Take that, Tim. You may well be Arthur Dent, but Ricky Gervais, The Office‘s co-creator and smarmy boss David, has been promoted to the cast of MI:3. No word on whether Finchy will come along for the ride. (As this post suggests, I’ve spent a goodly portion of the past two weeks catching up on both The Office and Freaks & Geeks…good stuff, that.)
Category: Casting
Hans Gruber, Paranoid Android.
More stellar news from the Hitchhiker’s camp: Alan Rickman will voice Marvin. By Grabthar’s hammer, that’s pitch-perfect casting. (Also, BBC star Bill Bailey will voice the whale…no word on who’s playing the flowerpot.)
Blue (and Red) Crush.
In the fanboy casting department, Kate Bosworth is set to play Lois Lane in Bryan Singer’s forthcoming Superman, while Natalie Portman purportedly joins V for Vendetta. Bosworth doesn’t scream Lois to me, but she’s talented (and, obviously a looker) and I’m sure she’ll do well. As for V, I could see it going either way at this point, although I do like the teaser poster (at right). Update: Regarding Superman, it’s official: Spacey is Lex.
Brian the Lion.
Aigh!…the lion won’t stop chewing the scenery! Brian Cox is cast as Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia. Snark aside, I actually think that’s quite good voice-casting.
Tony (to) Stark.
The cast for All the King’s Men fills out, with Patricia Clarkson replacing Meryl Streep as Sadie, Anthony Hopkins taking on Judge Irwin, and James Gandolfini portraying Tiny Duffy, Willie’s most grotesque sycophant. Hmmm…I like Clarkson as Sadie, but Hopkins screams stunt casting, and (as with Streep earlier) I’m not sure Gandolfini makes sense given that Sean Penn’s playing Willie. I’d love to see a well-done remake of All the King’s Men, one of my favorite novels, but I fear this project may fast be veering into Cold Mountain “Miramax All-Stars” territory.
So Long Sadie.
Meryl Streep is apparently off the All the King’s Men remake. To be honest, if Sean Penn is Willie and Jude Law is Jack, I don’t think she made much sense as Sadie anyway. Ellen Barkin, perhaps?
Code to Perdition.
Forrest Gump battles Opus Dei as Tom Hanks takes the lead in The Da Vinci Code, coming soon to a theater near you from Ron Howard and Brian Glazer (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind.) I haven’t read the book, so I can’t really vouch for the casting…but I presume this movie would make ridiculous bank with or without Hanks anyway.
Routh-El?
Has Latino Review unearthed Bryan Singer’s Superman? They believe so, and his name is Brandon Routh. Well, Singer did say he’s looking for an unknown… Update: Routh is confirmed.
Rohan vs. the Martians.
Human reinforcements arrive as Team Human Nature/Ian and Eowyn, a.k.a. Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto respectively, spell Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning in Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Good. I generally root for all of these actors, Code 46 notwithstanding.
Feeling Rock, Seeing Spots.
In comic casting news, Laurie Holden (a.k.a. Marita Covarrubias of The X-Files) is rumored to have been cast as The Thing’s fiancee Debbie in Fantastic Four (Debbie? I take it she’s pre-Alicia Masters, who may be played by Kerry Washington of She Hate Me.) And Simon Pegg, whose praises I was just singing as Shaun of the Dead, may be up for Rorschach in The Watchmen. Ooh, that’s a great idea.