Andrew Garfield to Star in Martin Scorsese’s “Silence”

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

The most unexpected casting news of the week goes to… Andrew Garfield hasn’t committed to a film outside the franchise since becoming “The Amazing Spider-Man” back in 2010, but now he’s back in a big way. Variety reports Garfield has signed on for the lead role in Martin Scorsese’s long-gestating passion project “Silence.”

Scorsese has been trying to make the film for over twenty years, but things are finally clicking into the exact right places for him to begin shooting in June of 2014. Set in the 17th Century when Japan is in a period of religious persecution of Christians, Garfield will play the role of Father Rodrigues, a Jesuit priest who travels to the country amid rumors that his mentor has abandoned the Church. Ken Watanabe plays Rodrigues’ interpreter, and a largely Japanese cast also includes Issei Ogata. The film will mostly be in Japanese, and Scorsese expects it will be smaller than his last few films, but insists it is still a thriller which should have broad appeal.

Garfield had been poised to become of the new A-Listers to take over Hollywood after his critically acclaimed (and should have been Oscar nominated) role in David Fincher’s “The Social Network” coupled with a career-making get in becoming Marc Webb’s “The Amazing Spider-Man”, but though he was pursued for various projects like Doug Liman’s “Luna”, Warren Beatty’s Howard Hughes biopic and the troubled “Akira” adaptation, he has not committed to a film since becoming Peter Parker. He did find time to star in “Death of a Salesman” on Broadway last year, for which he was nominated for a Tony, but it will very good to have him back on the big screen.

“Pan Am” star Margot Robbie lands female lead in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”

June 18, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Australian actress Margot Robbie was a real breakout star of ABC’s ill-fated and short lived series “Pan Am”, and it looks like she may get a shot at an even bigger career boost now that she’s no longer committed to returning to the show for season 2. Deadline reports Robbie is in talks to take the female lead in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” opposite Leonardo Dicaprio, Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler and Jean Dujardin. Earlier today it was reported Broadway’s “Once” star Cristin Milioti has also landed a role in the film, though it appears that role is secondary to Robbie’s.

Dicaprio will star as Jordan Belfort in the film based on Belfort’s own memoir, which detailed his rise and fall as a tycoon on Wall Street, coupled with a party-hard lifestyle that included drug and alcohol abuse, cheating on his wife and more illegal activities that ultimately sent him to jail for 22 months. Hill will play his best friend and Dujardin a shady Swiss banker associate. Chandler will be the FBI agent who takes him down. Milioti will play his first wife Denise, while Robbie’s role is Nadine, his second wife and a former model with (as Belfort claims) addiction issues of her own.

Robbie was a series regular for three seasons on famous Australian soap “Neighbours”, which has also exported the likes of rising stars Rhys Wakefield, Caitlin Stasey and Ryan Corr, before landing the lead in ABC’s much hyped but short lived 1960s drama “Pan Am.” She is currently filming a supporting role in Richard Curtis’ time travel romantic comedy “About Time” starring Rachel McAdams.

Broadway star Cristin Milioti joins Leonardo Dicaprio in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”

June 18, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Tony nomination down, is Oscar next? Variety reports Broadway’s “Once” star Cristin Milioti, who recently earned a Tony nomination for her role in the musical based on the indie movie, has joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Leonardo Dicaprio stars in the Wall St. drama and is joined by Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler and recent Oscar winner Jean Dujardin.

Milioti will play the first wife of Dicaprio’s Jordan Belfort, financial wunderkind by day, party-hard drug user and boiler room runner. Hill is on board to play Belfort’s best friend, who is persuaded into going into shady business with him, Dujardin a Swiss banker involved with laundering money into said business, and Chandler the FBI agent building the case that would ultimately bring about his downfall. Milioti will play Belfort’s first wife, who is devoted to her husband and their children and suffers the humiliation of his many infidelities.

Filming is set to begin this summer in New York, which will allow Milioti to continue her role as The Girl in “Once.” She’s primarily a theatre actress but has also appeared in various guest starring roles on TV, including “The Sopranos”, “The Good Wife” and “30 Rock.”

“The Artist” star and Oscar winner Jean Dujardin joins Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”

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

Making the most of his post Oscar win high, French actor Jean Dujardin has landed a whopper of an American film debut. Variety reports “The Artist” star has sign on for a role in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”, joining Leonardo Dicaprio, Jonah Hill and Kyle Chandler.

