What is Casting Couch? It’s full of casting news, just full of it. Today you can find out what’s next for foreign heartthrobs Michael Roskam and Marion Cotillard.
Quvenzhané Wallis has been in the news a lot lately. Not only did the adorable nine-year-old stir up some controversy at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony by skinning a puppy and wearing it as a purse, she’s also been the subject of rumors regarding the Will Smith-produced remake of Annie. After Smith’s daughter Willow dropped out of the film’s starring role because she’s probably in her twenties now or something, it was rumored that Wallis would be stepping in to take her place. Deadline now confirms that this is indeed the case, and Wallis is all set to become the new face of everyone’s favorite orphan. Easy A’s Will Gluck will direct her.
Kodi Smit-McPhee
The casting situation for Matt Reeves’ upcoming monkey movie Dawn of the Planet of the Apes continues to shape up. Recently, we learned that Zero Dark Thirty star Jason Clarke had joined the film in a starring role, and now Deadline is reporting that Reeves is going to re-team with his Let Me In star Kodi Smit-McPhee, as the young actor has also taken a lead role in the film. Whether he will be playing monkey or man, however, is still unknown. Most recently we heard McPhee as the voice of the lead character in the animated movie ParaNorman, which was much better than Pixar’s Brave. Just saying.
Emily Browning
Emily Browning is not only ethereally beautiful in a completely unique way that pops on camera, she also seems to be a talented actress with a lot of potential to do interesting things. That’s why the news that she’s going to be in a Paul W.S. Anderson movie is pretty disappointing. According to Peliblog [via Dark Horizons], Browning has signed on to the movie Pompeii, which will see her playing a shipping tycoon’s daughter who’s the object of love for one of her father’s slaves. Said slave must overcome the hurdles of having been sold to another owner who lives in Naples, as well as the fact that Browning’s character has been promised to a corrupt Roman senator, as well as the fact that he’s a flipping slave, in order to win her hand. It’s a good thing this guy’s the subject of a dumb Paul W.S. Anderson movie, or that would sound pretty impossible.
Matthias Schoenaerts
Michael Roskam’s next film, Animal Rescue, is starting to look really impressive, casting-wise. Not only does it already have Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace, two of the biggest breakout actors of the last ten years, in lead roles, but now The Playlist is reporting that it also has Matthias Schoenaerts on board. For those who have yet to become hip to Schoenaerts, he’s the guy who’s recently turned heads with affecting performances in things like Roskam’s previous film, Bullhead, as well as Rust and Bone, and he’s an actor who should play well next to fellow badasses like Hardy and Rapace. Animal Rescue is a movie about bars, heists, killings, puppies, and women with scars on their necks, so it should be a pretty good time.
Marion Cotillard
If you’re a fan of French cinema in the slightest, chances are you’re pretty dang familiar with names like Marion Cotillard and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Cotillard is one of France’s most radiant actresses, and the admittedly-Belgian Dardennes have been making some of the most important French-language films of the last couple decades. Well, good news Francophiles, because Variety is reporting that Cotillard has signed on to star in the Dardennes’ next film. It’s going to be called Deux jours, une nuit (Two Days, One Night), and it’s going to see Cotillard playing a character who must convince all of her colleagues to give up their yearly bonuses so that her job won’t be eliminated. Given the Dardennes’ penchant for making movies that are difficult to watch and that end bittersweetly at best, one would imagine that her interactions with these colleagues are going to be pretty awkward. Sounds fun, in a French way, no?