As you've probably noticed the hottest thing in Hollywood currently is the casting process for David Dobkin's new epic ARTHUR & LANCELOT which will offer a new vision on the famous medieval legend. I've told you that THE KILLING star Joel Kinnaman is close to signing the deal for Lancelot role, but he will have to do screen testing with the candidates for the Arthur role who will have to have chemistry with him. Beside the already mentioned Kit Harington (John Snow from GAME OF THRONES) other fresh
candidates for the role of the king now include Welsh superstar Luke Evans (who fits naturally given all of his Godly roles so far - Zeus in IMMORTALS, Apollo in CLASH OF THE TITANS, and looking swell in period costume in THE THREE MUSKETEERS) and Toby Kebbell (who is nice enough actor, but if you ask me has absolutely no charisma for leading roles. He also starred in CLASH OF THE TITANS). I've informed you last week that Gary Oldman has been offered the role of Merlin.
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A new role for super talented Michael Fassbender could be the lead one in Warner Bros. action drama LONDONGRAD which
will examine the mysterious death of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was poised in 2006 with polonium-210. As "Deadline" writes, the studio apparently wants RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES director Rupert Wyatt to helm the picture. As "Variety" reports, British film SONG FOR MARION will hit US cinemas too. With a delightful cast which includes Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton and Vanessa Redgrave this London-set comedic drama follows a grumpy elderly man who is reluctantly inspired by his wife Marion to join an unconventional local choir.
Well if you ask me, it seems the movie adaptation of famous anime AKIRA, which will be set in futuristic Manhattan, is heading in a very wrong direction. Because when Keanu Reeves, Brad
Pitt and Justin Timberlake refuse the lead role in a $100 million film and you give it to Garrett Hedlund, whom most people around the world don't even know and who mostly has flops in his CV, it doesn't sound promising at all, does it? Especially with the latest names who are testing for the second male role being unknown people too: Alden Ehrenreich and Ezra Miller. I've no idea who the second one is, but I remember the first one as one of the actors who lost the Spiderman role to Andrew Garfield. And with Keira Knightley also in the run for one of the roles, I'm definitely losing any interest in this one.
While we are anxiously waiting for the January premiere of the 2nd season of SPARTACUS now called VENGEANCE, you can check out a new poster for the epic show which will continue
where the 1st season finished with the total bloodbath in the ludus. After that massacre, Capua is in an uproar. The gladiators have escaped and formed an uneasy alliance. Spartacus wants to exact revenge on the man responsible for killing his wife, but he will soon understand his life is about something greater than avenging Sura's death. His mission is to build an army, set free the slaves and topple the Roman Empire. As you know Liam McIntyre has taken over the role of the brave gladiator, Lucy Lawless is back and after surviving the massacre she wants a revenge of her own, Craig Parker returns as Roman commander Glaber with his wife Iilithya (Viva Bianca) who will have to watch her back from angry Lucretia! Click to watch the behind the scenes trailer.
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TV star America Ferera from UGLY BETTY and almost forgotten Julia Stiles will star in IT'S A DISASTER, an apocalyptic comedy which will center around 4 couples who meet for Sunday brunch only to find themselves stranded in a house together as
the world may be about to end. In the upcoming mayhem these four couples aren't going to let the potential end of the world get in the way of the relationship issues they all need to work out. According to "Deadline" Jennifer Lopez will produce and star in the movie adaptation of WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANDIEGO video game which follows the ACME agency's greatest detective Carmen Sandiego who becomes the world's greatest thief, so it's up to her former partner to follow her clues and track her down. Their cat and mouse game leads the partner to confront a greater mystery: is Carmen really a thief or a hero? Variety reports that Benicio Del Toro has been offered the role of a villain in J.J. Abrams' sequel to the last STAR TREK blockuster. I don't like it. He's one of those actors with no real charisma nor stage presence who happens to be loved by fanboys because he stars in violent films.
