Ansel Elgort Is Augustus Waters in "The Fault in Our Stars" Opposite Shailene Woodley

From siblings to star-crossed lovers! EW reports rising star Ansel Elgort has been offered the male lead in "The Fault in Our Stars" opposite Shailene Woodley - who plays his sister in the currently-filming dystopian adaptation "Divergent." The two Read more

Dylan O'Brien Lands "The Maze Runner" Lead; Ki Hong Lee Also Joins

UPDATE: Director Wes Ball tweets that Ki Hong Lee has also joined the cast as Minho, a fellow Glader and ally to Thomas throughout the series. Lee is probably best known as a regular on short-lived ABC Family Read more

Shailene Woodley Confirmed for "The Fault in Our Stars"

I mean, duh, we called it. It has now been officially confirmed with glowing quotes from director, producer and author in tow that the increasingly in demand Shailene Woodley will play the lead role of Hazel Grace Lancaster Read more

Up and Comers Presents: 20 Faces to Watch in 2013

After a somewhat unpredictable year in which the stars we expected to break out largely didn't but fresh faces came out of nowhere to surprise us all, we are ready to look ahead to the new talent waiting to Read more

Up and Comers Presents: The Breakout Stars of 2012

Another year, another new crop of fresh talent. Just like last year, the hardest part is narrowing down which of the dozens of the year's rising stars shone the brightest. This year we heralded the arrival of the unlikeliest Read more
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venus in fur

Nina Arianda joins Paul Newman’s final film “Lucky Them” with Toni Colette

January 31, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Tony Award winner Nina Arianda is continuing her big screen takeover, with Deadline reporting the budding movie star has joined the cast of “Lucky Them”, the final film legendary actor Paul Newman had been working on at the time of his death in 2008. Toni Colette leads the cast that also includes Thomas Haden Church, Oliver Platt, Ryan Eggold and Ahna O’Reilly.

Emily Wachtel and Huck Botko wrote the script and Botko is directing the film about a female rock journalist (Colette) who, on assignment, goes on a journey to track down her musician ex-boyfriend (Church). The semi-autobiographical story is described as a “late bloomers coming-of-age quirky romantic comedy” and will see Colette’s character living in New York and finding herself while most of her friends have already settled down. Arianda will play Colette’s best friend. Filming began last weekend in Seattle.

Arianda, a recent Tony winner for “Venus in Fur” on Broadway, recently landed a string of big screen projects, the most high profile of which being the role of Janis Joplin in Sean Durkin’s biopic of the late singer. Screen credits thus far include Sundance premieres “Higher Ground” and “Win Win”, and Woody Allen’s Oscar-winning “Midnight in Paris.”

Nina Arianda and Michael Pitt to “Rob the Mob” in true crime thriller

October 29, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Michael Pitt and Nina Arianda will headline crime thriller “Rob the Mob”, according to Deadline.

The true story, scripted for the big screen by Jonathan Fernandez, will follow Pitt and Arianda as a New York couple who target and rob some of the biggest mobsters in town. Naturally, they get in a bit over their heads and end up on the run with not just the mob, but also the authorities and their own families hot on their trail. Raymond De Felitta will direct with international rights currently up for grabs at AFM.

Pitt plays James ‘Jimmy’ Darmody on HBO’s hit series “Boardwalk Empire” and can currently be seen opposite Colin Farrell and Christopher Walken in “Seven Psychopaths.” Arianda, a recent Tony winner for “Venus in Fur” on Broadway, recently landed a string of big screen projects, the most high profile of which being the role of Janis Joplin in Sean Durkin’s biopic of the late singer.

Nina Arianda to play Il Maestro’s muse Giulietta Masina in “Fellini Black and White”

July 30, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Nina Arianda has really come from nowhere to become a major talent to keep an eye on in Hollywood. After scoring a major get portraying Janis Joplin on the big screen, Deadline reports she has lined up another gig playing a real life icon. In biopic “Fellini Black and White” about the iconic Italian director, Arianda will portray Giulietta Masina, Fellini’s wife of fifty years and the star of many of his films, including “La Strada” and “Nights of Cabiria.” William H. Macy, Terrence Howard and Peter Dinklage round out the cast that is led by Brazilian star Wagner Maura, who plays Fellini.

Written and to be directed by Henry Bromell, “Fellini Black and White” will follow Fellini and Masina’s 1957 trip to Los Angeles, where he would win his first Oscar for Best Foreign Language film. The trip, however, was marred in mystery as he disappeared for two days and almost didn’t make it to his ceremony. Bromell will speculate that Il Maestro “fell under the spell of Hollywood and America in the 1950s and spent the two days discovering jazz, surfing and romancing a local lover who was a vet. He then emerged as a changed man who broke with his previous neo-realist style and went on to create his greatest movie hits,” according to The Guardian.

Arianda landed her first major role on Broadway just a year after graduating from drama school and with her second Broadway play, “Venus in Fur”, she had her first Tony. After supporting roles last year in “Win Win” and especially memorably in “Midnight in Paris”, Arianda will have her first shot at headlining a film with Sean Durkin’s “Joplin”, in which she’ll do her own singing of the late rock legend’s songs. She’s currently shooting two-parter “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby” opposite Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy.

Tony winner Nina Arianda to play Janis Joplin in big screen biopic

July 10, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Recent Tony winner Nina Arianda has landed a big break on the big screen, and will play legendary folk singer Janis Joplin in a biopic to be directed by “Martha Marcy May Marlene” helmer Sean Durkin, according to Deadline.

The film, titled “Joplin”, will chronicle the final six months of the singer’s life, with flashbacks to earlier times, and Arianda will perform several of Joplin’s best-known songs. Filming is set to begin early next year. “I’ve never in my life seen an actress walk on a stage and convey the duality of vulnerability with overheated sexuality, which is what Janis was all about,” the film’s producer Peter Newman said of seeing Arianda on Broadway.

Arianda made her big screen debut in 2011, in supporting roles in Sundance films “Win Win” and “Higher Ground” and had a more memorable performance as Michael Sheen’s wife in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris”, but “Joplin” will mark her first leading role on film. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress last month for her performance in “Venus in Fur.”