Since the news broke a month ago that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion and was developing Star Wars: Episode VII for a 2015 release, British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn has been, despite constant denials, one of the frontrunners for the highly-coveted directing gig. At the recent London premiere of Seven Psychopaths actor Jason Flemyng, a close friend and collaborator of Vaughn’s since the director was producing Guy Ritchie’s quotable gangster pictures, let something very interesting slip during an interview with DIY TV, according to their Twitter feed:

Okay, they said “Star Wars IV”. That could be a modest little joke on Flemyng’s part or maybe the interviewer misinterpreted something her said. Obviously a remake of A New Hope is not even on any sane person’s mind and never will be. In any case, DIY TV later took to their Twitter to correct their previous snafu.

Ironclad
Netflix Streaming
DVD | Blu-Ray
Written and Directed by Jonathan English
Starring James Purefoy, Brian Cox, Kate Mara, Derek Jacobi, Paul Giamatti, Charles Dance, Jason Flemyng
Warner Bros. and ARC Entertainment
Originally Released: March 04, 2011

Claiming to be the largest independent production from Wales, Ironclad is a period conflict piece depicting King John‘s wrathful march against rebels following the signing of the Magna Carta. Complete with stellar performances, impressive casting, and exceptional action choreography, the movie is most unquestionably worth your viewing time.

Ironclad essentially is a recapping of the siege of Rochester Castle in 1215. Determined to seek revenge for being forced to sign the Magna Carta, King John (Paul Giamatti) begins a cause to reclaim his royal power over England. A small rebel power led by Baron William d’Aubigny (Brian Cox) and accompanied by Crusade veteran and Templar, Thomas Marshall (James Prefoy), take claim of Rochester before the King can do so. A solid and bloody battle ensues, as the revolutionaries hope to hold the location until their expected reinforcements arrive.

Ironclad
Directed by Jonathan English
Starring James Purefoy, Paul Giamatti, Kate Mara, Brian Cox, Derek Jacobi, Vladmir Kulich, Charles Dance, Jason Flemyng, Mackenzie Crook, Aneurin Barnard, Jamie Foreman
Release Date: June 8th, 2011

The name Jonathan English may not mean jack squat to you now, but after you see his latest film, Ironclad, you’ll remember it for goddamn sure. English is the writer (with Erick Kastel and Stephen McDool) and director of this latest entry in the medieval action genre that has gotten a major adrenaline fix recently with the success of the HBO series A Game of Thrones and the literal onslaught of blood and steel battle epics like Neil Marshall’s Centurion and Christopher Smith’s Black Death.

Armed with a tight script, a fantastic cast ready to chew scenery and kick ass, and buckets of blood and severed limbs, English saddles up to take on that hoariest of cinema sub-genres that’s easiest to do if you have little funding to work with: the siege movie.

Thursday gave us our first look at the trailer for X-Men: First Class, the next in the popular series of X-Men movies. The new movie, directed by Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Kick-Ass), places the adventures in the early days of the team, giving us a look at a still-walking Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), a not yet completely evil Magneto (Michael Fassbender), and the first team of X-Men.

The first interesting thing to me is the trailer’s use of footage from the earlier X-Men films while setting the film firmly during the 1960s and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I can’t decide if they want the new film to stand on its own, or if they want to make this part of the earlier series. I can see how they could fit a young Beast into the movie, with the older version that appears in X3, but I am curious if they will try to match Emma Frost’s (January Jones) appearance in this film with the character’s appearance in Wolverine: Origins, or if they will just ignore it. As for setting the story during the Cuban Missile Crisis, I kind of wish they had set it a few years later and tied it into the first Apollo launch, as a nod to the original X-Men #1.

A new poster has been released for director Joe Wright‘s upcoming title, Hanna, which tells the story of a young girl who’s raised in the wilderness by her father to become a deadly assassin.

The movie stars Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, and Jason Flemyng, and will be released in theaters come April 8, 2011. You can keep up with all things Hanna by liking and following the movie’s official Facebook and Twitter pages, as well.

Click on over to the other side now, where you can read the full synopsis, check out the new poster, and also watch the trailer if you missed it the first time around.