What is Casting Couch? It’s the casting news roundup that’s ready for the weekend.
Colin Firth is kind of a sneaky hunk. At first glance he’s pretty handsome, but not the most attractive dude in the world, and then he’s got this charm to him that just grows on you until you’ve scrawled his name on all of your Trapper Keepers. He’s such saucy dish that it looks like he can make even a big name star like Nicole Kidman develop a schoolgirl crush. THR is reporting that she liked playing his wife in the recent World War II drama The Railway Man so much that she’s now actively recruiting him to join her in her next project, Before I Go to Sleep. Apparently, Before I Go to Sleep is an adaptation of a S.J. Watson novel about an amnesiac woman whose husband must reintroduce himself to her every morning. Early attempts at titling the film The Rich Man’s 50 First Dates were reportedly rejected by the studio.
Billy Dee Williams
When the famously standoffish and Star Wars-ashamed Harrison Ford confirmed that he would be willing to appear in Disney’s new Star Wars movie, it was kind of big news. When TMZ then tracked down Carrie Fisher and had her admit that she would be willing to be in the new film as well, it was less so. And now that they’ve confronted Billy Dee Williams in the Icee aisle of a gas station and had him respond with an unenthusiastic, “I guess so,” to the Star Wars question, things may have gone a little too far. We get it, everyone is in for the new Star Wars. If Disney wants, they can have everybody back. There’s no need to track down Peter Mayhew and whoever did the voice of Admiral Ackbar while they’re hitting golf balls to ask them if they’ll do a movie that will make hundreds of millions of dollars. They’re in.
Katherine Heigl
At first glance you might see the title The Nut Job and think that we’re talking about subject matter that’s NSFW, but, fear not, this is actually a new animated children’s movie about a cartoon squirrel and his rat sidekick trying to pull a heist in a nut store (do nut stores really exist?). And it’s also a movie that’s recruited an ensemble cast of fairly famous actors for its voice work. According to Deadline, Katherine Heigl, Will Arnett, Brendan Fraser, Stephen Lang, Sarah Gadon, and Jeff Dunham are all on board to voice talking animals of some sort. Or, as it’s known in the industry, to show up to a sound booth in your pajamas for a couple of hours and then cash a huge check.
Scoot McNairy
Have you gotten hip to Scoot McNairy yet? He’s an actor on the rise who’s recently appeared in stuff like Killing Them Softly and Argo, and who’s currently working with Steve McQueen on his next film Twelve Years a Slave. Seems like its only a matter of time before Scoot is a household name. Especially given Deadline’s news that he’s just gotten new representation who have already landed him roles opposite Michael Fassbender in that rock comedy he’s doing, Frank, and in David Michôd’s followup to the awesome Animal Kingdom, The Rover, where he joins Robert Pattinson and Guy Pearce. Oh, and did I mention that he’s also in the new Gus Van Sant movie, Promised Lands? Yeah, this guy is going places.
Steve Zahn
The Dallas Buyer’s Club has Matthew McConaughey losing an unhealthy amount of weight. It’s got Jared Leto dressing up in drag. It’s got Jennifer Garner…well, she’s probably just putting on a lab coat to play the doctor. But, the point is, this AIDS drama keeps making headlines not only for the names joining its cast, but also for the roles it’s putting them in. The latest news, from Variety, is that Steve Zahn has joined the cast as a police officer sympathetic to the McConaughey character’s cause of smuggling illegal medication into the country, and Dallas Roberts has joined as the character’s defense attorney. There’s not yet any word on whether either of them will have to get really fat or wear a rubber nose, but one can assume.
Thomas Jane
A couple days ago news broke of an ensemble indie dramedy called Reach Me that Sylvester Stallone was taking a role in. It was about a cast of characters who all had their lives affected by the same self-help book, and it was going to be directed by John Herzfeld (2 Days in the Valley). Well, not only is this movie still a thing, but it’s also just announced a bunch more actors that it’s acquired for its cast. In addition to Stallone, Reach Me will also feature Tom Berenger, Kevin Connolly, Thomas Jane, Kyra Sedgwick, Kelsey Grammer, Nelly, Danny Aiello, Terry Crews, David O’Hara, Omari Hardwick, Lauren Cohan, Elizabeth Henstridge, Cary Elwes, and Ryan Kwanten. Man, when they said this was an ensemble, they weren’t lying. [via ComingSoon]