Sam Worthington goes from ex-assassin to bodyguard in adaptation “For The Dogs”

February 1, 2013 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting Leave a comment

Sam Worthington broke out in 2009′s huge box office hit “Avatar” but we haven’t seen much of the Australian actor since. Now Deadline reports that Worthington will star in an adaptation of Kevin Wignall’s novel “For The Dogs“.

An action-thriller to be directed by Philip Noyce, “For The Dogs” will star Worthington as Lucas, an ex-assassin turned bodyguard who sets out to protect a young girl, Ella, and help her exact revenge following the death of her family – who had hired Lucas to keep watch on Ella.

Worthington joined the A List in 2009 following the critical and commercial acclaim for James Cameron’s $237 million 3D smash, “Avatar”. He also starred in “Clash Of The Titans” and “Man On A Ledge” but neither performed particularly well critically nor at the box office. He went on to star in “Texas Killing Fields” and Australian surf flick “Drift“, and will next be seen in David Ayer’s “Ten”, also starring Mirelle Enos and Malin Akerman.

“The Killing” star Mireille Enos joins Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington in “Ten”

August 23, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

While “The Killing” remains in limbo waiting to see if someone other than AMC will pick it up for a third season, star Mireille Enos continues to build her film resume. She has joined the cast of David Ayer’s “Ten”, according to Deadline. Enos rounds out a cast that is led by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sam Worthington, as well as Terrence Howard, Malin Akerman, Olivia Williams, Joe Manganiello, Dawn Olivieri and Max Martini. The film also has the working title of “Breacher” while it’s unclear at this point which title will end up being used.

Based on Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery “Ten Little Indians”, this modern retelling will revolve an elite squad of ten DEA agents who take down a drug cartel safe house with the intention of stealing the goods for themselves. Their plans are thwarted when they begin dying off one by one. If our math is correct, Enos completes the squad of ten, unless some of the cast members are playing other supporting characters. Enos’ character is married to Worthington’s. Filming begins this October after Ayer releases his new found-footage cop drama “End of Watch.”

Enos, one of our Faces to Watch in 2012, actually will not be seen in a 2012 film at all. Warner Bros pushed back “Gangster Squad”, in which she plays Josh Brolin’s wife, until January 2013, while zombie apocalypse flick “World War Z”, in which she plays Mrs. Brad Pitt, is in even bigger trouble. Enos also wrapped up shooting on West Memphis Three dramatization “The Devil’s Knot” opposite Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth.

Let’s Stay Together: Five recent onscreen couples we would like to see reunited ASAP

February 17, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge and Rebecca Lewis in Features 2 Comments

We’ve said it before, but there is certainly a trend happening right now amongst the rising stars in Hollywood, and we, for one, love it. Great chemistry is like capturing lightening in a bottle, so it stands to reason that when you pair up two actors who have that elusive indefinable quality, you should hold onto it. There used to be a good ol’ Hollywood tradition of popular, iconic screen couples reuniting again and again to the delight of audiences and we would welcome it back with open arms.

Lawrence and Cooper, Gosling and Stone, Hedlund and Stewart, Edgerton and Chastain, they’re all bucking with recent industry playbooks and reuniting on screen almost immediately after doing one movie together. Who says you have to wait 10+ years like DiCaprio and Winslet?

In that spirit, we present five other recent onscreen couplings that we loved and that we are already eagerly anticipating reunions for.

Up and Comers Podcast #6: “Hugo”, “We Bought a Zoo” and some of our favorite Aussie rising stars

November 29, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge and Rebecca Lewis in Podcast 1 Comment

Thank you for joining us again if you listened to our earlier podcasts or if you are new to the program, welcome! Once a week, Linda and Rebecca will take to the internet airwaves to discuss a variety of subjects, including all the latest news, movies we’ve seen recently, the Oscar season and more topics that interest us (or you! Please send us your suggestions for topics to talk about).

