Ansel Elgort Is Augustus Waters in "The Fault in Our Stars" Opposite Shailene Woodley

From siblings to star-crossed lovers! EW reports rising star Ansel Elgort has been offered the male lead in "The Fault in Our Stars" opposite Shailene Woodley - who plays his sister in the currently-filming dystopian adaptation "Divergent." The two Read more

Dylan O'Brien Lands "The Maze Runner" Lead; Ki Hong Lee Also Joins

UPDATE: Director Wes Ball tweets that Ki Hong Lee has also joined the cast as Minho, a fellow Glader and ally to Thomas throughout the series. Lee is probably best known as a regular on short-lived ABC Family Read more

Shailene Woodley Confirmed for "The Fault in Our Stars"

I mean, duh, we called it. It has now been officially confirmed with glowing quotes from director, producer and author in tow that the increasingly in demand Shailene Woodley will play the lead role of Hazel Grace Lancaster Read more

Up and Comers Presents: 20 Faces to Watch in 2013

After a somewhat unpredictable year in which the stars we expected to break out largely didn't but fresh faces came out of nowhere to surprise us all, we are ready to look ahead to the new talent waiting to Read more

Up and Comers Presents: The Breakout Stars of 2012

Another year, another new crop of fresh talent. Just like last year, the hardest part is narrowing down which of the dozens of the year's rising stars shone the brightest. This year we heralded the arrival of the unlikeliest Read more
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hunger

Michael Fassbender to play novelist Thomas Wolfe in biopic “Genius” opposite Colin Firth

November 1, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Michael Fassbender is set to play one of those iconic American novelists of the 20th Century in biopic “Genius”, reports THR from the American Film Market. Fassbender is signing up for the role of “Look Homeward, Angel” author Thomas Wolfe in the film, while Colin Firth will play Max Perkins, the “genius” editor who made the careers of Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and more 20th Century luminaries. Michael Grandage will direct the film based on A. Scott Berg’s National Book Award winning biography “Max Perkins: Editor of Genius.”

Fassbender, who was seen in “Prometheus” earlier this year, is currently filming Terrence Malick’s new untitled feature with Natalie Portman, Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara in Austin, Texas. He recently completed work on a third collaboration with “Hunger” and “Shame” director Steve McQueen, “Twelve Years a Slave” and will reprise his role as Magneto in “X-Men: Days of Future Past”, recently confirmed to be directed by Bryan Singer.

The Hollywood courtship of Michael Fassbender continues; now sought for Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah”

November 30, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

We’ve said it before, but it really has become the least shocking news in the world to hear of yet another movie seeking the rapidly rising star power and acting prowess of German import Michael Fassbender. Today Variety reports this time it’s Darren Aronofsky who’s after the much in demand actor, courting him for his biblical epic “Noah”, which recently lost its star in Christian Bale, who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with his commitment to filming Terrence Malick’s next two films back to back.

Fassbender does not have an official offer yet, but has been meeting with the director about the project and is looking to fill a recently opened up free period in his upcoming schedule. He had been intending to do Rupert Wyatt’s “Londongrad”, but Wyatt has walked and that production has stalled. Aronofsky and Ari Handel wrote the “Noah” script, which presumably will follow the biblical fable about a man asked by god to build an ark and fill it with two of every animal in the face of an impending apocalyptic flood. The $130 million blockbuster is tentatively scheduled for a spring 2012 shoot.

For now, Fassbender is having a bit of a moment and basking in awards season glow, where he is awash in raves for his brilliant performances in Steve McQueen’s “Shame” and David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method”, to speak nothing of “Jane Eyre” and even “X-Men: First Class.” He recently wrapped up Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” and has committed to just one other upcoming project, a third reunion with “Hunger” / “Shame” director McQueen for “12 Years a Slave.”

Michael Fassbender reunites once again with director Steve McQueen for “Twelve Years A Slave”

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

Scorsese/DiCaprio, Refn/Gosling and now McQueen/Fassbender. Michael Fassbender, who is perhaps the buzziest actor right now as we head into awards season, is set to reunite with director Steve McQueen for a third time, following 2008′s “Hunger” and this year’s “Shame”, the source of all of Fassbender’s awards buzz. Variety reports the actor/director duo are teaming up on “Twelve Years a Slave”, based on the true autobiographical account of Solomon Northrup set in 19th Century America. The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Ejiofor woud presumably play Northrup, a free-born son of a former slave who lived as a farmer in New York in the 1800s. Two men lure Northrup to Washington DC with the promise of paying him to play his violin in a traveling circus, but instead he was drugged, illegally sold into slavery and shipped to work for William Ford in New Orleans. When he is finally able to get a letter to his wife and family, they seek legal counsel to help free him. He recounted, in great detail with exact dates and locations, his 12 years as a slave in “Twelve Years a Slave.” It’s unclear who Fassbender might play, though Canadian carpenter Samuel Bass, who aided Northrup in getting that crucial letter to his family, may be a logical choice.

Fassbender has been winning rave after rave for his performance in McQueen’s “Shame” as a thirty-something sex addict whose carefully compartmentalized life begins to spiral out of control when his mess of a younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment. It’s only one of two festival-circuit films that have people talking, as he is also said to be fantastic in David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method”, in which he plays Carl Jung opposite Viggo Mortensen’s Sigmund Freud. A terrific end to a year that also saw a strong turn as Mr. Rochester in Cary Fukunaga’s new adaptation of “Jane Eyre” opposite Mia Wasikowska and as iconic comic book villain Magneto in this summer’s “X-Men: First Class.” He’s currently wrapping up Ridley Scott’s semi-”Alien”-prequel “Prometheus.”