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 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.

Alicia Vikander joins Bill Condon’s Wikileaks film opposite Benedict Cumberbatch

December 14, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 3 Comments

Bill Condon continues to build an impressive cast for his still untitled film about the founding of Wikileaks and its controversial leader, Julian Assange. With British actor Benedict Cumberbatch set as Assange and German actor Daniel Bruhl as his right-hand man Daniel Domscheit-Berg, Variety now reports Swedish rising star Alicia Vikander has joined the cast as well.

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 of Domscheit-Berg’s. Production is aiming for a January start.

Vikander first caught our attention back in 2010 when she was shortlisted for “Snow White and the Huntsman”, and has since proven on screen what filmmakers initially saw in the unknown actress. This year she puts in two awards-worthy performances, in Joe Wright’s “Anna Karenina” and the Danish Foreign-Language Oscar entry “A Royal Affair” and she’ll get her first crack at studio fare when she stars opposite Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore in next year’s “The Seventh Son.” She also may get a chance to play a fairy tale princess after all as she is one of three contenders Mark Romanek is considering to be his “Cinderella.”

First photo of Ben Barnes as “The Seventh Son” with Jeff Bridges in historical fantasy epic

December 3, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

Perhaps Warner Bros’ own answer to “the next Harry Potter”, the first image from historical fantasy epic “The Seventh Son” has arrived today via USA Today. Ben Barnes – replacing Sam Claflin – plays Tom, a young 18th century sorcery apprentice of Jeff Bridges, who is ancient and benevolent and has struggled for centuries in a fight against Julianne Moore’s evil witch.

The cast also features rising Swedish star Alicia Vikander as a young half-witch named Alice, though we have no images of her just yet. She, along with Claflin, beat out a slew of contenders for the role after extensive chemistry tests. With Barnes replacing Claflin, we can only hope chemistry was still a priority for director Sergei Bodrov and the other filmmakers.

“The Seventh Son” will be released on October 18, 2013 and the first full photo of Barnes and Bridges can be viewed below. Check out USA Today for an additional dramatic image of Moore’s character.

Kit Harington signs on for psychological thriller “Greenland Time” with Vera Farmiga

June 7, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 1 Comment

The summer months are here so it’s time to watch TV show actors and actresses hang up their small screen character for a few months and try on some big screen shoes instead.

One such actor making the most of his time away from HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is Kit Harington, who is currently filming WB’s “The Seventh Son”, starring opposite Ben Barnes and Alicia Vikander.

Now Screen Daily reports that Harington has signed on to play opposite Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air”) in the psychological thriller “Greenland Time“. Scripted by David Newman and Catherine Linstrum, the pair will also direct, making this their directorial debut.

Set to start filming later this year, the film follows Farmiga’s character, a woman who is “out for revenge on the man who killed her daughter in a hit-and-run accident.”

Kit Harington and Joel Kinnaman out, Colin Farrell in for “Arthur and Lancelot”

March 14, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

The good news: one of my most anticipated upcoming projects that had seemed DOA a couple of months ago, may now be back on. Variety first reported that Warner Bros has tentatively revived David Dobkin’s Arthurian legend actioner “Arthur and Lancelot”, but here’s the bad news: rising stars Kit Harington and Joel Kinnaman, who had been set to take on the roles of Arthur and Lancelot, respectively, are now both out due to new scheduling conflicts as a result of the delay. The film had been set to begin shooting in January for a projected March 15, 2013 release, but all of that is out the window now.

The studio is now talking to a bigger star to take the lead, with THR reporting that the roguish and charming Colin Farrell is eyeing the role of Lancelot. Plot details are allegedly under wraps, but earlier reports indicated this incarnation sees Arthur as an orphan being raised by a poor knight in a small village while Lancelot is a nobleman disgruntled with the current state of politics. Dobkin has said it revolves around “the birth of democracy as a concept and it’s positing Arthur as the first man to say all men are created equal.”

After the delay and seeming cancellation of “Arthur and Lancelot”, Harington went on to join Warner Bros’ “The Seventh Son” and is currently filming season 2 of HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones.” Kinnaman’s career is going even better, having recently landed the lead in MGM’s “Robocop” reboot. He, too, is back at work on the second season of his own hit series, AMC’s “The Killing.”

“Game of Thrones” star Kit Harington joins “The Seventh Son”

February 7, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

“Arthur and Lancelot” may be on hold for now, but Warner Bros is clearly keen on Kit Harington, who had been cast to play the Once and Future King. Variety reports the “Game of Thrones” actor has joined the cast of WB’s “The Seventh Son”, starring opposite Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander.

Barnes replaced Sam Claflin in the lead role last May and will play Tom, a young apprentice to a sorcerer (Bridges) who fights ghosts and other evil supernatural creatures in 1700′s England. The two will fend off Moore’s evil witch while Barnes falls for Vikander’s nice witch. Harington will play Bridges’ former apprentice. Sergey Bodrov will direct and cameras will finally start rolling this April.

