Paul Dano to play Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson in biopic “Love And Mercy”

January 17, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Paul Dano will play the younger version of Beach Boys singer Brian Wilson in “Love and Mercy”, a new film about the founding of the legendary band, it was announced today. Another actor is being sought to play Wilson in his later years.

The movie, written by Oren Moverman and to be directed by Bill Pohlad, will span decades and follow “the mercurial singer, songwriter and leader of The Beach Boys. Rather than a bio pic, the film will take an unconventional look at seminal moments in Wilson’s life, his artistic genius, his profound struggles, and the love that kept him alive.” The film also has the blessing of Wilson himself. “I am thrilled that Paul Dano has signed on to play me during one of my most creative explosions and most fulfilling musical times in my career,” he says in the press release. Oscar-winning composer Atticus Ross will create the “soundscape” for the film, which will undoubtedly feature some of the band’s most iconic songs.

Seen on the big screen in 2012 in “Ruby Sparks” and “Looper”, Dano recently wrapped up shooting on Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” with Michael Fassbender and is now gearing up to shoot revenge/kidnap thriller “Prisoners” opposite Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Jon Favreau eyeing quintet of rising stars, including Dominic Cooper and Paul Dano, for “Jersey Boys”

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

Good news and bad news for fans of smash hit Broadway musical “Jersey Boys.” The bad news is that Warner Bros has put the big screen adaptation, which has Jon Favreau attached to direct, into turnaround, according to Variety. This means Favreau and Co. now have to shop the project around to other studios and hope that someone likes it enough to pick it up. But meetings are already taking place, with Paramount talking to the filmmakers tomorrow and Twentieth Century Fox also in play. Warner Bros had it fast-tracked to begin filming in January and a December 2013 release date target, but all that will probably be pushed back now.

The good news is that if and when it finds a new home, Favreau already has a rather impressive line-up of young actors lined up for the lead roles in the film. While none have had official offers yet, Variety reports in recent weeks Favreau landed on John Magarao, James Badge Dale, Paul Dano, Dominic Cooper and Vincent Piazza.

Paul Dano taking “Prisoners” with Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal

October 9, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Paul Dano has joined kidnap/revenge thriller “Prisoners” opposite Hugh Jackman, Melissa Leo and Jake Gyllenhaal, according to Variety. Denis Villeneuve will direct in early 2013 the actioner that follows a small-town carpenter (Jackman) whose daughter and daughter’s best friend are kidnapped. When the police fail to find them in a timely manner, he takes the law into his own hands, running into opposition from a big-city detective (Gyllenhaal) on the case. Aaron Guzikowski wrote the script.

Dano can currently be seen playing Joseph Gordon Levitt’s best friend in Rian Johnson’s “Looper”, and was last on screen as the writer who breathed life into Zoe Kazan’s “Ruby Sparks” over the summer. A staple of the indie scene as the star of such films as “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Meek’s Cutoff” and “For Ellen”, he also turned up on some big budget blockbuster shortlists over the past year or so, suggesting he may be keen on more mainstream exposure as well. Dano recently wrapped up filming on Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” opposite Micheal Fassbender.

Paul Dano and Rooney Mara out, Jesse Eisenberg and Dakota Fanning in for indie thriller “Night Moves”

August 13, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

There will be no “Meek’s Cutoff” reunion after all. After nearly a year, Kelly Reichardt’s eco-terrorist thriller “Night Moves” is getting a bit of a cast makeover as it moves closer to production. Peter Sarsgaard and Paul Dano had been set to play the two male leads, while Rooney Mara was circling the female lead, but now Variety reports Jesse Eisenberg and Dakota Fanning will be taking over the roles vacated by Dano and Mara.

The trio of actors will play a group of eco-terrorists who plot to blow up a dam. Eisenberg will be the ringleader, Fanning the rich young girl who funds the project, and Sarsgaard the mastermind behind the plan. Sarsgaard spoke last year of his character’s motivations: “I can understand how my character gets to the point of wanting to blow up a dam. I never want to do this, but I can understand how someone can want to do that. We have a gun pointed to our planet. We see that the demonstrations are not working because they are being tackled with pepper [spray]… so you get the radical movement. I can understand that.” Production is scheduled to begin in October in Oregon.

