Toby Kebbell Witnesses the “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”

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

toby-kebbell Matt Reeves has been directing anticipated sequel “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” with Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Keri Russell (as well as Andy Serkis and Judy Greer motion-capturing performances as apes) for a few weeks now, but we have late breaking news that British actor Toby Kebbell is also part of the cast.

The Star of Production release also gives us the first official synopsis for the film, which had been reported to be set 15 years after the events of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”: “A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar (Serkis) is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.” The sequel will be released on on May 23, 2014.

Kebbell has been seen in supporting roles in “War Horse” and “Wrath of the Titans” and will next appear opposite Alexander Skarsgard and Ellen Page in Brit Marling’s “The East”, opening at the end of this month (our review here). He’s also wrapped a starring role in indie crime thriller “Buddha’s Little Finger.”

Jeremy Irvine Set for Sequel “The Woman in Black: Angel of Death”

April 29, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

jeremy-irvine “War Horse” star Jeremy Irvine is set to follow in the footsteps of Daniel Radcliffe, signing on to star in the sequel to the film that proved to be a success for Radcliffe’s post-Harry Potter career. “The Woman in Black: Angel of Death”, takes place 40 years after the events that terrorized a Victorian British village in the original, and British actress Phoebe Fox will star opposite Irvine in the World War II set horror.

The creepy Eel Marsh House at the center of the original film is back, as the British government seizes the long abandoned property to house evacuated children, which awakens the ghostly presence that resides there. Tom Harper will direct and had this to say about his cast: “Jeremy and Phoebe are fantastic actors to continue The Woman in Black’s chilling tale. I’m looking forward to working with them both on the film and can’t wait to start shooting with the pair.”

Irvine was hand-picked by Steven Spielberg to headline his “War Horse”, which eventually went on to earn six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. He has since starred in Mike Newell’s new adaptation of “Great Expectations” as well as upcoming WWII drama “The Railway Man”, in which he plays a younger version of Colin Firth. He’s currently filming Ron Rash adaptation “The World Made Straight” opposite Minka Kelly.

Fox had a bit part in Anne Hathaway-Jim Sturgess romantic drama “One Day” and is a regular on series “Switch.”

Tom Hiddleston to Play Wartime Photographer Robert “Capa” in Biopic

April 17, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

This one has been in development hell for quite some time, but it appears there’s movement on one of two dueling biopics of wartime photographer Robert Capa, with British actor Tom Hiddleston confirming to Shortlist (via Playlist) that he will play the titular role in Paul Andrew Williams’ “Capa.”

Back in 2010, it had appeared now-Spider-Man Andrew Garfield and Gemma Arterton may have the lead roles, though even then we were skeptical and it appears that skepticism was founded. Arterton is no longer attached to the film despite having starred in Williams’ “Song for Marion” last year, so now Hiddleston will need a co-star to play Gerda Taro, a fellow wartime photojournalist with whom Capa had an intense love affair. Michael Mann had long been attached to direct a rival biopic, “Waiting for Robert Capa” but he’ll be, uh, waiting for a while longer on that with other projects on his plate in the immediate future.

Hiddleston was one of our Breakout Stars of 2011, the year that brought us his mischievous Loki in “Thor”, noble Captain Nicholls in “War Horse” and charming F. Scott Fitzgerald in “Midnight in Paris.” He hasn’t slowed down since, reprising Loki in “The Avengers” last year and soon headlining Jim Jarmusch’s vampire saga “Only Lovers Left Alive” opposite Tilda Swinton.

Jeremy Irvine and Minka Kelly to star in Ron Rash adaptation “The World Made Straight”

February 7, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

worldmadestraight Jeremy Irvine, Minka Kelly and Jeffrey Dean Morgan will star in “The World Made Straight”, a thriller based on Ron Rash’s novel of the same name, according to Variety.

David Burris will direct the film which follows Irvine’s character Travis, who is a high school dropout. When he happens upon a marijuana field, he steals some and sells them to a disgraced former teacher turned drug dealer (presumably to be played by Morgan), eventually moving in with him and his druggie girlfriend (presumably Kelly). The film is set, like all of Rash’s stories, in a rural Appalachian community haunted by the legacy of a brutal Civil War massacre. Filming is scheduled for later this year. Rash’s novel “Serena” was also recently adapted by Susanna Bier, with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in the lead roles.

