Nash Edgerton joining brother Joel in Kathryn Bigelow’s Bin Laden thriller

February 22, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

We’ve been hearing about Joel increasingly over the past few months, and now it looks like big brother Nash Edgerton is getting some time in the spotlight as well. Entertainment Weekly reports the Australian actor will be joining little brother Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain, Edgar Ramirez, Kyle Chandler, Chris Pratt and more in Kathryn Bigelow’s untitled thriller which had been working under the title “Kill Bin Laden.” British actress Jennifer Ehle – who has long been rumored – has now been confirmed as well. EW also lists formerly rumored named including Idris Elba and Tom Hardy, but those are still on shakier ground, especially given how large the cast already is.

Edgerton will play a Navy SEAL in the Mark Boal-scripted film about the elimination of the most wanted terrorist in the world, while Ehle’s part is unknown. Perhaps she will be taking over for Rooney Mara, who passed on the role of a female journalist embedded with the soldiers. Chastain will play a military analyst while the younger Edgerton, Pratt and Jason Clarke are also SEALs. Filming is imminent with a release date of December 19 already in place.

Best known thus far for his stunt work on films like “The Matrix” and the “Star Wars” sequels, Edgerton also runs Blue Tongue Films with his brother and other Australian filmmakers, which produced 2010′s starmaker “Animal Kingdom” and this year’s Sundance entry “Wish You Were Here.”

“Friday Night Lights” star Kyle Chandler to “Kill Bin Laden” for Kathryn Bigelow

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

Seriously, this movie just gets better and better. With Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow behind the camera and a cast that already included Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong and Edgar Ramirez, the latest bit of news feels like an answer to the question “What do you give the movie that already has everything?” How about a little dash of Coach Taylor? Deadline reports “Friday Night Lights” star Kyle Chandler is the latest to join the cast on the topical untitled Navy SEALs thriller previously titled “Kill Bin Laden.”

The secretive filmmakers won’t comment on any of the actors who have been cast so far, but Deadline reports Chandler will be playing a CIA agent. Edgerton, Clarke and Pratt play SEALS, while Chastain will be a military analyst. Strong and Ramirez’s roles are unknown. Though the film had been in development for a couple of years (and originally revolved around an unsuccessful earlier assassination attempt on the Al Qaeda leader), it became a top priority when Osama Bin Laden was really killed by Navy SEAL Team 6 last year in a covert operation. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal are expected to rewrite the ending of their film to reflect the thrilling new development. Filming is imminent with a release date already set for December 19, 2012.

“Kill Bin Laden” co-stars Joel Edgerton and Jessica Chastain to reunite for “His” and “Hers” double feature

February 2, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Didn’t we just say something about a certain trend happening in Hollywood? Looks like Joel Edgerton and newly minted Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain are the latest to jump on the bandwagon of reuniting co-stars. The two have not yet even begun filming on Kathryn Bigelow’s “Kill Bin Laden”, but are already committing to doing two more movies together.

According to Variety, Edgerton and Chastain will play a couple in an ambitious double feature about a crumbling relationship, “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His” and “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers.” Ned Benson wrote both scripts and will direct both films, which follow the point of views of the husband, a restauranteur, in one and the wife, who recently decided to go back to college, in the other. William Hurt is also in talks to join the cast in an unspecified role.

Chastain just landed her first Oscar nomination for her role in “The Help” following an incredible year of incredible performances, from “The Tree of Life” to “Take Shelter” and more. She also recently confirmed that she will indeed be playing Princess Diana in a biopic. Edgerton has slowly (and then very quickly) been garnering attention in Hollywood after a starmaking role in gritty Aussie drama “Animal Kingdom.” 2011′s “Warrior” brought him even more acclaim, and he quickly landed the lead in Biglow’s film and the role of Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby.” Chastain and Edgerton are due to begin filming Bigelow’s Bin Laden film soon, so “Eleanor Rigby” will most likely come afterwards. Let’s hope they don’t end up discovering they can’t stand each other!

Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain and more in for Kathryn Bigelow’s “Kill Bin Laden”

January 5, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

UPDATE: Deadline reports Jessica Chastain, Edgar Ramirez and Mark Strong are now all negotiating to join the cast as well. Chastain could very well play the female reporter embedded with the team. Meanwhile, it looks like her commitment to Tom Cruise sci-fi epic “Oblivion” is now in question as these two projects will film around the same time.

Here’s a story that’s come completely full circle. We first heard about Aussie rising star Joel Edgerton starring in Kathryn Bigelow’s “Kill Bin Laden” back in May, but nothing was finalized and by the time Novemeber rolled around, it appeared his increasingly busy schedule would prevent his involvement and he had been replaced by fellow Aussie Jason Clarke in the lead role. Well, not exactly. Today Variety reveals that indeed, Edgerton will star in the film, with a finalized deal to boot, and Clarke is still on board as well.

