Category: - The Movie Press

The Movie Press

Timberlake, Coitllard, Gordon-Levitt: Casting News Galore!

3/3/2010

There's so much casting news today that we had to bundle it all together in one tasty nugget.

Color this awkward: Justin Timberlake has just been cast in ex-girlfriend Cameron Diaz's film Bad Teacher as the object of her desire. Diaz plays the gold-digging 7th grade teacher who falls for the substitute teacher (Timberlake) who's dating her rival (Lucy Punch). Jason Segel, Molly Shannon and Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet are also starring.

On the heels of reports that Woody Allen has cast Owen Wilson in his untitled Parisian film is news the that Oscar winner Marion Coitllard is joining the film. No word on plot or characters.

Tim Burton is taking on Abraham Lincoln...as a vampire hunter. Seth Grahame-Smith's novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will get a big screen adaptation produced by Burton. The novel was released yesterday. You may remember that Natalie Portman is set to portray Elizabeth Bennett in the film version of Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

James McAvoy is out and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in! McAvoy has dropped out of the untitled comedy based on the book I'm With Cancer. The film, which is being directed by Jonathan Levine, had already started shooting when McAvoy left the picture for undisclosed reasons. Gordon-Levitt has stepped up to the plate (meaning probably no Spider-Man for him, folks...) with a cast that includes Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston, and Philip Baker Hall.

Any of these casting scooplets whet your whistles, folks?

--Darcie Duttweiler

George Lopez to Become Even Less Funny (If Possible)

2/25/2010

One would think Speedy Gonzales is a Looney Tunes cartoon character that Warner Brothers would be than happy to push under the rug in these far-more-politically-correct times. We all thought wrong. New Line/Warner Bros. is revamping the cartoon into a live-action/CGI/potential race relations disaster feature!

But WAIT...the film's producers are taking steps to ensure that the film isn't the racist cartoon of the 1950s by casting a George Lopez (host of Lopez Tonight) as the voice of Speedy Gonzales, stamping the project with Lopez's "Latino seal of approval." Oh, okay. We're all good then, right?

I can't wait to see who they get to voice Speedy's cousin Slowpoke Rodriguez. Because, if a '50s characterization of a "lazy Mexican" is voiced by a Latino, it's not racist, right? The train wreck does not have a release date yet, so hopefully New Line execs will take the time to get off this track--and fast--¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!" Oh God.

--Jessica Hixson

"Pirates 4:" Who's in and who's out?

2/23/2010

Rumors and casting news has been swirling for a while now around the gestating fourth Pirates of the Caribbean flick. With director Gore Verbinski long gone and Chicago director Rob Marshall in, it's no wonder why the speculation has started reaching a fever pitch. So, who's in, and who's no more?

Well, Johnny Depp is definitely in. Duh. That's the understatement of the century, as the whole franchise depends on him. Both Keira Knightly (who has too many other period pieces to join) and Orlando "Where Did My Career Go?" Bloom jumped ship a while back. Last week the word on the street is that one of Marshalls'Nine stars would join the film, and Penelope Cruz is allegedly negotiating to set sail along with Depp. No word yet on what character she'll potentially play.

Today it was announced that Ian McShane of HBO's foulmouthed Deadwood series could be climbing aboard (don't you just love pirate puns?!) the film as Blackbeard, the infamous pirate and villain that Captain Jack Sparrow will face off against as he seeks out the Fountain of Youth.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will venture out into open seas May 20, 2011. What do you think about these casting nuggets?

--Darcie Duttweiler

Bruce Willis: "Die Hard 5" could film next year

2/23/2010

Die Hard 5 could begin filming next year. That's according to John McClane himself, Mr. Bruce Willis, in an interview with MTV.

Beyond that tidbit, Willis finally confirms once and for all that fictional super-cop John McClane is indeed fictional, telling MTV: "There is no John McClane. The John McClane that exists is only in film and in people's minds. And it continues to grow, that mythology continues to grow."

As for Die Hard 5, Willis said he would bring back Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman. But after being trapped in a building, trapped in an airport, trapped in New York City and being screwed with by hackers, Willis said Die Hard 5 could only go one place.

"Well, it's got to go worldwide," Willis said. "That would be my contribution to [the next movie]."

While trying to figure out what the hell that will entail, you can check out a less nonsensical, more scripted Willis in Cop Out, in theaters Friday.

--Eric Pulsifer

Portman smokes the "Best Buds"

2/23/2010

When organizations like DARE and the 'federal government' want to scare people away from drugs they tell stories about crack whores giving hand jobs to strangers, reasonable men murdering their family and bee keeping gone awry. But what today's news seems to indicate is that not only do successful Harvard graduates, like Natalie Portman, smoke weed every day, but make shitloads of money doing it.

Portman played a supporting role in the upcoming stoner movie Your Highness (starring James Franco, who claims to not smoke weed but was also the drug dealer in Pineapple Express and has been on the cover ofHigh Times magazine. Sense a trend here?) and also made outrageous comments in a Saturday Night Livemock interview with Chris Parnell that may or may not have been fictional, depending on how far you let your fantasies take you.

