On the heels of some high-profile NYFF announcements, the Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled its fair share of titles scheduled to premiere there next month. According to Variety, the list includes:

• The North American premieres of Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York (pictured), which has been picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics since we last heard of (still) possible trims, and Steven Soderbergh's epic Che, which remains without a distributor -- James Rocchi reviewed both films at Cannes.
  
• The world premieres of Rian Johnson's Brick follow-up, The Brothers Bloom, which looks to be a special sort of con movie, and Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which looks to be a special sort of, well, romantic comedy.
  
• The North American premieres of Darren Aronofsky's sports drama The Wrestler and Gavin O'Connor's oft-delayed cop drama Pride and Glory .
  
• The world premieres of Genova, Slumdog Millionaire and Me and Orson Welles, the latest from the ever-unpredictable likes of Michael Winterbottom, Danny Boyle and Richard Linklater, respectively.

Cinematical will bring you early reviews on as many of these as we can, so stay tuned. TIFF runs from September 4th through the 13th.

I haven't seen this weekend's The Incredible Hulk yet, and will do so a little begrudgingly because it's an implicit (or explicit, depending on whom you ask) diss of Ang Lee's Hulk, a film I admire. But to the extent my interest in the Louis Leterrier version is piqued, it's mostly because of the casting of Edward Norton as the title character's alter ego. It's such an interesting choice -- partly because Norton usually stays away from projects like this, partly because he's so uniquely gifted, and partly because my mind just reels at hearing "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" coming out of his mouth. I'll watch The Incredible Hulk less because I want to see another movie about Bruce Banner than because I'm curious to see Norton's interpretation of him.

All of which got me thinking about superhero/comic book casting in general. It's a subject that attracts a lot of breathless speculation every time a new movie is in the works, and there's rarely consensus on anything. In this edition of Cinematical Seven, I take a look back at what I think have been the most inspired, interesting, or appropriate superhero (and villain, because why not?) casting choices in recent history -- not so much the resulting performances (though it can be hard to distinguish in hindsight) but the initial casting decisions.

As I like to do with these lists, I tried to mix the obvious with the out-of-the-blue, so feel free to weigh in with what I unjustly left out. In no particular order:

In The Incredible Hulk, long-time character actor Tim Roth leaps onto summer's biggest stage as Emil Blonsky, a soldier brought in by General Ross (William Hurt) to hunt down Bruce Banner and bring him back alive. But when Blonsky learns that Banner isn't "just another fugitive," he begins to want the kind of power Banner has hidden deep within. Yet, with that power comes a very large price -- and if he's not careful enough, Blonsky could end up turning into an abomination. Cinematical managed to snag Roth for a few moments to ask him about the character and what it's like for him to be appearing in such a giant film, as well as whether he'd be down for Hulk sequels and more fun with his pal Quentin Tarantino.

Cinematical: Is it important to start the character in a very realistic fashion given the wild changes he goes through in Act III?

Tim Roth: Yeah, I think what's interesting -- and what was interesting about doing it -- was that there was a real arc to the character. He goes through many different versions of himself before he finally goes over the top in the end. So it would've been a little less intriguing for me as an actor if I had a couple of scenes in the beginning and then suddenly I'm the monster. Yeah, that would've been a little dull ... but it was really the opposite in this case, because we really got to develop the character and play around with different aspects. See him as he's becoming more addicted to this; I mean, it's kind of like the journey of a weird junkie in a way.

Here are a few statistics on the 2003 film Hulk:

• Directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger)
• Written by Michael France (Cliffhanger), James Schamus (The Ice Storm), first-timer John Turman (and maybe 15 other screenwriters)
• Estimated budget: $137 million
• Worldwide box office: $245 million
• Rotten Tomatoes score: 61% positive
• IMDb user rating: 5.8 out of 10

So I ask you this: Are we talking about a failure ... or an underrated movie that's been unjustly labeled a failure? It matters not, I suppose, because the arrival of the all-new The Incredible Hulk, Marvel (and Universal) hopes to leave the first Hulk cowering in a dusty vault somewhere. (Until the next DVD re-release, of course.) So while I felt a strange bit of resentment towards this "forget that first movie, let's get a do-over" procedure, I felt pretty confident about the second Hulk's chances. Director Louis Leterrier has shown some skill with action flicks like Unleashed and Transporter 2, the new cast (which includes Edward Norton, Tim Roth, Liv Tyler and William Hurt) was pretty impressive, and (best of all) the producers were making one simple promise from the outset: More action.