Irvine was hand-picked by Steven Spielberg to headline his “War Horse”, which eventually went on to earn six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. He has since starred in Mike Newell’s new adaptation of “Great Expectations” as well as WWII drama “The Railway Man”, in which he plays a younger version of Colin Firth. Irvine is presumably still in the running for the male lead in teen franchise adaptation “Divergent” opposite Shailene Wodley.

Kelly, of NBC series “Friday Night Lights” fame, recently completed work playing Jackie Kennedy for Lee Daniels’ historical drama “The Butler.”

Lucas Till, Jeremy Irvine and Alex Pettyfer vying for “Divergent” male lead opposite Shailene Woodley

January 8, 2013 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 7 Comments

Shailene Woodley is still searching for her Four. Two months after she tested opposite a quartet of young leading men, director Neil Burger and the filmmakers behind “Divergent” are still looking for the perfect male lead. Variety reports today that a trio of guys will test opposite Woodley later this week, and the contenders are Lucas Till, Jeremy Irvine and Alex Pettyfer.

Till is the only holdver from the guys who tested in November, so it seems fair to say Brenton Thwaites, Luke Bracey and Jack Reynor did not make the cut, while Variety is careful to point out that Till may have a slight advantage over his new competitors but there are no clear frontrunners just yet. Woodley plays Tris Prior, whose futuristic dystopic world is one in which society is divided into factions (Dauntless, Abnegation, Amity, Candor, and Erudite), and each person is sorted into each faction based on a personality test that determines their dominant character traits. Born into the selfless faction Abnegation, Tris shocks her family when she opts to join Dauntless, the brave, instead. There she meets Four, a fellow Abnegation defector who has now taken on a leadership role in their new faction. Four is stand offish, mysterious and super hot. Well, of course. In any case, they discover they have bigger problems to worry about than their burgeoning romance. The film is scheduled to begin shooting in Chicago this spring for a March 21, 2014 release.

Till is perhaps best known for his role as Havok in “X-Men: First Class” (he’s not yet confirmed to return for its sequel, and scheduling conflicts would surely arise if he landed “Divergent”). He will next be seen Chan-wook Park’s “Stoker” opposite Mia Wasikowska and recently wrapped up shooting on “Paranoia” opposite Liam Hemsworth. Irvine was hand-picked by Steven Spielberg to star in his Oscar-nominated “War Horse” and also recently played Pip in a new adaptation of “Great Expectations.” He recently wrapped up shooting “The Railway Man”, in which he plays the younger version of Colin Firth. Pettyfer, who’s had YA adaptation experience thanks to his starring role in “I Am Number Four”, most recently headlined Steven Soderbergh’s sleeper hit “Magic Mike” opposite Channing Tatum. He recently wrapped up shooting on Lee Daniels’ “The Butler.”

Toby Kebbell takes lead in Russian crime drama “Buddha’s Little Finger”

August 28, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

British up and comer Toby Kebbell has landed the lead role in Tony Pemberton’s “Buddha’s Little Finger”, reports Screen Daily. Canadian actresses Karine Vanasse and Anne-Marie Cadieux, as well as German actors André Hennicke, Trystan Pütter, Stipe Erceg and Ivan Shvedoff round out this international cast.

Filming began on August 28th with Kebbell in the role of young Russian gangster Pyotr Voyd, who undergoes interrogation in 1991 and begins to believe he is a poet in 1919, fighting in the Russian revolution alongside real life Bolshevik commander Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev and his formidable machine-gunner sidekick, Anna. The film will follow Pyotr as he runs from the KGB in 1991 and enemy forces in 1919. “We thought Toby was charismatic and ideal for this part as he has to play a character living in two different times,” producer Karsten Stöter told Screen Daily. “He looks the perfect fit for 1919, while in 1991, he looks as if he doesn’t belong somehow.”

Kebbell, most recently seen in “Wrath of the Titans” and “War Horse”, has recently wrapped shooting on Brit Marling’s eco-terrorist thriller “The East”, also starring Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard.

British actor Robert Emms to play Insect Man in “Kick-Ass 2″

August 21, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe Moretz are about to get a new superhero sidekick. Deadline reports British rising star Robert Emms has been tapped to play the role of Insect Man in “Kick Ass 2″, the sequel to Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 comic book adaptation.

