Casting updates and links

Since I last posted about anything about casting, almost the entire Hunger Games cast has been filled in. There's an unremarkable announcement for Zach Snyder's Superman reboot, which is now titled Man of Steel. Also, there's a suspiciously mundane press release for The Dark Knight Rises.

A bunch of characters cast for The Hunger Games

Since the long search for lead actress Jennifer Lawrence, Lionsgate has rushed ahead, casting the male leads, and now filling out most of the supporting roles. The big name here is Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, and probably the most important for the series is unknown actress Willow Shields as Katniss's sister Prim.
The other major character cast is Rue, who will be played by another unknown actress. Three other tributes, Thresh, Glimmer and Marvel have also been cast. If I remember correctly, there's only three significant roles left to cast, and I'm expecting to see those announcements in the next few days.

Man of Steel has its villain

Michael Shannon will be playing General Zod in the Superman reboot. It seems likely he'll be the main villain. Personally, I'm a little disappointed the Viggo Mortensen rumors proved untrue. Anyway, even after the insanity of Sucker Punch, or perhaps because of it, I can't wait to see what Snyder does with this movie.

The Dark Knight Rises casting seems too mundane

It's been rumored for months, but Warner Bros finally confirmed the casting of Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Dark Knight Rises. With Tom Hardy as Bane and the returning Michael Caine, that means Christopher Nolan is reusing a good part of the Inception cast for his third Batman film. However, the announcement has Cotillard playing Wayne Enterprises board member Miranda Tate and Gordon-Levitt as a Gotham City beat cop named John Blake. Now I could see the Gordon-Levitt as cop being possible, but as io9 says, it seems unlikely that too such actors would be cast in such unremarkable and presumably minor roles. On the other hand, Nolan created an entirely new character with Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins, so it is possible characters will be exactly what they say.

Jetpacks are go!

Not movie related, but everyone knows the future won't have arrived until we have our own jetpacks. Well, check out this awesome video. Then go find $100,000...