So how does Portman one-up herself? By not only starring in, but also producing, a not-so-thinly-veiled-weed-referenced movie titled Best Buds. The marijuana-inspired romp is billed as a film about "two best female friends who take a road trip to their friend's wedding in order to save her by bringing her weed."

See kids, not ALL drugs are bad.

--Mark Collins

It's business time

1/29/2010

Every once in a while information coming out of Hollywood about certain projects can erase the memories of bad remake attempts! First, news came that Disney would be materializing a new Muppet film, entitled The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made with a script co-written by Jason Segel (Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Then, as if Disney execs had a sudden urge to produce films that have the potential to be...oh I don't know...great, it was revealed yesterday that co-creator of the hit HBO show Flight of the Conchords and director/co-writer of Ali G in da USA James Bobin could possibly be signed on to direct the film.

I, for one, hope old Bobin refuses whatever other offers he may have on the table and mans up about the Muppets. You take your beloved classic characters like Kermit and Fozzie Bear, filter them through the mind of Jason Segel--him being a member of the Golden House of Apatow ensures at least SOMEONE will see the movie--and put them under the knife of Bobin, whose past work guarantees Henson's creations won't be completely without an edge in his hands and you've got a movie that'll have just the right amount of witty, bizarre adventures and weird whimsy that audiences of all ages can enjoy.

--Jessica Hixson

Mel Gibson is not to old for this sh...

1/28/2010

Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black and Mel Gibson are teaming back up for a thriller about a Cold War-era spy who helps a young up and comer track a terrorist. The film is titled Cold Warrior and would mark Black's second directorial effort after Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.

The two were in discussions to team back up for quite some time, but nothing ever came from it, no Lethal Weapon 5...;( However this seems to be putting Gibson back in his place, and I look forward to anything these two can do. What do you guys think?

--Greg MacLennan

Sam Worthington takes on new genre: vampires!

1/27/2010

As if Sam Worthington didn't try his hand at enough genre flicks--machines! sci-fi! Gods vs. humans!--he is now allegedly gearing up to take on the most famous vampire of them all: Dracula.

Word is that Worthington is in talks to star in Dracula Year Zero, a period vampire epic Alex Proyas, director of I, Robot. The flickexplores the origin of Dracula, weaving vampire mythology with the true history of Prince Vlad the Impaler. It seeks to depict Dracula as a flawed hero in a tragic love story set in a dark age of magic and war. In not so many words--it wants to be the new Batman Begins.

You know what? Before Twilight and before True Blood, I always loved the Dracula movies--well, minus the one with Vitamin C in it. It is a good ol', classic story from hundreds of years ago that stems from a real person, and I think it's intriguing and all the scarier. So I can totally get on board with an origin story about the infamous Dracula, especially with newest IT boy, Worthington, taking a stab at it.

What do you guys think?

--Darcie Duttweiler

Daniel Craig to replace 007 suits for "Cowboy" boots?

1/14/2010

Director Jon Favreau is in negotiations with Daniel Craig to play the lead role in Cowboys and Aliens after Robert Downey Jr. left the project recently.Craig has been offered the role of Jake Johnson in the film, which is based on the 2006 graphic novel about a group of Apache Indians and Western settlers who decide to create an alliance when an alien spaceship crashes in their city set on human destruction.

According to Variety, Craig's reps are saying it's too early to confirm if the blue-eyed actor would indeed don some chaps as the lead in Cowboys and Aliens. The project is written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.

With production on the next James Bond pic up in the air for the time being, Craig definitely has a open slot in his schedule to shoot Cowboys and Aliens.

I love Daniel Craig, but, for me, this role seems more tailor-made for RDj. What do you guys think about this bit of casting news?

--Darcie Duttweiler

Sarsgaard to battle Green Lantern?

1/13/2010

Greg and I are HUGE Ryan Reynolds fans. While he's commenting on Reynolds' acting chops, I'm ogling his steely abs--okay, while appreciating his comedic timing. Homedude has definitely been on the cusp of major stardom for many years now. Well, with the announcement of not only an alleged Deadpool spin-off and the massive money The Proposal drew in, it was also announced many moons ago that Reynolds will be taking on the (not quite as cool) superhero the Green Lantern. We're all for him tackling a major superhero movie and were actually pretty excited about this bit of news.

That is, until we tweeted this weekend that Gossip Girl's Blake Lively will be playing his love interest. Blech. Anyhoo...we can now totally override that vomitous feeling with the latest rumor swirling 'round that Peter Sarsgaard is in negotiations to play Green Lantern's villain,Dr. Hector Hammond, “the pathologist son of a senator who is seen as a disappointment in his father’s eyes” and eventually develops powers after contact with a meteor, which apparently include mind reading and mind control.

This casting news we can totally get behind. It's totally cool to see good actors as superhero villans--like Chrisoph Waltz battling Seth Rogen's Green Hornet.

The Green Lantern will be released June 17th 2011.

What do you guys think of Sarsgaard's casting?

--Darcie Duttweiler