Nicole Beharie, Olivia Wilde and Hailee Steinfeld to star in Civil War drama “The Keeping Room”

October 30, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Olivia Wilde, Hailee Steinfeld and “Shame” star Nicole Beharie will star in gritty Civil War set drama “The Keeping Room”, according to THR.

Written by Julia Hart and to be directed by Daniel Barber, the film will follow two sisters and one slave during the dying days of the Civil War who are forced to defend their home from a band of soldiers who have broken off from the Union Army. Filming will begin in March 2013 in North Carolina.

Steinfeld is no stranger to Westerns, having made her feature film debut and earned her first Oscar nomination for her role as Mattie Ross in the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit.” She has been steadily working since, and will have a big 2013 when films including “Ender’s Game” and “Romeo and Juliet”, in which she has lead roles, will be released. She recently wrapped up filming on indie musical drama “Can a Song Save Your Life?” and is currently filming “Hateship, Friendship” opposite Kristen Wiig.

Wilde also has Western experience, if you count “Cowboys and Aliens.” One of the busiest young actresses working today, she was last seen opposite Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks in family drama “People Like Us” and is currently filming anthology style romantic drama “Third Person” opposite Liam Neeson. Awaiting release are such high profile flicks as Ron Howard’s “Rush” opposite Chris Hemsworth, Spike Jonze’s “Her” with Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams and magician comedy “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” opposite Steve Carell and Jim Carrey.

Beharie played Marianne opposite Michael Fassbender in visionary director Steve McQueen’s modern masterpiece “Shame”, and will next be seen opposite newcomer Chadwick Boseman, who plays Jackie Robinson in baseball biopic “42.”

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.

Abigail Spencer to join James Franco, Michelle Williams and more in “Oz”

July 6, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

Looks like everyone is dropping in to Oz! Over the last few months, James Franco, Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz have all joined the cast for Sam Raimi’s much-anticipated Oz: The Great and Powerful, and THR is today reporting that Abigail Spencer has also been added to the cast.

Spencer “will play a young woman who is a willing subject of Oz’s magic tricks which the erstwhile magician is performing in Kansas”. In this “prequel” to the classic film The Wizard of Oz, Oz (Franco) is a charismatic circus magician who is treated as a powerful wizard after his balloon blows off course into Oz. Once there, he meets the three Witches who run the colourful land – Glinda the Good Witch (Williams); Evanorah, the Wicked Witch of the East (Weisz); and her younger sister Theodorah (Kunis), who falls for and is spurned by Oz, eventually becoming the Wicked Witch of the West.

Spencer got her start in acting on the daytime soap opera, “All My Children”, and is perhaps best known for her role on the critically acclaimed TV show “Mad Men”. She has a host of upcoming Hollywood films on her resume however, including the soon-to-be-released Cowboys and Aliens with Daniel Craig and The Haunting in Georgia with fellow TV actressKatee Sackhoff.

Watch: First Trailer for “Cowboys and Aliens”

November 17, 2010 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images, Videos Leave a comment

It’s here!! Daniel Craig’s Jake Lonergan is a stranger who shows up and leads the town of Absolution in defense against an alien invasion and other mysteries in Jon Favreau’s highly anticipated genre-crossing actioner “Cowboys and Aliens”, out next July, and today we finally have a look at the fast-rising Olivia Wilde in her role as Ella, someone who may know a little something about Jake’s mysterious past.

See some stills of Wilde in character below.

Teaser poster for “Cowboys and Aliens” debuts; trailer Wednesday!

November 15, 2010 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

The teaser poster for Jon Favreau’s highly anticipated genre-bender “Cowboys and Aliens” was released today via Yahoo! Movies, with a promise of the teaser trailer to be released online on Wednesday and attached to prints of “Harry Potter” starting Friday. Based on the graphic novel from Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Daniel Craig stars as a stranger with no no memory who stumbles upon the town of Absolution, the only clue hinting at his identity a mysterious shackle on his wrist. Co-starring the fast-rising Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford and Sam Rockwell, the film will be unleashed on theaters July 29, 2011.

Peek at the full size poster and official synopsis below. Check back on Wednesday to wtach the teaser trailer!

cowboys and aliens