Your clip for the beginning of the week is the trailer for crazy new comedy WANDERLUST which hit theaters next February starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd as a couple who
leaves the pressures of the big city and joins a freewheeling community where the only rule is to be yourself. After he is downsized out of his job, they find themselves with only one option: to move in with his awful brother in Atlanta. On the way there, they stumble upon Elysium, an idyllic community populated by colorful characters who embrace a different way of looking at things. Money? It can't buy happiness. Careers? Who needs them? Clothes? Only if you want them. Is Elysium the fresh start the two of them need? Or will the change of perspective cause more problems than it solves? The cast also includes Melissa Joan Hart, Malin Akerman and Ray Liotta.
It's interesting that the end of the year will bring us quite a lot of ensemble films, movies which will hit cinemas in December with lots of big names playing together in their casts. Check out some of them:
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Probably the strongest ensemble cast will be seen November 23rd in one of the biggest Oscar contenders for next year MY WEEK WITH MARILYN. It is set in the early summer of 1956, when
young Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of "The Prince and the Showgirl", the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Aurthur Miller (Dougray Scott). Nearly 40 years on, his diary account "The Prince, the Showgirl and Me" was published, but one week was missing and this was published some years later as MY WEEK WITH MARILYN – this is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Colin to introduce
Marilyn to some of the pleasures of British life in an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work. The magnificent cast also includes Judi Dench, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper, Julia Ormond as Vivien Leigh, Derek Jacobi... Check out a fresh new clip in which Michelle Williams performs Marilyn's song Heatwave on stage.
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
Premiering December 9th, is new British dramatic thriller TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY directed by Tomas Alfredson from LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, who is also supposed to helm the epic fantasy LARKLIGHT in 2013. The film is set in in the bleak aftermath of the Cold War, where espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6's echelons. The film is an adaptation of John Le Carre's seminal cold war best-seller and it was made into a TV show back in the 1970's with Alec Guinnes. This
time the stellar, rather masculine cast includes Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy (who replaced Michael Fassbender in the cast), John Hurt, Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch...
ROMAN DRAMA IN CORIOLANUS
Another, rather manly stellar cast will be seen in one of possible Oscar contenders CORIOLANUS, the modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's famous play. In the modern version, Shakespeare's drama on Roman hero Coriolanus and his enemy Tullus Aufidius, commander of the Volscian army, is turned into a contemporary Rome-set political and family drama about a banished hero of Rome who allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city. Beside Ralph Fiennes who is also directing the movie, beside taking the lead role (this is his debut behind the helm), the cast also includes Gerard Butler as Tullus,
Brian Cox, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain and a bunch of talented Serbian actors since the film was shot last year in Serbian, including a number of scenes shot in the grandiose building of the Serbian Parliament in Belgrade. The film hits cinemas at the end of the year.
FAMILY DRAMA IN CARNAGE
Four big acting names playing together in the same film will be seen in Roman Polanski's CARNAGE, which premieres December 16th. This drama with a strong cast and stage atmosphere, mostly based on strong dialogues, starts with a showdown between two kids: about eleven, in a local playground. Swollen lips, broken teeth… Now the parents of the “victim” have invited the parents of the “bully” to their apartment to sort if out. Cordial banter gradually develops a razor-sharp edge as all four parents reveal their laughable contradictions and grotesque prejudices. None
of them will escape the ensuing carnage. The ensemble cast is lead by Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz who play one couple and Jodi Foster and John C. Reilly who play the second one.
One of the most popular of the younger actresses, Emma Stone, who had a great role this summer in THE HELP, is in talks to take
the lead in a new romantic comedy HE'S FUCKING PERFECT (wonder if they will change the title) which tells the story of one woman, pessimistic in love, who regularly uses the Internet to research the men her friends are dating, acting as a vetting device for them to weed out losers. Things take a turn when she gets a friend to dump her new guy in order for the woman to steal the man for herself, using her social media savvy to turn herself into his perfect match. Fox has apparently bought the script for $ 1 million!
