Bradley Cooper out, Alden Ehrenreich in for Woody Allen’s next

June 4, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Woody Allen has unveiled the full cast for his next untitled film, which he will shoot in New York and San Francisco this summer. Conspicuously missing from the full cast list, reported by Variety today, is Bradley Cooper, who had reportedly joined back in March. It was also erroneously reported then that the setting would be Copenhagen, although Cate Blanchett is part of the final cast as of today.

“Beautiful Creatures” star Alden Ehrenreich has joined the cast, as well as Alec Baldwin, Max Casella, Louis C.K., Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Dice Clay, Michael Emerson, Sally Hawkins and Peter Sarsgaard. Allen has not shot a film in San Francisco since his directorial debut 43 years ago, and has shot exclusively in Europe since 2009. Plot details, as always, remain under wraps, but intersecting stories of love and family and other broad themes are probably to be expected.

Ehrenreich was brought to the industry’s attention when Francis Ford Coppola cast him in his feature film debut, “Tetro” and then again opposite Elle Fanning in experimental gothic tale “Twixt.” He recently wrapped up shooting “Stoker” opposite Mia Wasikowska and is currently filming the male lead in YA romance novel adaptation “Beautiful Creatures” opposite fellow up and comer Alice Englert.

Watch: Jesse Eisenberg caught between Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page in first trailer for Woody Allen’s “To Rome With Love”

April 3, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

Some plot and character details are cleared up with our first look at the trailer for Woody Allen’s newest globe-trotting filmmaking venture, “To Rome With Love.” Allen himself is back on the screen in this one, about interlocking stories of love, infidelity, family, politics, fame and more. He joins Jesse Eisenberg, an American living in Rome with his girlfriend Greta Gerwig. When her newly dumped best friend Ellen Page shows up to stay a while, an instant love triangle is formed. Alec Baldwin plays his visiting father, while elsewhere in the city Alison Pill plays Allen’s daughter, dating an Italian her father disapproves of and Penelope Cruz plays the hottest prostitute that could only exist in the movies.

Typical of Allen’s films, the dialogue is sharp and funny and the situations playful and silly. Bring on Copenhagen. In the meantime, “To Rome with Love” opens on June 22nd and the first trailer can be viewed below.

First Look: Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page and Alison Pill in stills from Woody Allen’s “To Rome With Love”

March 22, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 1 Comment

After the massive critical and commercial success of “Midnight in Paris”, all eyes are on Woody Allen’s next stop on his globe-trotting tour of filmmaking. The recently renamed “To Rome with Love” (which you may have been familiar with under the titles “Bop Decameron” and “Nero Fiddled”) takes Americans – including Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Greta Gerwig, Alec Baldwin and “Paris” alum Alison Pill – to Italy this time, and now we have our first look at the characters and relationships, thanks to CinemaBlend and The Playlist.

Like “Midnight in Paris”, plot details are vague, but will somehow revolve around interweaving groups of people in Rome, tourists, residents, families, lovers – perhaps with some time traveling? We can only hope. From the images, we can discern that Baldwin and Eisenberg are probably father and son, while Eisenberg and Page seem to be taking over for Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams as the young visiting couple, and Pill may be finding romance with the locals.

“To Rome With Love” opens on June 22nd. See the first stills below.

TV stars Jim Parsons and Matt Bomer join Ryan Murphy’s big screen adaptation of “The Normal Heart”

January 21, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

Ryan Murphy has had huge success on the small screen, with TV hits from 90s show “Popular” to the current smash “Glee” so it’s no surprise to see him turn his talents to the big screen – and with the Tony award-winning play “The Normal Heart”.

The largely biographical play by Larry Kramer centres on writer/activist Ned Weeks, and his attempts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness during the early 1980s in New York City.

Mark Ruffalo signed on to play Weeks back in 2010, and now it looks like two of TV’s biggest stars have also hopped on board. Jim Parsons, from “The Big Bang Theory” and Matt Bomer, who currently stars in “White Collar” and will soon be seen in Steven Soderbergh’s “Magic Mike” have joined the cast that also features A list stars such as Julia Roberts and Alec Baldwin. The Playlist reports that Parsons will play Southern gay rights activist Tommy Boatwright – a role which he also played on Broadway – and Bomer will take on the role of Felix Turner, Weeks’ fashion designer boyfriend who contracts the diease.

