First look: Olivia Wilde in crime thriller “Blackbird”, also starring Charlie Hunnam and Eric Bana

November 6, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Images Leave a comment

Olivia Wilde, possibly one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood right now, and Eric Bana star as siblings on the run in Stefan Ruzowitzky’s thriller “Blackbird”, and Collider have the official synopsis and a new image, courtesy of this year’s American Film Market.

The film was shot in Montreal back in March, and also stars Kate Mara, Sissy Spacek, Treat Williams, Kris Kristofferson and Charlie Hunnam, and follows Wilde and Bana who cross paths with and make trouble for the holiday homecoming of a troubled boxer (Hunnam).

Siblings Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde) are on the run with the stolen cash from a casino heist gone wrong. Meanwhile, troubled ex-boxer Jay (Charlie Hunnam) heads for a Thanksgiving homecoming with his parents, June (Sissy Spacek) and retired sheriff Chet (Kris Kristofferson).

When Addison shoots a state trooper, he and Liza split up and make a run for the border. Addison heads cross-country, creating mayhem in his wake. Meanwhile, Jay picks up Liza, who has decided to hitch-hike to the nearest town. The young couple spends the night together stranded in a snowstorm. Their connection is instant, and as the attraction builds, they start to realize that fate has brought them together. Jay must make one more stop before they cross the border, his parents’ house where only evil awaits…

Click the cut for a larger image of Olivia Wilde, and visit Collider for a high-res picture of Eric Bana.

Olivia Wilde joins “Rush” opposite Chris Hemsworth

October 4, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Olivia Wilde continues her takeover of Hollywood by adding another highly coveted female lead to her growing resume. Deadline reports Wilde will portray onetime supermodel Suzy Miller in Ron Howard’s racing biopic “Rush” opposite Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, whose rivalry set the Formula One racing world aflame in the 1970s.

The film, scripted by Peter Morgan, chronicles the two men’s fight for dominance in the sport in the 1970′s. Hunt went on to win the 1976 title, while Lauda, who won the World Championship three times, crashed in a near-fatal accident in the same race. Wilde’s Miller falls for and marries Hemsworth’s Hunt, but the relationship is short-lived as she soon falls for his actor friend, Richard Burton. Burton then proceeded to pay Miller’s legal fees in her divorce proceedings, freeing her up to marry him shortly after. Deadline reports Howard is keen to get Russell Crowe to cameo as Burton.

The hard working Wilde will be seen in Jennifer Garner’s ensemble comedy “Butter” and opposite Justin Timberlake in Andrew Niccol’s “In Time”, along with family dramas “Welcome to People” with Chris Pine and “Blackbird” with Eric Bana. She’s also scheduled to shoot “Better Living Through Chemistry” opposite Sam Rockwell this fall and may or may not still be a contender for the last remaining female lead opposite Tom Cruise in the sci-fi epic previously known as “Horizons.” Jessica Chastain landed the first female lead a couple of weeks ago.

Olivia Wilde to have “The Longest Week” in indie comedy

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

The ever-busy Olivia Wilde has attached herself to yet another project. Variety reports from Toronto that Wilde has been tapped to star in indie comedy “The Longest Week”, which Peter Glanz is making his feature directorial debut on.

The film revolves around a young man named Conrad Valmont, “affluent and aimless, who lives a life of leisure in his parents’ prestigious Manhattan hotel. In the span of one week, he finds himself evicted, disinherited and in love.” Wilde will play his love interest. Glanz is basing the pic on his own black and white short titled “A Relationship in Four Days”, which premiered in Cannes in 2008. Model Liesl Gaffney-Dawson and commercial actor Peter Chekvala played the couple back then, but everything, including the characters’ names, seems to be changing for the feature.

Wilde will be seen in TIFF-bound ensemble comedy “Butter” and opposite Justin Timberlake in Andrew Niccol’s “In Time”, along with family dramas “Welcome to People” with Chris Pine and “Blackbird” with Eric Bana. She’s also scheduled to shoot “Better Living Through Chemistry” opposite Sam Rockwell this fall and remains in the mix for one of the female leads opposite Tom Cruise in sci-fi epic “Horizons.”

Olivia Wilde to replace Jennifer Garner in “Better Living Through Chemistry”

August 25, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 3 Comments

Call it a win-win situation. Jennifer Garner is gearing up to welcome a third child, and subsequently has left the door open for Olivia Wilde to add another movie to her rapidly filling upcoming slate. Garner had been attached to play the female lead in dark indie comedy “Better Living Through Chemistry”, but due to her just-announced pregnancy, has had to drop out. Variety reports Wilde is now in negotiations to take her place opposite Sam Rockwell (who himself is a replacement, taking the role left vacant by Jeremy Renner).

Directed by Geoff Moore and David Posamentier, “Chemistry” follows a straight-laced pharmicist (Rockwell) whose life spirals out of control after he begins an affair with Wilde’s character, a trophy wife regular customer that “takes him on a joyride involving sex, drugs and possibly murder.” Michelle Monaghan plays Rockwell’s neglected wife. Filming is set to begin this fall.

