Hulk Smash!?

Hey, it's Patricia with some news on the pre-production front. Ang Lee's 2003 film 'The Hulk' inspired some mighty strong feelings among moviegoers, from hatred to disappointment to "Oh my God, this brilliant work of art is the most underrated movie ever." Or something like that.

If you fell into one of the first two categories -- and boy, were there a lot of you -- then you'll welcome today's news that Marvel's fledgling studio will be releasing 'The Incredible Hulk' (aka 'The Hulk 2') in the summer of 2008, and it won't be anything like Lee's version. Clearly hoping to stick closer to the comic books this time around, Marvel's going heavy on the action cred: The movie will be helmed by Frenchman Louis Leterrier, co-director of 'The Transporter' and director of 'The Transporter 2' and 'Unleashed,' and the screenplay will be written by Zak Penn, who's worked on 'X2: X-Men United' and 'X-Men: The Last Stand.' At Comic-Con this year, Letterier announced that the sequel, which will depict Bruce Banner struggling to come to grips with his inner monster, would be "Marvel's horror movie"; he also stated that the Hulk would be more of a hero in this film, and that the anti-Hulk Abomination would be the villain.

Barring some 11th-hour twist straight out of, well, a comic book, Eric Bana will not be reprising his role from the first film -- which begs the question: Who's going to play Banner? We've seen a few names floating around, most prominently Dominic Purcell (pictured above), better known as the wrongly accused, recently escaped Lincoln Burroughs on 'Prison Break.' As he's proven on the show, Purcell's got the "hot thug of few words" thing down pat (err, I guess the Hulk doesn't actually have to be hot -- but it couldn't hurt, right?), and he can always ring up Bana, a fellow Aussie, for tips. But his involvement is really nothing more than a rumor at this point; other names mentioned have included Brendan Fraser (hmm) and David Duchovny (not).

So it's out with the moody flashbacks, and in with the throwing of tanks and kickings of ass. Let the 'Hulk' vs. 'Hulk 2' wars begin! And let the rumor mill begin in earnest. What do you think of the upcoming sequel?

POST: Who do you think should play the Hulk?

POST: Are you excited for 'The Incredible Hulk'?

BROWSE: See more photos of Dominic Purcell

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Tags: The Incredible Hulk, Dominic Purcell, Louis Leterrier, casting, rumors

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This entry has 11 comments: (Add your own)

#11 Comment from vlljames
12/9/06 8:47 PM | Permalink

I think if the producers are even considering the casting of Dominic Purcell as Banner then it is further proof that they still are clueless on how to create a successful hulk movie. Do they want this film to work or not? Why don't they look back and see how the hulk has been successful. The tv show worked because of Bill Bixby, he was an everyman, not an unbelievable bench-pressing Dominic Purcell. Banner is supposed to be an intellectual scientist, not some kind of jock. Bixby was a regular guy that connected with fans much as Tobey Maguire's Peter Perker has done in the Spider Man films. The Hulk outs in the TV show were also more dramatic. He never just hulked out, like in the previous film of 2003, rather his hulk-outs were tension built making them more exciting and more anticipated. The knowledge the general public has about the Hulk comes from the TV show, not the comic book. If the producers want this movie to work, they must have a believable Banner and the film should slant somewhere between the comic book and the TV show allowing the movie to appeal to a broader audience. Marvel heroes are notorious for having their alter egos more interesting than the actual hero. This is how Spider Man has been successful. The producers clearly seem to be more interested in the Hulk himself, rather than the alter-ego and thus this film has already failed before it has begun.
#10 Comment from louaugello
11/10/06 12:18 PM | Permalink

dom purcell
#9 Comment from acordcam
11/10/06 10:27 AM | Permalink

I'm excited about the new HULK. the old was very dissapointing.It took to long to get to the action. The Graphic's were O.K. But buy the time you saw him you were to tired to even care. It's got to be better then the first.

Anthony
#8 Comment from neogeo687
11/10/06 7:28 AM | Permalink

lou ferrigno
#7 Comment from vncgrif
11/8/06 3:21 PM | Permalink

It's about time, at this point i didn't think it was going to happen.

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