Jeff Wadlow takes over the directing chair from Vaughn on the sequel, since the original director will be too busy prepping an early 2013 shoot for the “X-Men: First Class” sequel. In the 2010 film based on the comic book of the same name by by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr, Johnson played Dave Lizewski, an ordinary teenager and comic book fan who decides to become a real life superhero, giving himself the moniker Kick-Ass. He was aided by the foul-mouthed and highly trained Hit-Girl, played by Moretz. Emms’ Insect Man is a cop by day, but chooses street justice in his off-time since the law can’t take care of everything, as we well know from every action movie ending with sirens being heard only after the bad guy has been neutralized. Lyndsy Fonseca is also returning for the sequel, and a September shoot is scheduled.

Emms made his feature film debut only last year, in Roland Emmerich’s Shakespearean actioner “Anonymous”, and also had roles in Tarsem Singh’s Snow White redo “Mirror Mirror” opposite Armie Hammer, as well as Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” opposite Jeremy Irvine. He also starred in British indie “Broken” opposite Cillian Murphy.

Jeremy Irvine set for “A Night in Old Mexico”

July 23, 2012 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Casting 1 Comment

Jeremy Irvine recently wrapped filming on “The Railway Man” with Colin Firth but is jumping straight into another production, joining road movie “A Night in Old Mexico“.

The pic is set to begin shooting today in Texas and it will be the sophomore effort of Spanish director Emilio Aragon. From a script by Bill Wittliff, the film follows the developing relationship between Irvine and his grandfather, to be played by Robert Duvall, and features “action, tragedy and romance.”

Variety reports the film also stars Angie Cepeda, Luis Tosar and Javier Gutierrez.

Irvine was one of 2011′s promising young actors, being discovered by Steven Spielberg to take the lead in the director’s “War Horse” adaptation and then going on to land three other high-profile roles in quick succession, in World War II drama “The Railway Man“, the iconic role of Pip in “Mike Newell’s adap of “Great Expectations“, and joining Dakota Fanning in the “average, melodramatic, teen rom-com” “Now Is Good“.

“War Horse” went on to receive mixed reviews but garnered six Oscar nominations. Irvine has spent recent months in production, with the first stills of “Great Expectations” being released late last year.

Tom Hiddleston replaces Michael Fassbender in Jim Jarmusch’s vampire flick “Only Lovers Left Alive”

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

Those who had been looking forward to a “Jane Eyre” reunion will have to wait a little while longer. While Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska had been set to co-star once again in Jim Jarmusch’s new vampire movie, THR reports that British rising star Tom Hiddleston will be replacing Fassbender in the film, now titled “Only Lovers Left Alive.”

Tilda Swinton, announced along with Wasikowska and Fassbender back in May, remains a part of the project, and veteran actor John Hurt is now on board as well for the “horror drama”, about two vampires who have been in love for centuries. Filming is set to begin in Germany later this year. Fassbender’s departure is perhaps unsurprising given his increasingly in demand profile in Hollywood, especially following an incredible year of films in 2011. Still, count me in as one who had been hoping for a Wasikowska-Fassbender reunion, and who’s a little disappointed by this news.

On the other hand, Hiddleston, one of our Breakout Stars of 2011 alongside Fassbender, had a pretty amazing 2011 himself and is an incredible talent in his own right. From “Thor”‘s Loki to “Midnight in Paris”‘s F. Scott Fitzgerald and “War Horse”‘s Captain Nicholls, Hiddleston has demonstrated the same sort of versatility and magnetism that Fassbender possesses. He just wrapped up reprising Loki in Joss Whedon’s “The Avengers”, is a nominee for BAFTA’s Orange Rising Star Award, and is vying for the male lead in Akiva Goldsman’s sci-fi epic “Winter’s Tale.”

Academy Awards Snubs and Surprises, Full List of Nominees include Rooney Mara, Jonah Hill and more

January 24, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Awards 2 Comments

It certainly was a morning full of surprises and snubs as the Academy Awards announced their nominations this morning. There was plenty to be ecstatic about and plenty to scratch your head over, so let’s dive in to some of the biggest reveals.

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”, Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of the 9/11 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, had been deemed down and out by most prognosticators after getting severely mixed reviews and not being lauded by any other group aside from the Broadcast Film Critics, but the Academy clearly fell for the emotional movie (sidenote: so did I) and it landed the biggest shock of the morning as the final Best Picture nominee announced. Max Von Sydow, in a riveting mute performance, also landed a well-deserved (but quite surprising as well) Best Supporting Actor nomination. Similarly, Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” was a movie that seemed to be missing out on key precursors and thus had little shot at any nominations in major categories, but came on strong and landed Best Picture, Best Director and – most deservedly – Best Cinematography.

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