Wilde was recently seen in summer flops “Cowboys and Aliens” and “The Change-Up” but will have plenty more chances to turn her luck around. She co-stars with Garner in ensemble comedy “Butter”, headed for TIFF next month, and also stars alongside Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in Andrew Niccol’s sci-fi thriller “In Time.” In addition, she has also completed work on family drama/thriller “Blackbird” with Eric Bana and Charlie Hunnam and “Welcome to People”, where she plays Chris Pine’s love interest. It’s no wonder her character Thirteen will finally be written off Fox series “House”, freeing Wilde up for a movie career that increasingly demands her full attention.

Olivia Wilde has “Words” with Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana

June 3, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Olivia Wilde’s increasingly busy schedule just got a little fuller, with Variety reporting the 26-year-old actress has signed on to star opposite Bradley Cooper in dramatic thriller “The Words”, which is the feature directorial debut of Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, who wrote “Tron: Legacy”, which starred Wilde. Ben Barnes, French actress Nora Arnezeder and J.K. Simmons are also joining the cast, which already includes Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons and Dennis Quaid.

Cooper plays a successful writer who realizes he has to pay a price when he plagiarizes someone else’s work. The film – a Blacklist topper penned by the Klugman/Sternthal duo as well – is gearing up to shoot in Montreal this month.

Wilde is set to have an even bigger 2011 after having a bit of a breakout moment via “Tron: Legacy” in late 2010. She’s been slowly easy her way out of her commitments to Fox series “House” to make room for such varied projects as next month’s mega-blockbuster “Cowboys vs Aliens” opposite Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig and gross-out guy comedy “The Change-Up” opposite Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. On the sci-fi side she has “In Time” with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, and then there’s familial drama “Welcome to People” with Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks, indie comedy “Butter” and thriller “Blackbird” opposite Eric Bana. Long story short, if you plan on any sort of moviegoing activity in 2011, chances are you’ll be seeing Olivia Wilde on the big screen this year.

Charlie Hunnam to battle aliens and sea monsters for Guillermo del Toro in “Pacific Rim”

May 10, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Guillermo del Toro has chosen a leader of the human resistance in his ambitious alien invasion epic “Pacific Rim”, reports THR. FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” star Charlie Hunnam is the first to sign on the the film about powerful extraterritorial aliens who invade countries situated on the edges of the Pacific Ocean. In retaliation and to protect the planet, humans invent man-powered giant robots to combat the invasion. Speculation has Hunnam playing the pilot of one of these new weapons slash vehicles, described in detail by one website thusly: “The central character is Raleigh Antrobus, 23, a skilled Jaeger pilot still wrestling emotionally with the loss of his co-pilot and biological brother, Yance, during a mission a year earlier. The ordeal has wreaked havoc on his mind spirit, leaving him with ghostly nightmares of the battle from the shared ‘pons’ experience. After the initial setup, the damaged hero is recruited to re-join the task force in Tokyo, where pilots are in demand, and team with a fellow ‘leftover,’ 22-year-old female Japanese pilot Mako Mori.”

Plot details are being kept tight under wraps, though several months ago some potential plot details were uncovered, describing the film as taking place on two worlds: “The first [world] is an alternate version of Earth in the near future, decades after an historic date in November 2012 when the first kaiju, a towering Godzilla-like beast, emerged from a hole in the Pacific Ocean and attacked the city of Osaka, Japan. The second [world] is ‘The Anteverse,’ another universe on the other side of that gaping portal, 5 miles below our ocean’s surface.” [News in Film]

Hunnam recently wrapped “Blackbird” opposite Olivia Wilde and Eric Bana as siblings on the lam. Hunnam plays a troubled boxer newly released from prison who crosses paths with the duo. He was also part of the Sundance film “The Ledge”, slated for limited release on May 29.

Kate Mara joins Olivia Wilde in “Blackbird” (previously “Kin”)

February 25, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

It’s always a pleasure to see some of our favorite actors team up on projects, so we’re happy to report (via Variety) that Kate Mara has joined Olivia Wilde in “Blackbird”, previously titled “Kin”. Wilde and Eric Bana play siblings/thieves on the lam who cross paths with and make trouble for the holiday homecoming of a troubled boxer, played by “Sons of Anarchy”‘s Charlie Hunnam. Mara and Treat Williams (who starred together but did not share any scenes in Best Picture Oscar nominated “127 Hours”) will play father and daughter whose story intertwines with the duo. Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson also co-star as the boxer’s parents.

Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky (“The Counterfeiters”) directs from a script by Zach Dean. Production is expected to be underway in Montreal next month.

Mara, older sister to “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Rooney Mara, has been a steady fixture on the indie circuit, having recently completed Channing Tatum’s “Ten Year”, “Peep World” and “happythankyoumoreplease”. And unless Marion Cotillard has taken it, she might still have a shot at “The Dark Knight Rises”.

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