Abigail Breslin Lands Lead in Thriller “Peste”

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

abigail-breslin Abigail Breslin has landed the lead role in thriller “Peste”, which Mark Ponderai will direct from a Black List script by Barbara Marshall. Breslin will play a teenage girl confronted with a virus outbreak that spreads into her neighborhood, turning friends and neighbors into monsters. She goes into quarantine with her family in their home, but the virus soon infiltrates them as well.

“Abigail is one of the outstanding talents of her generation. Her recent standout performances in genre hits like Zombieland, The Call and the forthcoming Ender’s Game make her a perfect fit for Peste,” says IM Global’s Stuart Ford. Global’s genre arm Octane is shopping the upcoming project at Cannes this week.

Breslin was nominated for an Oscar for 2006′s “Little Miss Sunshine” and is attempting to make the transition from child to adult actress. It’s a road paved with plenty of thrillers and horrors (“Final Girl”, “Haunter”, “Perfect Sisters”, “Wicked Blood”) but also prestige projects (“August: Osage County”) and potential franchise blockbusters (“Ender’s Game”).

Benedict Cumberbatch may play Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game”, taking over for Leonardo Dicaprio

February 1, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Is Benedict Cumberbatch the new Leonardo Dicaprio? Seems like an odd fit, but in fact it is Cumberbatch who will be taking over a high profile role that had once been earmarked for the former teen idol turned respected dramatic actor. Deadline reports Cumberbatch is in deep negotiations to play Alan Turing in “Headhunters” helmer Morten Tyldum’s adaptation of “The Turing Game”, a biopic of the tortured WWII genius.

The British mathematician Turing helped the Allies defeat the Germans by cracking the enemy’s “Enigma Code” during WWII, but a decade later was prosecuted by his own government for being a homosexual. Other than take a prison sentence, he chose chemical castration, an act that would lead him into the pits of depression and ultimately suicide. The film is fully financed but has no studio backing just yet, but Deadline speculates it won’t take long before Oscar-hungry executives bite on distribution rights.

Benedict, the acclaimed star of BBC’s “Sherlock”, will have a hell of a year on the big screen in 2013. He recently wrapped up the villain role in JJ Abrams’ sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness” and will play ‘Little’ Charles Aiken opposite Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”, and he also has a role in Steve McQueen’s “Twelve Years a Slave” opposite Michael Fassbender. He’s currently filming Bill Condon’s “The Fifth Estate”, the Wikileaks origin tale in which he portrays founder Julian Assange.

First look at Abigail Breslin on the set of “August: Osage County” with Julia Roberts and Juliette Lewis

October 5, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

Filming is now underway on the highly anticipated and super star-studded big screen adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play stage play “August: Osage County”, and today we have our first look at at Abigail Breslin on the set, along with co-stars Juliette Lewis and Julia Roberts.

Letts’ play follows one dysfunctional family in Oklahoma over the course of several weeks one summer as they come together in the wake of the father’s disappearance and John Wells is currently directing his A-list cast in Oklahoma. Meryl Streep’s Violet is the pill-popping matriarch, while Roberts plays her oldest daughter Barbara, who’s separated from her husband. Lewis plays youngest daughter Karen, self-absorbed and willfully ignorant of the problems in her own life. Breslin’s Jean is 14 and already a pot-smoking rebel. The ladies are all dressed in black from head to toe in these first set photos, which seems to imply a funeral scene may be on the docket for this day of shooting. The cast also includes Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Cooper and Dermot Mulroney.

The first image of Breslin as Jean can be viewed below. Roberts fan website About Julia got the first snaps of the cast on set, and you can head over there for even more.

Jeremy Renner out, Benedict Cumberbatch and Joel Kinnaman in for Bill Condon’s Wikileaks film?

October 2, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 4 Comments

Back in July, we got word that Dreamworks and director Bill Condon were meeting with the ever in demand Jeremy Renner about taking on the role of Julian Assange in a planned Wikileaks film, but could that all be changing now?

Deadline reports the studio is now seriously looking at British actor Benedict Cumberbatch for the role of Assange, and Swedish rising star Joel Kinnaman for the role of Assange’s former right hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. But, they caution, the studio would confirm nothing and it seems Renner really isn’t completely out of the conversation yet, so this is all far from finalized.

Dreamworks is taking its source material from Domscheit-Berg’s “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” and “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy” by David Leigh and Luke Harding, British journalists who worked at The Guardian and helped Assanage publish his first findings. Meanwhile, other filmmakers and even Assange himself remain at work on their own retellings of the formation of the whistleblowing organization.

Benedict, the acclaimed star of BBC’s “Sherlock”, recently wrapped up the villain role in JJ Abrams’ sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness” and will play ‘Little’ Charles Aiken opposite Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County.” Kinnaman, who caught the industry’s attention in AMC series “The Killing”, is currently filming Jose Padilha’s remake of “Robocop.”

Abigail Breslin joins Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County”

July 20, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Abigail Breslin will play Julia Roberts’ daughter in “August: Osage County”, according to Deadline. Meryl Streep plays the family matriarch and Juliette Lewis has also joined the cast (replacing Andrea Riseborough) of the big screen adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play.

Letts’ play follows one dysfunctional family in Oklahoma over the course of several weeks one summer as they come together in the wake of the father’s disappearance. Streep’s Violet is the pill-popping matriarch, while Roberts plays her oldest daughter Barbara, who’s separated from her husband. Lewis plays youngest daughter Karen, self-absorbed and willfully ignorant of the problems in her own life. Breslin’s Jean is 14 and already a pot-smoking rebel. John Wells will direct on location in Oklahoma this fall, and the rest of the large ensemble cast still needs to be assembled.

Breslin, one of the youngest Oscar nominees ever for her role in “Little Miss Sunshine” back in 2006, has had a somewhat patchy career since as she begins to traverse that awkward stage of transitioning from child to adult roles. She most recently appeared in Garry Marshall’s ensemble comedy “New Year’s Eve” and recently wrapped up a key supporting role in Gavin Hood’s adaptation of seminal sci-fi novel “Ender’s Game.” Indie flicks including horror “Final Girl” and comedy “Virgin Mary” are also on her horizon.

Andrea Riseborough set to join Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep in adaptation of Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play “August: Osage County”

July 10, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 1 Comment

Andrea Riseborough may still be a relative unknown but it’s looking more and more likely we’ll start to see her name everywhere. After turns in 2010 films “Never let Me Go” and “Made in Dagenham”, she spent 2011 promoting Madonna’s panned “W.E.“. But the British actress also signed on to some potential hits, including “Shadow Dancer” and “Welcome to the Punch”, both of which are set for release this year, and during the early months of 2012 won one of the lead roles in the Tom Cruise sci-fi flick “Oblivion” as well as joining smaller, indie film The Hidden with Alexander Skarsgard.

Now Britain’s Daily Mail (via Playlist) is reporting that Riseborough may be about to land her biggest role yet, working alongside Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in John Wells’ adaptation of Tracy Lett’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play “August: Osage County“.

The star is still in negotiations but if successful, Riseborough will be set to play Karen, Streep’s youngest daughter. The story “follows the women of the Weston family whose lives have splintered in many directions until their alcoholic father’s disappearance brings them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them”. Streep will play matriarch Violet, with Roberts set to play Barbara, the eldest daughter.

“August: Osage County” is currently looking to go into production in September, ready for an early 2013 release … just in time for awards season.

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