Dicaprio is set to play former Wall Street wunderkind Jordan Belfort and the film is based on Belfort’s own memoirs: “By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could, on drugs, sex, and international globe-trotting. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht, crashed a Gulfstream jet, and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids who waited for him at home, and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king and did his bidding, here, in his own inimitable words, is the story of the ill-fated genius.” Hill plays Belfort’s best friend who gets talked into becoming his business partner, while Chandler signed on to play an FBI agent building the case to bring Belfort down. Dujardin, who only learned English last year in order to promote “The Artist”, will play a Swiss banker involved with laundering money for Belfort’s company.

Dujardin, already quite known in his native France particularly for his roles in James Bond spoof films “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies” and “OSS 117: Lost in Rio”, won the Best Actor Oscar a few months ago in an upset over Hollywood icons including Brad Pitt and George Clooney for his completely silent performance in “The Artist.” He is also attached to indie French/American co-production “Mobius.”

“Friday Night Lights” star Kyle Chandler joins Leonardo Dicaprio in Martin Scorsese’s “Wolf of Wall Street”

May 9, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

After finally receiving an Emmy win for his beloved, long-running role on critically acclaimed series “Friday Night Lights”, Kyle Chandler is now setting out to conquer the big screen in a major way. Deadline reports Coach Taylor has added another big get to his growing pile of prestige projects and has joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s latest, “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Frequent Scorsese collaborator

Leonardo Dicaprio is set to play the lead role of Jordan Belfort in the film adapted by Terence Winter from Belfort’s own memoir: “By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could, on drugs, sex, and international globe-trotting. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht, crashed a Gulfstream jet, and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids who waited for him at home, and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king and did his bidding, here, in his own inimitable words, is the story of the ill-fated genius”; Jonah Hill of all people recently signed on to play his best friend and business partner, while Chandler will play the FBI agent who built the case against Belfort that led to his downfall and eventual imprisonment.

Chandler recently wrapped political thriller “Broken City” opposite Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe and was last seen on the big screen in JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg’s family alien actioner “Super 8.” He is currently filming Kathryn Bigelow’s Bin Laden thriller “Zero Dark Thirty” alongside Joel Edgerton and Jessica Chastain, and has another military thriller, Ben Affleck’s “Argo”, completed and awaiting release.

Jonah Hill joins Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” opposite Leonardo Dicaprio

May 4, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Gotta hand it to Jonah Hill, who’s making a lot of smart and timely decisions after being nominated for his first Oscar for Bennett Miller’s “Moneyball” last year. Now firmly a rising star who’s not stuck in the gross-out comedy box that propelled him to fame, he’s just landed perhaps the highest profile role of his career thus far. Deadline reports Hill has landed a role in Martin Scorsese’s next film and will star opposite Leonardo Dicaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Terence Winter adapted the memoir by Jordan Belfort, which chronicles Belfort’s dramatic rise and fall as the head of notorious Wall Street investment firm Stratton Oakmont: “By day he made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could, on drugs, sex, and international globe-trotting. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht, crashed a Gulfstream jet, and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids who waited for him at home, and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king and did his bidding, here, in his own inimitable words, is the story of the ill-fated genius” that will be played by Dicaprio. Hill will play his close friend who becomes his business partner after Belfort convinces him to quit the slightly less exciting and volatile furniture business.

Hill, known for highly comedic roles in “Superbad”, “Get Him to the Greek” and most recently “21 Jump Street”, landed an unexpected Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor when he played it straight in Bennett Miller’s “Moneyball” opposite Brad Pitt. His future slate looks to be a promising mixture of comedy and drama, with ensemble comedy “Neighborhood Watch” alongside Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn awaiting release and the aptly named courtroom drama “True Story” opposite James Franco still to shoot.

NBR names “Hugo” Best Film, Rooney Mara and Felicity Jones Breakthrough Performers

December 1, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 2 Comments

So early into the 2012 Award Season and already so many unexpected twists and turns. The National Board of Review, traditionally the first group to announce their winners but upstaged this year by the New York Film Critics, have released their list of the best movies and filmmakers of the year, and there are, once again, some surprises.

