Liman’s “Luna” is a go for liftoff; Bradley Cooper and Chris Evans join casting contenders

June 7, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Doug Liman’s rogue space race actioner, previously titled “Moon”, began casting several months ago, before the project was even greenlit by its studio backer Paramount. Now comes word via Variety that the film, now retitled “Luna”, is officially not only greenlit but also being fast-tracked, and with that news, a couple of new contenders for casting have emerged as well.

Names including Andrew Garfield, Chris Pine and Emile Hirsch floated around in March, and now Bradley Cooper and Chris Evans joins their ranks as actors who have met with or read for a role with Liman. On the actress side, March’s list included even more names, including Rachel McAdams, Olivia Wilde, Megan Fox, Zoe Saldana, Rosario Dawson and Eva Mendes. It’s unclear if any of the previously shortlisted are still in contention, with Garfield being the only holdover mentioned by Variety in their new report.

The film’s premise also indicates several of the actors considered could end up being cast, as it revolves around a group of renegade scientists who attempt to build a space shuttle to fly to the moon and steal an undiscovered energy source. The group is reportedly being led by “an Eastern European woman” though that detail might presumably change depending on who is cast in the role.

Liman has set “Luna” as his next film and is looking to begin production in the fall.

Andrew Garfield, Emile Hirsch, Olivia Wilde, Rachel McAdams and more looking at “Moon”

March 23, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 1 Comment

It’s always good news to hear that a film long in development is finally getting off the ground, and for Doug Liman’s Moon it’s heading for the orbit! First set up in 2007, Moon has moved studios and has been through several rewrites from different writers including those that have penned I Love You, Man, Bruno, and xXx: State Of The Union.

Now it seems like Paramount are happy with the script, and casting is under way. Top of the list? The usual suspects for Hollywood today – Andrew Garfield, Chris Pine and Emile Hirsch have apparently all met with Liman, with more meetings being held next week, although it is unclear if this is for second readings or new actors.

The list of actresses vying for the female lead is also a who’s who of today’s young Hollywood, with Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, Megan Fox, Rachel McAdams, Eva Mendes and Rosario Dawson all having meetings this week.

Moon is an interesting concept, which follows renegade space employees, led by an Eastern European woman, who are assembling stolen space equipment to get to the Moon on order to steal an energy source. But before they can get there they need one more item – an ex-NASA employee.

Filming is planned to start towards the end of the summer, although no green-light has yet been given by Paramount.

Robert Pattinson, Garrett Hedlund, Andrew Garfield and more wanted for “Akira”

March 22, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 9 Comments

Warner Bros. adaptation of Manga classic, Akira – one of their most high-profile projects – is finally coming together, two years after a 7 figure acquisition and a recently rewritten script. And reports are suggesting a plethora of up and coming stars have been sent the new script.

After last year’s rumours that Zac Efron was ciricling the project, Deadline are now reporting that Robert Pattinson and Andrew Garfield, along with James McAvoy have received scripts for the role of Tetsuo, whilst Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake and Garrett Hedlund have all received copies of the script for the role of Kanedu, along with Michael Fassbender and Joaquin Phoenix.

Akira, was set in a post-apocalypric Neo-Toyko, but this live action adaptation will take place in New-Manhattan, “where a leader of a biker gang saves his friend from a medical experiment.”

Every one of these actors will bring star power to the film, but we wonder how likely some of these names will want to sign on for another franchise – especially Pattinson, who will be coming off of the Twilight Saga, and Garfield who is currently filming the Spiderman reboot.

The intention of Warner Bros. has been to make a two films covering three books in the series, and production is due to start this August.

Spider-Man reboot is officially “The Amazing Spider-Man”; new full costume image

February 14, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in General News, Images 1 Comment

Andrew Garfield is no longer the untitled rebooted Spider-Man. Today Columbia Pictures announced that Marc Webb’s reboot of the franchise is officially titled “The Amazing Spider-Man”, taking its name appropriately from the very origin of the comics – first published in 1963 and now on issue #654. The studio also released a new image of Garfield fully masked in mid-webslinging action.

The official press release follows:

“THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN™” TO BE RELEASED JULY 3, 2012

CULVER CITY, Calif., February 14, 2011 – Columbia Pictures announced today that the title of the next Spider-Man film will be The Amazing Spider-Man.

The studio simultaneously released a photo of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, the first shot of Garfield in the famous full mask and suit.

The film, which is now in production and is being shot entirely in 3D, will be released on July 3, 2012. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, and Sally Field. The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach are producing the Marvel Entertainment production for Columbia Pictures. The executive producers are Stan Lee, Kevin Feige, and Michael Grillo. The film’s official website is http://www.TheAmazingSpiderMan-movie.com.

The high resolution of the new image can be found below.

Andrew Garfield taking “Back Roads” with Jennifer Garner

February 9, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Andrew Garfield is going from webslinging in New York to domestic murder mysteries in Pennsylvania, as he signs on to his first film since being cast as Peter Parker in Marc Webb’s reboot of “Spider-Man”. Variety reports that Garfield will topline “Back Roads”, from the bestselling novel by Tawni O’Dell. Director Adrian Lyne also adapted the screenplay with O’Dell. Variety also reports that Jennifer Garner and Marcia Gay Harden will co-star with Garfield.

The story revolves around the young man Harley Altmyer, played by Garfield, who must look after his three younger sisters after their mother is sent to prison for killing her abusive husband. The sisters are sixteen, twelve and six in age and Variety reports several high profile young actresses are being tested for two of the roles (we assume the aged sixteen and twelve sisters). Garner will play a neighbor who becomes romantically involved with Harley and Harden his court-appointed therapist.

