Ansel Elgort Is Augustus Waters in "The Fault in Our Stars" Opposite Shailene Woodley

From siblings to star-crossed lovers! EW reports rising star Ansel Elgort has been offered the male lead in "The Fault in Our Stars" opposite Shailene Woodley - who plays his sister in the currently-filming dystopian adaptation "Divergent." The two Read more

Dylan O'Brien Lands "The Maze Runner" Lead; Ki Hong Lee Also Joins

UPDATE: Director Wes Ball tweets that Ki Hong Lee has also joined the cast as Minho, a fellow Glader and ally to Thomas throughout the series. Lee is probably best known as a regular on short-lived ABC Family Read more

Shailene Woodley Confirmed for "The Fault in Our Stars"

I mean, duh, we called it. It has now been officially confirmed with glowing quotes from director, producer and author in tow that the increasingly in demand Shailene Woodley will play the lead role of Hazel Grace Lancaster Read more

Up and Comers Presents: 20 Faces to Watch in 2013

After a somewhat unpredictable year in which the stars we expected to break out largely didn't but fresh faces came out of nowhere to surprise us all, we are ready to look ahead to the new talent waiting to Read more

Up and Comers Presents: The Breakout Stars of 2012

Another year, another new crop of fresh talent. Just like last year, the hardest part is narrowing down which of the dozens of the year's rising stars shone the brightest. This year we heralded the arrival of the unlikeliest Read more
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alan arkin

“Life of Pi” Star Suraj Sharma Has a “Million Dollar Arm” in Baseball Drama

April 17, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

suraj-sharma “Life of Pi” star Suraj Sharma had always said he planned to stay in India and finish his college degree despite his newfound fame, but sometimes the lure of Hollywood is just too strong, especially when you have a breakout moment like his and filmmakers start clamoring to cast you in all their cool new projects. Well, Sharma has finally caved and said yes to something, with The Wrap reporting the actor will star in Disney’s baseball drama “Million Dollar Arm.”

The true life baseball story will be directed by Craig Gillespie and stars Jon Hamm as J.B. Bernstein, who created a reality competition show called Million Dollar Arm in India, with cricket players competing for the top prize of a million dollars and a training session in the United States, with the possibility of being signed to a Major League Baseball team. The two winners in 2008, Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh, became the first Indian pitchers to sign MLB contracts – with the Pittsburgh Pirates. There’s no word on which of the pitchers Sharma will play – Patel, who eventually went home to India to play for his country’s national team, or Singh, who remains in the US. Tom McCarthy wrote the script for “Million Dollar Arm”, which also stars Alan Arkin as a retired scout.

Sharma beat out thousands of hopeful young actors to star in Ang Lee’s gorgeous and meditative “Life of Pi”, his first and only film, and has plans to continue to study the medium at University. After “Million Dollar Arm”, presumably, which begins filming next month in Mumbai before moving to Atlanta.

“Odd Thomas” star Addison Timlin to share the screen with “Stand Up Guys” Pacino, Walken and Arkin

March 1, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

“Odd Thomas” star Addison Timlin is joining the amazing cast of Lionsgate action-comedy “Stand Up Guys”, according to Variety. Oscar winners and screen legends Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin star in the film that was working under the title “Old Timers.”

Fisher Stevens will direct the film written by Noah Haidle, about two aging former hitmen who “decide to spend one last night of debauchery together before one has to kill the other.” Timlin has landed one of two pivotal female roles as Walken’s granddaugher. Filming is set to begin next month in Los Angeles.

Timlin, adept at balancing both TV and movie roles, beat out the likes of Emma Roberts and Kat Dennings for the female lead in Stephen Sommers’ adaptation of Dean Koontz’s “Odd Thomas” opposite Anton Yelchin and received much critical acclaim for her role as David Duchovny’s love interest on the last season of Showtime series “Californiacation.” She also completed a supporting role opposite Justin Long in indie comedy “Lumpy” and has landed the lead role in ABC pilot “Zero Hour.”

“Lucky One” Taylor Schilling marries Ben Affleck in “Argo”

August 29, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Newcomer Taylor Schilling has been given one hell of an introduction to mainstream feature films. Having wrapped up romancing Zac Efron in Nicholas Sparks’ “The Lucky One”, she is now upgrading to an even bigger Hollywood heartthrob. Variety reports Schilling will play Mrs Ben Affleck in political thriller “Argo”, also directed by the actor. Schilling is the first female to jump on board the cast that already includes Bryan Cranston, Kyle Chandler, John Goodman and Alan Arkin. Recently “Monsters” breakout star Scoot McNairy also signed on.

Based on Joshuah Bearman’s April 2007 Wired magazine article “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran,” “Argo” is a retelling of true events that surround a CIA operative team smuggled out American diplomats being held hostage by pretending they were a Hollywood movie crew. Affleck plays Tony Mendez, the leader of the operation, while Schilling will be Christine Mendez, a former teacher whose role is, predictably, to sit at home and worry about her husband.

Schilling had been most known for a regular role on the short lived medical drama “Mercy” before landing the female lead opposite Efron in the next Sparks adaptation, which have a history of being box office successes and sometime star makers (see: Mandy Moore, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Liam Hemsworth). Clearly Schilling’s just getting her feet wet landing love interest and wife roles – albeit high profile ones; hopefully we’ll get to report on her landing something a little meatier soon.

“Monsters” breakout star Scoot McNairy joins Ben Affleck’s “Argo”

August 4, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Okay, so he may not have ended up in “Prometheus” or “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” after all, but Scoot McNairy, breakout star of Gareth Edwards’ low-budget “Monsters”, seems to be making an impression on Hollywood nevertheless. Variety is reporting that McNairy has joined the impressive ensemble cast of Ben Affleck’s follow-up to “The Town”, political thriller “Argo”.

Based on Joshuah Bearman’s April 2007 Wired magazine article “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran,” “Argo” is a retelling of true events that surround a CIA operative team smuggled out American diplomats being held hostage by pretending they were a Hollywood movie crew. Affleck is also leading the cast that includes Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Alan Arkin. To add a dash of realism (and no doubt readying some fun anecdotes for junket season), Affleck plans on having the cast members who will be playing hostages live in a a “safe house” for two weeks prior to filming to experience what their real life counterparts actually went through.

After starring in “Monsters”, which was made for under $500,000 but has made over $3 million worldwide, McNairy recently wrapped a lead role in the highly anticipated “Cogan’s Trade”, Andrew Dominik’s gambling heist actioner which pits his character against the likes of Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo and Sam Rockwell.