Josh Pence Cast in Kevin Costner Football Drama “Draft Day”

April 18, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

The “unsung hero” of “The Social Network”, Josh Pence has gone on to be the little-seen unsung hero of most of his films since, but could that finally change with his latest? The Wrap reports Pence has landed a supporting role in football drama “Draft Day”, which Ivan Reitman is directing and Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Ellen Burstyn and Frank Langella are starring in.

Costner will play the Cleveland Browns General Manager, who must make tough professional and personal choices in the 24 hour period of the NFL draft as he trades for the number one pick. Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman wrote the script, which ended up on last year’s Black List. Leary will play the new head coach of the team, who butts heads with Costner, while Langella plays the owner of the team and Burstyn will play Costner’s mother. Pence will play the expected first pick of the NFL draft (so presumably he may finally get some screentime). The film will shoot at the actual NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 25th.

Pence played a twin alongside Armie Hammer in David Fincher’s “The Social Network”, but had to see Hammer’s face superimposed over his body in the finished product. He’s scored cameo-sized roles in “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Gangster Squad” since, but is clearly still looking for more substantial roles.

Emma Stone Among Star-Studded Cast Joining Dark Comedy “Birdman”

March 5, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

emma-stone Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Keaton and Naomi Watts have been cast in dark comedy “Birdman”, according to THR.

Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu will direct the Fox Searchlight project, which follows a washed-up former comic book movie star who sets out to mount a Broadway play based on a Raymond Chandler short story, but things get out of control with the arrival of the egotistical leading man. Keaton will play the former movie star while Stone will be his daughter-turned-assistant, who’s just out of rehab. Watts will play an actress in the show while Galifianakis will play the production’s conniving producer. The role of the egotistical leading man and Keaton’s ex-wife remain to be cast.

It’s unclear when filming on “Birdman” will take place, as Stone’s schedule is pretty well booked. She’s currently reprising her role as Gwen Stacy in Marc Webb’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2″ and next heads to Hawaii to film Cameron Croewe’s next with Bradley Cooper. She’s also attached to Guillermo Del Toro’s haunted house horror “Crimson Peak”, which is eyeing a spring 2014 start date. Last seen on the big screen in “Gangster Squad”, Stone can next be heard voicing a character in animated “The Croods.”

Anthony Mackie joins Bill Condon’s Wikileaks movie, now titled “The Fifth Estate”; first image released

January 22, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting, Images 2 Comments

UPDATED: The first official image from the film has been added.

Well this movie just keeps getting better and better. In a press release today announcing the start of principal photography on “The Fifth Estate”, the previously untitled Wikileaks movie directed by Bill Condon, it’s revealed that Anthony Mackie has joined the cast that already boasts Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl and Alicia Vikander.

Cumberbatch will play Julian Assange and Bruhl his one-time right hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. The Dreamworks film 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. Vikander will play a co-worker and eventual love interest to Bruhl’s charcter, while “Downton Abbey” star Dan Stevens will play a hacker friend of Domscheit-Berg’s who eventually comes to work with the Wikileaks team. There’s no word on who other cast members including Mackie, Laura Linney, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, and Carice van Houten will play. “The Fifth Estate” has also just been set for a November 15, 2013 release.

Mackie will film this first before heading to Cleveland in April to play the Falcon opposite Chris Evans, who reprises his role as Steve Rogers in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The two also recently wrapped up filming on “A Many Splintered Thing” together. Mackie is currently on screen in “Gangster Squad” opposite Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and will next be seen opposite Mark Wahlberg in Michael Bay’s “Pain & Gain.”

Meanwhile, the first official image featuring Cumberbatch and Bruhl has been released and can be viewed below.

Mireille Enos joins Ryan Reynolds and Scott Speedman in “Queen of the Night”

December 14, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Ryan Reynolds, Mireille Enos and Scott Speedman will star in psychological thriller “The Queen of the Night”, according to Deadline. Reynolds and Enos play parents of an abducted girl who begin receiving disturbing clues eight years after her disappearance, which they believe may lead to her still being found alive. Speedman will play a police officer working on the case. “The Devil’s Knot” helmer Atom Egoyan will direct early next year in Ontario.

