“Army Wives” Star Joseph Julian Soria Joins Kristen Stewart in “Camp X-Ray”

June 14, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

joseph-julian-soria From “Army Wives” to Guantanamo Bay: The Wrap reports Lifetime series star Joseph Julian Soria has joined Kristen Stewart in Peter Sattler’s directorial debut “Camp X-Ray.”

“Camp X-Ray” will see Stewart as Cole, a young soldier who joins the army in hopes of escaping her suffocating small town. But instead of a tour in Iraq, she’s sent to Guantanamo Bay, where she’s met with hatred and abuse from its detainees. Sattler wrote and will make his feature directorial debut on the project, which will chronicle Stewart’s character’s growing friendship with one detainee. Soria has landed the role of Rico, Cole’s fellow army officer who’s her closest friend on base: “Very naive, maybe a little dim, Rico offers Cole support and backup when she needs it most.” Filming is set for late summer in Los Angeles.

Soria has been a mainstay at Sundance, appearing in buzzy titles like “Hamlet 2″ and last year’s “Filly Brown,” in which he played the lead antagonist opposite Gina Rodriguez. He began recurring on Lifetime’s “Army Wives” drama in season six as Private First Class Hector Cruz, and was bumped up to series regular in season 7. It’s unclear if the show will return for season 8.

Kristen Stewart Replaces Mia Wasikowska in “Sils Maria”; Heads for “Camp X-Ray”

June 4, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 6 Comments

kristen-stewart After a string of false starts and projects falling through, “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart is back to work, signing on for two films which will shoot back to back this summer. Deadline reports Stewart has signed on for the starring role in indie Guantanamo Bay drama “Camp X-Ray”, as well as the role originally earmarked for Mia Wasikowska in “Sils Maria”, French director Olivier Assayas’ newest starring Juliette Binoche and Chloe Moretz.

In “Sils Maria”, Stewart will play the assistant to Binoche’s aging movie star Maria Enders, who reflects back upon her own career and becomes obsessed with a rising young actress (Moretz) recently cast in the remake of a film that once made Maria famous. Most of the action will take place in one room and filming is set for this summer in Germany and Switzerland, with Tom Sturridge and Daniel Bruhl co-starring.

“Camp X-Ray” will see Stewart as a young soldier who joins the army in hopes of escaping her suffocating small town, but instead of a tour in Iraq, she’s sent to Guantanamo Bay, where she’s met with hatred and abuse from its detainees. Peter Sattler wrote and will make his feature directorial debut on the project, which will chronicle Stewart’s character’s growing friendship with one detainee. Filming is set for late summer in Los Angeles.

Stewart was last seen in Walter Salles’ long-gestating adaptation of “On the Road”, as well as final franchise installment “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II.” She is attached to indie comedy “The Big Shoe”, though it’s possible that summer start date may be compromised by her new commitments.

Jim Sturgess, Kristen Stewart and Elizabeth Banks try on “The Big Shoe”

February 7, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Jim Sturgess, Kristen Stewart and Elizabeth Banks will star in indie comedy “The Big Shoe”, reports Deadline from Berlin, where the film’s rights are out to buyers.

“Secretary” helmer Steven Shainberg will direct from a script he co-wrote with Mickey Birnbaum. Sturgess plays a gifted shoe designer who wants to break away from the family business when they attempt to make him sell out for commercial gain. His mother hires a psychotherapist named Mary Kate (Banks) and a “muse” named Delphi (Stewart) to lure him back. Susan Sarandon had been rumored for the mother role but it’s unclear if she still is. Filming is set to begin on June 17th.

Sturgess had been poised for a breakout about five years ago with the one-two punch of “Across the Universe” and “21″, but has fizzled a bit. He now seems ready for a comeback after starring in last year’s “Cloud Atlas” for the Wackowskis and recently landing on Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” shortlist. Stewart recently wrapped up her star-making vampire saga with “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II” and is attached to grifter comedy “Focus”, which is searching for its male lead after Ben Affleck dropped out. Banks is smack dab in the middle of a “Twilight”-esque phenomenon as she plays Effie in “The Hunger Games”, and recently wrapped up filming on the second installment “Catching Fire.” She’ was last seen in surprise comedy hit “Pitch Perfect”, which she also produced, and is currently filming rom com “Walk of Shame” opposite James Marsden.

Kristen Stewart joins grifter romance “Focus” opposite Ben Affleck

November 2, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

So Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone will not reunite for a third time after all. The filmmakers behind “Crazy Stupid Love” had been hoping to get their adorable twosome back on screen together for con-man romance/action flick “Focus”, but it never came together, and Warner Bros cast Ben Affleck in Gosling’s role instead. Today Variety reports Affleck has found his leading lady in “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart.

