Saoirse Ronan joining Ryan Gosling’s “How to Catch a Monster”

February 9, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

saoirse-ronan Ryan Gosling continues to gather up an impressive cast for his directorial debut, the fantasy thriller “How to Catch a Monster.” The latest to join is Saoirse Ronan, according to Deadline, with Christina Hendricks, Eva Mendes and “Doctor Who” star Matt Smith already on board.

Filming begins in May in Detroit and Hendricks, in the female lead role, will play a single mother who is drawn into a dark underworld as her teenage son discovers a road leading to an underwater city. Smith plays the male lead and Ben Mendelsohn is also on board, though there’s no details on who any of the other actors are playing. Presumably the aforementioned teenage son still needs to be cast.

One of the most prolific and accomplished young actresses working today, Ronan was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Joe Wright’s “Atonement” and recently premiered Neil Jordan’s “Byzantium” at the Toronto Film Festival. She’ll try on her YA adaptation mettle when she stars in “The Host”, based on the novel by “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer. She’s currently in Budapest filming the female lead role in Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” follow-up, “Grand Budapest Hotel.”

“Doctor Who” Matt Smith lands male lead in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut

February 6, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Deep breath, Tumblr. “Doctor Who” and Ryan Gosling are about to meet, as Variety reports the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, has landed the male lead role in Gosling’s directorial debut, “How to Catch a Monster”, which will also mark his US acting debut.

Gosling’s “Drive” co-star Christina Hendricks plays the lead character in the film, which is “set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city.” Hendricks plays “a single mother of two being swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town.” Gosling’s real life squeeze and “Place Beyond the Pines” co-star Eva Mendes is also part of the cast, though there’s no word on if Gosling will appear on camera. What a waste if he doesn’t, right?! Filming is slated to begin this spring.

Smith began his acting career where many British thesps do: on the stage, where he has appeared in plays including “The History Boys”, “That Face” and “Swimming with Sharks.” He landed the role of the eleventh “Doctor Who” in 2009, taking over for David Tennant.

New images from “The Place Beyond the Pines” feature first glimpses of Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen

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

This one has been on our radar since forever, and we are finally just about two months away from the release of Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine” follow-up, multi-generational family/crime drama “The Place Beyond the Pines.” We’ve seen the first teaser trailer but today new stills have been released which give us our first look at young actors Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen, who play the sons of feuding rivals Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, respectively.

His second collaboration with Cianfrance sees Gosling as a reluctant bank robber and Cooper as the police officer hot on his trail. They’re both new dads and their altercation has lasting effects, ultimately bleeding down to their sons. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews, including for Cohen, who’s the least known amongst his co-stars and who has a somewhat shaky reputation from playing Debra Messing’s insufferable teenage son on NBC series “Smash.” On the bright side, someone like Shailene Woodley was able to shake off a horrible years-long TV reputation to become one of the most successful young rising stars of the moment, so Cohen will probably be just fine.

“The Place Beyond the Pines” will be released on March 29th, and the new images can be viewed below, thanks to Thompson on Hollywood.

Watch: Ryan Gosling vs Bradley Cooper in first trailer for “The Place Beyond the Pines”

December 21, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 1 Comment

Looking like a modern day “Les Miserables” starring two of the Sexiest Men Alive with questionable haircuts, Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper battle from opposite sides of the law in the first trailer for “The Place Beyond the Pines.” The Derek Cianfrance film sees Gosling as a reluctant bank robber and Cooper as the police officer hot on his trail. They’re both new dads and their altercation has lasting effects, ultimately bleeding down to their sons, with Dane DeHaan as Gosling Jr and Emory Cohen Cooper’s son.

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews and is certainly one of our most anticipated films of 2013. The beautiful, atmospheric trailer which only teases the plot can be viewed below, and “The Place Beyond the Pines” will be released on March 29th.

First look: Ryan Gosling in Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond The Pines”

October 30, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Images Leave a comment

When the news broke that Ryan Gosling was teaming back up with Derek Cianfrance for a new project, everyone at Up and Comers was pretty excited; their collaboration on one of 2010′s best films, “Blue Valentine”, was outstanding. But the premise of the new project was vastly different and intriguing, and now we have our first official still from the film, featuring Gosling astride his motorcycle.

“The Place Beyond the Pines” is a ‘multi-generational crime drama’, and will also star a host of exciting rising actors, including Rose Byrne (who replaced Greta Gerwig back in the summer), Emory Cohen and Dane DeHaan, as well stars such as Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes and Ray Liotta.

Filming finished late in the summer and is currently in post-production. No word on a release date yet, but we expect to see both Gosling and Cianfrance on the festival circuit next year.

Luke (Gosling) is a professional motorcycle rider who turns to bank robberies to support his newborn son, but when he crosses paths with a rookie police officer (Cooper) their violent confrontation spirals into a tense generational fued. THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES is a rich dramatic thriller that traces the intersecting lives of fathers and sons, cops and robbers, heroes and villain.

