What is Casting Couch? It’s where you go to make sure Elijah Wood is adding another new job to his calendar every day. Turns out, today he kept the streak alive, read on…
Colin Firth and Michael Fassbender are two of the best actors on the planet Earth; objectively, inarguably. What a coup, then, that director Michael Grandage has landed both of them for his upcoming project, Genius. Based on a book by A. Scott Berg, Genius is a biopic that explores the relationship between Thomas Wolfe (Fassbender) and his editor Max Perkins (Firth). Turns out Wolfe and Perkins were great friends, but the kind who butted heads over everything. Sure, listening to two guys argue over word choice wouldn’t normally sound like a very exciting idea for a movie, but with these two actors on board it absolutely does. Add this one to your to-do list. [Variety]
Donnie Yen
If you like movies where people kick and punch a lot, then chances are you’re a big fan of Donnie Yen, because he’s one of the best kick punchers out there. And, while it’s not surprising to hear that he has another martial arts movie in the works, it’s always kind of reassuring. According to Film Business Asia [via Twitch], his latest role will come in a film called Enter the Master, which sounds very martial arts movie, if not a little porny, and will reunite Yen with his Assassins & Bodyguards co-star Nicholas Tse. And by reunite, I mean that they’ll be reuniting to kick the crap out of each other.
Shirley MacLaine
Christopher Plummer and Shirley MacLaine are two old-ass actors, but neither of them seem to be slowing down when it comes to churning out awesome performances. That’s kind of inspiring, but mostly it’s just a great joy to watch talents on their level work. So director Michael Radford’s remake of the 2005 film Elsa & Fred should be awesome, because Variety is reporting that he just signed Plummer and MacLaine to be his leads. Two great flavors coming together to create something even better, mmm… I’m going to go grab a peanut butter cup.
Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood has been a busy little Frodo. It seems like every day his name pops up in some new bit of casting news. Screen Daily brings us the latest, which is that Wood is going to be starring in Nacho Vigalondo’s English-language debut, Open Windows. The film will see Wood’s character going on a crazy quest to rescue a girl played by Sasha Grey who has been kidnapped by a dude played by Neil Maskell (Kill List). Oh yeah, and it seems like it’s going to have some sort of found footage gimmick where everything you see in the movie is what’s appearing on somebody’s laptop screen, or something. I saved that bit for the end because it’s the only part that sounds kind of lame.
Gael Garcia Bernal
Ever since his movie Blood Appears played Cannes, Argentinean director Pablo Fendrik has been a filmmaker whose name is on the rise. It’s with great anticipation that the film world awaits his next work, which sounds like it’s going to be pretty awesome, because Variety is reporting that he just signed Gael Garcia Bernal for the lead role. The movie is called The Ardor, and it casts Bernal as an Amazonian shaman who seeks revenge against a group of deforesters who kill a tobacco farmer that he was friends with and kidnap his daughter. Also, Fendrik has cast Alice Braga as the daughter, so there’s another thing this movie has going for it.
Kim Basinger
Didn’t think that Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming boxing movie Grudge Match could sound any more ’80s? Well it can. According to Variety, director Peter Segal has just cast Kim Basinger as the foxy lady who’s caught between the two aging fighters. If we didn’t know that Kevin Hart was cast as the guy who promotes their fight, it wouldn’t be too hard to convince yourself that this was one of the best movies that came out in 1987, and you just forgot about it for some reason. Looks like we’ll be seeing how much box office power these veterans have left in their reserves.
Saoirse Ronan
There isn’t much that we yet know about Wes Anderson’s next project, The Grand Budapest Hotel. We know that it’s about a hotel, that it seems to be taking place in the past, and that it’s assembled an impressive ensemble cast. That’s about it. But it’s hard to complain when a cast that already includes names like Bill Murray, Ralph Fiennes, and Jude Law goes and adds a name like Saoirse Ronan as the female lead. Here’s a girl who was already getting nominated for Oscars when she was 13, and who hasn’t even begun to show us what she’s got as an actress, getting to work with one of the best directors in the business. Pretty hard not to get excited about that. Come on though, Mr. Anderson…what’s this one about? Give us a hint. [Variety]