Amanda Seyfried and Chris Pine Join Sci-Fi Adaptation “Z for Zachariah”

May 15, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried, and Chiwetel Ejiofor have signed on to star in the adaptation of sci-fi young adult novel “Z for Zachariah”, according to Deadline.

Craig Zobel directs the film following 16 year old Ann (Seyfried) who thinks she’s the last person on earth after a nuclear holocaust, living on a farm in the only valley with breathable oxygen left in the region. Her world is turned upside down when a campfire alerts her to the presence of two men who have also seemingly survived. An August start on the adaptation of the Robert O’Brien novel is scheduled.

Pine opens in sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness” tomorrow, reprising his role as Cpatain Kirk, and also has Kenneth Branagh’s “Jack Ryan” reboot in the can awaiting release. He just landed his first musical, as one of the Princes in Rob Marshall’s twisted fairy tale “Into the Woods.” Seyfried is also musically inclined, most recently seen as Cosette in Tom Hooper’s “Les Miserables.” She’s currently filming Seth MacFarlane’s “A Million Ways to Die in the West.”

Amanda Seyfried In Talks for “Three Little Words” Opposite Reese Witherspoon

May 6, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

“Walk the Line” director-actor duo James Mangold and Reese Witherspoon are set to reunite on an adaptation of memoir “The Little Words”, and Amanda Seyfried is in talks to star opposite Witherspoon, according to THR.

Described as a Dickens-esque tale, Ashley Rhodes-Courter’s story involves being abandoned by a teenage mother and entering the Florida foster system by the time she was three. She was shuttled between 14 foster homes, witnessing corruption and abuse along the way, but remained steely in her pursuance of an education. The film, adapted by Lewis Colick and Michael Petroni, will center on the relationship between the young girl and an unpaid volunteer (Witherspoon) she meets in her early teen years, who must track down the girl’s birth mother (Seyfried) in order to give up her parental rights so she could be legally and permanently adopted. A September start date in Florida is eyed.

Last seen as Cosette in Tom Hooper’s Oscar-winning adaptation of musical “Les Miserables”, Seyfried also earned acclaim at Sundance this year, where “Lovelace” premiered to mostly rave reviews. She’s currently filming Seth MacFarlane’s Western comedy “A Million Ways to Die in the West” opposite Charlize Theron and could join Adam Driver in Noah Baumbach’s “While We’re Young.”

Adam Driver (and Maybe Amanda Seyfried) in for Noah Baumbach’s “While We’re Young”

May 1, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

After working together on the upcoming “Frances Ha”, director Noah Baumbach is bringing Adam Driver back into the fold, with the “Girls” star now in talks for the long-gestating “While We’re Young”, according to The Wrap.

The film is about two couples, an older, uptight married one comprised of a documentary filmmaker (Ben Stiller) and his wife (Naomi Watts) who find their lives turned upside down when they befriend a free-spirited younger couple, to be played by Driver and a still-to-be-cast young actress, with THR suggesting Amanda Seyfried is one candidate. Filming will take place in New York this fall should everything come together, though it should be noted this project has been on and off for years, with other actors like Jesse Eisenberg and James Franco in Driver’s role.

Driver is one of our Faces to Watch in 2013, for obviously very good reason. After a small role in Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated “Lincoln”, in 2013 he’ll continue to make his mark on the indie scene with roles opposite Greta Gerwig in “Frances Ha”, which charmed festival audiences last year, as Daniel Radcliffe’s best friend in rom com “The F Word”, and opposite Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan in the Coen Brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.” He’s also completed filming on Australian outback drama “Tracks” opposite Mia Wasikowska, will star in Shawn Levy’s ensemble comedy “This is Where I Leave You” and most recently landed his first starring role in indie comedy “The Coward”, which will co-star Chris O’Dowd.

Amanda Seyfried to Play “The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League” for “Lovelace” Directors

April 22, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

The team who brought the story of iconic porn star Linda “Lovelace” to life on the big screen are teaming up again to tell another fact-based story, with Variety reporting that Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have signed on to direct Amanda Seyfried in “The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League”, which she has been attached to for years.

