Alicia Vikander Lands Female Lead in “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” Opposite Armie Hammer

May 8, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

alicia-vikander Fast rising Swedish actress Alicia Vikander has landed another high profile role, this time the female lead in Guy Ritchie’s reboot of spy comedy “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” starring Tom Cruise and Armie Hammer.

This is the 1960s buddy cop comedy style spy series that Warner Bros has been trying to put together for the big screen for some time, with previous iterations featuring Soderbergh behind the camera, Clooney in front, etc. Cruise is taking the Napoleon Solo role, with Hammer in line for his sidekick Illya Kuryakin. The two work for United Network Command for Law Enforcement (or U.N.C.L.E.) and use their charm, wit and advanced spy technology on missions. Vikander is taking the role a British agent with U.N.C.L.E. who “has a thing for cars.” She will be an original character who did not appear in the original TV series. And if she has to be someone’s love interest, we are just praying it’ll be Hammer.

One of our Breakout Stars of 2012, Vikander arrived on the scene in Hollywood thanks to the on-two punch of Joe Wright’s “Anna Karenina” and Danish Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee “A Royal Affair”, and has been landing increasingly impressive stateside jobs ever since. She’s wrapped Bill Condon’s Wikileaks drama “The Fifth Estate” and crime thriller “Son of a Gun” opposite Ewan McGregor, and will next be seen in sorcery actioner “The Seventh Son” with Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Alicia Vikander Reuniting with “Anna Karenina” Co-Star Domhnall Gleeson for “Ex Machina”

May 3, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Alicia Vikander has landed and is now in negotiations for the female lead role in screenwriter Alex Garland’s directorial debut “Ex-Machina”, according to The Wrap. Vikander had been up for the role against British actress Felicity Jones, but emerged victorious and will reunite with “Anna Karenina” co-star Domhnall Gleeson, who stars opposite Oscar Isaac.

Isaac stars in the futuristic thriller as a billionaire who hires a young employee (Gleeson) to “spend a week at his remote estate and participate in a test involving his latest invention – an artificially intelligent female robot.” With a lovely young lady like Ms. Vikander playing the robot, we’re betting human-like feelings start forming here. At least we know Vikander and Gleeson have plenty of romantic chemistry.

The two played would-be lovers Kitty and Levin in Joe Wright’s “Anna Karenina”, which helped make Vikander one of our Breakout Stars of 2012. The one-two punch of “Anna” and Danish Oscar entry “A Royal Affair” provided Vikander with quite the introduction to Hollywood, and she’s booked more and more intriguing projects ever since. She’s already wrapped on Bill Condon’s Wikileaks film “The Fifth Estate” with Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl as well as Australian thriller “Son of a Gun” opposite Ewan McGregor.

“Downton Abbey” Alum Dan Stevens Set for Family Adventure “Swallows and Amazons”

April 5, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Well, it’s no wonder he decided to leave “Downton Abbey.” British actor Dan Stevens’ film career has been pretty much non-stop since departing the hit BBC series that made him a star, and now Deadline reports he has landed yet another project. Stevens will play the key role of James Turner aka Captain Flint in a big screen adaptation of hit children’s book series “Swallows and Amazons.”

Arthur Ransome wrote the series of books which are set in the Lake District of England in the summer of 1929. The Walker and Blackett families vacation there, and their children’s respective dingys are dubbed the Swallow and Amazon, respectively. John, Susan, Titty, and Roger Walker sail the Swallow, while Nancy and Peggy Blackett man the Amazon. The children meet on an island in the lake and go on a series of imagined adventures featuring the children as explorers and pirates, often imagining the Blacketts’ Uncle James as the evil Captain Flint. No director has been maned yet and casting is underway for the children who will play the lead roles, but a summer shoot is scheduled.

Stevens, who played the key role of Matthew Crawley for three seasons on hit series “Downton Abbey”, recently wrapped up starring opposite Jessica Chastain on Broadway in “The Heiress.” He will be seen next year on the big screen in period romantic drama “Summer in February” opposite Emily Browning and Dominic Cooper and, having recently wrapped up Bill Condon’s Wikileaks film “The Fifth Estate” opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl, is currently filming crime thriller “A Walk Among the Tombstones” with Liam Neeson.

“Downton Abbey” star Dan Stevens to take “A Walk Among the Tombstones” with Liam Neeson

February 12, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Now that he has left PBS series “Downton Abbey”, rising British actor Dan Stevens is having no problem transitioning to big screen roles. Variety reports he has signed on to star opposite Liam Neeson in crime thriller “A Walk Among the Tombstone”, which Scott Frank adapted and will direct starting next month.

Neeson plays an ex-cop now working as a private investigator who is tasked with finding the kidnapped wife of a drug dealer, who soon discovers the kidnappers have committed similar crimes before and have racked up quite a body count in the process. There’s no word yet on who Stevens will play.

