There was a lot of casting news over the weekend for movies. Lots of big projects are seeing their leads sign on, though one project did have a walker.
Projects for today include Joss Whedon's latest writing project, CollegeHumor's First movie, Antonio Banderas as a painter, Celtic warriors, SEAL Team 6, and Ender's Game. The Lone Ranger lost one of it's villains, but it looks like Michael Bay's passion project Pain & Gain is building up its cast. Two indie projects also picked up some big names too. See all the details right after the break.
Joss Whedon's In Your Eyes has picked up some actors in the project to be directed by Brin Hill. Variety reports that Royal Pains star Mark Feuerstein will join the cast and film his part before going back for the fourth season of his series at USA. Alongside him will be Michael Stahl-David and Zoe Kazan in the lead roles. The romantic sci-fi indie revolves around two characters with no previous interactions that live on opposite sides of the country and share a connection that allows them to see and hear each other. Feuerstein has the role of Kazan's husband, a cold, controlling man that is distant and unloving.
Deadline reports that Adrianne Palicki has been cast in Coffee Town. The film is being produced with Ricky Van Veen for CollegeHumor with writer-director Brad Copeland. The project also stars Glenn Howerton and is set to start shooting next week in LA. Palicki had the role of Wonder Woman in the pilot that never got picked up for series. She has upcoming roles in GI Joe: Retaliation and Red Dawn and previously had parts in Friday Night Lights and Lone Star.
Variety also broke the news today that Antonio Banderas will play Pablo Picasso in Carlos Saura's upcoming 33 dias (33 Days). The title is a reference to the time the artist spent on the mural Guernica and his emotional turmoil. Banderas said in an interview that Picasso "is a character that has pursued me for a long time and I always rejected. He deserves a lot of respect because I am from Malaga, and I was born four blocks from where he was born." The French-Spanish proect will shoot next summer in Paris and Guernica with a low budget of $7.9 million. In the film, writers Saura and Qurejeta, show how painting "Guernica" proved near salvation for Picasso at a moment of personal crisis. Specifically the film will focus on the relationship between Picasso and the French artist Dora Maar.
Bad news for Disney's Lone Ranger project, Deadline reports that Dwight Yoakam has dropped out because of a scheduling conflict. Yoakam would have played one of the major villains in the movie which still has Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer attached. The project has seen multiple set back including having the studio change the fall start date and then allowing a mid-February start date if director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer managed to bring the budget down from $250 million to $215 million.
In the indie horror pic Dark was the Night, Kevin Durand and Lukas Haas have signed on for the lead roles according to Variety. The film is set in an isolated town near a logging company that changed the are and "disrupted the balance of the life in the woods." The only help for the local citizens is that the local sherif and his deputy can do something to fight Evil. Also in the cast are Sabina Gadecki, Heath Freeman and Nick Damici. Jack Heller will be directing with a script from Tyler Hisel which was on the 2009 Black list with the title The Trees. Shooting slated to start soon in Southampton, New York.
THR reports that Saad Siddiqui (Cosmopolis) and Israeli actor Oded Fehr (The Mummy) have now been added to the cast of Inescapable. The two join actors Marisa Tomei, Fringe star Joshua Jackson and Alexander Siddig in the thriller being directed by Ruba Nadda(Cairo Time). The indie film revolves around a Syrian expatriate who has a journalist daughter that goes missing in Damascus. He calls out to a former lover for help when he has to return to his birthplace to find and save his daughter, regardless of the risks. The project was written by Nadda who will start directing in Canada, South Africa and Lebanon through March 12.
For Kathryn Bigelow's untitled project about Navy SEAL Team 6's hunt for Osama bin Laden, Kyle Chandler will also be seen in the cast. Deadline reports that Chandler will be playing a CIA agent in the movie from screenwriter Mark Boal. Already in the cast are Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong and Edgar Ramirez. Currently the Pentagon is investigating the charges that Bigelow and Boal got inside information about the mission administration in preparing the script. The project is still moving forward though and has a December 19 release date. Chandler is best known for the series Friday Night Lights and won a Best Actor Drama Emmy for his role. He was most recently seen in Super 8, and recently wrapped Broken City with Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe along with Argo which Ben Affleck directed.
According to Latino Review, John Turturro is looking at a role that Albert Brooks was supposed to have in Michael Bay’s Pain And Gain. The actor has previously worked with Bay on the three Transformers films. The script from Captain America writers Markus and McFeely is based on a story from the Miami New Times by Pete Collins. It tells the true story of the Sun Gym Gang, a group of bodybuilders in Miami that kidnap, torture, extort, and eventually murder. Turturro is looking at the role of businessman Marc Schiller, the guy that the gang kidnapped, tortured, and left for dead. Schiller survived the attack and hired a private investigator by the name of Ed Dubois to track down his kidnappers. Ed Harris is being looked at for the role of Dubois and Mark Whalberg is set to play the ringleader of the bodybuilders Daniel Lugo. The Rock will have the role of Adrain Doorbal, Lugo's right-hand man.
More actors are joining the cast of the adaptation of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. According to Deadline Nonso Anozie (The Grey) will play Sergeant Dap in the futuristic adventure film which starts production this month in New Orleans. In addition to Anozie, Andrea Powell has been cast as Ender's mother Theresa and Stevie Ray Dallimore set to play his father John. Gavin Hood will be directing from his own script about the strategist Ender who is recruited by the International Fleet to fight. When they see his strategic skills he is immediately moved up and used to help save the Earth and essentially the human race. The new trio join Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, and Asa Butterfield as Ender. The game will star March 15th, 2013.
According to Variety Michael Fassbender could be starring in a film about the legendary Celtic warrior Cuchulain. The actor is developing the project with screenwriter Ronan Bennett. The film is bases on a part of the Ulster Cycle, and epic series of Old Irish legends that come from the 8th century. Cuchulain is the nephew of King Conchobar of the Ulaid tribe which is warring with the rival Connachta tribe led by Queen Mebh. With his semi-divine ancestry and superhuman fighting skills, he is the only man able to fight a whole army when Mebh attempts to steal Conchobar's prize white bull. That's only one story of many that recount his awesomeness. Bennett and Fassbender have previously worked together on Public Enemies and Top Boy in Northern Ireland. They are using their production company Finn McCool Films to finance the project.