Click below for a larger image.

Rose Byrne replaces Greta Gerwig in “The Place Beyond the Pines”

August 11, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Filming is already well underway on Derek Cianfrance’s multi-generational crime drama “The Place Beyond the Pines” – check out a bleach blond Ryan Gosling on location – but some cast reshuffling is still going on. Vulture reports that Greta Gerwig, who was said to be playing Bradley Cooper’s wife in the film, had actually never finalized her contract and has now dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. She will be replaced by Rose Byrne, one of the many breakout stars from “Bridesmaids”.

“Pines” sees Gosling as a first time father who turns to robbing banks in order to support his new family and Cooper as the rookie cop whose quest to capture him turns the men into lifelong arch nemeses. Eva Mendes will be Gosling’s wife and Dane DeHaan their son, whose own story becomes entwined with the son of Cooper and Byrne when a drug deal goes bad.

Byrne, who first gained attention playing Brad Pitt’s love interest in 2004′s ancient Greek epic “Troy”, is a regular on hit FX series “Damages”. She had a bit of a comeback on the big screen when she played outrageous pop star Jackie Q opposite Russell Brand in last year’s “Get Him to the Greek” and recently appeared as Moira MacTaggert in “X-Men: First Class”.

Dane DeHaan to play Ryan Gosling’s son in “The Place Beyond the Pines”

July 20, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Only in the movies! Twenty four year old actor Dane DeHaan – who is admittedly pretty youthful looking – has been set for one of the last major roles in “Blue Valentine” director Derek Cianfrance’s next film, “The Place Beyond the Pines”: as the son of Ryan Gosling, who is only seven years his senior in real life. Variety broke the news today.

DeHaan joins Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Greta Gerwig and Ray Liotta in the “multi-generational crime drama” that sees Gosling as a first time father who turns to robbing banks in order to support his new family and Cooper as the rookie cop whose quest to capture him turns the men into lifelong arch nemeses. DeHaan, as Gosling and Mendes’ son, will presumably appear in later parts of the film (once Gosling and Mendes have been aged upwards thanks to the miracle of stage makeup) to get caught up in a drug deal gone wrong with Cooper’s son.

DeHaan, currently recurring on HBO’s “True Blood”, recently wrapped up filming John Hillcoat’s “The Wettest County in the World” opposite Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf and is one of three young leads of upcoming sci-fi actioner “Chronicle.”

Filming on “The Place Beyond the Pines” is slated to begin later this month in New York.

Andrew Garfield, Emile Hirsch, Olivia Wilde, Rachel McAdams and more looking at “Moon”

March 23, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 1 Comment

It’s always good news to hear that a film long in development is finally getting off the ground, and for Doug Liman’s Moon it’s heading for the orbit! First set up in 2007, Moon has moved studios and has been through several rewrites from different writers including those that have penned I Love You, Man, Bruno, and xXx: State Of The Union.

Now it seems like Paramount are happy with the script, and casting is under way. Top of the list? The usual suspects for Hollywood today – Andrew Garfield, Chris Pine and Emile Hirsch have apparently all met with Liman, with more meetings being held next week, although it is unclear if this is for second readings or new actors.

The list of actresses vying for the female lead is also a who’s who of today’s young Hollywood, with Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, Megan Fox, Rachel McAdams, Eva Mendes and Rosario Dawson all having meetings this week.

Moon is an interesting concept, which follows renegade space employees, led by an Eastern European woman, who are assembling stolen space equipment to get to the Moon on order to steal an energy source. But before they can get there they need one more item – an ex-NASA employee.

Filming is planned to start towards the end of the summer, although no green-light has yet been given by Paramount.

Several up and coming actresses reading for “Total Recall” remake

March 23, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 2 Comments

With every other film coming out of Hollywood recently being a remake, a reboot or a reimagining, what’s one more added to the mix?
Colin Farrell confirmed a few months ago that he would be starring in the remake of the 1990 classic Total Recall (originally with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone) and that Len Wiseman (Underworld, Die Hard 4:0) would be sitting in the Director’s chair. The hunt is now on for two female leads to take on the roles of Lori and Melina, and Deadline are reporting that several up and coming actresses are reading for the roles this week.

Kate Bosworth is in the running for the role of Lori (a role which shot Sharon Stone to stardom.) It could be the break Bosworth has been looking for, following mixed reviews in 2006′s Superman Returns and nothing much since. Deadline also reported Diane Kruger, perhaps best known for her small but well received role in Inglorious Basterds, was also reading but reps for her confirmed that she has opted out.

In the role of Melina, Deadline are reporting Eva Mendes and Paula Patton are both reading, but insiders have advised these names are not inclusive, and that Jessica Biel is also being considered.

We’re sure word will soon come in for who has landed what role, especially as production is due to begin soon for a key 2012 summer release date.

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