Bomer was fan favourite back in 2010 to take on the role of Clark Kent in Zack Snyder’s “Superman” reboot but lost out to British star Henry Cavill. He starred alongside Justin Timberlake in “In Time” and has a lead role in the male stripper party flick “Magic Mike”, also starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey. This is the first major film role for Parsons, who has been a staple of the TV comedy scene for the last few years.

Felicity Jones lands female lead in Beatty’s Howard Hughes film; Timberlake, Ehrenreich up for male lead

November 14, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Is the search finally over? After months of rumor and speculation, Deadline reports it’s British rising star Felicity Jones, not Rooney Mara or Evan Rachel Wood, who is Warren Beatty’s final choice for the female lead in his long gestating Howard Hughes biopic. Beatty will direct and star in the film as Hughes, but not so fast. Deadline stresses the film is still in the midst of finalizing financing so is still nowhere near production-ready yet.

When the cameras do start rolling, Jones will play a young woman who develops a relationship with the young man who serves as Hughes’ chauffeur, before falling for Hughes himself instead. The young male lead also appears to be coming down to people not previously mentioned, like Andrew Garfield and Shia LaBeouf. Deadline brings up two possible, unexpected contenders: Justin Timberlake and Alden Ehrenreich. Previously mentioned acting veterans are still circling other roles as well, including Annette Bening, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin and Owen Wilson.

Garnering serious Oscar buzz for her breakout role as one half of a lovelorn long-distance couple in Drake Doremus’ transatlantic love story “Like Crazy”, Jones is currently re-teaming with Doremus on his next feature opposite Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan. She had been attached to fellow Sundance breakout star Brit Marling’s “The East”, but dropped out due to publicity commitments to “Like Crazy”, thus marking Beatty’s Hughes biopic one of the first she will film without Doremus.

Rooney Mara in, Andrew Garfield out of Warren Beatty’s Howard Hughes film?

September 13, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Last we heard of Warren Beatty’s Howard Hughes flick, some impressive actors were meeting with the director about potentially joining the cast. Rooney Mara, Andrew Garfield, Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood had all met with Beatty, along with veteran screen legends Jack Nicholson, Annette Bening and Alec Baldwin. Though nothing was firm at that point, it seems there’s been movement in both directions in the past couple of months.

The NY Post reveals Beatty had “locked and loaded” “The Social Network” co-stars Garfield and Mara as the two leads of the film, with Gafield as a young Hughes and Mara as one of his many lovers. However, the failure to lock down a start date has forced Garfield to drop out, as a delayed production may interfere with his Broadway debut in “Death of a Salesman” next spring. Further muddying the waters is Garfield’s reps telling the Post all this is “Not true — he had not committed to (the) project”, though to us that sounds like he definitely is out, regardless of whether he had originally been in or not. What this means for Mara’s involvement is unclear.

David Fincher’s newest discoveries remain highly sought after, but uncommitted for the time being. Both Garfield and Mara had indie pics lined up for this summer after “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” wrapped, but it seems neither “Back Roads” nor “Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes” have gotten off the ground yet.

Andrew Garfield, Rooney Mara and more circling Warren Beatty’s Howard Hughes biopic

June 22, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 3 Comments

Is a “The Social Network” reunion already in order? Deadline reports two of the film’s young rising stars, Andrew Garfield and Rooney Mara, are meeting with Warren Beatty about taking roles in the ensemble cast of his new directorial and starring vehicle for Paramount Pictures, now revealed to be a biopic about wealthy and mysterious aviator Howard Hughes. Beatty has also met with other young stars including Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood, and there is no indication yet whether there are roles for all the actors or if he’s still narrowing down his choices. Veteran actors including Jack Nicholson, Annette Bening and Alec Baldwin are also being courted for roles.

