McKenzie, Cranston Voice "Batman: Year One"

In one of the coolest developments in recent memory, Frank Miller's amazing graphic novel "Batman: Year One" is being made into an animated film and the voice cast is shaping up to be absolutely great.

According to Heat Vision Benjamin McKenzie, Bryan Cranston, Eliza Dushku and Katee Sackhoff are all set to lend their voices to Warner Premiere’s upcoming direct-to-disc animated adaptation of Frank Miller's acclaimed graphic novel "Batman: Year One."

McKenzie ("The O.C.") will voice Bruce Wayne and Batman, Cranston ("Breaking Bad") will play a young lieutenant James Gordon, Dushku ("Dollhouse") will star as Catwoman, and Sackhoff ("Battlestar Galactica") will be Gordon’s love interest Detective Sarah Essen.

In the article producer Bruce Timm said the PG-13 rated feature will be a "straight forward literal retelling" of the comic with 80% of the camera setups based on David Mazzucchelli’s artwork.

On top of the fact that the book is easily one of the best ever created for Batman, the voice cast is just stacked from top to bottom. Cranston is fantastic and I'm totally pumped about having McKenzie and Sackhoff involved, considering they were a part of two of my favorite shows in recent memory, "Southland" and "Battlestar Galactica."

The book had some amazing visuals and it's very refreshing to see that the filmmakers want to keep things as accurate and based on the book as possible. Miller's story was one of the best origin stories for Batman and while many wished it turned into a live-action adaptation for many years, that's really not a big deal anymore with Chris Nolan having done a great job with the franchise. In fact this is probably the best way for it to be done especially if fans want the adaptation to stick closely with the actual graphic novel.

The film is set to premiere at Comic Con before hitting stores in the Fall.

"Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome" Gets Underway

"Battlestar Galactica" fans around the world rejoice.

According to MovieWeb, production has officially begun in Vancouver on Syfy's anticipated two-hour pilot "Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome."

The show follows in the footsteps of "Battlestar Galactica," which ran from 2004 to 2009 and "Caprica," which premiered last year.

The show's official synopsis describes the story as having "the action set in the 10th year of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, the sentient robotic Cylons, rages across the twelve colonial worlds, a young, talented fighter pilot named William Adama (Luke Pasqualino) finds himself assigned to one of the most powerful Battlestars in the Colonial fleet--the Galactica.

Full of ambition and in pursuit of the intense action that the Cylon war promises, Adama quickly find himself at odds with Coker (Ben Cotton), the battle-weary officer to whom he reports. With 47 days left in his tour of duty, Coker desires an end to battle just as much as Adama craves the start of it. Though they clash at first, the two men forge an unlikely bond when a routine mission turns dangerous and becomes a pivotal one for the desperate fleet."

Universal Cable Productions will produce the series "utilizing cutting edge CGI and virtual technology" according to the official release.

I thought "Caprica" was solid, but that series was a bit more of a soapy drama compared to the original "Battlestar" series and I'm happy to see that "Blood and Chrome" is more in the latter's vein. On top of that Pasqualino, I think will be an excellent choice for the young Adama. Those that have seen the British version of "Skins" knows for sure that Pasqualino is a great young talent and I think this could be a big breakout role for him.

"Blood and Chrome" is created by the same crew that worked on the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" series, so this one has potential to be something special.

The pilot should debut later this year.

Katee Sackhoff Is Kind Of a "Sexy Evil Genius"

Anyone who has ever seen the show "Battlestar Galactica" knows that deep down, they have a bit of a crush on Katee Sackhoff, aka Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. The actress doen't work all that much (although she gave a hilarious performance in a guest spot on "The Big Bang Theory" last year), so anytime she hops onto a project, I pay attention.

According to the Heat Vision Blog, Sackhoff is set to headline the independent comedy "Sexy Evil Genius," which will be directed by Shawn Piller, the executive producer of ABC Family’s "Greek."

The project centers on a group of strangers brought together in a downtown Los Angeles bar by their mutual ex-girlfriend (Sackhoff). The woman is mysterious about her intentions, but by the night's end, revenge will be had, romance made and the wronged woman will have delivered on her reputation as the sexy evil genius at the center of all their lives.

The script was written by Scott Lew, a filmmaker who is afflicted by ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Diseas). Lew is a quadriplegic and wheelchair-bound. He cannot speak and writes using an infrared dot on his forehead, pointing to letters and words on the computer screen.

Said Few to Heat Vision: “I thought why not do a story about early 30-somethings, where a sexy girl forces an unhappy guy to remember all his dreams and aspirations when they were 17 and dating.”

I think the concept of the film is just great and very unique. On top of that, I think Sackhoff really fits into this part well, because her character on "Battlestar" had a bit of an edge to her and this character sounds the same in that regard.

Sackhoff will also co-produce and the film should start shooting early next year.