WIRE Buzz: Jaws puppet chomps on restoration; Supervized trailer retires heroes; more

Ease into the weekend with another exciting roundup of genre news in our WIRE Buzz!

This afternoon, we've got updates on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, a dark comedy about retired superheroes, and possible casting news for CBS's take on Stephen King's The Stand. Buckle up, folks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

They're gonna need a bigger museum ...

The original great white shark puppet used on the set of Steven Spielberg's Jaws is getting a well-deserved makeover from none other than The Walking Dead and Creepshow's Greg Nicotero.

Why? Because the fake (albeit life-sized) shark, lovingly nicknamed Bruce on the set of the 1975 blockbuster, will be featured prominently in the Los Angeles-based Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. 

While one of the highest-grossing and most influential films of all time, Jaws had a notoriously troubled production, where the puppet would continually break down in the water. Ironically, Spielberg's eventual Hitchcockian decision to keep the killer shark hidden for most of the runtime came from a place of necessity. In the end, however, the choice paid off in spades, ramping up the overall suspense and horror.

Fun fact: Bruce, the vegetarian shark in Pixar's Finding Nemo, got his name from Jaws.

The Academy museum, which will pay homage to the world of groundbreaking (not to mention award-winning) cinema, delayed its official opening to 2020 yesterday.

“At every decision point along the way, we have always chosen the path that would enhance the structure, even if that meant construction would take more time to complete,” an Academy spokesperson said in a statement run by Variety. “Similarly, when we were presented with opportunities to expand the scope of our exhibitions, interior spaces, and collection for the visitor experience, we have embraced them. As we continue working through the permitting process and move closer to completion, we are weighing the overall schedule for major industry events in 2020, and on this basis will choose the optimal moment for our official opening.”

What do you get when you place an aging superhero into a dreary retirement home with no hope of recapturing the glory days of when the public loved them? Why, you get Supervized, an R-rated comic book-inspired comedy from director Steve Barron.

If that name sounds familiar, it's because Barron directed two of the most well-known genre movies of the 1990s: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and Coneheads (1993). He also helmed NBC's Merlin miniseries with Sam Neill in 1998.

Check out the trailer for Supervized below and marvel (pun not intended) at how no one has come up with this ingenious movie idea before:

Tom Berenger (Inception) leads the cast as Maximum Justice, one of the once-beloved heroes now rotting away in a retirement home that is not all it seems. Hoping to save the day just one more time, he enlists the help of Shimmy (Beau Bridges), Madera Moonlight (Fionnula Flanagan), and Total Thunder (Louis Gossett Jr.).

Supervized soars into limited theaters and digital/On Demand Friday, July 19.

Josh Boone's adaptation of The Stand by Stephen King for CBS All Access may be locking down its principal cast very soon, writes Collider. Based on intel from "multiple agency sources," the 10-episode miniseries is eyeing one heck of an ensemble.

The following actors are allegedly being circled for the show's main roles:

• James Marsden (Westworld) as Stuart Redman, a simple man from Arnette, Texas, who becomes one of the most important leaders of the human survivors.
  (UPDATE: Looks like Deadline has confirmed James Marsden for this role.)

• Odessa Young (Assassination Nation) as Frannie Goldsmith, a young woman from Maine who helps re-start society and falls in love with Stu.

• Henry Zaga (The New Mutants) as Nick Andros, a deaf and mute drifter with a kind heart who becomes an invaluable asset to the new society founded in Colorado.

• Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost) as Mother Abigail Freemantle, a 108-year-old woman with magical and prophetic abilities. In time she becomes the central rallying point for those who wish to oppose Randall Flagg.

• Greg Kinnear (The Twilight Zone) as Glen Bateman, a somewhat pompous, but lovable, academic with a few less-than-optimistic predictions about humanity's future. Also, his dog, Kojak, is pretty cute and very, very loyal.

• Amber Heard (Aquaman) as Nadine Cross, a former schoolteacher who believes it is her destiny to be with Flagg and lose her virginity to him.

Credit: Doubleday

At the moment, there are no casting rumors for other big characters like Flagg, Lloyd Henreid, Larry Underwood, Tom Cullen, or Donald Elbert, aka the dangerous firebug known as "Trashcan Man."

The Stand, first published in 1978, chronicles the collapse of civilized society when the United States government accidentally unleashes a weaponized superflu (nicknamed "Captain Trips") upon humanity. After 90% of the world's population dies out from the raging sickness, a ragtag group of immune survivors are left to pick up the pieces of civilization and contend with a new threat, an evil magic man by the name of Randall Flagg, who begins consolidating his power in the American West. With more than 1,300 pages, The Stand was influenced by King's love of J.R.R. Tolkien.

The massive and sprawling novel was first adapted into a miniseries in 1994 for ABC. Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe all starred in the four-episode event.

In addition to directing, Boone (The New Mutants) is also producing the miniseries.