Corona | Coming Attractions

Deadline Hollywood claims that they know six of the contenders that could be cast to play Captain America and that have tested for the part. They are: Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), John Krasinski (The Office), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Michael Cassidy (Privledged) and Patrick Flueger (Brothers). Another possible is actor Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy) but he hasn't tested for the part yet; at this time he's just on a wish list of potential candidates.

DH also claims that Marvel is only offering $300,000 to the Cap actor for the first movie, and that whomever gets the job also has to sign a contract that includes an option to star in nine more movies. That's just like the deal that Samuel L. Jackson signed before he starred in Iron Man 2.

Here's another interesting piece of gossip that the site raised: according to their scuttlebutt director Joe Johnston walked away from the project for a brief time because he didn't agree to Marvel asking him to drop his salary. Marvel said that the price of the movie was too high and wanted to try and lower the budget. Apparently they reached an accomodation with Johnston and he went back to work.

There's been a flurry of Captain America news that's surfaced in the past 48 hours worthy of mentioning on the film's page. First off, Chuck co-sytar Ryan McPartlin (a.k.a. Mr. Awesome) has auditioned for the main role of Cap. "The one thing I can't stand are these actors that are twittering about auditioning for Captain America. It's really tacky. With that said, it is in the casting process and like many other actors, I read for it, so we'll wait and see what happens. Regardless, I'm pretty psyched to be Captain Awesome for the time being," McPartlin told Moviehole.

While talking with press about his latest directing job on Universal's The Wolfman, Joe Johnston was asked where he was with the development of the Captain America movie. The filmmaker said that he's hoping to cast an unknown American in the part and then populate the rest of the cast with known Hollywood names, similar in the casting approach to 1979's Superman movie which took a then-unknown Christopher Reeve and cast recognizable actors around him. Johnston said that he's got around five or six men between the ages of 23 to 32 testing right now for who will be Captain America -- and that casting for the film needs to be complete by March 1.

Johnston also said that most of the film will shoot in the United Kingdom since the film's action takes place in Europe during the Second World War. The villain for the movie will be the Red Skull, the primary adversary from the comic books. Johnston also revealed that he wants to give the look of this Marvel movie a different visual style than any other Marvel movie that we've seen.

As for Captain America's costume, we will see several different versions of it throughout the course of the movie. The screen costume will start off looking similar to Cap's original costume from his origin in the comics. At first Steve Rogers will cover up the blue, red and white costume because he thinks it's only for promotion and standing up on a stage, but as the story progresses, and Rogers starts to realize that he's become a symbol of hope and courage to the troops, he will begin to wear his costume on the battlefield. Rogers will also start to customize the costume, adding more bits of armor and strapping until it starts to resemble the modern version of the Captain America costume.

You can learn more of what Johnston said about Captain America by reading the coverage supplied by Ain't It Cool News and Collider.

In an interview with director Joe Johnston about his next film, The Wolfman, there's a tiny mention by the filmmaker that he's planning for a June 2010 start of production for the Captain America movie.

A scooper for Ain't It Cool News that's attending the Licensing International Expo taking place right now in Las Vegas took a photo at the Marvel booth showing logos for four of their upcoming superhero films, one of which was for the 2011 Captain America movie. While the logo shouldn't be taken as the final logo that you might see on the movie's poster, right now it's an idea as to what direction Marvel is heading in terms of the logo's look.

Marvel Studios has revised their release date for Captain America: The First Avenger. Instead of bowing May 6, 2011, the Cap flick will now emerge in theaters on July 22, 2011. Spider-Man 4 has taken over the former release date.

Samuel L. Jackson has signed a deal that will see him play Nick Fury in nine more Marvel movies. While no definite plans were revealed at the time for Jackson to star in the Captain America movie, it's a distinct possibility that Fury may make an appearance considering Cap's involvement with The Avengers movie that's in development. [Full story]

Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are currently in negotiations to write the screenplay for Paramount's Captain America movie. The writing duo penned the script for the second Chronicles of Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, as well as the HBO telefilm The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. As it was reported a week ago when Joe Johnston was hired to direct the movie, it looks like Marvel is keeping true to its word on getting this picture's three acts typed out ASAP.

Marvel Studios has signed Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III, The Rocketeer) to direct the Captain America movie. "This is a guy who designed the vehicles for Star Wars, who storyboarded the convoy action sequence for Raiders of the Lost Ark," Feige said. "From Rocketeer to October Sky to The Wolfman, you can look at pieces of his movies and see how they lead to this one," commented Kevin Feige of Marvel in The Hollywood Reporter's story. The trade publication is also the first to confirm that the movie's storyline takes place in World War II, following the origins of the character from his first appearance in comic books published in the 1940s. When Cap appears in The Avengers movie he'll be in the modern era, again following the character's reappearance in the 1960s.

Now that a director has been found the next step for the film's makers is to nail down a screenwriter. Johnston is currently in post-production on a remake of The Wolfman for Universal Studios.

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios have signed an agreement that will see the movie studio distribute the production company's next five movies worldwide. In addition to covering Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3, the deal encompasses the Thor, Avengers and Captain America movies. 

"Paramount is an excellent partner and an outstanding global distributor," said Marvel's David Maisel in a company issued press release. "Through our experience on Iron Man, Paramount has demonstrated a passion and ability to release Marvel properties theatrically, allowing us to focus on making great movies for the largest audience possible."

"Coming off of Iron Man's incredible success this summer, we could not be more excited about extending our relationship with Marvel," commented Rob Moore, the Vice Chariman of Paramount Pictures. "Marvel's iconic brand, its popular characters and its proven ability to create compelling and visually spellbinding films complement Paramount's great history of filmmaking. We look forward to a long and successful run together."