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After Joel Kinnamantook the role of the first knight in the upcoming epic ARTHUR & LANCELOT last week, Warner Bros. now apparently wants Gary Oldman to take the role of Merlin.
But that's not Gary's only possible future gig, since according to "Deadline" he was also offered the role of the Colonel in sf epicAKIRA which could also have Garrett Hedlund and Helena Bonham Carter in the cast. Speaking of Bonham Carter, check out the first crazy picture from the new version of GREAT EXPECTATIONS in which she stars as Miss Havisham. To be released next Fall, the new movie adaptation of Charles Dickens' famous novel also has Jeremy Irvine as Pip, Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch, Jason Flemyng and Holliday Grainger from THE BORGIAS as Estella in the cast.And according to latest news Tarsem's SNOW WHITE project with Lilly Collins and Julia Roberts has been now officially titled MIRROR, MIRROR!
I'm not sure if this plot is weird or not, but "Variety" reports that young Caleb Landry Jones, Banshee from X-MEN FIRST CLASS, will take the lead in sf flick ANTIVIRAL as a salesman for a clinic that replicates celebrity diseases for public consumption.
He becomes obsessed with a celebrity and injects himself with her disease, then must figure out how to cure it before time runs out. The film will also have Malcolm McDowell in the cast. As I reported earlier this year, young Caleb will also join Neil Jordan's BYZANTIUM, which also has more than weird story with Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan playing a mother and a daughter, both vampires who hunt for their victims together, until Caleb as a teenager dying from leukemia appears in their lives and his struggle with mortality affects the daughter, who, trapped forever in the body of a teenager, begins to question her own immortality.
As you know Hollywood Spy is a huge fan of Henry Cavill and has been supporting his career from the very beginning. After shining in THE TUDORS, he is finally getting huge roles he
deserves in IMMORTALS this year and then in MAN OF STEEL. But there's another film he already finished. I wrote about THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY many times before, but now we have the first poster. This interesting action thriller shot in Spain, follows a young Wall Street trader (Henry Cavill) whose family is kidnapped on a vacation to Spain. He's left with only hours to find them, uncover a government conspiracy and the connection between their disappearance and his father's secrets. The cast also includes Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver. It's released next April and I hope we shall see a trailer soon.
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Although the sequel to the recent blockbuster WRATH OF THE TITANS is yet to be released, with the premiere scheduled for March 2012 (and we still haven't seen a single photo, poster or a
trailer), Warner Bros. has already hired writers to pen the third part of CLASH OF THE TITANS epic. Meanwhile, the 2nd part WRATH OF THE TITANS has Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and Rosamund Pike in the cast. As "MovieWeb" reports the official title for James Bond 23 is SKYFALL. The film which will star Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ben Whishaw, and is being directed by Sam Mandes, will see Bond's loyalty to M being tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
I totally didn't find this trailer funny, thought it was really bad and having nothing hilarious in it at all, but maybe some of you might like it? It's the first one for the remake of 21 JUMP STREET in which Channing Tatum and some guy called Jonah Hill play two ordinary street policemen who get assigned to an elite squad
of young undercover cops in order to infiltrate some high school and fight crime in it. As you remember, back in the late 1980's this was a relatively popular show with now famous Johnny Depp. Check out the trailer and tell me if you like it or not? The film is out next March.
Well, it seems that we have a new casting pet project in Hollywood: since the production of 300: BATTLE OF ARTEMISIA is moving close, the first rumors on who might get
the lead role in the prequel to the legendary epic blockbuster have starting circling. "Vulture" reports that the first name mentioned for the role of the Greek general Themosticles who lead his army to victory over the Persians in 480 B.C., is Australian actor Joel Edgerton who got critical praise for his role in WARRIOR this year beside Tom Hardy. The prequel fill describe events ten years before the original film following the rise to the power of the famous Persian king Xerxes and the glorious battle at Marathon. I'm not sure I like Edgerton for this role. You?
