What is Casting Couch? It’s the casting news roundup that’s bursting at the seams after Hollywood had a very gabby twenty-four hours. Dig in.
Tom Hardy: quite simply, he’s awesome. But can he do a Russian accent? We’re likely to find out now that he’s signed up to co-star alongside the also awesome Noomi Rapace in a new film called Child 44. Deadline reports that this one is about a Soviet war hero who uncovers a mass murder and is suddenly faced with doubts about the country he’s spent his life believing in and fighting for. Michael R. Roskam will be directing the film, which is an adaptation of the first in a trilogy of Tom Rob Smith novels. So, if you like bleak Soviet Union-set murder stories, you might be getting sequels!
Jessica Chastain
Somewhere over the course of the past two years or so, Jessica Chastain went from being relatively anonymous to being an actress who’s in about two wide release films a month, and who generally receives rave reviews for everything she does. Now that she’s earned another Oscar nomination for Zero Dark Thirty, she’s at the peak of whatever supernatural powers she was given by the devil, so her new project, Miss Julie, should be pretty great. According to Variety, this is an adaptation of an August Strindberg play about the daughter of a count who takes to hanging out with her servants. Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton are signed on to play two of said servants, so Miss Julie has that working for it too.
Tom Welling
Superman is about to return to the big screen. No, I’m not talking about Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot, Man of Steel, I’m talking about the real Superman (as long as you’ve never seen any of the other live action versions), Smallville’s Tom Welling, landing a role in a new movie. Deadline reports he’s the latest to join the ensemble cast of Parkland, that movie about the JFK assassination that stars people like Paul Giamatti, Zac Efron, and Billy Bob Thornton. There’s not yet any word on what character he’ll be playing, but chances are he’ll be handsome.
Sam Worthington
Remember Sam Worthington, that guy who was in Wrath of the Titans and looked like he might become a leading man for about fifteen minutes? He’s back! Variety reports that he’s set to star in an adaptation of a Kevin Wingnall novel called “For the Dogs” that has been adapted for the screen by Rampart’s Oren Moverman and will be directed by Phillip Noyce. The story is about one of those lonely hitman types who helps a college girl get revenge against the people who brutally murdered her family. This is a twist on the lonely hitman trope because—you know—these characters don’t usually get to bang hot college girls.
Charlize Theron
We’ve heard that Seth MacFarlane’s follow-up to his wildly popular talking teddy bear movie, Ted, was going to be some sort of comedic Western called A Million Ways to Die in the West, but when that news first broke it’s not likely that anyone pictured a film that would be starring Charlize Theron. It seems like that’s what we might get though. THR is reporting that the A-lister might tap into the experience performing highly offensive comedy she earned on Arrested Development to head up this story of a woman who leaves her farmer boyfriend because he chickened out on a gunfight. A deal is reportedly close to being made.
Cody Horn
Somehow, amidst all of the oiled-up abs and flopping wang, Cody Horn managed to stand out and turn some heads in last year’s stripper drama Magic Mike, so she’s looking to keep that momentum going by signing on to that untitled thriller from James Wan (Saw) that has already recruited Maria Bello and Frank Grillo. If you recall, this one is about a psychologist and a police officer who are investigating a ghost hunt that resulted in the deaths of five people. Horn will reportedly be playing a ghost hunter. Whoops. [THR]
Frank Langella
Frank Langella has been around forever. You know him, you love him, and he’s just signed on to do another project. Deadline reports that he’s the latest to join the cast of Reykjavik, the movie about the 1986 peace summit that already stars Michael Douglas as Ronald Reagan and Christoph Waltz as Mikhail Gorbachev. Langella will be playing U.S. Secretary of the Navy, Paul Nitze, who was apparently one of Reagan’s most trusted advisors. I say “apparently” because it turns out I don’t know anything about modern history. Good thing they’re making this movie.
Kevin Durand
Casting news has been trickling out of Queen of the Night for a while now, but it seems like this kidnapping drama may be close to finally filling all of its empty roles. The latest name to join folk like Ryan Reynolds, Mireille Enos, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson, and Alexia Fast is Kevin Durand, who’s going to be playing the kidnapper. Durand has been around for a while without really becoming a name, but he’s got a metric butt-ton of movies like Winter’s Tale, Noah, and The Mortal Instruments coming up soon, so chances are it’s just a matter of time before you start recognizing who he is. [Deadline]
Zac Efron
We end, wistfully, on news regarding Zac Efron. THR reports that the fresh-faced youngster will continue his campaign to get the Disney stink off him by producing and starring in a thriller that’s tentatively being called The Falling. Efron will produce alongside Akiva Goldsman, who helped hammer out the story’s details. They’re keeping said story details close to the vest, but word has it that this one has something to do with some sort of otherworldly being. Hopefully there’s more to it than that, because The Falling is a really generic title, and audiences are going to be reluctant to give Efron another chance to head up a serious drama after watching him get peed on by Nicole Kidman in The Paperboy, so they’re going to need all the help selling this one they can get.