Eisenberg has stayed busy since getting his first Oscar nomination in David Fincher’s 2010 masterpiece “The Social Network.” After a double dose of indies in “Why Stop Now” and “Free Samples”, Eisenberg starred in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” follow-up, “To Rome With Love”, opposite Ellen Page. He’s currently filming “The Double”, a comedy based on Dostoyevsky’s novella, opposite Mia Wasikowska and will also soon be seen in magician heist thriller “Now You See Me” with Dave Franco. Fanning is currently filming coming-of-age drama “Very Good Girls” opposite Elizabeth Olsen and has wrapped on indies “Now Is Good” (which showed at Cannes and which we didn’t really care for) and “The Motel Life.” She’ll also have one last appearance as vampire villainous Jane in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2″, out in November.

LA Film Fest REVIEW: “Ruby Sparks” is a breakout moment for writer and star Zoe Kazan

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

LA Film Festival’s secret screening may not have been the next big blockbuster, but “Ruby Sparks”, the first follow-up to “Little Miss Sunshine” from directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris, may have been an even more welcome and fitting offering to the film-loving crowd that gathered at LA Live. A whimsical, quirky and inventive romantic comedy with some murky gender politics, the film, for all its highs and lows, ushers in a stunning breakout moment for screenwriter and co-star Zoe Kazan.

Paul Dano, with depth and in turns subtle kindness and menace, plays once successful novelist Calvin, who’s being crushed under the weight of his own potential. “Don’t use that word,” he sneers when his agent calls him a genius, a label he has clearly struggled with since becoming a bestselling author at age 19. Now, at 29, he not only has writer’s block, but he has no friends outside his older brother (played by a scene-stealing Chris Messina) and is still bitter over his break-up with aspiring writer Lila (Deborah Ann Woll). Out of nowhere, he dreams of a girl, and begins to write. As he concedes to his shrink (Elliot Gould), he’s falling in love with his creation, and is writing just to spend more time with her.

Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy and Ruth Negga join “Twelve Years a Slave”

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

Rising stars Paul Dano, Scoot McNairy and Ruth Negga have joined Steve McQueen’s “Shame” follow-up, “Twelve Years a Slave”, according to Variety and Deadline. The three actors join Chiwetel Ejiofor, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and “Pariah” breakout star Odepero Aduye in the cast.

The film is based on the memoirs of Soloman Northup, to be played by Ejiofor, a free-born son of a former slave who is lured to Washington DC where he was illegally sold into slavery (with McNairy in the role of a circus worker who masterminds his abduction) and shipped to work on a plantation in New Orleans. When Northup is finally able to get a letter to his wife and family, they seek legal counsel to help free him. Dano and Fassbender will play plantation owners and Pitt will be the family’s lawyer. Negga will play a runaway slave, while Oduye is rumored to play Northup’s wife. Filming will begin at the end of June.

Indie scene staple Dano recently showed up on shortlists for big tentpole projects including “Akira” and “Die Hard 5″, but will next be seen sticking closer to his comfort zone in quirky rom com “Ruby Sparks”, from the directors of “Little Miss Sunshine.” He broke out in low budget horror “Monsters”, and now McNairy reteams with Pitt on “Twelve Years” after starring opposite one another at the current Cannes title “Killing Them Softly.” Irish actress Negga can currently be seen opposite Samuel L. Jackson in “The Samaritan.”

Amanda Seyfried, Aaron Paul, Olivia Thirlby, Joel Edgerton, many more headed for Sundance

November 30, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in General News 6 Comments

It’s that time of year again. The 2012 Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its competition line-up for next January’s festivities and as always, plenty of young up and comers will be represented in films that could propel them to another level in their career. Just ask Ryan Gosling, Ellen Page, Carey Mulligan and Jennifer Lawrence how Sundance has changed their lives.

Of course, it will be impossible to predict who will eventually become the next Mulligan or Lawrence or this year’s trifecta of Elizabeth Olsen/Felicity Jones/Brit Marling. Only the indefinable festival “buzz” can solidify that come January. At this very early stage, we can only earmark and be on the look out for the films that star some names already familiar to us, like “For Ellen” starring Paul Dano and Jena Malone, “The First Time” with Britt Robertson, “Smashed” starring Aaron Paul, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Octavia Spencer, just to name a few. There’s also the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, an early standout hailing from Australia in the form of “Wish You Were Here” starring Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer.