• 00:00 – 19:00 – Slow news week, so we dissect each and every one of BAFTA’s Rising Star longlist, as well as the high profile castings of Amber Heard in “Motor City” and Chris Evans in “The Iceman”.

• 19:00 – 25:40 – Linda talks about two movies she saw and loved this week: Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” and Cameron Crowe’s “We Bought a Zoo.”

• 25:40 – END – We discuss just a few of Australia’s many rising stars making a mark in Hollywood, from the almost-A-listers like Sam Worthington, Chris Hemsworth and Mia Wasikowska, to the barely known names like Bella Heathcote, Elizabeth Debicki and James Frecheville, and plenty in between.

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First look: Sam Worthington, Xavier Samuel and Myles Pollard in surf drama “Drift”

November 6, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Images 3 Comments

More new images straight out of this year’s American Film Market! Action star Sam Worthington trades in Perseus’ sword for the surfboard in these new images from surf flick “Drift”, also starring Xavier Samuel (“Twilight: Eclipse”), Myles Pollard (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) anf Lesley-Ann Brandt.

Once again, Collider have come up with the goods, and as well as the official poster, and four new images, we also have an official synopsis.

Based on the true story of “Australia’s legendary surfwear moguls”, the film is set in the 1970′s, and follows two brothers, Jimmy (Samuel) and Andy (Pollard) who, helped by photographer and friend JB (Worthington) bet on everything they have by opening a surf shop … and end up building an empire. From a script by Morgan O’Neill, the film has been directed by O’Neill (“The Factory”) and first time director Ben Nott.

Click through the gallery for larger images of the cast in action, and head over to Collider’s site for a high res image of Worthington on that board.

Watch: Chloe Moretz and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in “Texas Killing Fields” Clip

September 28, 2011 | Posted by Seana Cole in Videos Leave a comment

A brand new clip of Chloe Moretz and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in “Texas Killing Fields” has been released from MTV.

The story follows Detective Souder (Sam Worthington), “a homicide detective in a small Texan town, and his partner, transplanted New York City cop Detective Heigh (Morgan) as they track a sadistic seriel killer dumping his victims’ mutilated bodies in a nearby marsh locals call “The Killing Fields”.

Moretz, who’s most known for her role as Hit-Girl in 2010′s “Kick-Ass”, stars as Little Anne Slinger in the film, while Jessica Chastain plays Detective Pam.

“Texas Killing Fields” will be releasing in theaters on October 14.

Movie Trailers – Movies Blog

Watch: Sam Worthington is a “Man on a Ledge” in first trailer

September 22, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 1 Comment

Yesterday we unveiled the poster for Asger Roth’s thriller “Man on a Ledge” starring Sam Worthington, and today a slightly less impressive trailer makes its way online as well, via Yahoo! Movies. Worthington plays Nick Cassidy, an ex-cop slash ex-con who believes he was framed by Ed Harris. He threatens to jump from high atop a New York City skyscraper as thousands of spectators and countless NYPD officers swarm the scene and attempt to get him down safely. Unbeknownst to them, the suicide attempt is merely a cover-up for Nick’s younger brother (Jamie Bell) and a female accomplice, apparently (judging from IMDB pictures) played by Genesis Rodriguez, to pull off a diamond heist from Harris’ character that would prove Nick’s innocence. Elizabeth Banks is on board as the negotiator sent to talk him off the ledge who begins to believe his innocence.

Was that summary too spoiler-filled? You may not want to watch the trailer then, which seems to give away even more plot details and twists and turns (including whether or not Nick manages to get off that ledge). It looks like a standard action thriller with not too much to get excited about, but should be an entertaining, if not pretty predictable, two hour ride. Find out for yourself when “Man on a Ledge” opens on January 13, 2012.

First Look: Sam Worthington’s “Man on a Ledge” poster will give you vertigo

September 21, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 1 Comment

If you’re afraid of heights, you may not want to look too closely at the first poster for new Sam Worthington thriller “Man on a Ledge”, unveiled by MovieWeb today. Taking a striking overhead shot at Worthington’s Nick Cassidy as he perches perilously on said ledge high up on a New York City skyscraper, forget the swarms of people, even the cars look like ants.

