What is Casting Couch? It’s the roundup of casting news that knows what Gillian Jacobs is going to be doing with her upcoming break from Community. All that time in the bushes finally paid off.
Most people probably thought Wild Things director John McNaughton’s career hit its zenith when he directed Wild Things. That movie was basically the most ’90s thing ever, and it practically introduced the concept of the three-way to the square community through the communicative power of Denise Richards’ boobs. He may yet top that work though, because Deadline reports that he’s just recruited the best actor in the world, Michael Shannon, to star in his upcoming thriller The Harvest. The film will star Samantha Morton as a successful heart surgeon and Shannon as her co-dependent husband. Its conflict comes in when their sick son meets a new friend, and suddenly the very controlled routine that Morton’s character has created starts to break down. Sounds like a creepy mom.
Barbara Hershey
Speaking of creepy moms, the creepy mom from Black Swan, Barbara Hershey, is said to be coming back for the sequel to another of her recent films, Insidious. As was reported last month, Insidious 2 will not only be bringing back the first film’s creators for some more haunted thrills, but it will also see its principle cast members, Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne, return. That’s not it when it comes to familiar faces though. Now Deadline is reporting that Hershey will also be returning, once again playing the mother of Wilson’s character. Looks like it’s going to be quite the family reunion. Hopefully somebody remembered to invite the demon.
Joel Edgerton
Joel Edgerton just keeps chugging away, starring in big movie after big movie. It almost feels like this Aussie actor isn’t going to stop until he takes over the entire world. What an egomaniac! Soon we’ll be seeing him in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty and Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby, and now Deadline is reporting that we also might get the chance to see him acting opposite Natalie Portman and Michael Fassbender in Lynne Ramsay’s (We Need to Talk About Kevin) new Western, Jane Got a Gun. He’s currently negotiating, and if he signs on, Edgerton would be playing the villain of the story, a gang leader coming to kill Portman’s already indisposed husband. Which will reportedly give him the opportunity to fight her old boyfriend (Fassbender) as well. I think this same story was the plot of an episode of Maury once.
Nicola Peltz
The Internet may have been mostly responsible for casting Mark Wahlberg in Michael Bay’s upcoming space robot action sequel, Transformers 4, but the director reportedly needed a lengthy screening process to find the two young faces who he hopes to hand the franchise over to. And now Twitch has the scoop of who made the grade. Apparently The Last Airbender actress Nicola Peltz will be playing the role of Wahlberg’s teenage daughter and Maleficent star Brenton Thwaites will be playing her motorcycle-riding, bad boy boyfriend. It’s a good thing we got this cleared up, because heaven forbid a big budget franchise doesn’t have a cast of fresh-faced young people to plaster on its posters.
Janel Parrish
Speaking of fresh-faced young people, Deadline has the news that Pretty Little Liars actor Janel Parrish and Twilight actor Jackson Rathbone have just signed on to play the leads in Pece Dingo’s (Midnight Cabaret) latest indie film, The Concerto. Parrish, apparently, will be playing a young musician who moves into a new house, while Rathbone will be playing the ghost who haunts said house. Haunt might be a little bit strong of a word though, because the film’s synopsis also describes his character as being “the perfect man.” What goes on after Parrish’s character moves into this new house has yet to be revealed, but I think we can all agree that if it doesn’t involve a pottery wheel and Whoopie Goldberg, it’s going to be a disappointment.
Gillian Jacobs
Gillian Jacobs, the star of NBC’s Community who is hilarious and gorgeous in equal measure, is the latest name to join that upcoming comedy that sounds like it might be a slut-shaming call to action for feminist protestors, Walk of Shame. As you well know, every lead character in a comedy about young professionals needs a best friend, so THR is reporting that Jacobs will be joining the cast as the best friend of this film’s lead, who will be played by Elizabeth Banks. Of course, this begs the question, if this whole movie is about Banks’ character struggling to get across town from the scene of a drunken one night stand to an early morning job interview, why doesn’t she just call Jacobs to come and pick her up? Some friend.