Firefly‘s Nathan Fillion and Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff will appear together in White Noise 2: The Light. Smart play by Rogue Pictures — maybe the Browncoats and Galacticaheads (Capricans?) will fill the seats for what’s essentially a straight-to-video property. (Did anyone even see White Noise? I know Michael Keaton was in it, that’s about it.)
Tag: Casting
Leo Rex.
Looks like Spielberg and Neeson’s Lincoln may have started a welcome trend. Trading in the aviator glasses for pince-nez, Leonardo di Caprio will apparently star as TR in Martin Scorsese’s The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, based on the Edmund Morris biography. Hmm…I can see that, provided the film doesn’t carry too far into the presidential years. Bully for him.
Steelers’ Reels / Capt. Cromwell.
Another Superbowl has come and gone (Congrats to the Steelers, some of the calls notwithstanding), and — while I personallly preferred the FedEx cavemen and Hummer monsters — some new movie ads were scattered throughout the game, including new looks at V for Vendetta, MI:III, Poseidon, and Pirates of the Caribbean. (And, also in movie news, the increasingly over-stuffed Spiderman 3 picks up another marquee name with James Cromwell as Capt. Stacy, Gwen’s father.)
Welcome to Coen Country.
Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones look set to enter No Country for Old Men for the Coen Brothers, from a book by Cormac McCarthy. “Set in West Texas in 1980, the story is about a young Vietnam vet who stumbles over the remnants of a drug deal gone bad. He’s hunted by two extremely vicious assassins who want the money back.” My, that’s a Coenesque plot line. (Hail Caesar!, their other current project, is apparently expected to start shooting soon.)
Phoenix Force Five.
The cast for Order of the Phoenix is announced, with Helen McCrory as Bellatrix Lestrange, Natalia Tena as Nymphadora Tonks, Kathryn Hunter as Mrs. Figg, and newcomer Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood. (Previously announced were George Harris and Imelda Staunton.) I have no sense of any of these actors, but they all seem to look the part.
Being Kingsley.
Joining Imelda Staunton for Year 5 at Hogwarts, veteran actor George Harris will play Kingsley Shacklebolt in the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (set to begin filming next month.) You may recognize him as Capt. Katanga in Raiders of the Lost Ark, or, more recently, as Morty in Layer Cake.
The Night Gwen Stacy…Returned?
Curiouser and curiouser…The Village‘s Bryce Dallas Howard joins Spiderman 3 as none other than Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker’s doomed childhood sweetheart. I find this somewhat strange, since they’d basically turned Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson into Gwen Stacy in the first film (#6). (Plus, they’ve switched hair-colors, but ah well.)
By Any Other Name.
Byrne. Rose Byrne. Word is that’s who been tapped to play the next Bond girl (“Vesper Lynd”) opposite Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. (Prior to this gig and Sofia Coppola’s upcoming Marie Antoinette, she was in Troy, Wicker Park, and I Capture the Castle.) But who’s playing Moneypenny?
From Gollum to Igor.
Even more fanboy prestige for The Prestige: AICN reports that Gollum/Kong creator Andy Serkis has joined the cast of Christopher Nolan’s version, as an assistant to Nicola Tesla (David Bowie). He joins Bowie, Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, and Michael Caine.
The Libertine (of Gotham).
And another spate of Batman casting rumors. This time ’round it’s Johnny Depp as the Joker and Rachel Weisz as Talia (Liam Neeson/Ras Al Ghul’s daughter.) With the Penguin (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Liev Schrieber) also purportedly in the mix, it sounds like something’s got to give.