What is Casting Couch? It’s a compiling of the day’s casting news. Today it’s all about manly actors playing even manlier men. Find out who David O. Russell wants to cast opposite Jennifer Lawrence next.
We’ve heard about Solace before. It’s that slightly supernatural serial killer movie where Colin Farrell is playing a psychopath who may have psychic powers and Anthony Hopkins is playing a possibly psychic doctor and expert in murder who must be coaxed out of retirement so that he can help the police catch the bad guy. Well, today we’ve learned that by “police,” the synopsis of this film really meant Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Heat Vision reports that the ruggedly handsome actor, who’s basically the American Javier Bardem, has signed on to play the veteran FBI agent who’s been hunting Farrell’s character down and who needs the help of Hopkins’. It sounds like he got the short end of the stick when it comes to psychic powers, but his inclusion makes this a pretty formidable cast anyway.
Thought that Vin Diesel only made The Fast and the Furious sequels these days? Think again, because Deadline has word that he’s currently circling a whole new kind of action film. The project is called The Last Witch Hunter, and it comes from a 2010 Black List script about an immortal witch hunter who must team up with a female witch in order to take down a powerful coven based in New York City. Diesel’s talks are said to be in the earliest stages, but come on, when you think immortal witch hunter you definitely think muscled-up, growly, bald dude. They’re going to have to do whatever it takes to get him signed. Maybe if they’re lucky they can get The Rock to don drag and play the female witch? Breck Eisner (The Crazies) is directing.
Back in November we learned that rock-star-turned-actor Lenny Kravitz had been hired to play Marvin Gaye in a biopic about the music legend’s attempted comeback and battle with addictions during the early ’80s called Sexual Healing. Well, it turns out Gaye’s son, Marvin Gaye III, had objections about Kravitz playing his pop for some reason, and made a big stink that he would sue the production if Kravitz didn’t step down. And, according to Deadline, said stink worked, because they’re reporting that Kravitz has now been replaced by actor Jesse L. Martin, who was already attached to this project around five years ago, when it was being handled by different producers. If the casting finally sticks this time and the movie gets made, Martin will be co-starring alongside Brendan Gleason, who’s playing the British promoter who tried to mastermind Gaye’s comeback. Hopefully everything is now set, because Brendan Gleason is awesome.
Speaking of famous musicians, isn’t Nick Cannon a musician of some sort? Or is he just famous for hosting Wild ‘N Out? Either way, THR is reporting that he’s been recruited to star in a biopic of drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross for writer/director Nick Cassavetes (Alpha Dog, The Notebook). Ross and Cannon are reportedly so happy with how the project looks that they announced it together in a Youtube video where Ross said, “I’ve been wanting him to play my role since ’96. We got hooked up, I met him, I loved his personality,” and Cannon shot back with, “This is history in the making right here. We family now. We gonna get this thing right however long it take. The story gotta be told: the real Rick Ross.” One thing’s for sure, with Cannon on board this movie certainly won’t be lacking in empty hype.
Everyone stood up and cheered when it was announced that Jennifer Lawrence would be working with director David O. Russell again on her upcoming starring vehicle, The Ends of the Earth, but given that the movie was reportedly about a big-time oil tycoon who loses everything after engaging in an adulterous affair with his adopted niece, the question of who was going to play the uncle was still on the table. Well, The Daily Mail claims to have some insight into which direction that casting is going. Apparently names like Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon are being bandied about, but if it were up to Russell, he would cast Christian Bale as the uncle. As you probably remember, Bale got a lot of attention after acting for Russell in his recent boxing movie, The Fighter, so pairing him up with Lawrence, another actor who has thrived under Russell’s direction, could possibly be the best thing ever. Let’s hope he gets his wish.