WOLVERINE director, Gavin Hood has a major political drama film coming out in the upcoming weeks! October 19th’s RENDITION is the follow up to his Oscar-winning film, TSOTSI. So, does Mr. Hood have another Oscar-contender on his resume? The film currently has 50/50 positive and negative reviews at Rotten Tomatoes (12 total as of this posting), but looks to become another possible critical-hit for the South African director.

It will be interesting to see what he brings to the X-Men film franchise! The production crew for Hugh Jackman’s spin-off film is quickly assembling, and right around the corner will begin casting. A talent like Hood may attract some big names (we’ll see)!

For more info on RENDITION, check out the official website!

Updates on what’s happening with the X-Men franchise cast, outside of the mutant world!

James Marsden: The Cyclops actor will star in Walt Disney’s ENCHANTED, which now has a trailer online here. This looks to be a fun, family film. If you haven’t seen Marsden act over-the-top and goofy, then definitely check this out in November!

Ellen Page: A trailer for Ellen’s new film JUNO is now online here. The film looks great, and will likely get the Kitty Pryde actress some critical acclaim! 

Halle Berry: This is old news, but if you don’t know…Halle is expecting a baby with model Gabriel Aubry. Congrats!

What if the X-Men appeared on The Simpsons? XMF used the new avatar maker on the official Simpsons Movie website to create Storm, Wolverine, Jean, and Cyclops (as seen above) using the animation style made famous by creator, Matt Groening.

Use the program to create your own avatars, and *if you want* e-mail us your X-Men characters! We’ll place them in this posting!

• Foenixstorm: Jean Grey, Storm, Xavier, Magneto
• Jose: Mystique
• AnastaciaX: Leech

‘The Simpsons Movie’ is in theaters, July 27, 2007!

I thought this was pretty cool. Kreative Power has images of a car airbrushed by Air XPress’n Custom Art, featuring images of our favorite X-Men! The project was originally finished in 2003, but was updated to include the X3 versions of Storm and Phoenix:

Click here for more images!