Author: Deadline.com

Bluegrass Films Options Graphic Novel ‘The Order’

Scott Stuber’s Bluegrass Films has optioned the graphic novel The Order from Arcana/Benderspink, and has set writer Brian Nathanson (The Many Deaths Of Barnaby James) to write the script.

The Order is a group of young men collared by the Vatican to join an elite team that travels the globe battling mysterious evil forces. Stuber will produce with Benderspink, and the project will be overseen by Michael Clear and Nick Nesbitt for Bluegrass Films and Jake Weiner and Christopher Cosmos for Benderspink. Sean O’Reilly of Arcana will serve as an executive producer.

Stuber’s coming off Ted and just wrapped the Seth Gordon-directed Identity Thief with Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman starring, and he’s producing the Carl Rinsch-directed 47 Ronin with Keanu Reeves starring. Benderspink is in post-production on the Steve Carell-Jim Carrey comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and is in production on We’re The Millers, The Hangover Part III and Ride Along. Nathanson is repped by CAA and Mosaic.

ABC Greenlights ‘S.H.I.E.L.D’ Marvel Pilot Co-Written by Joss Whedon

joss-whedon__120808043648-275x439-8125649

ABC has ordered a pilot for S.H.I.E.L.D, a live-action series from The Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon, Marvel TV and ABC Studios. The project is based on Marvel’s peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D (which stands for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) found in both the Marvel comic book and feature film universes, including the blockbuster 2012 movie The Avengers, in which S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury, recruits Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and Thor to stop Thor’s adoptive brother Loki from subjugating Earth.

S.H.I.E.L.D. will be written by Whedon and frequent collaborators, his brother Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Joss Whedon also is set to direct the pilot, schedule permitting. Production on the pilot, which marks the first live-action Marvel TV project to get a green light, will start immediately. Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Tancharoen executive produce with Jeffrey Bell and Marvel TV’s Jeph Loeb.

The project had been in the works at Marvel TV and ABC Studios for some time. Earlier this month, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that it had signed an exclusive film and TV deal with Joss Whedon, which included him writing and directing The Avengers sequel and develop a live-action series for Marvel TV and ABC, both owned by Disney.

This marks a return to series television for Joss Whedon, creator of cult favorites Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse. Husband and wife writing duo Jed Whedon and Tancharoen co-penned with Joss Whedon Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and also have worked on Dollhouse and Spartacus.

In addition to S.H.I.E.L.D, Marvel TV has a couple of other projects in development at ABC Studios, including a Hulk series.

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ 13-Minute Featurette

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ 13-Minute Featurette

More footage from Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight Rises. Most of the behind-the-scenes intel is in the second half of this 13-minute video, which also includes the aerial stunts and the football stadium destruction scene seen in the early trailers. That stadium for the imaginary Gotham Rogues football team is where the Pittsburgh Steelers play. No coincidence that pic’s co-financier Legendary Pictures chief Thomas Tull owns a minority stake in the Steelers: