Joel Kinnaman in early Suicide Squad negotiations

Rumor has it that Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) is in early negotiations to replace Tom Hardy as Rick Flagg in the upcoming Suicide Squad film. Hardy was scheduled to play the group's leader, but he backed out a couple weeks ago due to scheduling conflicts and apparently he had issues with the script, too.

Kinnaman hit the big scene after starring in AMC's The Killing and he was the male lead in the recent RoboCop reboot. I didn't see either the show or the movie, so I have no opinion on whether he would be a good replacement for Tom Hardy. If he does wind up getting the role he will join the existing cast of Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Jai Courtney, and Cara Delevigne.

Tom Hardy exits Suicide Squad

This was bound to happen at least once. It seems like with every major project these days there is a casting issue at some point. We learned today that Tom Hardy has dropped out of the upcoming Suicide Squad film. Hardy was set to play the team's military trained leader, Rick Flagg. His reps are citing scheduling problems and overlaps are to blame as he will soon begin press for Mad Max: Fury Road and filming on The Revenant is running long.

However, rumor has it that Warner Bros. has approached Oscar-nominee Jake Gyllenhaal to replace Hardy as Flagg. There is no confirmation on any replacement just yet, and it seems that Viola Davis still isn't 100% attached either, so I would expect things might continue to change with this film. Suicide Squad is currently set to open August 5, 2016 and also stars (as of right now) Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Cara Delevinge, and Will Smith.

It's a bummer, but I always thought Hardy was an odd choice seeing that he's already played a DC villain and is very well recognized as such. I was a bit surprised he was chosen in the first place.

More actors rumored for Doctor Strange

So far we have Jared Leto, Johnny Depp, and Viggo Mortensen on the rumored shortlist for the role of Doctor Strange. Now there are two new additions that have surfaced.

Apparently Marvel has added Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch to the shortlist of potential actors for this role. Both of these guys are no stranger to the sci-fi world. Hardy played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and Eames in Inception. Cumberbatch was Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness and is also the voice of Smaug in The Hobbit.
Now, because of these two guys' fairly recent popularity they definitely have busy schedules and a very high paycheck. Due to their schedules it is likely that neither of these guys could clear their schedules for enough movies as this role would require.

I don't think we will have to wait too much longer to learn who will be leading Doctor Strange seeing that a director has already been confirmed, but the rumors just keep coming. Out of the names released so far I think Jared Leto is on the top of the list for me.

Tom Hardy to play Elton John in biopic

The Elton John biopic, Rocketman, finally has its leading man. Sources say Tom Hardy will play John in the film to be released by Focus Features. Hardy seems to be most known for his roles in The Dark Knight Rises, Warrior, and Inception.

Not much is known about Rocketman just yet, but we do know the film will focus on Elton John's rise to fame from childhood to present day. John is expected to re-record a lot of his memorable hits to match the emotion and tone of the film. There is no word just yet on whether Hardy will perform any of the music himself but I would expect him to do so. He is very versatile.

Rocketman is scheduled to begin filming in Fall 2014 and will be directed by Michael Gracey.

3 new Dark Knight Rises character posters

I approve.