The Weekly Ketchup: "Batman" Baddies, "Star Trek" Rumors, That "Cloverfield" Teaser, And More!

by Nick Hershey | July 13, 2007

In this week’s Ketchup, we get treated to some casting rumors regarding "Dark Knight" villains, as well as some for the cast of the upcoming "Star Trek XI," and some more bits about J.J. Abrams‘ mysterious "Cloverfield" project.

Also, some "Indiana Jones 4" plot goodies, and Michael Bay lays the smackdown on some ill-acting producers. Read on!

This Week’s Most Popular News:

"Bat" Bits: Two Face AND The Riddler?
You know how superhero sequels often try to get a lot more villains into the mix? Well, recent word indicates that we’ll be seeing the arrival of several colorful newcomers in "The Dark Knight."

Three "Star Trek XI" Casting Rumors for the Price of One!
The list of actors rumored to be going boldly where Shatner and Nimoy have gone before — specifically, in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming "Star Trek XI" — just keeps growing. In fact, we’ve got a "Trek" casting rumor three-fer for you!

OK, So What’s Up With That JJ Abrams "Cloverfield" Teaser?
You know: The one that’s been playing in front of "Transformers"…the one featuring a mysterious alien attack that’s being hyped by a handful of teaser websites and (most potently) a veil of secrecy by the filmmakers.

"Indy 4": Back to the Ark?
It’s still about a year away from gracing our neighborhood air-conditioned palaces of cinema, but the gossip train has been running full-speed on "Indiana Jones 4" for months, and it shows no sign of slowing down — from Quint at Ain’t It Cool News comes word that maybe, just maybe, "Indy 4"’s storyline will bring the series full circle.

The Return of the Michael Bay Blogs! This Time, With More Scathing Evisceration and Burnt Bridges
Love him or hate him, you have to admit Michael Bay isn’t afraid of speaking his mind. Especially when he’s seeing red. This time, it’s not a hard-to-eliminate Hollywood actor in Bay’s sights, but a couple of producers of his own record-breaking flick, "Transformers."

Bay with the producers that stayed on his good side.

In Other News:

Young Irish actress Saoirse Ronan has joined Rachel Weisz and Ryan Gosling in director Peter Jackson‘s adaptation of Alice Sebold’s bestselling novel "The Lovely Bones."

Sean Penn and Iggy Pop have signed on to provide voices for the English-language version of Sony Pictures Classics’ animated "Persepolis."

Nayo Wallace ("In Case of Emergency") has joines the cast of the Wachowski Brothers‘ "Speed Racer" as Minx, the girlfriend of Racer X (Matthew Fox).

"American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee will make her studio acting debut in the untitled Anna Faris project for Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison.

Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston will star in "Choke," an adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel that marks the directorial debut of actor Clark Gregg, who also wrote the adaptation.

"Harry Potter" producer David Heyman is developing the comedy "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey attached to star and Peyton Reed directing.

Cheryl Hines has joined Luke Wilson, Adriana Barraza and Radha Mitchell in the cast of the romantic comedy "Henry Poole Was Here," with Mark Pellington directing for Lakeshore Entertainment.

Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Harry Treadaway have joined the cast of "City of Ember," an adventure/fantasy based on the novel by Jeanne Duprau which stars Bill Murray and Toby Jones.

Vivica A. Fox and Rachel Miner will star and Laura Ramsey and Toby Hemingway are in talks to star in York Shackleton’s "Street," the true story of a 16-year-old runaway, from Insomnia Media Group.

Lionsgate has acquired distribution rights to the untitled documentary about world religion, directed by Larry Charles ("Borat,") and starring Bill Maher.