One person who Variety says is definitely out is “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” star Rooney Mara, who had been circling the role of a female reporter embedded with the Navy SEAL team eventually tasked with killing Osama Bin Laden. Her “Dragon Tattoo” promotional schedule has prevented her involvement. Meanwhile, there is no word on which of the other names mentioned to be circling the project in recent months – Tom Hardy, Chris Pratt, Idris Elba, Nina Arianda and Jennifer Ehle – have signed on or dropped out. Filming is set to begin next month and is aiming for an Oscar-friendly Dec. 19, 2012 release.

Edgerton caught Hollywood’s attention when he starred in 2010 Australian crime drama “Animal Kingdom”, and his career has been on an exponentially upward swinging trajectory since, with 2012 looking like his biggest breakout moment yet. He’ll head to Sundance for Australian thriller “Wish You Were Here” opposite Teresa Palmer and with this new casting, will seemingly be a big part of next year’s Oscar season, as he will also be seen as Tom Buchanan in Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby”, also releasing in December.

Will Chris Pratt go from lovable oaf to badass Navy SEAL for Kathryn Bigelow’s “Kill Bin Laden”?

December 13, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

In unexpected news of the day, it appears Chris Pratt, the loveable, hapless oaf that has endeared audiences of TV like “Everwood” and “Parks and Recreation”, is taking a drastically different turn with his next project. Twitch Film reports today Pratt is now in negotiations to join the cast of Kathryn Bigelow’s long-gestating Navy SEAL drama, “Kill Bin Laden.”

Twitch further reports that Pratt is up for “the lead role”, which is yet another puzzler in the confusing casting history of this film since, after Joel Edgerton dropped out, he was apparently replaced by fellow Aussie and “Great Gatsby” co-star Jason Clarke in the lead role. Certainly, there will be more than one lead male role in the film, and it’s unclear if Pratt is now replacing Clarke or there’s room for them both. Still in the rumored stage are previously reported names like Tom Hardy, Rooney Mara, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Ehle, Idris Elba and Nina Arianda. But casting should firm up fast as Bigelow is now eyeing a February start date for the production.

Audiences first took notice of Pratt when he played goofball big brother Bright Abbott on the critically acclaimed but short-lived WB series “Everwood” and is perhaps most well known currently as the equally goofball office worker Andy on NBC’s hit comedy “Parks and Recreation.” On film, as well, he has tended towards the comedic, with roles in “Bride Wars”, “What’s Your Number?” and next year’s “Five Year Engagement.” However, this year he took a turn for the dramatic when he played Scott Hatteburg, one of Brad Pitt’s underdog baseball players in Bennett Miller’s Oscar hopeful “Moneyball.” Even with that supporting role under his belt, suffice to say “Kill Bin Laden” would be quite a departure for Pratt, and – as much as we love him doing the comedy thing – an opportunity that should open him up to even more diverse roles.

Joel Edgerton out, Rooney Mara, Tom Hardy and more in for Kathryn Bigelow’s “Kill Bin Laden”?

November 10, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 4 Comments

Australian actor Jason Clarke is the first actor to officially sign on for Kathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to 2009′s Oscar-winning “The Hurt Locker”, an untitled film about Navy SEALs involved in the killing of Osama Bin Laden, according to Deadline. This is curious, though, because we’ve thought all these months that Clarke’s “Great Gatsby” co-star Joel Edgerton had been set for the lead. It appears Edgerton is now out, perhaps a consequence of his increasingly busy shooting schedule, and Clarke is in. Others who are being eyed for supporting roles include Tom Hardy, Rooney Mara, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Ehle, Idris Elba and Nina Arianda.

The film is currently untitled but had been known under the working title of “Kill Bin Laden.” Clarke will play the leader of a special operatives group on the self-explanatory mission. Though the initial idea was to chronicle a real-life 2001 mission to kill the now-deceased Al-Qaeda leader that ultimately failed, the film will now include the actual killing of Bin Laden following his fate in real life. It’s curious to see so many actresses being eyed for roles, as the actual Navy SEALs themselves will surely be comprised of all guys. Could such talented actresses – who seem to number the men just about equally – be relegated to love interest/worried wife status? Perhaps in a lesser director’s hands, we need to be more worried.

Clarke appears to have a bit of a breakout moment on the horizon as he appears in John Hillcoat’s “The Wettest County in the World”, Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” and now Bigelow’s film. Mara is about to hit superstardom when David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” releases next month and she’s already working on her next project, Terrence Malick’s “Lawless” opposite Ryan Gosling. Hardy broke out in Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” and is reuniting with the director on “The Dark Knight Rises.” He’s also somewhat of an Oscar dark horse for his performance in MMA family drama “Warrior.”