Seyfried first became attached in 2010 to the role of Esther Reed, who assumed multiple identities to gain admittance to Harvard and Columbia. She was Natalie Bowman at Harvard, where she joined the debate team. When that jig was up, she assumed the identity of Brooke Henson, a missing girl from South Carolina, to attend Columbia University, fleeing again when a potential new employer discovered her identity was fake. She was finally caught by police on pure coincidence when they searched her area of residence for a mass shooter on the loose. After being convicted to 51 months in prison, she was released only last year. Filming on her story begins later this year.

Last seen as Cosette in Tom Hooper’s Oscar-winning adaptation of musical “Les Miserables”, Seyfried also earned acclaim at Sundance this year, where “Lovelace” premiered to mostly rave reviews. She’s currently filming Seth MacFarlane’s Western comedy “A Million Ways to Die in the West” opposite Charlize Theron and will next be seen in ensemble romantic comedy “The Big Wedding”, in which she plays Ben Barnes’ bride.

The Young Lovers of Nicholas Sparks Adaptations: A Retrospective

February 13, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Features Leave a comment

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As Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel prepare to embark upon being star-crossed lovers in a film adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks novel – “Safe Haven”, opening on Valentine’s Day – we look back at the tragic lovebirds who came before them. Sparks movies are critical flops and box office successes but seem to be hit and miss when it comes to creating stars. For the purpose of this study, we’ll omit the two Sparks adaptations which starred established stars. Kevin Costner, Robin Wright, Richard Gere and Diane Lane are doing just fine, thank you very much.

Are Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams still the most iconic of Sparks couples? How have Sparks adaptations helped or hurt the careers of the likes of Mandy Moore, Shane West, Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried? Hough and Duhamel are two actors whose careers could certainly use a breakout-style boost, but as we will show here, leading a Sparks adaptation is no guarantee of movie stardom. We’ll see how they fare when “Safe Haven” is released tomorrow, but for now, let’s take a look back at the couples who came before them.

Start Here: A Walk to Remember, 2002 >>

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Amanda Seyfried finds “A Million Ways To Die In The West” with Seth Macfarlane

February 11, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

Fresh off a starring role in the worldwide box office hit “Les Miserables” and a recent premiere at Sundance Film Festival of indie pic “Lovelace“, THR reports that Amanda Seyfried has picked her next role – Western comedy “A Million Ways to Die in the West“.

The film has been co-written by Seth Macfarlane who will also sit in the director’s chair for this, his sophomore directorial effort following last year’s “Ted”.

Macfarlane will also co-star in the film which follows a “sheepish farmer, who chickens out of a gunfight and sees his girlfriend leave him. When he meets the wife of a notorious outlaw who offers to teach him how to shoot, the farmer sees a chance to win back his love.”

Seyfried will play the farmer’s girlfriend and Charlize Theron will star as the wife of the outlaw.

Seyfried first gained attention thanks to 2004′s cult favourite “Mean Girls“, and went on to win small screen acclaim in “Big Love”. She starred in several box office misses including Catherine Hardwicke’s “Red Riding Hood” and the thriller “In Time“, before being cast as Cosette in Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the smash hit musical “Les Miserables”. She recently wrapped filming on ensemble comedy “The Big Wedding“, and late last year she, questionably, joined the cast of “Wonderful Tonight” with Patrick Dempsey.

Faces to Watch: Oscar 2012 Edition, from Jennifer Lawrence to the young cast of “Les Miserables”

December 10, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards, Features Leave a comment

It’s almost that time of year again, when young actors who are lucky enough to be recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences see a drastic rise in their profiles and the movie offers come flooding in. But first, you have to get nominated. With critics awards already underway and the SAG and Golden Globe nominations both coming this week (!!), now is the perfect time to check in on the dozens of young actors who are vying for just a few spots come Oscar nomination time on January 15th.

From likely winners to maybe-nominees to long shots that deserve some more attention (in descending order), we assess the chances of up and coming actors in each acting category below.

