“Girls” Star Allison Williams Lands “Rosaline”; In Consideration for “Fantastic Four”

April 30, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 1 Comment

allison-williams “Girls” star Allison Williams is in talks for her first starring film roles – in two vastly different genres. Williams is in talks to play the titular role in “Rosaline“, one of the more intriguing projects Twentieth Century Fox are working on, and the studio is also considering her for the reboot of Marvel’s “Fantastic Four“, reports Deadline.

A retelling of the classic Shakespeare love story ‘Romeo and Juliet’, “Rosaline” is based on Rebecca Serle’s book and follows our lead character who is jilted by Romeo, who claimed to have been in love with her before meeting Juliet, but who ends up falling for Romeo’s cousin Benvolio instead. Director Michael Sucsy has been in place since Summer 2011 but there have been several actresses attached to star. Kiera Knightly and Lily Collins were two of the early names originally in talks to play the wooed and jilted girl, before Deborah Ann Woll took over. Last we heard, Lily Collins was still in talks – but this time to play Juliet instead – and Dave Franco was to play Romeo. There’s no word if these two rising stars are still in talks.

Williams is also apparently on the shortist for Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” which has Josh Trank attached to direct and Seth Grahame-Green writing the script. We assume that Williams would be playing Susan Storm (Invisible Woman), and an MTV report earlier this month stated that filming on Trank’s picture is scheduled to start filming this September – so hopefully we’ll soon hear more casting news on this much-needed reboot.

Last year the actress was on the shortlist for stalled rock biopic “Girls Like Us”, reading for the role of Carole King, so both of these projects are a coup for Williams who has starred in Lena Dunham’s hit HBO drama “Girls” since it premiered in 2012.

Dave Franco and Christopher Mintz-Plasse Join Seth Rogen and Zac Efron in “Townies”

March 22, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

townies Two more funny guys are joining Nicholas Stoller comedy “Townies”, with Deadline reporting Dave Franco and Christopher Mintz-Plasse have jumped on board, joining previously cast Seth Rogen and Zac Efron.

Andrew Cohen and Brendan O’Brien wrote the screenplay for the long-gestating film, which sparked a bidding war last summer, about a family man (Rogen) who lives near a fraternity house and finds himself at odds with one of the frat brothers (Efron), whose constant partying and raucous behavior is wreaking havoc on his neighbor’s life. No word on who Franco or Mintz-Plasse will play but frat brothers would probably be a logical guess.

Franco and Mintz-Plasse are working together on a feature film for the first time here but have collaborated on a series of popular Funny or Die web videos. Franco, younger brother to James Franco, was last seen opposite Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in “21 Jump Street” and Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer in “Warm Bodies.” He’ll next star opposite Jesse Eisenberg in magician heist thriller “Now You See Me.” Mintz-Plasse just completed reprising his role as Red Mist in “Kick Ass 2″ and voiced a character in Oscar-nominated “ParaNorman.”

Who Should Play Augustus Waters in “The Fault In Our Stars” Opposite Shailene Woodley?

March 20, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting, Features 11 Comments

guscasting

It’s the question on everyone’s minds now that we have our Hazel Grace in “The Descendants” star Shailene Woodley: Who will play her sparring partner, love interest and fellow cancer survivor Augustus Waters in “The Fault in Our Stars”?

Josh Boone is directing the adaptation of the best-selling John Green YA novel, and the casting for Augustus will likely be even more scrutinized than Woodley as Hazel. Gus, described as long and lean with dark hair and blue eyes who’s witty and spouts off romantic soliloquies in his wooing of Hazel, is the ideal fictional boyfriend for many a teenage reader and no matter who is cast, he will undoubtedly meet with a fair share of resistance. Sure, there is no perfect Gus for everyone, but we did our best to come up with just a few suggestions of guys who can be trusted to bring this beloved character to the big screen and not screw it up for his legion of fans.

It should be noted that Boone has been pretty vocal that an actor who is 25 is “far too old” for the role, which immediately takes a few of our guys out of the running (and which frankly makes us think someone has already been chosen, but that’s another story). Clearly, we disagree with the director on this point, and this is just our wishful thinking, just let us have this. Okay? Okay.