Stevens, who played the key role of Matthew Crawley on hit series “Downton Abbey”, recently wrapped up starring opposite Jessica Chastain on Broadway in “The Heiress.” He declined to return to the show that has made him a star in its fourth season, and will be seen next year on the big screen in period romantic drama “Summer in February” opposite Emily Browning and Dominic Cooper. He’s currently filming Bill Condon’s Wikileaks film “The Fifth Estate” opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl.

Alicia Vikander and Brenton Thwaites join Ewan McGregor in Aussie thriller “Son of a Gun”

February 5, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

International rising stars Alicia Vikander and Brenton Thwaites are heading Down Under for thriller “Son of a Gun”, which already stars Ewan McGregor, according to Deadline.

Julius Avery begins directing the film later this month in Australia, which is described as “a visceral, tautly paced heist thriller, centers on a complex relationship between Australia’s public enemy No. 1 (McGregor) and his young protégé (Thwaites).” Polish actor Jacek Koman has also joined the cast in an unspecified role.

Vikander will hop on board the shoot after she finishes filming Bill Condon’s Wikileaks film “The Fifth Estate” opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Daniel Bruhl, which is now in production in Germany. The Swedish actress broke out big in 2012 thanks to the one-two punch of Danish Foreign Language Oscar nominee “A Royal Affair” and Joe Wright’s “Anna Karenina”, in which she played a scene-stealing Kitty. This year she’ll also be seen in sorcery epic “The Seventh Son”, starring opposite Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Thwaites, who frequently shows up on various shortlists for upcoming high profile projects, was most recently was seen in Lifetime’s remake “Blue Lagoon: The Awakening”, will next be seen opposite Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty redo “Maleficent” as well as indie horror “Oculus” opposite “Doctor Who” star Karen Gillan.

Benedict Cumberbatch may play Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game”, taking over for Leonardo Dicaprio

February 1, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Is Benedict Cumberbatch the new Leonardo Dicaprio? Seems like an odd fit, but in fact it is Cumberbatch who will be taking over a high profile role that had once been earmarked for the former teen idol turned respected dramatic actor. Deadline reports Cumberbatch is in deep negotiations to play Alan Turing in “Headhunters” helmer Morten Tyldum’s adaptation of “The Turing Game”, a biopic of the tortured WWII genius.

The British mathematician Turing helped the Allies defeat the Germans by cracking the enemy’s “Enigma Code” during WWII, but a decade later was prosecuted by his own government for being a homosexual. Other than take a prison sentence, he chose chemical castration, an act that would lead him into the pits of depression and ultimately suicide. The film is fully financed but has no studio backing just yet, but Deadline speculates it won’t take long before Oscar-hungry executives bite on distribution rights.

Benedict, the acclaimed star of BBC’s “Sherlock”, will have a hell of a year on the big screen in 2013. He recently wrapped up the villain role in JJ Abrams’ sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness” and will play ‘Little’ Charles Aiken opposite Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”, and he also has a role in Steve McQueen’s “Twelve Years a Slave” opposite Michael Fassbender. He’s currently filming Bill Condon’s “The Fifth Estate”, the Wikileaks origin tale in which he portrays founder Julian Assange.

Anthony Mackie joins Bill Condon’s Wikileaks movie, now titled “The Fifth Estate”; first image released

January 22, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting, Images 2 Comments

UPDATED: The first official image from the film has been added.

Well this movie just keeps getting better and better. In a press release today announcing the start of principal photography on “The Fifth Estate”, the previously untitled Wikileaks movie directed by Bill Condon, it’s revealed that Anthony Mackie has joined the cast that already boasts Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl and Alicia Vikander.

Cumberbatch will play Julian Assange and Bruhl his one-time right hand man, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. The Dreamworks film is taking its source material from Domscheit-Berg’s “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” and “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy” by David Leigh and Luke Harding, British journalists who worked at The Guardian and helped Assanage publish his first findings. Vikander will play a co-worker and eventual love interest to Bruhl’s charcter, while “Downton Abbey” star Dan Stevens will play a hacker friend of Domscheit-Berg’s who eventually comes to work with the Wikileaks team. There’s no word on who other cast members including Mackie, Laura Linney, David Thewlis, Peter Capaldi, and Carice van Houten will play. “The Fifth Estate” has also just been set for a November 15, 2013 release.

Mackie will film this first before heading to Cleveland in April to play the Falcon opposite Chris Evans, who reprises his role as Steve Rogers in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” The two also recently wrapped up filming on “A Many Splintered Thing” together. Mackie is currently on screen in “Gangster Squad” opposite Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone and will next be seen opposite Mark Wahlberg in Michael Bay’s “Pain & Gain.”

Meanwhile, the first official image featuring Cumberbatch and Bruhl has been released and can be viewed below.

the fifth estate