Dear Francis Lawrence, here’s who you should cast as Finnick Odair in “The Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire”

April 20, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Features 89 Comments

Now that the circus of deciding who will be directing “The Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire” is finally over (in case you haven’t heard: “Hunger Games” director Gary Ross is out, and “Water for Elephants” director Francis Lawrence landed the coveted job), we can move on to more fun speculation about who might play some of the fan-favorite characters that begin showing up in the sequel.

We could begin nowhere else but with Finnick Odair, the 24 year old former Hunger Games victor from District 4 who becomes one of Katniss’s most important allies and closest friends. He’s also incredibly charming and attractive, so that helps too. Finnick won the games when he was 14 through his expert use of a trident. With District 4 being by the sea, Finnick is also a great swimmer, with bronzed skin and tousled copper hair, but don’t be mistaken that he’s just a pretty face. Finnick has a dark past and uncertain future, just like every citizen of Panem, and his value to Katniss as they grow closer is indispensable.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of five young actors who have demonstrated all the strength and charm and swagger and heartbreaking sadness that would make them more than suited to join Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth and step into Finnick’s shoes. See our choices below and do leave us your suggestions in the comments!

First Look: Armie Hammer saddles up as “The Lone Ranger” in first promotional image

March 8, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

With all the drama that was made public about the making of Disney’s “The Lone Ranger” – over-inflated budgets, production shutdowns and restarts, plot points that involve CGI werewolves, oh wait nevermind, no werewolves – it’s probably not surprising that producer Jerry Bruckheimer would jump on getting some positive media coverage for the Gore Verbinski reboot of the classic long-running TV series as soon as possible. Filming is now underway in New Mexico with Armie Hammer in the title role and Johnny Depp as his faithful companion Tonto and Bruckheimer has released a highly stylized promotional image from the shoot featuring Hammer looking very serious in a very fashionable black and white ensemble and Depp… wearing face paint with a dead crow on his head. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Has Bruckheimer succeeded in alleviating your concerns about this movie? You tell us. See the full image below. “The Lone Ranger” is set for a May 31, 2013 release.

Watch: New look at Lily Collins and Armie Hammer in Tarsem Singh’s Snow White tale “Mirror Mirror”

January 25, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 1 Comment

So, we were pretty hard on the first trailer for Tarsem Singh’s Snow White film “Mirror Mirror” and honestly, it seemed like maybe Relativity Media were starting to have doubts as well, since it’s been a few months since that release and there’s been nary a peep from the movie til now, even though it releases in less than two months. The jokes seem somewhat toned down (or better hidden) in the new trailer/behind-the-scenes clip, with an emphasis on Lily Collins and the “modernized” Snow White she embodies, but we are still eyeing this one with some suspicion. Armie Hammer acting like a puppy is just a step too far beyond ridiculous for our tastes.

The clip debuted on Parents Connect, perhaps an indication we are a bit older than the target audience for the movie, and are judging it too harshly. Or maybe it really sucks, who knows? Find out if “Mirror Mirror”, err, lives up to its trailers, on March 16, 2012.

“The Help” leads SAG Awards nominations; Jonah Hill in, Shailene Woodley out

December 14, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 3 Comments

The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards have announced the nominees for the 2011 year in film. Summer blockbuster drama “The Help” leads the way with four well deserved nominations, including breakout stars Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress. “The Artist” also continues to dominate, with Jean Dujardin (Best Actor) and Berenice Bejo (Best Supporting Actress) both landing nods, as well as the entire ensemble. Snubbed in the Supporting Actress category is Shailene Woodley, who gave a brave and powerful performance in Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants.” The film did garner two nominations, and Woodley is still represented in its Best Ensemble nomination.