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa will direct their script, which is set in the world of cons and tells the story of a veteran grifter who gets romantically involved with a newcomer. Things don’t work out and complications ensue when they are reunited in the future. Stewart and Affleck have a nearly 20 year age gap between them (again: um, eww), so this project definitely sounded more appetizing when it had Gosling and Stone attached, but we can’t deny it’s an interesting premise and are for now cautiously looking forward to how this new configuration works, chemistry wise. The studio is said to be keen to rush this into production and with their two leads locked in, that should be no problem now.

Stewart says goodbye to the franchise that made her a star as “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”, the last of the vampire love story, releases in November. She’ll also be seen in Walter Salles’ long-gestating adaptation of “On the Road” (which has its ups and downs), out in December. After dropping out of Nick Cassavetes’ “Cali” recently, Stewart has no other upcoming projects lined up.

REVIEW: Walter Salles’ adaptation of “On The Road”, the Kerouac classic, ‘explodes like spiders’ across the screen

October 29, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Reviews 1 Comment

In 1957 American author Jack Keroauc wrote to Marlon Brando asking him to buy the rights to, and star in, Kerouac’s novel “On The Road“. Brando never replied and it took another twenty two years for Francis Ford Coppola to purchase the rights and then spend decades hiring different screenwriters all of whom tried, and failed, to adapt the notoriously tricky spontaneous prose; after all, even Kerouac knew the story could not work on screen, telling Brando “Don’t worry about the structure, I know to compress and re-arrange the plot a bit to give a perfectly acceptable movie-type structure … ” Fifty five years after Kerouac’s letter, Brazilian director Walter Salles has finally succeeded in being the one to take the unfilmable and turn it into a thoughtful character study – one that burns and explodes, but ultimately, still remains too long.

Alex Pettyfer heading to “Cali” with Kristen Stewart

July 25, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Kristen Stewart has found her partner in crime in British actor Alex Pettyfer. Variety reports Pettyfer has landed the male lead and will play opposite Stewart in gritty indie actioner “Cali”, scheduled to begin filming later this summer under the direction of Nick Cassavetes.

Stewart and Pettyfer will play a pair of Southern Californian lovebirds who have become rich and successful through some not so savory or legal means. After making and selling a fake snuff film starring Stewart’s character Mya, the two drive off into the sunset, only to be forced to return “from the dead” years later to face the people they scammed when Mya’s sister gets into trouble. Stewart has revealed she will be blonde and tan in the film, a far cry from the pale, brunette Bella Swan that has made her an international superstar. “I’m going to get into the best shape of my life,” she told Women’s Wear Daily magazine. “I’m going to look like a stripper. I’m going to looks like a porn star.” Michael Diliberti wrote the script.

Pettyfer, who gained fame and notoriety from teen fare like “I Am Number Four” and “Beastly”, was most recently seen in Steven Soderbergh’s sleeper summer hit “Magic Mike”, and is committed to indie thriller “Diamond Dogs”, as well as Lee Daniels’ historical drama “The Butler.”

New images from “Breaking Dawn Part II” including first look at Mackenzie Foy as miracle baby Renesmee

June 13, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

Immortal, impossibly strong and cute as a button to boot. Edward and Bella sure do know how to procreate. The miracle half-human, half-vampire spawn of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s finally married Cullen couple is all grown up and played by child actress Mackenzie Foy in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”, the final installment of the vampire saga that has spawned 3 books, 4 movies, millions of screaming fans and billions of dollars in revenue.

Today EW has unveiled the cover of their new issue, which has our first look at Foy as little Nessie, flanked by her protective (and now fully vampirized) parents, as well as new stills that show her sharing a moment with Taylor Lautner’s Jacob, the guy who liked her mom but then imprinted on her when she was a baby and will act as a protective big brother figure… for now. Ew.

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II”, directed back to back with Part I by Bill Condon, also brings in a bunch of old and new friends and foes, including Dakota Fanning as evil vampire Jane, Maggie Grace as the scorned Denali vampire Irina, Lee Pace as fan favorite Garrett and more. The Twilight Saga wraps up Edward and Bella’s story on November 16, 2012 and you can see the new images, courtesy of EW, below.

Watch: two new clips give us a glimpse into the lives of Sal and Dean “On The Road”

May 24, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos Leave a comment

Walter Salles’s “On The Road“, the long-awaited adaptation of the Jack Keroauc classic, may have premiered yesterday at Cannes Film Festival to mixed reviews but for those of us who have to wait until closer to the release dates to watch the film, we have two newly released clips giving us a glimpse into the big screen lives of Sal, Dean, Marylou and Camille.