Garfield, probably the young star who skyrocketed the highest in 2010, is busy shooting “Spider-Man” all over the streets of Los Angeles, after beating out the likes of Josh Hutcherson, Jamie Bell and Michael Angarao for the role in July, and was last seen in the Oscar favorite “The Social Network”. Many expected Garfield to land a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Eduardo Saverin in the role, and his exclusion was seen as one of the biggest snubs of the season. He was recently rumored for “Waiting for Robert Capa” opposite Gemma Arterton, but there has been no confirmation or update on that front since December. Production on “Back Roads” is tentatively scheduled for June, which would make this the definitive next role for Garfield, whether “Capa” pans out or not.

Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue celebrates the Up and Comers

February 1, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Features, Lists 4 Comments

Featuring the biggest group of up and comers in one shoot – Jennifer Lawrence, Anthony Mackie, Olivia Wilde, Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, Garrett Hedlund and Noomi Rapace – as well cover stars (and more established actors) Anne Hathaway, James Franco, Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal, Vanity Fair magazine’s 2011 Hollywood issue has gone “back to basics … [with] just the most exciting actors and actresses of the moment.” And here at Up and Comers, we couldn’t agree more with their pick of the talent.

Jesse Eisenberg and Jennifer Lawrence have both had an amazing past year, culminating in Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. Eisenberg came from critical success in “Adventureland” and “Zombieland” to reach commercial success in David Fincher’s “The Social Network”, whilst Lawrence starred in the 2010 Sundance smash “Winter’s Bone”, an unflinching tale of teenager Ree’s dangerous pursuit to save her family home. Lawrence can next be seen in another Sundance hit, this year’s “Like Crazy” and will break into the mainstream in Matthew Vaughn’s “X-Men: First Class”. Eisenberg’s next adventure will be voicing the character of Blu in “Rio”, along with Anne Hathaway, one of this years’s Hollywood issue cover stars.

2011 83rd Academy Award nominations announced

January 25, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Awards 2 Comments

We’ve had up and comers dominate the nominations lists at this years SAG awards, Golden Globe awards and the BAFTAs, but now the Academy Awards, the oldest and most prestigious award ceremony in the media industry, have announced their 2011 nominations and it’s good and bad news for some of our favourites.

Jesse Eisenberg, Hailee Steinfeld and Jennifer Lawrence have all been nominated in Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress categories respectively, but awards favourite Andrew Garfield was looked over in favour of Academy stalwarts such as Christian Bale and Geoffrey Rush for Best Supportinf Actor.
One of the main surprise nominations went to Michelle Williams in the Best Actress category for her role in Blue Valentine, but there was no nomination for Williams’ co-star Ryan Gosling.

The Kings Speech ruled the throne with 12 nominations including Best Motion Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, with True Grit garnering 10 and The Social Network and Inception both with 8. The ten nominations for Best Motion Picture gave us no surprises with favourites Black Swan, The Social Network and The Kings Speech all there, as well as Toy Story 3 – only the third time in the history of the Academy for an animated picture to be nominated.

The 2011 Oscars air live on ABC February 27 from Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre, presented by James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

Click below for the full list of nominations

First official image of Andrew Garfield in costume as Spider-Man

January 13, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 3 Comments

Sony is on a roll this week. Just yesterday they gave us a first glimpse of Rooney Mara in full costume, hair and makeup as Lisbeth Salander in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, and today they top even that. If there’s one franchise more anticipated than David Fincher’s English adaptation of the Stieg Larrson best-sellers, it’s surely the reboot of “Spider-Man”, directed by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield as the iconic web-slinger. We’ve seen unofficial set photos but Sony has beat paparazzi to releasing the first official image of Garfield in costume and in character as Spider-Man.

See it below in full high resolution glory. Is it 2012 yet?!

BAFTA announce their 2011 Rising Star nominees

January 10, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Awards 3 Comments

Gemma Arterton, Andrew Garfield, Tom Hardy, Aaron Johnson and Emma Stone have all been announced this morning as the short list nominees for BAFTA’s Rising Star award. Chosen by a judging panel which includes a host of influential names from across the media industry including directors Mike Newell and Tom Ford, actor Peter Sarsgaard and film journalist Charles Gant, it is now up to the voting public to pick a winner.
The Rising Star award is the only people’s award at the ceremony, and previous winners have included Kristen Stewart, Noel Clarke and Shia LaBeouf.

Click here to vote and click below for BAFTA’s nominee descriptions.

First Look: Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield kissing on “Spider-Man” set

January 5, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Images 1 Comment

We’ve already seen a new hair colour and an on-set picture of a rainy funeral scene, and now we get our first look at Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy together! Co-stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were caught kissing on the bleachers on set of the “Spider-Man” reboot, looking like they were having a great time capturing the romantic scene, laughing and joking around.

Filming is well underway and Stone (Gwen Stacy) has recently hinted that there may be several more Spidey films, “There’s a few ‘Spider-Men’ [movies]. So I may have to keep [my blonde hair] for a couple of years.” Garfield himself recently revealed that he had already tried the famous suit on and that it was a “pretty special” experience, telling The Guardian that he was “incredibly lucky” to land this iconic role.

Both Stone and Garfield have also discussed the training involved in taking on these roles, with Garfield saying that it’s “a very tender balance to figure out. It’s very specific what we’re trying to achieve in terms of body type and the feeling of that”, whilst Stone told Jay Leno that the training is “pretty brutal; [Garfield and I are] on two completely different ends of the spectrum.”

Click below for more on set pictures!

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