Looking less and less like a longshot every day and with every new announcement, Melissa McCarthy landed another Best Supporting Actress nod, but the big surprise may be “Bridesmaids” itself, which also landed on Best Ensemble, to the snub of plenty of other, perhaps more serious, Oscar hopefuls. Another surprise but welcome inclusion is Jonah Hill, a formerly broadly comedic actor himself, landing a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his dramatic turn in “Moneyball” opposite Brad Pitt (Best Actor nominee). Also showing up unexpectedly is Armie Hammer for his role in Clint Eastwood’s critically panned “J. Edgar.” It perhaps shows some strong support within the industry for the film, as Leonardo DiCaprio landed a Best Actor nomination as well, to the frustration of Michael Fassbender/”Shame” fans everywhere (including here).

The full list of nominations, including TV categories, are below.

Up and Comers Podcast #8: “Extremely Loud”, “Martha Marcy” redux; Our Top Ten Movies of the Year

December 13, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge and Rebecca Lewis in Podcast 1 Comment

Thank you for joining us again if you listened to our earlier podcasts or if you are new to the program, welcome! Once a week, Linda and Rebecca will take to the internet airwaves to discuss a variety of subjects, including all the latest news, movies we’ve seen recently, the Oscar season and more topics that interest us (or you! Please send us your suggestions for topics to talk about).

This week’s podcast WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS so please read below for the specifics before hitting PLAY.

• 00:00 – 09:00 – Slow news week, so we quickly discuss the “Les Miserables” castings and Armie Hammer’s new role.

• 09:00 – 29:00 Plenty of movies watched this week. We talk about “Moneyball”, “Immortals”, “Martha Marcy May Marlene” (14:30 – 18:00 will have SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING), “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “War Horse.”

• 29:00 – END – We each count down our Top 10 Movies of 2011. There are minor spoilers for each film, but nothing too drastic, and we obviously don’t want to spoil the surprise of what movies made our lists, so… just take a listen!

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Armie Hammer joining revenge thriller “By Virtue Fall” opposite Eric Bana

December 7, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Dashing, princely, nice guy Armie Hammer will take a turn for the dark side next year, according to Deadline. The “Social Network” star has signed on to play the lead role in “By Virtue Fall”, the revenge thriller directorial debut of Sheldon Turner, who co-wrote the Oscar-nominated “Up in the Air” with Jason Reitman. Hammer will star opposite Eric Bana, who had previously been cast as the film’s villain.

Hammer, in a storyline that’s starting to sound familiar, stars as an ATF agent who is framed on a corruption charge and sent to a maximum security federal prison. There, in order to survive, he “becomes a badass” and emerges a new man, determined to get revenge on the person who was responsible for his false imprisonment, his former partner (Bana).

The role will be quite a departure for Hammer, who broke out in a big way when be played privileged, arrogant twins in David Fincher’s modern masterpiece “The Social Network.” This year he starred as longtime confidant, right hand man and possible lover to Leonardo DiCaprio’s “J. Edgar”, Clyde Tolson, and will really show off that Princely presence in next year’s horrific looking Snow White retelling, “Mirror Mirror.” Hammer will shoot “By Virtue Fall” in summer/fall 2012, after he completes work on the title role in Gore Verbinksi’s “The Lone Ranger”, in which he stars opposite Johnny Depp as Tonto.

Watch: Lily Collins and Armie Hammer can’t save the awful first trailer for “Mirror Mirror”

November 15, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 13 Comments

The first trailer for “Mirror Mirror” has arrived, and… oy. The combined puppy dog charms of Lily Collins and Armie Hammer aren’t enough to overcome an especially grating Julia Roberts, disappointingly limp costumes and sets and dialogue full of puns so terrible I can’t even make a pun here to clever this sentence up. We were rooting for your Snow White movie, Tarsem Singh (even, at times, over that other one), but why are you making it so hard?

