‘Captain America’ Finds A Director, Brett Ratner Close To ‘Conan’, Jame Cameron Probably Doesn’t Hate ‘Terminator: Salvation’

Joe Johnston has been tapped by Marvel Studios to direct “Captain America.” Johnston’s winning CV includes garbage like “Jurassic Park III,” and “Jumanji.” He’s also directed the upcoming, “The Wolf Man” which will threaten to ruin the great Benicio del Toro’s reputation for good. Captain America is essentially a super patriotic, right-wing government tool who was injected with a super-serum that made him the ultimate fighting solider. Marvel are going to be really hard-pressed to make this film believable and tolerable in our post-Bush political world. [THR]

Brett Ratner is in final negotiations to direct an update of “Conan The Barbarian.” Whatever, as long as he’s not taking projects that we care about we’re fine with it. Apparently it’s going to be “very R-rated” and in the ballpark of around $85 million. See the part where we said we don’t care. [THR]

James Cameron once said, “Terminator: Salvation” “could be a big steaming pile or it could be brilliant,” which fans took to be a major diss. Cameron now says that was a “misunderstanding” and clarified his position. “I haven’t seen a foot of film other than what everybody’s seen in the trailer, which is not enough to form an opinion. So I have zero basis for supporting or dissing the film.” … “Obviously I can’t give my blessing (whatever that means anyway ) to the film completely blind. But I’m predisposed to be supportive based on [‘Salvation’ star Sam Worthington] involvement and his judgment, because I believe in him.” [Slash]

A new “Watchmen” poster featuring Rorschach came out on Friday evening. Woop!

Josh Brolin isn’t a sure thing for “Jonah Hex.” Brolin said he hasn’t decided yet. “I think Jonah Hex is a really, really interesting story. I think it would be risky also, which I like, and I don’t know if it’s the thing to do.” [Collider via Slash]

Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba will star in “The Killer Inside Me,” an adaptation of noir-writer Jim Thompson. Affleck has proven himself to be an excellent actor (see his Best Supporting Oscar nomination for “The Assassination of Jesse James”) so it makes us wonder what the hell is he doing in a film with the wooden Alba? [THR]

The European Film Awards nominations were announced this weekend. A lot of this year’s already heavily-lauded foreign films were given a nod including France’s “The Class”, Italy’s “Gomorra” and Israel’s “Waltz with Bashir,” plus “Happy-Go-Lucky” lead Sally Hawkins and Kristin Scott Thomas of “I’ve Loved You So Long.” This will certainly give a leg-up to foreign Oscar hopes to films like “The Class” and “Gomorra.” [Anne Thompson]

Edgar Ramirez of “Che” and “The Bourne Ultimatum” is going to star in French director Oliver Assayas’ next film, “Ilich: Story of Carlos.” The international thriller is being touted as “the anti-James Bond.” But before that, Assayas’ “Summer Hours” will be in U.S. theaters in March, 2009. A film we missed at the New York Film Festival and one we are eagerly anticipating. [THR]

MGM is allowing YouTube to put up select films from their library in exchange for ad revenue. Not everything will be up there however. Two films expected to go up in full are “Bulletproof Monk” and John Sturges’ “The Magnificent Seven.” [Variety]