The timing turned out to be perfect for Harington, who is due back on the set for season two of HBO’s smash hit series “Game of Thrones” soon after the shoot. After being put through the wringer to finally land the role of Arthur in “Arthur and Lancelot” opposite Joel Kinnaman’s Lancelot, the roller coaster quickly took another dive when the entire project was scrapped due to budgetary concerns. Like “Akira”, “Paradise Lost” and “The Lone Ranger”, it’s probable the film will live once again, but for now, Harington will stay close to the studio with “The Seventh Son.”

Ruth Wilson and Alicia Vikander round out Joe Wright’s “Anna Karenina” cast

September 8, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

A couple of young European actresses on the verge of a breakout have rounded out the cast of Joe Wright’s new adaptation of classic Tostoy Russian epic “Anna Karenina.” Focus Features announced today shooting will begin this month in the UK and in Russia and actresses Ruth Wilson and Alicia Vikander have joined the cast.

This will be Wright’s third collaboration with muse Keira Knightley, who will play the titular unhappy and unfaithful Anna, with Jude Law as her high-ranking official of a husband and one of our favorites, Aaron Johnson, as Vronsky, her handsome lover. Among the supporting cast are Kelly Macdonald, Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson, Emily Watson and Olivia Williams. There is no word on who Wilson and Vikander would play, though Anna’s sister-in-law, Dolly and Dolly’s younger sister Kitty, who become embroiled in their own trials, tribulations and love triangles, might be a logical guess.

Vikander, the Swedish actress who was at one time a finalist for “Snow White and the Huntsman”, landed herself another high profile franchise in Warner Bros’ sorcery fantasy “The Seventh Son”, opposite Ben Barnes and Jeff Bridges. British actress Wilson had also been set for a big budget blockbuster, but it may not happen now as that project is the Gore Verbinski-Johnny Depp Disney film “The Lone Ranger”, whose $200million+ life hangs in the balance as Disney execs review newly turned-in budget trimmings and decide whether to go forward or pull the plug completely.

Ben Barnes replaces Sam Claflin in “The Seventh Son” opposite Jeff Bridges

June 24, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 6 Comments

British actor Sam Claflin’s star, which had seemed to be rising exponentially a few scant weeks ago, seems to have fizzled a bit. A pivotal supporting role opposite the likes of Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” didn’t create much buzz and now, he’s lost out on his next potential blockbuster as well. Variety reports that Claflin’s fellow countryman Ben Barnes will be replacing him as the male lead of Warner Bros. “The Seventh Son”.

As Tom, Barnes will be a young apprentice to a sorcerer, played by Jeff Bridges, who fights ghosts and other evil supernatural creatures in 1700′s England. The pair battle an evil witch played by Julianne Moore, while Tom falls for a nice, young witch played by newcomer Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. Vikander joined the cast alongside Claflin, presumably after chemistry tests were conducted between various pairings of young actors. Barnes was not among the first round of finalists, so we can only hope director Sergei Bodrov took the time to audition him and other prospective Toms opposite Vikander before casting him.

Barnes famously reneged on a contract that had him starring on the West End in “The History Boys” in order to take on the title role in “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”. The Disney film and its sequel, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, could not match the success and iconic status of the original or the books from which they are adapted, and Barnes toiled for several years in small, independent films that had a hard time getting released. But his career may be getting back on track now with “The Seventh Son”, as well as joining the ensemble cast of indie comedy “Gently Down the Stream”, alongside actors including Amanda Seyfried, Robin Williams, Topher Grace and Diane Keaton.

Sam Claflin is Prince Charmant in “Snow White and the Huntsman”

May 4, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Universal is finally making some headway on “Snow White and the Huntsman”, reports Deadline. Still unable to lock down a titular Huntsman after Viggo Mortensen, Hugh Jackman and others turned down the role, the studio and director Rupert Sanders have one pivotal supporting role locked down: up and coming actor Sam Claflin will play Prince Charmant, love interest to Snow White, played by Kristen Stewart.

The film, a revisionist take on the classic Grimm fairy tale, sees the Huntsman ordered to kill Snow White helping her escape into the woods instead, where they go on the run together and he mentors her in the art of self-defense. Sort of a Disney princess goes Karate Kid. Charlize Theron is locked down for the Evil Queen, and while no official offer is on the table and “Avengers” presents a pretty big scheduling roadblock, Universal is said to be now eyeing “Thor” star Chris Hemsworth for the role of the Huntsman.

Claflin was thought to be unavailable to take on the role of the Prince, but became free recently when shooting on “The Seventh Son” opposite Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore was pushed back. The 24-year-old Brit made his acting debut only last year, on the Showtime miniseries “The Pillars of the Earth”, but his big breakthrough might just come this summer, with a pivotal role in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”.

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