Looks like Tarsem and Co. were aiming for family-friendly comedy adventure and overshot it by about a mile. A beautiful and charming Collins seems well cast, as does the dashing Hammer, except for when he’s made to act ridiculous (which is, unfortunately, more often than not) and the two do provide some moments of genuine likeability, but they are way too easily overrun by Roberts’ Evil Queen, who’s looking like the least funny funny character that’s come along in a great while. Upside? While a certain other Snow White is looking to be greatly overshadowed by her Evil Queen, Collins should have no problem coming off as the bright spot and highlight here.

“Mirror Mirror” opens on March 16, 2012, three months before “Snow White and the Huntsman.” So, you know, it has that going for it.

Up and Comers Podcast #3: “J. Edgar” and “Take Shelter”; Which actors will be landing the next big projects?

November 8, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge and Rebecca Lewis in Podcast 2 Comments

Thank you for joining us again if you listened to our first two podcasts or if you are new to the program, welcome! Once a week, Linda and Rebecca will take to the internet airwaves to discuss a variety of subjects, including all the latest news, movies we’ve seen recently, the Oscar season and more topics that interest us (or you! Please send us your suggestions for topics to talk about).

• 00:00 – 16:00 – We discuss some of the big news that broke over the past week or so, including Eddie Redmayne joining Les Mis; Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara in Malick’s “Lawless”; THR’s Next Gen List and more.

• 16:00 – 24:00 – Linda discusses and reviews “J. Edgar” and “Take Shelter”, including some gushing over Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain, and assessing each of the movie’s awards chances. No spoilers.

• 24:00 – END – We go in depth into discussions about some of the big projects that many young actors will be reading for, including “Winter’s Tale”; “Akira”; “Arthur and Lancelot”; and “Die Hard 5″.

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THR names Next Gen 2011: Lily Collins, Armie Hammer, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeremy Irvine and more

November 2, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Features, Lists 2 Comments

Just like last year, in our estimation THR has picked some great names for their Next Gen Class of 2011. From indie darlings to future superheros and fairy tale princesses, THR has cast their vote for the fastest rising stars of the moment.

Indie stars represented are up from last year, and in a year that saw the stunning arrivals of Sundance breakouts Elizabeth Olsen, Felicity Jones, Adepero Oduye and Shailene Woodley, it’s well deserved. They each did one tiny little indie movie and find themselves, at year’s end, on the tip of the industry’s tongue, often in conjecture with the word “Oscar.” The movies are small, intimate and really showcase the impressive talent contained within these new performers. On the other, more “traditional” end of the spectrum, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer, Henry Cavill and Jeremy Irvine are tasked with carrying million/billion dollar franchises on their young, untested shoulders, and the real test of their A-List movie star potential remain on the horizon.

More new images of Lily Collins and Armie Hammer in “Snow White”

October 6, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 4 Comments

Yesterday we posted the first images of Armie Hammer as Prince Andrew in Tarsem Singh’s super colorful and outlandish still untitled “Snow White” film and today a plethora of new images have been released, courtesy of EW, People and Yahoo! Movies. The costumes get bigger and more colorful and Lily Collins, it must be said, looks like a perfect Snow White, delicate and beautiful and always wearing a radiant smile, even in the midst of sword training.

Further details have also emerged from director Singh, who reveals that Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen won’t be outwardly evil at first. “She’s the cat that ate the canary,” he tells EW. “From serial killers to anyone who does evil deeds, they basically have a devil-made-me-do-it excuse, or they hear voices,” he continues. “I decided for the evil queen, this is going to be a person who sees her [good] self — but there’s a mirror personality.” When she sends her henchman Nathan Lane to take Snow White into the woods to be killed, he can’t do it and she takes up shelter with seven dwarfs, who make a living as bandits and wear stilts to appear gigantic when ambushing caravans. Kudos to Relativity for hiring real little people actors to play the dwarfs; the characters are still unnamed but they will be played by Jordan Prentice, Joey Gnoffo , Sabastian Saraceno, Collins, Martin Klebba, Mark Provinelli, Ronald Lee Clark and Danny Woodburn.

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