Hey Jude, don’t make it bad…Apparently Jude Law’s been cast in All the King’s Men as Jack Burden (the narrator), with Sean Penn in line for Willie Stark (the Huey Long character.) I generally like Law ok, but to be honest, he ain’t at all what I pictured for Burden, who’s been pretty well broken by life by the time the story starts. Well, we’ll see…hopefully this won’t turn out to be Cold Mountain II.
Category: Casting
Educating Rita.
Also in casting news, Miranda Richardson joins Goblet of Fire as Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter. Ok…she would’ve worked well as the Big Bad for Book V too.
Stretching his Chops.
Uh-oh. Ioan Gruffudd remarks on landing Mr. Fantastic of The Fantastic Four, and it sounds like (a) he’s not familiar with the character and (b) he hasn’t read the script. Schweet. Meanwhile, Lancelot’s lord and liege, Clive Owen, talks up his own comic adaptation, Sin City.
The Rule of Four.
Jim Broadbent joins The Chronicles of Narnia as Professor Kirke, and the four Pevensie children have been revealed.
Stormy Weather.
In comic film news, Halle Berry drops out of X3, because, as her agent puts it, Berry’s “an Oscar winner and she wants roles that test her.” Yeah, like Catwoman. She may be replaced by former FF contender Christina Milian. Speaking of which, the same article also announces the current short list for FF casting: Ioan Gruffudd (Lancelot of King Arthur) as Mr. Fantastic (maybe…seems a little too young), Rachel McAdams (The Notebook and Mean Girls, y’all) as Sue Storm (that definitely could work), Chris Evans (Not Another Teen Movie) as the Human Torch (ok, whatever, this could be any young actor), and Michael Chiklis (The Shield) as The Thing (depends on the makeup.) Update: Apparently, 3 of these 4 are now signed, with only Invisible Girl left to cast, and Jessica Alba’s making a run for it.
Also regarding X3, will Jessica Simpson play Dazzler? Well, it might work as a Colossus-type cameo. I can think of at least two dozen other muties I’d prefer to see as leads, though.
Eat the Piano Player/Sirius Blacker.
In fanboy casting news, The Pianist‘s Thomas Kretschmann joins PJ’s King Kong, while Gary Oldman thinks of signing on as Episode III’s General Grievous.
Back in the Saddle?
While Indy 4 flails about in Development Hell, Harrison Ford signs on for James Cameron’s Godspeed, which so far sounds like something between Solaris and Outland. Unfortunately, Cameron is only producing this flick, and so his much-awaited sci-fi 3D spectacular still waits in the wings.
From Greeks to Goblet.
With Prisoner of Azkhaban right around the corner, casting continues for Mike Newell’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. And for Year 4, the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher — Mad-Eye Moody — will be Brendan Gleeson, most recently seen as Menelaus in Troy. I like it.
Witching Matilda.
Narnia casting has begun, and it’s Tilda Swinton as the White Witch. Yeah, that works…better than Julia Stiles as FF‘s Invisible Girl, at any rate. Update: Swinton will be joined by James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus.
Viva the Vegas.
Flush with the success of the Kill Bills, Quentin Tarantino now threatens to make The Vega Brothers (being John Travolta of Pulp Fiction and Michael Madsen of Reservoir Dogs.) Hmm. I was hoping his next project would be something a little more focused and less derivative of his previous work, after all the cool-guy posturing that afflicted Kill Bill.