Martin Scorsese’s family-friendly 3D love letter to filmmaking, “Hugo”, takes Best Picture honors, with the director also taking Best Director, putting the film firmly into the hunt for a repeat at the Oscars. David Fincher’s highly anticipated and still barely-seen “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” also makes its first showing, listed in NBR’s Top 10 Films of the Year as well as a Breakthrough Performance award for star Rooney Mara. Mara will share the award with Felicity Jones, who lands another Breakthrough award (and another win over “Martha Marcy May Marlene”‘s Elizabeth Olsen) for “Like Crazy.” Jessica Chastain is left out in the cold this time around after dominating early, NBR instead choosing to give Best Supporting Actress to Shailene Woodley for “The Descendants.” Unable to choose between his four incredible performances this year, Michael Fassbender will get a special Spotlight Award for “Jane Eyre”, “X-Men: First Class”, “Shame” and “A Dangerous Method.”

Full list of winners and lists via press release below, thanks to Awards Daily.

New look at Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” starring Chloe Moretz and Asa Butterfield, NYFF’s surprise screening

October 10, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

There’s been wild rumors and speculation over a secret, surprise screening of a work-in-progress film from a “legendary director” at this week’s New York Film Festeival. Will it be Stephen Daldry’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”, with its very New York connections? “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” from David Fincher, who forewent bigger festivals to premiere last year’s “The Social Network” at NYFF? Stephen Spielberg’s “War Horse”, Cameron Crowe’s “We Bought a Zoo” or even, inexplicably, Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult”? Well, the day of the screening is upon and it is actually “Hugo”, the first 3-D family-friendly adventure from Martin Scorsese that will be shown tonight to audiences who purchased the “mystery” tickets in advance.

Newcomer Asa Butterfield shines as a recently orphaned kid living in the walls of a Parisian train station who gets wrapped up in a mystery revolving around a robot/music box left by his recently deceased father (Jude Law) and Chloe Moretz, who happens to possess the heart shaped key that unlocks the machine. A magical adventure kicks off and a colorful troupe of supporting characters, including Sacha Baron Cohen as a grouchy train conductor and Ben Kinsley as a mysterious shop owner, create trouble and mischief for the youngsters. As Moretz’s character self-references, “it’s like Neverland and Oz and Treasure Island all wrapped into one” in Scorsese’s first family film. The director speaks of the film and previews tons of new scenes ahead of its premiere tonight in the video below.

The rest of us not invited tonight will get to see “Hugo” on Thanksgiving weekend.

Do you want to have an adventure? Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz shine in first trailer for “Hugo”

July 14, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 3 Comments

Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” (formerly “Hugo Cabret”, based on the novel by Brian Selznick), already looks like movie magic. Newcomer Asa Butterfield shines as a recently orphaned kid living in the walls of a Parisian train station who gets wrapped up in a mystery revolving around a robot/music box and Chloe Moretz, who happens to possess the heart shaped key that unlocks the machine. A magical adventure kicks off and a colorful troupe of supporting characters, including Sacha Baron Cohen as a grouchy train conductor and Ben Kinsley as a mysterious shop owner, create trouble and mischief for the youngsters. As Moretz’s character self-references, “it’s like Neverland and Oz and Treasure Island all wrapped into one” and it’s easy to see how “Hugo” would be even more immersive and breathtaking on the big screen, in 3D. If that weren’t enough, the kids are backed up by a Scorsese caliber supporting cast that also includes Jude Law, Emily Mortimer and Christopher Lee.

Sony is obviously betting you’ll see “Hugo” in glorious 3D with your family over Thanksgiving weekend, as it opens on November 23, 2011. See the trailer in HD at Apple Trailers or below.

First Look: Chloe Moretz on the set of Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo Cabret”

December 8, 2010 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 1 Comment

More from Facebook! The official page for Hugo Cabret posted some new images of Chloe Moretz in costume and on set of the Martin Scorsese 3D period piece, currently filming on location in Paris. Pictured with Moretz is Asa Butterfield, who plays the title character in a story set in 1930s France, about an orphan living in the walls of a train station who gets mixed up in a mystery involving his father and an automaton. Also starring Jude Law, Ben Kingsley and Emily Mortimer, the film is set for release on December 19, 2011.

See more images of Moretz and Butterfield below, and even more on Facebook.

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