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Deadline reports that gorgeous young people Leslie Bibb (currently stars in ABC's GOOD CHRISTIAN BELLES), Ryan Kwanten (TRUE BLOOD) and Amy Smart (THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT) have joined 7500, a film in which the story centers
on the passengers of Vista Pacific Flight 7500, who come to realize that an evil force is with them on the flight across the Pacific Ocean. Bibb will star as a stewardess, while Kwanten and Smart play a married couple on the flight. Another interesting plot will be seen in THE SILVER LINING PLAYBOOK in which Bradley Cooper plays a man released from a mental institution in which he spent four years, but he thinks it's been only a few months, so he feverishly tries to get back with his estranged wife and to become the man she had always desired. The cast also includes Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro.
It's been quite a dry period when it comes to new trailers lately, but today a second trailer for UNDERWORLD AWAKENING has been released around the net. To premiere this January, the new
movie in the vampire saga will see Kate Beckinsale return to the role of vampire warrior Selena, who escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of
both Vampire and Lycan clans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species. The film comes to cinemas in 3D and will not be directed by Cate's husband Len Wiseman
but by Danish filmmakers Mans Marlind & Bjorn Stein. The cast also includes Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy.
After Luke Evans and John Cusack with THE RAVEN project, Ralph Fiennes and Gerard Butler with CORIOLANUS, Guy Pearce in Luc Besson's LOCKOUT, Rachel Weisz and Adrien Brody in BROTHERS BLOOM, and Chris Noth
and Neve Campbell for TITANIC BLOOD & STEEL series, a new bunch of stars has invaded Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The creators of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, FRIDAY THE 13TH and FINAL DESTINATION have started filming an untitled horror film in Serbia with the story which follows a group of friends who become stranded in an eerie and desolate city. Abandoned years before in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster, nature has begun to reclaim everything. As the sun sets on this radioactive ghost town, inhuman cries cut through the night air. It seems they are not alone. The lead star of the film, young actor and pop star Jesse McCartney was seen enjoying the famous Belgrade nightlife this weekend.
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One of the films which will start shooting next year is sf thriller THE LAST DAYS ON MARS. As "MovieWeb" reports it will follow an astronaut crew which finds microscopic evidence of life
in their last day on Mars. In their last hours on the planet, two astronauts go back to a cavernous valley on the surface of Mars, to collect further evidence of their discovery. But a routine excavation turns deadly when one of them falls to his death and his body taken host and re-animated by the very life form they sought to discover. One of our favourite young stars Eddie Redmayne (PILLARS OF THE EARTH, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN) has got the role of Marius in LES MISERABLES beside Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway. As you know the adaptation of Victor Hugo's famous novel is helmed by Tom Hooper from THE KING'S SPEECH.
While his latest film IN TIME is currently in cinemas, brilliant sf director Andrew Niccol (GATTACA) is preparing himself for his next project - movie adaptation of Stephenie Meyers novel THE HOST. As "Variety" writes, Saoirse Ronan is already attached to
star as a girl whose body is invaded by an alien named Wanderer, but now the race for the lead male role is on, and it seems that names which will appear at the screen testing include Liam Hemsworth (THE HUNGER GAMES), Kit Harington (GAME OF THRONES), Jai Courtney (SPARTACUS) and Max Irons (RED RIDING HOOD).
will examine the mysterious death of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was poised in 2006 with polonium-210. As "Deadline" writes, the studio apparently wants RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES director Rupert Wyatt to helm the picture. As "Variety" reports, British film SONG FOR MARION will hit US cinemas too. With a delightful cast which includes Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton and Vanessa Redgrave this London-set comedic drama follows a grumpy elderly man who is reluctantly inspired by his wife Marion to join an unconventional local choir.
