After 2010’s feature film adaptation of The A-Team, director Joe Carnahan is back on the scene with his action-survival flick The Grey. The pic is garnering some pretty great advanced buzz, especially for the bad-assnes of star Liam Neeson, and Steve recently sat down with the director to talk about the film. While we’ll have the full interview up soon, we wanted to share a few interesting tidbits that Carnahan revealed regarding a couple of his upcoming projects.

The director spoke a bit about his adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic Nemesis, revealing that he and Millar have talked about the possibility of Neeson playing Blake Morrow in the pic. Additionally, Carnahan spoke at length about his Pablo Escobar epic Killing Pablo, saying that it’s the film he hopes to make next. The director also talked about dropping out of Umbra, the happy coincidence of The A-Team not being a big hit, and more. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Universal is in negotiations to acquire War Heroes, based on the comic book by Mark Millar and Tony Harris. The book tells the story of a group of super soldiers who are created as part of an experimental program designed by the U.S. military to boost recruitment numbers and fight the war on terrorism. A group of the super soldiers goes rogue and forms a criminal enterprise, and one hero must rise to the occasion to prevent destruction. Heat Vision reports that Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly, who are writing Marvel’s Doctor Strange, are in talks to handle script duties. Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti (The Social Network) and Fast Five scribe Chris Morgan are producing. The project was originally set up at Columbia in 2008, but Universal has picked it up out of turnaround. Millar and Harris are onboard as executive producers.

Director Matthew Vaughn surprised quite a few people when his X-Men: First Class opened and audiences found that the film was not only a lot of fun, but had a pretty great story anchored by some stellar performances. Now everyone wants to know what Vaughn will choose as his follow-up. Well it looks like Vaughn is currently developing two projects from comic writer Mark Millar. The first is The Secret Service, which was unveiled this week by Vaughn, Millar, and artist Dave Gibbons. Details on the story are under wraps but Vaughn holds the movie rights and is likely to tackle the script with Kick-Ass and First Class collaborator Jane Goldman. With that talent involved, I’m choosing to assume that the story revolves around Secret Service agents violently taking out anyone and everyone that makes a threat against the President.

Hit the jump for info on Superior, as well as what direction Vaughn is looking to take for his next film.

With reports swirling about that Kick-Ass co-writer Jane Goldman is currently writing that film’s sequel, the X-Men: First Class co-scribe took to Twitter earlier today in an attempt to set the record straight.  Via two different tweets, Goldman denied reports that she is already hard at work on Kick-Ass 2 saying:

“Saw a few erroneous reports today that I’m currently writing Kick Ass 2 script – sorry if anyone’s disappointed, but not true. Currently writing for 2 other projects, then on to lovely Matthew V’s next thing (right now, looks unlikely to be KA2) when X-Men post-prod’ ends.”

Based upon the above, if Goldman’s not working on the Kick-Ass 2 script and it’s “unlikely” that director Matthew Vaughn’s next film will be Kick-Ass 2, then what’s Vaughn working on after X-Men: First Class?  For my best guess, hit the jump.

Mark Millar is once again doing what he does best: hyping Mark Millar.  The comic writer who always claims to be in the know (although he rarely is), is now saying that the adaptation of his new comic Superior has landed a major actor.  The comic is about Simon, a wheelchair-bound teenager with multiple sclerosis who is transformed into his favorite superhero, Superior, by an alien named Orman.  Millar tweeted, “Huge News: Superior movie just locked down most high profile actor of 2010. Official release in January. PS Issue 3 is out today. GET SOME!!”  Some what, Mark?  Some of your previous claims!  You got it!  Hit the jump for other pieces of “news” he’s spouted that haven’t be true as much as “total bullshit.”

Famed comic writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass) has officially taken his talents from the illustrated page to behind the camera.  All the way back in March, we reported that Millar was working on a film he was interested in directing himself.  Today, Millar confirms Miracle Park is that film.  Described as “X-Men meets Trainspotting,” Miracle Park is both set and shot completely in his native Scotland and will apparently set itself apart as a “completely new take on the superhero genre.”

For more on the project including when we can expect a trailer, hit the jump.

I don’t like Mark Millar.  I don’t think he’s a particularly good writer, but his comics have been made into good movies (Wanted and Kick-Ass).  He’s a constant self-hype machine that sends the geek world into a frenzy with information that should be taken with a warehouse of salt.  And it’s time again to find your local salt warehouse because Millar said on the UK’s Radio 5 [via AICN] that the DVD/Blu-ray sales of Kick-Ass have been good enough to get the sequel a green light.

If Millar has proven himself reliable (how many times has he said that Wanted 2 is moving forward?), then I would be ecstatic at this news.  But we’re basically just reporting this so you can measure your expectations.  Perhaps, Kick-Ass 2 really does have a green light because of solid home video sales.  But I’ll wait for a second source to say so before I fire up my jetpack in joy.

As far as Hollywood is concerned, Mark Millar is the comic writer of the moment.  Features based on his Kick-Ass and Wanted have turned a head or two (and inspired sequels), and Millar is even hoping to crack the directors’ guild himself.  No surprise, then, that 20th Century Fox has acquired the screen rights to Nemesis, the latest from Millar as drawn by Steve McNiven; Tony Scott is attached to direct.  In case this is your first introduction to the comic, Nemesis asks the question, “What if the smartest, toughest costumed bad ass in the world was totally evil?”  The answer — or at the very least, more details about the project — can be found after the break.