In the Asger Roth directed heist thriller (wow, are there a lot of those floating around these days or what?), ex-cop turned conman Cassidy threatens to jump from the rooftop of a posh NYC hotel, prompting the NYPD to dispatch countless SWAT team members, officers and a female psychologist (Elizabeth Banks) to talk him down. Little do they know, the suicide attempt is merely a diversion to distract the police force while Cassidy’s brother Joey is pulling off the largest diamond heist in history. Anthony Mackie, Ed Harris and Edward Burns co-star.

“Man on a Ledge” releases on January 13, 2012 and you can see the full poster below.

Surf’s up for “Twilight” star Xavier Samuel, joining Sam Worthington in “Drift”

June 16, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Xavier Samuel is trading in his (non-existent) fangs for a surfboard, as Variety reports the “Twilight” series star has joined the cast of “Drift”, an Aussie surf drama starring Sam Worthington. Another fellow Aussie actor, Myles Pollard, also stars in the film.

A period film set in the 1970′s, “Drift” follows two brothers (presumably Worthington and Pollard) who open a surf shop and end up building an empire. The film will be directed by Ben Nott and Morgan O’Neill, who also wrote the sc the script.

Samuel retreated back to his native Australia after a breakout role playing vampire Riley in the third installment of the “Twilight” series, “Eclipse” in 2009. Around that time he also completed filming on Roland Emmerich’s Shakespearean political thriller “Anonymous”. Meanwhile, back in Australia, Samuel filmed shark attack horror “Bait 3D” and “The Hangover” inspired “A Few Best Men”, in which he plays the English groom who gets into some crazy shenanigans while visiting Australia with his three best men. Perhaps Worthington, now a bona fide action star thanks to the likes “Avatar” and “Clash of the Titans”, can give the slightly less experienced actor some tips on how to garner more international success.

Production on “Drift” gets underway on August 1st in the Margaret River region of Western Australia and is aiming for a 2012 worldwide release.

Rosamund Pike to play Andromeda in “Wrath of the Titans”; out of “Superman” race

February 8, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

“Barney’s Version” actress and recent “Superman” female lead finalist Rosamund Pike is close to finalizing a deal with Warner Bros to play legendary Greek mythological princess Andromeda in “Clash of the Titans” sequel “Wrath of the Titans”, according to Deadline. She will be replacing Alexa Davalos, who played the role in the first film and is unavailable for the sequel. Both from the same studio, this role takes Pike out of the running for the still unspecified (though rumored to be villainous Ursa) role in “Superman”.

Five lesser-known actresses had previously been reported to be testing for Andromeda, but it appears Warner Bros decided to go for a bigger name, as even names like Gwenyth Paltrow had been tossed around for what is described to be a “major role”. In traditional mythology Andromeda marries Perseus (reprised by Sam Worthington) after he frees her from the sea monster Cetus (Krakken in the film version). However, in the first film, Perseus and Andromeda part ways while he forms a romantic bond with mythical priestess Io (Gemma Arterton also confirmed to be returning) so it is unclear if “Wrath” will attempt to steer the story back towards canon or if there’s a new storyline written for the sidelined princess. Pike will join Worthington, Arterton, also-returning Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes and fellow newbies Edgar Ramirez as Ares, the God of War and Toby Kebbell as Agenor.

Pike, a former Bond girl and known to many current audiences as Jane Bennett in Joe Wright’s “Pride and Prejudice”, was also mentioned for a possible role in this summer’s “X-Men: First Class”, that of Moira MacTaggert, a role that went to Rose Byrne. This awards season she won raves for both her performances in “Barney’s Version” and “Made in Dagenham”.

“Wrath of the Titans” begins filming in March under the direction of Jonathan Liebesman.

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