane Goldmansays thatFirst Classis shortly to go before cameras. At Movie Con this weekend, Goldman said “I watched a bunch of pre-viz yesterday and went home feeling so excited. We start shooting in about three weeks.” There has been a lot of casting over the past couple weeks, withtwoitemscoming out last night. But who plays Cyclops? [CBR]

After the break, talk aboutThe Avengers,Ant-ManandJudge Dredd.

The Avengerswill start shooting in February, and now there’s word, viaRoger Friedman, that the film will be shot natively in 3D.ThorandCaptain Americaare being post-converted, but the 3DThorfootage shown at Comic Con last monthinspired no confidencethat the job is going to be done right. Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston, (ThorandCapdirectors, respectively) were reluctant to shoot with digital cameras and bulky 3D rigs; perhapsAvengersdirectorJoss Whedonhas no such qualms.

I’m very curious to see what happens withEdgar Wright’s potentialAnt-Manfilm after the low performance ofScott Pilgrim vs the Worldthis past weekend. I don’t think there’s any chance that Wright will be pegged for the film’s low gross — he and the cast obviously brought their A-game. But it’s weird material that mainstream audiences weren’t convinced to take a chance on.

So what about making a movie about a guy who shrinks to almost ant size? If nothing else, it’s a simple high-concept premise that should be a lot easier for audiences to swallow. Wright described his current take on the material, which is in its second draft, toVanity Fair:

I think it’s a really interesting high-concept idea. […] I know there’s a big stigma attached to it, mostly because every movie about shrinking has been about people in peril. I think it’d be great to do a shrinking film about a bad-ass secret agent. […] Even something like The Incredible Shrinking Man, which is a fantastic film, is about a guy in trouble. But this is going to be nothing like that. It’s essentially a high-tech spy heist film with somebody with a very particular power.

Finally,Karl Urbanhas (again?) been confirmed toplayJudge Dreddin the upcoming re-do of the story. ProducersAndrew MacdonaldandAllon Reichconfirmed the casting toEmpire, backing up Urban’s own statements from a couple weeks back.

The film will soon shoot in South Africa, and Macdonald reiterates that it will be “a very hard, R-rated, gritty, realistic movie of Dredd in Megacity, so we’ve got to get the tone right. He’s not going to take off his helmet. His bike is going to feel real. He’s going to hit people and it’s going to feel real.” Hooray for that, at least.