An adaptation thirty years in development, the film finally moved into pre-production in 2010, with Salles behind the camera and Garrett Hedlund as the wild and crazy Dean Moriarty and Sam Riley as our protaganist Sal Paradise, the dreamer searching for the elusive It.

With a great supporting cast including Kristen Stewart, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams and Tom Sturridge, “On The Road” still has no definitive release date for the US, although we’re sure it will be looking at an awards friendly date. Lucky European fans can see the film on the big screen from today and over the next few months.

Kristen Stewart lines up indie thriller “Cali” from “30 Minutes Or Less” scribe

April 27, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

“Twilight” star Kristen Stewart seems to have developed a taste for gritty action roles, as Variety reports the actress will follow up “Snow White and the Huntsman” with indie thriller “Cali”, from a script by “30 Minutes or Less” writer Michael Diliberti. Stewart will also try her hand at producing for the first time here.

Stewart will play Mya, who, along with boyfriend Chris, likes to live dangerously and acclimate income through sometimes less than savory methods. Their latest con is the selling of a fake snuff film starring Mya. They live nicely off the profits, but when her sister gets into trouble years later, Chris and Mya must “return from the dead” to save her. The couple “contends with angry former business partners, homicidal porn stars, stoner vet techs, an unstoppable killing machine in a cowboy hat and their own contentious relationship.” Producers are talking to directors and are eyeing a late summer start.

“Kristen is a talented and dynamic actor, with a proven box office draw,” producer Craig J. Flores tells Variety. “Her role in ‘Cali’ will be edgy and sexy. It will no doubt push the envelope on the public’s view of Kristen’s wide-ranging abilities. Voltage is thrilled to have her as a partner on this fantastic film.”

Stewart has stuck mainly to small, dark and indie outside her role as Bella Swan in the “Twilight” saga, which concludes this November with “Breaking Dawn Part II.” This May she is headed to Cannes for the first time with Walter Salles’ “On the Road”, in which she stars opposite Garett Hedlund and Sam Riley. “Snow White and the Huntsman”, in which she plays the titular princess, opens in June, and plans are already underway for a sequel.

Full Cannes 2012 Lineup: “Twilight” invasion, Sarah Gadon on double Cronenberg duty and the return of Jessica Chastain

April 18, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards, General News Leave a comment

The official Cannes Film Festival lineup has finally been unveiled and looks like we can expect a more than usual number of up and coming young actors to head to the French Riviera next month. As expected, teen phenomenon “Twilight” will be well represented with stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart each headlining a Cannes-bound flick for the very first time. Pattinson stars in David Cronenberg’s adaptation of Don DeLillo novel “Cosmopolis”, while Stewart plays a supporting role in Walter Salles’ long-gestating, highly anticipated adaptation of Jack Kerouac classic “On the Road.” Also perhaps hoping to shed that teen idol image and gain some serious acting cred at the festival is former “High School Musical” star Zac Efron, who stars in Lee Daniels’ “The Paperboy.” Daniels’ “Precious” played Un Certain Regard two years ago and went on to earn a boatload of Oscar nominations.

“Cosmopolis”, “On the Road” and “The Paperboy” will all play in competition and will be eligible for awards at the end of the festival. “On the Road” will also bring to Cannes promising young talents Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund, as well as a return for last year’s Best Actress winner Kirsten Dunst.

Meanwhile, Pattinson’s “Cosomopolis” co-star Sarah Gadon, also a first-timer, will represent not one but two Cronenbergs a the festival. In addition to “Cosmopolis”, she is also the star of David’s son Brandon Cronenberg’s first feature, the futuristic sci-fi thriller “Antiviral”, accepted into the Un Certain Regard lineup for this year. “Antiviral” co-stars “X-Men: First Class”‘s Caleb Landry Jones.

Also pulling double duty this year is returning vet Jessica Chastain, who wowed with her performance in the Palm d’Or winner “The Tree of Life” last year. She returns this year as an Oscar nominee touting two films, the animated “Madagascar 3″ and John Hillcoat’s Prohibition-era drama “Lawless” (previously titled “The Wettest County in the World”, and not to be confused with Terrence Malick’s next feature). “Lawless” also stars Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf and recent “Chronicle” breakout star Dane DeHaan.

Other up and comers we’ll be keeping an eye on include Bella Heathcote in Andrew Dominik’s “Killing Them Softly”, Michael Shannon’s reunion with “Take Shelter” director Jeff Nichols on “Mud”, and Sundance breakout star Quvenzhané Wallis of “The Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

We here at Up and Comers will be at Cannes for the very first time this year too, so expect news, reviews and exclusives straight from the Croisette!

See the full line-up of films below.

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