Enos, who broke out playing Detective Linden on AMC series “The Killing”, is reuniting with Egoyan here after playing a small part in the director’s West Memphis Three drama “The Devil’s Knot.” She’ll next be seen opposite Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling in Ruben Fleischer’s “Gangster Squad” and opposite Brad Pitt in zombie apocalypse thriller “World War Z”, both releasing next year. She’s currently filming David Ayer’s “Ten” opposite Sam Worthington.

Frank Grillo to play villain Crossbones in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”

October 29, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

We still don’t know for sure who will be playing Sharon Carter in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, but the latest Marvel flick does have another villain now locked down. After a week of rumor and speculation, Variety confirms “End of Watch” actor Frank Grillo has closed his deal to play Brock Rumlow, who would ultimately adopt the villainous moniker Crossbones, opposite Chris Evans returning as supersoldier/Avenger Steve Rogers.

Grillo teased fans last week when he tweeted about meeting with Marvel and hoping a deal could be worked out, along with the hashtags #CaptainAmerica and #bones. Well, work out it did, and Grillo becomes the latest to join the cast that already includes Sebastian Stan returning as Bucky Barnes, who becomes the titular Winter Soldier, Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, as well as fellow newbie Anthony Mackie, who takes on the role of the Falcon. And of course, whoever lands the role of Sharon Carter, be it Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jessica Brown Findlay or any of the other dozen names mentioned in relation to that particular casting. Anthony and Joseph Russo will direct “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” next March, with a release already set for April 4, 2014.

Grillo has been acting steadily on TV and in movies for years, but is undeniably having a bit of a moment on the big screen right now, thanks to a string of impressive supporting turns, first opposite Joel Edgerton in “Warrior”, then Liam Neeson in “The Grey” and most recently opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena in “End of Watch.” He’ll surely impress further when he reteams with Edgerton in Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” and with Mackie in “Gangster Squad.”

“The Killing” star Mireille Enos joins Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington in “Ten”

August 23, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

While “The Killing” remains in limbo waiting to see if someone other than AMC will pick it up for a third season, star Mireille Enos continues to build her film resume. She has joined the cast of David Ayer’s “Ten”, according to Deadline. Enos rounds out a cast that is led by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington, as well as Terrence Howard, Malin Akerman, Olivia Williams, Joe Manganiello, Dawn Olivieri and Max Martini. The film also has the working title of “Breacher” while it’s unclear at this point which title will end up being used.

Based on Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery “Ten Little Indians”, this modern retelling will revolve an elite squad of ten DEA agents who take down a drug cartel safe house with the intention of stealing the goods for themselves. Their plans are thwarted when they begin dying off one by one. If our math is correct, Enos completes the squad of ten, unless some of the cast members are playing other supporting characters. Enos’ character is married to Worthington’s. Filming begins this October after Ayer releases his new found-footage cop drama “End of Watch.”

Enos, one of our Faces to Watch in 2012, actually will not be seen in a 2012 film at all. Warner Bros pushed back “Gangster Squad”, in which she plays Josh Brolin’s wife, until January 2013, while zombie apocalypse flick “World War Z”, in which she plays Mrs. Brad Pitt, is in even bigger trouble. Enos also wrapped up shooting on West Memphis Three dramatization “The Devil’s Knot” opposite Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth.

Emma Stone to headline Cameron Crowe’s “Deep Tiki”

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

Emma Stone will be the star of Cameron Crowe’s next film, according to Deadline. The untitled love story is a two-hander with the male lead still to be cast and was written by Crowe himself. He will direct it next spring. Deadline seems unclear about plot details, though it’s expected the film will be in the vein of “Jerry Maguire” and “Almost Famous.”