Click below to see our choices for Augustus Waters and leave us yours!

WATCH: First four minutes of Jonathan Levine’s “Warm Bodies” starring Nicholas Hoult

December 28, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos 1 Comment

Following a first look trailer back in November, Summit have just released the first four minutes of Jonathan Levine‘s “Warm Bodies“. An adaptation of Isaac Marion’s novel, the film star Nicholas Hoult, a zombie who goes by R – because he can’t remember anything from his human life, much less his real name.

These first four minutes introduce us to R who spends his days aimlessly wandering through a destroyed airport, dreaming of what the zombies that he passes by used to be like when they were living, breathing human beings, and briefly explaining why R thinks zombies now exist – the memory loss makes it a little confusing, after all.

And it sets the audience up nicely for the rest of the film, as at the end of the footage R and his zombie best friend (Rob Corddry) have grunted their way to a decision to head out for food.

Click below the view the clip. Also starring Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton and Dave Franco, “Warm Bodies” is gearing up for a February 1st 2013 release.

Watch: Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco make futuristic magic in first trailer for “Now You See Me”

November 16, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 1 Comment

The first trailer for magician heist thriller “Now You See Me” has been released via Yahoo! Movies and it is not at all what I expected. Sleek, high-tech and slightly futuristic, this Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco led actioner is being played out on a way bigger stage than I had anticipated.

The three, along with Woody Harrelson, are a group of world class magicians. For their final act, they tell the audience, they are going to rob a bank. They seemingly teleport a member of the audience into a bank vault, and then shower the audience with the money he brings back. This of course does not sit well with the FBI, led here by Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent, and they are hot on the group’s trail. Meanwhile, Morgan Freeman believes the real trick up their sleeves has yet to be revealed.

Whew! Seems like there’s a lot of great action sequences and a complicated mystery to solve here, so count us in. Directed by Louis Letterier, “Now You See Me” has been set for release on January 18, 2013. The first trailer can be seen below.

Watch: Teresa Palmer transforms Nicholas Hoult in first trailer for Jonathan Levine’s zombie romance “Warm Bodies”

November 8, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 2 Comments

Guys will do anything to get a girl, but looks like Nicholas Hoult may be about to top them all by… switching species? The first trailer for Jonathan Levine’s adaptation of Isaac Marions’ YA zombie novel “Warm Bodies” has just been released, and our first look at footage from the film seems to suggest that through the newly discovered love of Teresa Palmer‘s character Julie, Hoult’s zombie R is becoming human again.

It’s a somewhat unexpected trailer, striking a more playful and humorous tone that I had been expecting, based on my experience of reading the book. Though with Rob Corddry and Analeigh Tipton on board as the obligatory best friend figures (one zombie, one human), it probably should have been obvious. The trailer downplays what had been a major plot point in the book, that R begins to feel human after ingesting the brains and memories and feelings of Julie’s late boyfriend Kelvin (played by Dave Franco in the film). Kelvin’s role in the book is huge, but it looks like it may have been downgraded quite a bit for the film.

Being someone who loves to be surprised, this trailer caught me off guard and actually amps up my anticipation for this film quite a bit. It looks like a lot of fun with a charming, likeable cast. “Warm Bodies” had originally been scheduled to be released this summer, but will now come out on February 1, 2013 instead. See the first trailer below.

Watch: Video footage from the set of “Now You See Me” with Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco

April 13, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

Today we have the first footage from the set of one of our most anticipated upcoming movies, as Entertainment Weekly unveiled some B-Roll and interviews with the cast of magician heist thriller “Now You See Me.” Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco are seen in action as big-scale, high tech magicians performing tricks that involve both high flying wire-work and traditional bunny-and-top-hat stuff. The three play members of an elite magician troupe who use their performances for corrupt businessmen to swindle their money and lavish upon the more deserving. “Like modern day Robin Hoods,” says Fisher.

Of course, noble as their intentions may be, it’s still high illegal, and hot on their trail is an FBI team led by Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent, who appears to be seen in a brief chase scene with Eisenberg in the clip below as well.

