Kitsch Set, Collins Confirmed for John Carter of Mars!

Walt Disney Pictures has announced that “Wolverine” stars Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins (confirming our earlier scoop) will reteam for John Carter of Mars, the live-action debut of WALL•E and Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton.

Kitsch will play the title character, a damaged Civil War veteran who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars where his involvements with warring raced of the dying planet force him to rediscover his humanity.

Collins will play Dejah Thoris, the heir to the throne of Mars’ Helium kingdom.

The screenplay for the sci-fi action-adventure, based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic series of fantasy/sci-fi novels, was written by Stanton and Mark Andrews with a polish by Michael Chabon.

Jim Morris (WALL•E) and Colin Wilson (upcoming Avatar, Munich, War of the Worlds) are producing the film, which will start production early next year. (source)

Gallery Link
// Cosmopolitan Photoshoot

‘Gambit’ Solo Movie Should Return To The Thieves Guild

Hugh Jackman headlines “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” when it opens around the U.S. this week, but it’s on the shoulders of Taylor Kitsch to convince Fox to bring Gambit back to the big screen.

The X-Men’s resident thief and sharp-tongued Cajun has long been a fan favorite in comic books, and now Kitsch has high hopes for the character on film. He even has suggestions for where Fox could take the character in a “Gambit” solo film.

“I would love to go darker,” Kitsch told MTV News. “[Gambit] in Vegas was fun, but I want to go into the Thieves Guild part of his story.”

Kitsch’s concept would delve into Remy LeBeau’s shady, streetwise past, part of the hero’s alluring mystique dating back before his time as one of the X-Men in the comics. And that side of Gambit is what interests the “Friday Night Lights” actor the most.

“How cool would it be to see him stealing things to survive because the stakes are so high?” Kitsch proposed. “Of course, as an actor, I’m always going to the darker side, but for him that would just be way more intriguing.”

Until the studio signs off, though, the “Gambit” movie will have to remain fan fiction in Kitsch’s mind.

“Come on, Fox,” he urged. “Let’s do it.” (source)

Taylor Kitsch puts muscle to good use in ‘Wolverine’
Taylor Kitsch was way ahead of his “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” co-stars in one way: He didn’t have to go through a lengthy exercise regimen to build the strength to play superhero Gambit.

The actor already was in good physical shape. Kitsch, 28, was on his way to a career in professional hockey when he injured his knee. Add that to his role on the NBC series series “Friday Night Lights” as a football player.

So, Kitsch spent his prep time playing cards.
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Ladies Love Tim Riggins, but What About Gambit?
“I think gals want to help him … and a lot of guys just want to be him,” said Taylor Kitsch, the 28-year-old actor who plays heartthrob football fullback Tim Riggins on NBC’s Friday Night Lights. Mr. Kitsch was calling just a few hours before walking the red carpet for the world premiere of fanboy-frenzy-inducing X-Men Origins: Wolverine—he plays super-mutant Remy LeBeau/Gambit—but he was speaking to The Observer about his television character’s broad (ha!) appeal. “It’s incredibly flattering,” he said. Oh, but Mr. Kitsch, you just have no idea! New York women are agog!
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Stars due Monday for film’s Tempe premiere

Hugh Jackman and other celebrities will sink their claws into Tempe Monday.

Tempe’s Harkins Tempe Marketplace, 2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway, will host the premiere of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” thanks to a first-of-its kind contest in which fans from various locales got to compete for hosting privileges by voting for their zip codes online. Tempe’s 85281 beat out every other locale in the country.

The evening will start with a 5 p.m. red-carpet affair. Jackman and co-stars Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Will i Am and director Gavin Hood will attend.

The main theater, dubbed the Cine Capri, will host the 7 p.m. screening with all the celebs, but all 16 theaters in the building will show the film at the same time.

There’s no charge to go to the Marketplace for the red carpet. Lines will begin forming at 5 a.m. Monday. (source)

Wolverine Cast Talks Piracy, On-Set Stabbings

(…) Hood gathered with Wolverine star/producer Hugh Jackman and cast members Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, Will.I.Am, Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins on The Simpsons soundstage to discuss the latest addition to the X-Men franchise.

Jackman took center stage, sharing a behind-the-scenes story of an adamantium malfunction that stopped filming for a while and left another cast member bleeding.

The mishap occurred while filming a dust-up between Jackman’s Wolverine and Kitsch’s Gambit.

“We were in a fight scene,” Jackman said, “and Taylor reeled back quickly and someone called, ‘Cut!’ I looked down at my claws and there were only two left. I looked over at Taylor and it was sticking out of his thumb. He was just looking at it.”

“Those were some good memories,” Taylor joked. “He stabbed me and I bled — a lot.” (…) (source)

Gallery Link
// Nylon - May 2009
// Friday Night Lights - 3.13 - Tomorrow Blues Screencaps

Here’s a transcript of the Nylon article. Looks like Taylor got his first tattoo.