Beatty has also written the script for this passion project of his, which he’s been ruminating for years. In the film that will see him in the director’s chair for the first time since 1998′s “Bulworth”, Beatty will also play Hughes. Plot details are scarce but part of the plot revolves around an affair Hughes had with a younger woman in his later years. Presumably Mara or Wood would be up for that role.

Garfield and Mara both starred but did not share any scenes in David Fincher’s 2010 masterpiece “The Social Network” and both went on to land a couple of the largest, most high profile roles for young actors in the past several years – Garfield is “The Amazing Spider-Man” in Marc Webb’s 3-D reboot and Mara completely transformed herself to become “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, reuniting with Fincher on the English language adaptation of the best-selling Swedish crime novels.

Malin Akerman to duet with Tom Cruise in “Rock of Ages”

May 4, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

The all-star cast of “Rock of Ages” is finally complete as Malin Akerman has signed on in the last role to be cast, reveals Deadline. Akerman will play Constance, a journalist who sets out to write an expose on rock star Stacee Jaxx, played by Tom Cruise, but of course, after a little rock star seduction, she ends up in bed with him instead. The two will duet on classic 80s song “I Want to Know What Love Is”. The character appears to be created for the film itself, as she does not appear in the stage version of the story

The role had trouble finding its actress as director Adam Shankman initially wooed A-list ladies like Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams for the role, though both had to decline after landing even bigger roles in “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Superman”, respectively. Akerman will now join a cast that includes Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Bryan Craston, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Mary J. Blige. Meanwhile, relative newcomers Julianne Hough and Diego González Boneta will play Sherrie and Drew, the young couple who fall in love and try to stay together amidst the rock n roll lifestyle, at the center of the story.

Akerman had a string of supporting roles in romantic comedies, including “The Proposal” and “27 Dresses”, but has been moving into darker fare in recent years, most notably with a turn in Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen”. She has no less than five films in pre-production phases, including the Linda Lovelane biopic “Inferno” and “Medallion” opposite Nicholas Cage. She can currently be seen in the indie dramedy and festival circuit favorite “happythankyoumoreplease”.

Ellen Page and Jesse Eisenberg headed to Rome for Woody Allen’s next feature

April 13, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Jesse Eisenberg will head to Rome with Woody Allen after all, and Ellen Page will be joining him. Just a day after we first reported Eisenberg is being eyed for a leading role in the director’s next feature, Variety reports that he is now set for the tightly under wraps film, and adds Page’s name to the cast list as well.

Allen will direct from his own screenplay, though plot details are scarce. Alec Baldwin and Penelope Cruz are also onboard the follow-up to “Midnight in Paris”, Allen’s love letter to the French capital which will open the Cannes Film Festival next month. Cruz and Baldwin have worked with the director before (on “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Alice” respectively) but it will be a first for the youngsters.

Eisenberg was recently nominated for his first Oscar for “The Social Network”, while Page was a nominee back in 2008 for “Juno”. He is in the current animated release “Rio” while she is shilling indie dramedy “Super”.

Jesse Eisenberg may head to Rome for Woody Allen’s next feature

April 11, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

After taking Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and an all-star American and French cast to the streets of Paris for his latest international romantic comedy “Midnight in Paris”, Woody Allen is headed to an equally iconic city for his next feature: Rome, Italy. Today Deadline reports that Alec Baldwin has committed to star in the picture, which already has Penelope Cruz on the roster, and that recent Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg has a leading role lined up as well, though his involvement seems less certain than the other two at the moment.

Allen is still putting the film together and there’s no word yet on the plot or production details, though presumably shooting will take place over the summer before Baldwin returns to work on the next season of “30 Rock”. Allen recently told La Republica newspaper, “I love these sophisticated cities. It’s fantastic to have the possibility to work there, like when I shot Manhattan in New York, Match Point in London and Vicky Cristina Barcelona in Barcelona … Each time, it’s like a declaration of love for certain places. I project onto the big screen my feelings for places which count a lot in my life. I hope to do the same thing with Rome.”

Eisenberg is currently traipsing around the globe promoting animated feature “Rio”, his follow-up to “The Social Network”, the film that garnered him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He has also completed filming on indie dramedy “Free Samples” and will next team up with Oscar winner Melissa Leo on “Predisposed”.

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