With The Incredible Hulk out this Friday (June 13), stars Edward Norton, Liv Tyler and director Louis Leterrier sat down for another one of Moviefone's fabulous Unscripted segments. The great part about these Moviefone Unscripted sessions is that not only do the stars and filmmakers ask each other questions, but most of those questions are from you, the reader -- because you left them in the comments section of this very blog! OMG! But anyway, above you will find an exclusive clip from their chat (one you won't see over at Moviefone), where all three talk about the importance of getting "the eyes" right, since, as Liv says, they're "the window to the soul." And I totally agree, especially when it comes to CG characters like Hulk and Abomination. Interestingly enough, because of certain techniques used, the eyes on Hulk and Abomination are "pretty much" the eyes of stars Edward Norton and Tim Roth, according to Leterrier.

Interesting conversation all around; head on over to Moviefone to check out the rest.

Warning: The above TV spot kinda spoils the Tony Stark cameo in The Incredible Hulk. Watch at your own risk.

A very smart new TV spot for The Incredible Hulk opens on a snippet of the scene featuring Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and General Ross (William Hurt), spoiling what, for many of your average moviegoers, would have been a giant surprise. Of course, those of us living out our days in internet movie geek land have known about the Stark cameo for awhile now -- and if you visited New York Comic Con earlier this year, you would've seen a good majority of the Stark scene during the Hulk panel.

But the question is: Should they have ruined the surprise for everyone right off the bat with this new commercial? I guess it depends on which side you're on. From a marketing standpoint, it's kinda brilliant and a great way to show moviegoers that both The Incredible Hulk and the wildly-successful Iron Man are connected in some way. And while many predict Hulk will not pull in Iron Man numbers, throwing that film's star in a trailer will certainly help Hulk give its Marvel counterpart a run for its money. Then again, some folks like to be surprised -- but what's to say the Stark cameo is the only surprise in the film? Oooohhh ... goosebumps! I'm seeing The Incredible Hulk in just a few hours from now and I'm stoked. Fingers crossed for Norton, Roth and the gang!

The Incredible Hulk smashes into theaters this Friday.

[via The Movie Box]

Just when you thought it was over, we have even more Incredible Hulk clips to show you! Moviefone has unveiled some brand new footage from the flick (watch it above or in HD over on Moviefone); this time, we're at the very beginning of that field sequence when the military folks trap Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) in a glass tube thing. Once he's in there, they shoot some sort of smoke gas stuff in to try to flush him out. Only ... they look a bit surprised with what actually comes out. This clip follows several others that have made their way online in the past few days; for more, check out this post and this post. Additionally, Dark Horizons has a great write-up on a recent Hulk edit bay visit, where they were shown the opening sequence. I know a lot of you are coming down on the special effects, the way the Hulk looks, what have you -- but I'm diggin' what I've seen from this film so far. The all CG superhero is a hard one to pull off, so my fingers are crossed this works out for everyone.

The Incredible Hulk debuts in theaters on June 13.

Update: MSN has also debuted a pretty cool clip as well.

A new trailer for The Incredible Hulk has just arrived online, and I'm definitely diggin' it. This is the trailer currently playing before Speed Racer, and, is it just me, or is that a little tease of the classic TV show's music there at the end. Have we heard any of that yet? Maybe I missed it in another trailer, but I first noticed it just now -- and, man, did it take me back.* This new preview gives us a whole lotta Hulk and no Abomination -- just Hulk running and smashing things, like those two cars he's holding up at the end. (Does insurance cover a monster destroying your automobile?)

The Incredible Hulk stars Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt and Tim Blake Nelson. The film marks Marvel's second self-financed flick, following the very successful Iron Man, and it was directed by Louis Leterrier (The Transporter, The Transporter 2). So now that you've gotten a good look at three trailers and tons of images from the film, whaddya think? Worth a shot? As good or better than Iron Man? Check our our pretty massive Incredible Hulk gallery, and sound off below ...

*The music is also featured at the end of the second trailer; thanks to Peter for pointing that out.