Any Given Friday
TAYLOR KITSCH IS not feeling like himself these days. The 28-year-old actor can be seen this month as Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and he’s best known for his role as dreamy but tortured football player Tim Riggins on NBC’s hit drama Friday Night Lights. It’s a part that calls for a very specific physicality (ripped), hairdo (long, in his eyes), and mood (brooding). And yet on a bright spring morning in Austin, Texas, Kitsch shows up at an outdoor coffee spot looking like an emaciated tourist in a long-sleeved black T-shirt and skullcap, a camera slung around his neck. In the past six weeks, Kitsch has dropped a staggering 30 pounds in preparation for his role as tortured photojournalist Kevin Carter in the upcoming film The Bang Bang Club. “This morning I had slices of pineapple and a couple things of melon and coffee,” he says. “Later I’ll run like 13 miles and then more coffee. I make this vegetable soup that’s really good…but I’m over it.”
The film is based on the true story about a group of photographers who documented the fall of apartheid in South Africa, and whose lives became inextricably intertwined with the events they covered. Carter was a drug addict who later committed suicide, and the arc of his decline—both psychological and physical—will be captured in the film. No one asked him to starve himself, but to Kitsch, there was no alternative. It’s all part of an ambitious career philosophy that seems at odds with the British Columbia native’s laid-back, gentle personality. He’s a country music fan, drives a modest Toyota pickup truck with stuffed toys hanging from the rearview mirror, and uses the world gal without irony. Though he’s lived in New York and Los Angeles, Kitsch calls Austin—where FNL shoots—home and talks with unabashed giddiness about buying a house on the lake, getting a boat, and if he meets the right girl, starting a family. The guy is so polite and affable it’s unnerving. And yet when he got the chance to destroy the body that’s made his image the cell-phone wallpaper of teenage girls across America, he couldn’t wait. “I love the challenge,” he says with a grin. “I’ve gotten so fucking down on days where I’d see Kev in a photo and be like, ‘No, you’re just not there.’ But I’ll get there.”

Transitioning from TV-show It Boy to respected actor is tricky. But increasingly, the actor is finding himself in meetings with Hollywood’s A-List, and he’s realizing that “Riggs” has fans in high places. “I go into rooms now for big movies, meeting directors that I’d die to work with, and they’re all huge fans of Riggs,” he says. “It’s the little show that could, and now it’s like a cult.” Despite the caliber of the performances on FNL, statistically speaking Kitsch knows he faces an uphill battle to achieve credibility as a movie actor. “Everyone judges people by their choices, and I do it, too,” the actor says. “If I see a gal or a guy go into a certain job it’s like, ‘Oh fuck, you’re done. Why did you pick Saw Fifteen? Come on!’”

When Kitsch first moved to New York to become an actor he was a homeless illegal alien with no prospects. During a particularly dark period, he wound up sleeping on the subway. Along with the rest of the down-on-their-luck street dwellers he’d get on the E train at night and curl up in one of the bucket seats while it made its endless loop around the city. Kitsch is going to need that gritty determination and self-reliance in the coming years, too, but he doesn’t seem phased. In fact, he’s about to get his first tattoo, a reminder of the mantra that got him here. “Riggs says ‘no regrets’ and that’s from me, that’s improv,” the actor explains. “It’s my motto, too. Tomorrow I’m getting a tattoo in Swahili that means to live life with no regret.

I’m just like, fuck it, I gotta do it.”

Gallery Link
// X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Gambit Profile

I would like to wish Taylor a very happy birthday! He turns 28 today! Here’s hoping he’ll get some time off from his busy schedule to celebrate!

I also want to say that I would like to encourage everyone to steer clear from the leaked workprint of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Let’s all support Taylor and the movie by seeing it in the cinema and not on our computer screens. We all want a Gambit movie, don’t we!? So, making this movie successful at the box office is the way to go and maybe we’ll get our wish granted!

Anyways, look for some new Friday Night Lights related screencaps in the gallery coming up later today.

It’s official: ‘Friday Night Lights’ renewed for two more seasons

Touch-freaking-down!

Sources at NBC are now confirming what I first reported earlier this month: DirecTV and NBC have come to terms on a deal that ensures Friday Night Lights will stick around for not one but two more seasons!

And I repeat: Touch-freaking-down!

Although NBC declined to comment, my Peacock insider says the pact guarantees that FNL will see a fourth and fifth season of 13 episodes each. Similar to this season’s shared-window experiment, DirecTV will get first crack at the episodes followed by an encore run on NBC.

Let’s get a chant going in the comments section! And while you’re at it, pray that the show’s creative mastermind, Jason Katims, finds a way to juggle both FNL and that prospective Parenthood series he’s producing for NBC. Ditto director Jeffrey Reiner, who’s attached to NBC’s Trauma pilot. Losing one would be devastating; losing both would be a catastrophe. So how about we lose neither? You with me? (source)