Directed by Louis Letterier, “Now You See Me” has been set for release on January 18, 2013. The first video footage from the set can be seen below.

Who will have “Sex on the Moon”? Ten guys we could see as daring NASA thief Thad Roberts

March 1, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Features 5 Comments

The team behind the massive critical and commercial success “The Social Network” are at it again. Producers Scott Rudin and Dana Brunetti have teamed up with author Ben Mezrich – whose book “The Accidental Billionaires” was the basis from which the Oscar-winning film was made – for another film. Mezrich’s new book, “Sex on the Moon”, is another true story that’s no less juicy and scandalous and filled to the brim with young, morally ambiguous and party-hard geniuses, and the filmmakers have fittingly set “Easy A” helmer Will Gluck to direct.

Our lead character, Thad Roberts, is a 25-year-old upstart working in NASA’s highly selective co-op program, with very real ambitions to go to space one day (as “the first man on Mars” to be exact). But Roberts is no nerdy rocket scientist. In order to prepare for space, he is in tip top physical shape, and has earned a pilot’s license. With effortless charm and cool, Thad becomes a leader amongst his fellow students and stages elaborate adventures to take them on. When he meets and falls in love with beautiful fellow co-op student Rebecca, his next adventure becomes even more daring – and a lot more illegal, as the two conspire to lead a small team on a mission to steal and sell priceless moon rocks from NASA’s seemingly impenetrable facilities.

Ambitious, competitive, charming, rebellious, beyond intelligent, and madly in love. No small task, but here are ten young actors we think would thrive in this role.

Juliet switcheroo comes full circle: Lily Collins replaces Hailee Steinfeld in “Rosaline”

February 23, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Now this is what we call coming full circle. Hailee Steinfeld and Lily Collins have pulled a complete Juliet switcheroo on us and Variety is reporting it is Collins, not Steinfeld, who is now in negotiations to play Juliet in revisionist romantic comedy “Rosaline”, which retells the famous Shakespearean classic from the point of view of the young woman Romeo claimed to have been in love with at the beginning of the story – right before falling in love at first sight with the fair Capulet. As previously reported, Deoborah Ann Woll is still on track to being the titular Rosaline, while Dave Franco is still likely to be Romeo.

But the Steinfeld/Collins Juliet saga is where it gets interesting. Bear with us, because it’s kind of a long and convoluted timeline that led us to this new development. Almost a year ago, Steinfeld replaced Collins in Carlo Carlei’s new adaptation of Shakespearean classic “Romeo and Juliet”, which is now filming in Italy. A few months later, Collins was rumored to be a strong contender for “Rosaline” – but in the titular role, not as Juliet. Instead, a couple of months later Woll, Franco and Steinfeld entered talks for “Rosaline” instead, with Steinfeld apparently and inexplicably keen to play Juliet in two different movies. In any case, it seemed like that would be the end of Collins’ possible associations with that particular Shakespearean tale, and with playing casting musical chairs with Steinfeld. Evidently not! Is this the end of the road? Will Collins finally be playing Juliet after all? We hope so, but as Variety reports, talks are still in the early stages.

Collins, daughter of Phil Collins, made her big screen debut in 2009′s Sandra Bullock Oscar contender “The Blind Side” and has been on an upward swinging career trajectory ever since. She headlines Tarsem Singh’s Snow White redo “Mirror Mirror” in March and has long been attached to the lead in potential teen genre franchise “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.” She recently completed work opposite Michael Anagarano and Julianne Moore in indie dramedy “The English Teacher.”

Up and Comers Presents: 24 Faces to Watch in 2012

January 18, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge and Rebecca Lewis in Features 16 Comments

2011 saw some great new talent rise to stardom, but now let’s turn our attention to who may be following in their footsteps.

Again, we’ve chosen a group of fresh talent who we believe will be appearing in some interesting and high profile movies this year, which may or may not propel them to another level in their career. Some may be familiar to you already, some may be completely new. You may cheer at some inclusions, rage at who we left off (it was hard for us too, trust us!), but for better or worse, here are twenty-four actors and actresses that we will be keeping our eyes on this year.

>> 24 Faces to Watch in 2012 < <

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