Meanwhile, Variety reports the film is likely to be a rewritten version of Crowe’s long-gestating Hawaiian-set romance “Deep Tiki”, which at one point had Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon attached to play the leads. Stiller would have played a military consultant assigned to oversee a secret satellite launch on a Hawaii military base. There, he begins to fall for an uptight colleague, presumably Stone taking over for Witherspoon.

The picture is set up at Sony, who seems very pleased with Stone after she played Gwen Stacy in “The Amazing Spider-Man” to a warm critical and fan reception. She’s locked in for the sequel, and will next be seen in Warner Bros’ “Gangster Squad”, which was recently moved back to February of 2013 following the Aurora, Colorado shooting. She’s attached to two comedies, drug-fueld “Little White Corvette” and modern rom com “He’s Fuckin’ Perfect”, but both are still in the development stages.

“The Killing” star Mireille Enos joins West Memphis 3 drama “Devil’s Knot” opposite Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon

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

“The Killing” star Mirelle Enos continues to build an intriguing big screen resume, with Deadline reporting her latest get is a role in West Memphis 3 drama “The Devil’s Knot”, which already has Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon attached to star.

Witherspoon, Firth and Enos all play real life figures who orbit around the trio of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, widely believed to be wrongly convicted of killing three young boys in 1994. They were finally freed in 2011 after years of high profile support in the media. Though several documentaries have been made of the trial, “The Devil’s Knot”, to be directed by Atom Egoyan, will be the first dramatization. Witherspoon plays the mother of one of the victims while Firth plays a private investigators who was one of the earliest supporters of the trio. Enos will play key witness Vicki Hutcheson.

Enos, one of our Faces to Watch in 2012, earns high marks for her work on AMC series “The Killing”, even while the show itself divides its viewers. In 2012 she has two high profile projects awaiting release: Ruben Fleischer’s “Gangster Squad” with Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn, and zombie apocalyptic thriller “World War Z”, in which she plays the wife of Brad Pitt’s character.

Anthony Mackie to gamble with Justin Timberlake in thriller “Runner Runner”

May 17, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Anthony Mackie has joined the cast of online gambling thriller “Runner Runner”, according to Deadline.

Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck and “Project X” breakout star Oliver Cooper have already been cast in the Brad Furman film about a couple of Ivy League college students (Timberlake and Cooper) who get drawn into the world of online gambling and find themselves in over their heads when they’re hired to work for Affleck’s shady billionaire online gambling business owner. Filming begins next month in Puerto Rico, with Mackie in the role of an FBI agent who’s been trying to take down Affleck for years.

After breaking out in Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Picture Oscar winner “The Hurt Locker” opposite Jeremy Renner, Mackie has been increasingly in demand, appearing in four movies in 2011 and set to have an even bigger 2012, with “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” set for release next month and Ruben Fleischer’s “Gangster Squad” recently bumped up to a September 7th release. He’s currently filming bodybuilder heist actioner “Pain and Gain” opposite Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson.

Watch: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and Anthony Mackie in first trailer for “Gangster Squad”

May 9, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

“Zombieland” and “30 Minutes or Less” director Ruben Fleischer’s first foray into serious drama appears to be a success judging by the first trailer for 1940s mob actioner “Gangster Squad”, which you can now view below. Sean Penn stars in the true life tale as notorious mobster Mickey Cohen, a highly charismatic figure with a sociopathic dark side. Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Anothny Mackie, among others, play cops who come in to try to take Cohen down, but according to the trailer, may find themselves treading back and forth across the thin blue line. Fleischer’s “Zombieland” leading lady Emma Stone looks right at home in the period setting, playing a “sharp tongued siren” involved with both Penn and Gosling.

Warner Bros recently pulled “Gangster Squad” from its original October 12, 2012 release date and has not set a new release date yet, but it’s widely believed it will be in front of moviegoers before the year is up. Meanwhile, you can watch the first trailer below.

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