Before going any further let me be clear: you NEED to see director Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass this weekend.  It’s such an awesome movie I hope you just take my word for it and stop watching clips and trailers and see it with a crowd Friday night.  I know I’ll be seeing it again this weekend, as it’s one of my favorite films this year.  Again, I can’t recommend it enough.

If you read Collider on any sort of regular basis…you know I never say anything like that before an interview.

Anyway, last week at WonderCon I got to sit down with screenwriter Jane Goldman.  She told me how she got involved in Kick-Ass, her obsession with Twitter, we talked about how she writes and I got an update on The Woman in Black – the script she’s writing for Hammer Films.  Check out the interview after the jump:

For a number of months I’ve been hearing the incredible buzz on Kick-Ass.  I know a few people that have seen Matthew Vaughn’s movie and each person has said it’s a masterpiece.  And these aren’t casual fans.  The people raving are hard core movie nerds and aren’t the type to get on a bandwagon.  What I’m trying to say is…the movie must be amazing.  I’m finally invited to a screening tomorrow and I cannot tell you how excited I am.

Anyway, the reason for the post is Lionsgate has released the official outdoor art for Kick-Ass and you can check out the posters after the jump.  Also, pre-oders have begun on the 12″ Kick-Ass figure and the 12″ Hit-Girl figure.  Hit the jump for images and how you can get them:

Mark Millar is a writer of note. His comic books have been the basis of both Wanted as well as the new movie Kick-Ass, which comes out this spring. So when you find out that Millar is working on a movie that he’s going to be directing and writing, and it’s going to start filming this summer, its news. STV got a chance to touchdown with the writer, who makes the movie sound like any film enthusiast’s dream.

In the interview, Millar describes his inspiration of the movie coming from District 9, a sci-fi epic that doesn’t ever touch the normal film settings like New York or Los Angeles but branches out to South Africa. Millar’s movie would center on a completely original superhero, taking place in Scotland, comprising of an entirely unknown Scottish cast, and working exclusively with Scottish crew members. He claims it will have the 21^st century vibe of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting, while also being “As cool as X-Men 2“, all while having a unique Scottish flavor. Kick-Ass looks awesome, and I found Wanted to be surprisingly great, so I completely support wherever Millar goes with this endeavor. He says the film is to start shooting in June or July.

Money, money, money. That seems to be the best explanation for why Universal might still proceed with Wanted 2, the sequel to the graphic novel by Mark Millar that turned into a smash hit at the box office, Wanted, despite earlier reports that Angelina Jolie had dropped out and Universal might bury the movie. Fans of the film (the graphic novel was only loosely adapted) will know that Jolie played the smoking-hot Fox, and that she had a significant role. Today, STV released an interview with Millar, and he suggests that money will be too much of an influence for Universal not to proceed with the sequel, though they will have to rewrite portions of the script, obviously.

For how much Wanted actually made, more details on the film, and the entire video interview, hit the jump.

The adaptation of Wanted should have failed for a variety of reasons: it was based off Mark Millar’s god-awful comic, James McAvoy had never been tested as a lead in an action movie, and it was director Timur Bekmambetov’s first stateside gig.  But it all managed to come together in a silly, stupid, but fun ride with curved bullets and one of the best line deliveries in Morgan Freeman’s career.

The sequel has been moving slowly ever since the film was a hit at the box office, but even though Angelina Jolie, Bekmambetov, and Universal are all up for a second go-round, Millar says that they’re not quite there yet.  In an interview with IGN, Millar says they almost have a good script and he believes they’ll begin shooting soon.  As for the plot, all he would reveal is that they would be going back to the book to pull out the idea of other fraternities of assassins around the world.  The sequel will pick up immediately after the first film with Wesley [McAvoy] now on the run from the other five fraternities’ assassins after he destroyed the U.S. frat along with its magic quilt.

Hit the jump to check out the full interview with Millar.

A movie that people are raving about is director Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass.  I spoke to a few people that saw a test screening last week at the Arclight in Hollywood and they weren’t just raving about the movie…they were practically losing their minds over the film.  If their reaction is any indication of how good the movie is, Lionsgate is going to be very happy they bought the film for domestic distribution.

Anyway, the first trailer has been released and it’s decent.  The thing about Kick-Ass is it’s very violent and very R rated.  It’s just hard to sell how cool this film is when you have to work in a PG  environment.  Saying that, I’d imagine as the release gets closer, we’re going to get a red band trailer or something that lets people know this is not a kids superhero movie.  Either way, the trailer is worth checking out.  Take a look after the jump:

You may recall our coverage of new DC Entertainment President, Diane Nelson’s, plan for the future direction of her division. Well, news is coming down the pipe that that new direction does not include The Man of Steel, as Nelson confirms that there are no present plans to bring the Last Son of Krypton to the silver screen in the near future. “We’ve obviously done a lot of great things behind the property in our history, and it’s a key part of our family,” says Nelson, “but we don’t have current plans behind Superman.” This comes as something of a surprise after all the talk about the future of the franchise, from James McTiegue’s comments on what he would do with the property, to comic writer Mark Millar’s constant threats to write a screenplay to reboot the series. Absorb some yellow sun rays and hit the jump to read more.