Be sure to check back for frequent updates on the festival from now through January, one notable being the announcement of who will be part of this year’s 7 Fresh Faces to watch. Looks like last year’s list missed the mark outside of Felicity Jones, will this year’s fare better? The first set of films announced are listed below.

Ezra Miller out, Alden Ehrenreich and more still testing for Tetsuo in “Akira” opposite Garrett Hedlund

November 21, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

“We Need to Take About Kevin” star Ezra Miller has taken himself out of the running to play Tetsuo in “Akira”, as he told Moviefone. But Warner Bros’ risky, big budget remake isn’t hurting for talent. Alden Ehrenreich, last reported to be testing a couple of weeks ago, is still in the running, and he’s got even more stiff competition. THR reports that over Sunday and Monday, Ehrenreich, DJ Cotrona, Paul Dano, Toby Kebbell, Richard Madden, Logan Marshall-Green, Rami Malek and Michael Pitt will all be reading for the role of the telekinetic younger brother to Kaneda, played by Garrett Hedlund.

Hedlund is in negotiations for the lead, with Kristen Stewart in talks for the female lead Kei, and now the third crucial role of a troubled young man who develops powers and becomes a dangerous weapon is up for grabs. The interesting thing here, of course, is that these names are all familiar to us, with nearly all these young men showing up on one shortlist or another in recent days. Kebbell and Madden were up for “Arthur and Lancelot”, before losing out to Kit Harington; Dano was up for “The Bourne Legacy” and still may be in “A Good Day to Die Hard”, where he’s up against Cotrona. Marshall-Green, who already has his big break in Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” lined up for next year, was shortlisted for Roland Emmerich’s “Singularity” but that has been put on indefinite hold for now. Malek and Pitt, showing up on a shortlist for the first time, are most known for “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn” and HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”, respectively.

So which up and comer will end up on top this time around? If you ask us, not that many of these young men could easily resemble a younger brother to Garrett Hedlund, though certainly there are more crucial factors to consider. THR further details Warner Bros would like to lock down their choice by Thanksgiving, and all the men are still rising stars and very much interested in the high profile role – unlike Miller – so we should have our Tetsuo very soon. And then, presumably, onto the next shortlist for the ones who lose out here.

Aaron Paul, Ben Foster, Paul Dano and Milo Ventigmilia testing to play Bruce Willis’ son in “Die Hard 5″

October 13, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

The hunt is on for the next generation of action stars. Tom Cruise is handing the baton over to Jeremy Renner with “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”, who will also take over the “Bourne” franchise from Matt Damon, and Liam Hemsworth is attempting to kick ass alongside every action star you can think of in “The Expendables 2″, and now the search turns to a potential heir to the iconic Bruce Willis-led “Die Hard” series. Variety reports Aaron Paul, Ben Foster, Paul Dano and Milo Ventigmilia will be reading with Willis for the role of John McClane’s son. And yes, the “son of legendary action hero” archetype hasn’t quite worked out so well in recent memory, as Ventigmilia (he’s already had a go of this as Sylvester Stallone’s son in “Rocky Balboa”) and Shia LaBeouf (Harrison Ford’s son in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”) can tell you, but 20th Century Fox is said to be considering handing the franchise off to the young star it chooses should it prove lucrative.

Paul Dano to discover dirty tricks as Karl Rove in “College Republicans”

September 2, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

Indie darling Paul Dano has officially signed on to play a young Karl Rove in College Republicans, according to The Wrap

The film is set to begin shooting in November, in Austin, Texas, and is based on Rove’s time at college. Rove – who would go on to become President George W. Bush’s senior advisor during his years in the White House – studied at the University of Utah, before dropping out to become director of the College Republican National Committee.
Producer Maya Browne told The Wrap that the film, rumoured to be directed by Richard Linklater, focuses on Rove and Lee Atwater (who went on to become the chairman of the Republican National Committee) at a time “when they sort of discovered dirty tricks. It’s interesting to see them take that journey together.”

It’s a busy time for Dano, who just this week signed on to star in Kelly Reichardt’s eco-terroist film, Night Moves, as well as recently wrapping up an unconventional father-son drama Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, and working again with the team behind his breakout film (Little Miss Sunshine) in He Loves Me, also starring Zoe Kazan.

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