Start Here: Best Actress >>

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Sundance out of competition premieres announced; first look images from “The East”, “Stoker” and more

December 3, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis and Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

Just last week Sundance Film Festival announced their 2013 picks, the films that will be competing against each other to win the coveted Grand Jury prizes and hopefully go on to bigger box office and critical success. Now today Sundance have announced the Out of Competition premieres and there are a lot of familiar and exciting rising stars in attendance.

Some of our most anticipated films of 2013 are included in today’s released line up, including Park Chan-Wook‘s English language thriller “Stoker” starring Mia Wasikowska, and “Breathe In“, the second directorial effort from Drake Doremus. Doremus, who hit the 2010 festival with “Like Crazy” which won him the Grand Jury prize, reunites with Felicity Jones in this new film – which again stars Jones as a foreign exchange students in America.

Brit Marling and writing partner Zal Batmanglij are back again with “The East“, starring Marling as an operative whose loyalties are tested when she goes undercover to infiltrate a mysterious anarchist collective attacking major corporations. The pic also features Alexander Skarsgård, Ellen Page, Toby Kebbell and Shiloh Fernandez.

Noir film “The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman” with Shia LaBeouf and Evan Rachel Wood will also premiere at the 2013 festival, as will the Amanda Seyfried-starrer “Lovelace“. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who starred in the 2012 festival hit “Smashed“, will be back again in “A.C.O.D“.

For Brie Larson and Elizabeth Olsen, Sundance 2013 will be especially busy, as both have films in and out of competition – “The Spectacular Now” and Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s directorial debut “Don Jon’s Addiction” for Larson, and Beat pic “Kill Your Darlings” and the Naomi Foner helmed “Very Good Girls“, also starring Dakota Fanning and Boyd Holbrook for Olsen.

Click below for the first images from these films and the official synopses for the featured films.

First clips from “Les Miserables” feature “On My Own”, “A Heart Full of Love” and more iconic songs

November 30, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

Guys, we are less than one month away from one of the most anticipated cinematic moments in decades. A big screen adaptation of “Les Miserables” has been in the works since as early as the 1990s, but it took until 2012 to make it a reality, and now we are finally beginning to see the fruits of this decades-long endeavor with the first scene clips from the film being released.

Tom Hooper cast a trio of relative unknowns for the pivotal roles of Cosette, Marius and Eponine, and below we have the first clips of Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Barks, respectively, singing some of their most famous songs from the international blockbuster musical. Redmayne and Seyfried sing the first few verses of “A Heart Full of Love” as Marius and Cosette meet and fall for the first time, while Barks appropriately takes on “On My Own”, which speaks of Eponine’s unrequited love for Marius. Also below is Anne Hathaway in a clip not from the now often-heard “I Dreamed a Dream”, but from “At the End of the Day”, the circumstances of which lead to that heartbreaking showstopper.

“Les Miserables” will be released on December 25th. What a Christmas present indeed.

Casting “Cinderella”: Who should play the next fairy tale princess opposite Cate Blanchett?

November 27, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting, Features 1 Comment

Move over, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, the next fairy tale princess is ready for her moment in the spotlight. Ok, so “Mirror Mirror” and “Snow White and the Huntsman” didn’t exactly light the box office on fire, and “Maleficent” is still a big question mark, but Disney is ready to move forward on another live action big screen adaptation of another fairy tale. This time, it’s “Cinderella”, and it’s happening fast, with Mark Romanek already set to direct and acclaimed Aussie actress Cate Blanchett in negotiations to join the ranks of Julia Roberts, Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie in playing an iconic evil stepmother.

This project dates all the way back to 2010, when “The Devil Wears Prada” screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna wrote the original draft and Amanda Seyfried was cast in the titular role. But as The Wrap points out now, Blanchett is officially the first cast member of this new incarnation of the project, which has also gotten a rewrite from Chris Weitz, so we still need a girl to fit into those awfully specific and constricting glass slippers. Here are just five of our favorite suggestions:

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