Rumour Reports – Ghostbusters 3, Transformers 3 And Zombieland 2

Three recent movie rumours have become subject to comment from the people behind the films themselves. Let’s see what Dan Aykroyd, Michael Bay and Rhett Reese have had to say regarding recent scuttlebutt.

Ghostbusters 3

It would seem that casting for Ghostbusters 3 is underway now and according to FFA and What’s Playing, leading candidates for roles include Anna Faris, Will Forte and Bill Hader. Okay, maybe those websites don’t seem like the most solid of sources, but Bloody Disgusting apparently also heard from a reader that Aykroyd this week appeared on Chicago’s WGN Radio and pretty much confirmed that Faris and Hader were “strong possibilities” for roles.

Well, that’s providing that Aykroyd actually did appear on WGN. I’ve been scouring their website and scrubbed through a couple of their podcasts but found no trace of him having been a guest…

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The rumour didn’t really catch fire across the blogosphere, but IESB (whoever that is these days) have reported that Michael Bay is having some serious issues with the 3D on Transformers: Dark of the Moon. According to their report, the movie has been shot on a mixture of 3D and 2D cameras, but the footage filmed in 3D was troublesome. This means, they say, that Bay will have to treat all of the footage he shot as though 2D and go ahead and have it up-converted for the 3D release.

Of course, Michael Bay was never going to keep quiet on this one, and published the following response on his own forum:

Wow, I read these morons on the internet who think they are in the know. “We have have problems with our 3D????” Really? Come into my edit room and I will show you beautiful 3D. There has never been a live action show that has pushed the boundaries of 3D like Transformers 3. We shot the entire movie with 3D cameras. I actually loved shooting in 3D. I will give full details of my process and why I liked 3D in the next week right before the Transformers announcement piece comes out on Tron and Narnia.

We at least know when the teaser trailer is going to hit. I wonder if I’ll see it with Narnia at my screening this week?

Note that Bay is denying outright that any of the film was shot in 2D, a story that has been around for a couple of months now. I’ll take his word for it. It would be incredibly foolish to make a claim like that if it wasn’t true – the actual released film would show up the lies.

Zombieland 2

I might be about to spoil both Zombieland 1 and 2 for you, at least a little, so read on at your own risk.

Let’s go back to Bloody Disgusting. This time they’re reporting rumours on the direction Zombieland 2 might be going:

Apparently, Columbia Pictures is planning yet another “superstar cameo” searching for someone iconic along the lines of “Harrison Ford” or “Anthony Hopkins”. In addition, the script calls for a lead villain with comedic roots, while Tallahassee (played by Woody Harrelson) will find himself going head-to-head with a “hunky rival”.

Now, I’ve got no idea how on-the-nose that is, but I know a man who will. Rhett Reese, the film’s co-screenwriter, has caught wind of the story and Tweeted on the matter. First, he said:

The Zombieland 2 rumors reported today are false.

And then, twelve hours later:

The Zombieland 2 rumors feel like they were the product of a game of ‘Telephone.’ Distorted.

Okay, interesting. I’m now intrigued to find out what the deal actually is, just to see how the facts got distorted on their way to becoming the rumour as published.