What is Casting Couch? It’s the casting roundup that’s got news about what weird, clown-related thing Peter Stormare is going to do next. Read on for the juicy details.
If your name is Dan Aykroyd or Ivan Reitman, then Bill Murray has been spending the last ten years or so trying to convince you that he doesn’t read scripts. That’s got to sting, because Deadline has a new report that proves this to be balderdash. Murray read Ted Melfi’s script for St. Vincent De Van Nuys and identified with the writer’s work so much that he called him up and invited him out for a drive. One negotiating process later and Murray is reportedly ready to sign on to star in the film, which is about a cantankerous old coot who bonds with a twelve-year-old boy over rounds of drinking, gambling, and generally despicable behavior. Sounds like it’s going to be a hoot.
Eddie Redmayne
Gossip around the casting for the role of Harry Osborn in the Amazing Spider-Man sequel seems to be heating up. A few days ago we got word of four young actors being brought in to read for the part, and today there’s a new report that a whole new quartet have been brought in to do the same. According to THR, Snow White & the Huntsman actor Sam Claflin, My Week With Marilyn star Eddie Redmayne, Noah’s Douglas Booth, and The Host’s Boyd Holbrook are the new guys getting a shot. Personally, I’m rooting for Redmayne. Mostly because he’s the only one of these guys I’ve ever really heard of. Well, that and I’d like to see his ginger locks fashioned into that weird ripple hairdo the Osborns always had in the comics. It would be so bizarre.
Richard Dreyfuss
Killing Winston Jones is an upcoming dark comedy about a sixth grade English teacher who’s obsessed with getting a new school gym named after his father. The only problem is, the prerequisite for having a building named after you is usually that you have to be dead, and this guy’s dad is still alive. Undaunted, the duo still decide to give things a go, until their efforts get thwarted by one of the dad’s old rivals. A bitter contest over the naming rights then ensues. Why am I telling you about this movie? Because Variety just got news of who’s been cast in it. Danny Masterson is the teacher, Richard Dreyfuss the dad, and Danny Glover the old rival. Also, Jon Heder is apparently in this thing for some reason too. Just take it as your biennial reminder that Jon Heder is still alive.
Peter Stormare
Ever since he charmed the world by shoving Steve Buscemi in that wood chipper in Fargo, Peter Stormare has been one of the go-to actors whenever Hollywood needs to cast a creepy weirdo. It makes sense then that he would get cast in the upcoming movie about a killer clown, Clown, that Eli Roth is producing for Dimension. THR reports that Stormare and Laura Allen (Terriers) are the latest to join a cast that already includes Andy Powers as the guy who puts on a cursed clown suit and can’t take it off. Allen will be playing the man’s wife, while Stormare will be playing an expert who is steeped in clown lore. Yeah, that’s right, an expert who is steeped in clown lore. Awesome.
Zulay Henao
Tyler Perry’s upcoming comedy, Single Mom’s Club, has gotten its next single mom. According to Variety, the hilarious Wendi McLendon-Covey (Reno 911, Bridesmaids) will be joined by Zulay Henao, an actress who has recently appeared in stuff like Takers and Fighting. Perry, of course, will also be starring in the film as well as writing and directing it, because he’s clearly in some sort of competition with Ryan Seacrest to see who can get their name on more things. It hasn’t been confirmed if it’s Perry’s intention to surround himself in this cast exclusively with actresses whose names are hard to spell, but at this point we can probably just assume that this is the case.
Lucas Till
Any guy who got to star in a movie with both Haley Bennett and Ashley Greene would probably have to be considered the luckiest dude in the world, and the subject of much jealousy. So get ready to aim your jealous rage at Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class), because due to the fact that he’s been cast in Oliver Blackburn’s upcoming thriller Satanic, he just became that guy. Satanic is that one movie about a college girl who becomes the victim of a crew of not so great people during her Thanksgiving break. Probably Satan worshipers, given the title. Variety had the scoop on Till’s involvement.
Liam Neeson
Say what you will about Liam Neeson, you can’t deny that the guy likes to work. He’s been doing multiple movies a year since the ’80s, and ever since Taken proved to executives that the public likes watching him kill people, he’s ramped things up by taking pretty much every aged badass role that’s come along over the past five years. The Wrap reports that the latest comes in a crime thriller called The All Nighter, where Neeson will be playing…wait for it…a hitman. Crazy, I know. He must have discovered a real passion for pretending to kill people. This one, like all the others, gives him a family to protect and a crew of evil gangster types to go up against. Whatever…the story isn’t important. What’s important is that we all get another chance to watch Neeson growl tough guy lines.