What is Casting Couch? It’s here to help you keep abreast of which projects are appearing on your favorite actors’ upcoming calendars. Today we have news about who the latest talent to play Liam Neeson’s kid in a movie where Liam Neeson kills people is going to be. Hint: he’s part man, part machine, all cop.
Despite the fact that the 2011 comedy Horrible Bosses took a talented ensemble of actors and generally failed to do anything funny with them, it’s looking like enough people paid to watch it that it’s going to be getting a sequel. THR is reporting that all three of its stars, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis, have signed on to appear in a second go around. And, in addition to that, Jamie Foxx is said to be likely to return as the trio’s murder consultant—and there even might be room for Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey’s characters to return in cameo roles. Horrible Bosses writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have returned to pen the sequel, and Seth Gordon will return to direct. This would all sound like an incredible amount of fan-service, if I had ever met anyone who was a fan of Horrible Bosses. Oh well, maybe this one will be better?
David Strathairn
Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla reboot continues to add to the pool of actors that it’s in talks with. The rumor has been that, while none of the actors are yet official, after the last re-write of the script that Frank Darabont is doing gets turned in, names like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Cranston will go from verbal confirmations to being signed, sealed, and delivered. And now Variety reports that you can add Lincoln and Bourne actor David Strathairn to that lineup as well. While the film’s details are still being kept largely under wraps, rumor has it that Strathairn has been chosen to play the role of a military figure—hopefully the one who’s constantly imploring the President to handle the threat of Godzilla with nuclear force. Every good disaster movie needs one of those.
Gina Rodriguez
It’s been a pretty good couple of days for actress Gina Rodriguez. Not only has the Sundance 2012 project she starred in, Filly Brown, just got a distribution deal and an April 19 release date, but members of the team behind Filly Brown have also cast her in their next film, Marching Banda. Deadline is reporting that Youssef Delara will direct the script, which was written by Victor Teran, and which casts Rodriguez as the single mother of a high school trumpet player. The conflict of the film occurs when the boy’s estranged father shows back up in his life and bonds with him over teaching the school band how to play traditional Mexican music. Or maybe that’s not a conflict, maybe that’s a good thing. Where the film goes wasn’t made all that clear. Regardless, expect a film full of lively music and pretty brown people.
Joel Kinnaman
Jaume Collet-Serra’s (Orphan) next movie is going to be about a hitman played by Liam Neeson, because people seem to like movies that are about hitmen played by Liam Neeson. The story comes from a spec script by Out of the Furnace writer Brad Ingelsby, and it casts Neeson as an aging hitman who has to take on his former boss after his chauffeur son witnesses a murder that he wasn’t supposed to and suddenly becomes somebody else’s loose end. This is all old news though. The new news comes from Heat Vision, and it’s that the name of the film has been changed from Run All Night to All Nighter, and that Joel Kinnaman, the star of the upcoming Robocop reboot, will be playing the role of the son. You see why Neeson makes for such a good hitman? He’s so tough that even Robocop needs his protection.