Taylor Kitsch is a “Lone Survivor” as Peter Berg jumps on the Navy SEALs bandwagon

May 18, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Well, it was always inevitable. In the wake of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Navy SEALs have suddenly become a hot commodity in Hollywood, with Disney trademarking the term SEAL Team Six” (can they do that?) and Joel Edgerton starring in “Kill Bin Laden” for director Kathryn Bigelow. Peter Berg is the latest filmmaker to jump on the trend, as he preps to begin work on “Lone Survivor”, an adaptation of the book by Marcus Luttrell, chronicling Luttrell’s own experience in Afghanistan. Berg has already set his “Battleship” star Taylor Kitsch to play one member of the four man team, and has met with actors over the past several weeks, so casting should be firmed up quickly on the rest of the quartet. Berg is eyeing a January start on production.

The story follows Luttrell as “he and his Navy SEAL team members fought to stay alive after being ambushed in Afghanistan in 2005 by Taliban forces during a covert mission in the Hindu Kush mountain region, where the team went to kill a terrorist leader.” Berg wrote the screenplay two years ago after embedding with a SEAL team for a month in Iraq. He had wanted to make the movie back then, but Universal implored him to make “Battleship” first. Though there was doubt on his end whether the studio would actually allow him to go ahead with “Lone Survivor”, due to modern war movies having a dismal box office record, but Bin Laden’s death changed everything. “They leaned right into it with me,” Berg told Deadline. “Bin Laden’s death has cleared the way for this, a movie that will be an unapologetically patriotic film that honors and pays homage to an incredible group of badass guys who do this.” No word on which team member Kitsch will play, though surely the role of Luttrell is the meatiest, with the book titled “Lone Survivor” for a reason.

As for Kitsch, the “Friday Night Lights” series star becomes increasingly in demand for big budget action films (“Battleship”, “John Carter of Mars”) and dramas/thrillers (Oliver Stone’s “Savages”) alike. He had a bit of a breakout moment starring as Gambit in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and already has some experience telling wartime stories, recently starring in “The Bang Bang Club” as a combat photographer.

Joel Edgerton is Tom Buchanan in “The Great Gatsby” for director Baz Luhrmann

May 17, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

The cast of Baz Luhrmann’s new 3D adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” seems to be complete as Deadline reports Australian actor Joel Edgerton has signed on to play Tom Buchanan, the last of the major characters to be cast. Recently, Edgerton tested for the part along with British thesp Luke Evans.

Tom is the boorish husband of the vain and manipulative Daisy, played by Carey Mulligan, who in turn is the object of longing for Leonardo DiCaprio’s reclusive millionaire Jay Gatsby. Tobey Maguire is Nick Carraway, the narrator of the story, and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki is his tennis player love interest, Jordan Baker. Isla Fisher is Myrtle Wilson, a married woman who is having an affair with Tom.

Though he originally offered the role to Ben Affleck, who had to decline due to scheduling conflicts, Luhrmann appears to have no qualms about not getting his first choice for the role, telling Deadline: “In casting Tom one had to find an actor who could credibly be (as Fitzgerald describes him) ‘one of the most powerful ends that ever played football as New Haven,’ had five star acting chops and in the big dramatic showdown scenes between Gatsby and Tom, hold the screen against Leonardo DiCaprio, in the appropriate age group. Any wonder, it has been a long and thorough journey. The simple truth is that Joel came into our rehearsal space in New York and fulfilled all of the above criteria, and then some.”

Edgerton is a hot commodity in Hollywood following a breakout performance in Aussie drama “Animal Kingdom”, and came close to landing the lead in Tony Gilroy’s “The Bourne Legacy”. He was also sought for “Snow White and the Huntsman”, but took on Kathryn Bigelow’s “Kill Bin Laden” project instead. He has Disney drama/comedy/fantasy (drametasy?) “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” in the can and will next be seen opposite Tom Hardy in MMA drama “Warrior”, out later this year.

Joel Edgerton to “Kill Bin Laden” for director Kathryn Bigelow

May 6, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

In the most topical of casting news, The LA Times reveals that Aussie up and comer Joel Edgerton is the first to sign on to Kathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to her Oscar-winning “The Hurt Locker”, about a special operative team sent to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden. Though Bigelow and screenwriting partner Mark Boal have been working on their Bin Laden film for months, recent events in the news makes their project more timely than ever.

The film is currently untitled but had been known under the working title of “Kill Bin Laden”. Edgerton will be joined by an all-male ensemble cast, all playing special operatives on the mission. Though the initial idea was to chronicle a real-life 2001 mission that ultimately failed, the film will now include the actual killing of Bin Laden following his fate in real life.

The LA Times goes on to report that Edgerton, increasingly in demand following a breakout performance in Aussie crime drama “Animal Kingdom” (which propelled co-star Jackie Weaver all the way to an Oscar nomination) turned down the titular role of the Huntsman in Universal’s “Snow White and the Huntsman” in order to tackle the Bin Laden picture instead. He also came famously close to landing the lead in “The Bourne Legacy”, and may or may not be still shortlisted for a lead role in Gary Ross’s “The Hunger Games”.

Bigelow’s Bin Laden film could shoot as early as this summer. Edgerton can be seen opposite Tom Hardy in this fall’s MMA family drama “Warrior” and has completed filming on quirky dramedy “The Odd Life of Timothy Green”.

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