What is Casting Couch? It’s a whole bunch of casting news that’s being hastily compiled in the middle of an extra long work shift, so it apologizes if it’s uncharacteristically curt. Today we’ve got news concerning names ranging from Jennifer Garner all the way to Diddy.
Which pair of modern actors would you say are the modern versions of Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra? Fox is willing to bet that it’s Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. According to Deadline, the studio has just acquired the rights to classic film and stage musical Guys and Dolls, and it’s their hope to sign Tatum and Gordon-Levitt to play the iconic roles of Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit; gambling-addicted friends who make a kind of rapey bet about whether or not they can convince a nice girl to go on a trip to Havana. What do you think, do Tatum and Gordon-Levitt have the singing and dancing talent to pull this off? And are they rapey enough to be right for the parts?
Armie Hammer
It’s true that the in-development adaptation of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has had a pretty rocky history, but now that Guy Ritchie is on board to direct the film and Tom Cruise is signed on to be its star, work seems to finally be moving forward in a real way. The latest news about the spy thriller, from Heat Vision, is that Lone Ranger star Armie Hammer has been signed up to play the other lead of the film. If you remember, the original Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV show was about two international spies, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, working together. Well, this time around Cruise is going to be playing the Vaughn role and Hammer the McCallum role. Given the pairing of these two actors, one can’t help but wonder: Isn’t Armie Hammer supposed to be pretty tall?
Cole Hauser
Before Armie Hammer moves on to co-starring with Cruise in this new spy movie, we still have to see how he did co-starring with another huge actor, Johnny Depp, in this summer’s Lone Ranger. Which serves as our transition here, because Heat Vision is reporting that A Good Day to Die Hard and Olympus Has Fallen actor Cole Hauser has just agreed to become the newest of Depp’s co-stars. He’s reportedly in final negotiations to join Depp on Wally Pfister’s upcoming sci-fi flick, Transcendence, in the role of a military officer who gets called upon to save the world. Suddenly, it’s starting to look like a pretty dang good year to be Cole Hauser.
Ryan Reynolds
After his most recent films, Immortals and Mirror Mirror, there were probably a lot of people who were hoping that Tarsem Singh would take a break from movies for a little bit and regroup. It doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen though. Deadline is reporting that the director is currently putting together a project called Selfless, which is a thriller about a rich old man paying to have his mind transplanted into a young cadaver, only to find that said cadaver was murdered and now he has said murderers on his trail. The casting news here is that Singh is reportedly in talks with Ryan Reynolds to come on board in both a producing capacity and as the film’s protagonist. It’s true that this prospective duo might sound scary at first, but at least Singh creates some cool visuals every once in a while and Reynolds is pretty handsome?
Sean Combs
Did you think that since it’s currently gearing up to start its shooting at the real NFL Draft, Ivan Reitman’s next film, Draft Day, had already completed its cast? Yeah, I kind of did too, but it turns out that isn’t the case. Variety is reporting that Reitman has just made the last minute additions of Sean Combs and Terry Crews to an already beefy ensemble. Of course, Combs is best known as being a rapper and Crews is best known as being a football player, but both have looked comfortable acting enough times at this point to where their inclusion in any cast shouldn’t come as a worry. Especially Crews, whose portrayal of President Camacho in Idiocracy is kind of iconic. They should be able to add some charm to this one.
Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Garner—she’s pretty famous, huh? THR is reporting that her next big role is likely to come in Disney’s children’s book adaptation Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. She’s reportedly currently in talks to join the film, which would see her starring opposite Steve Carrell and playing the mother of the title character. All of this news may sound perfectly harmless at first glance, but once you remember that the last time Garner starred in a family film for Disney the results were the horrifically creepy The Odd Life of Timothy Green, suddenly one begins to worry. Hopefully they’re able to make this one fun and heart-warming instead of completely skin-crawling and strange. For everyone’s sake.