Watch: Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks meet “People Like Us” in first trailer

March 29, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

Hot off the success of “The Hunger Games, Effie herself Elizabeth Banks introduces the first trailer for her next movie, “People Like Us”, which is surely hoping for a bit of an awareness bump thanks to its suddenly way more famous star. Formerly titled “Welcome to People”, Chris Pine stars in the family drama as a man who is reunited with a sister and nephew he never knew he had after the death of his alcoholic father. His father left him a large inheritance, along with instructions to give some of the money to the daughter he hid from his wife and son. Banks and Pine play the newfound brother-sister duo, with Olivia Wilde on board as Hannah, Pine’s character’s girlfriend. Michelle Pfeiffer is also on board to play Pine’s mother.

The directorial debut of uber-successful screenwriter Alex Kurtzman, “People Like Us” boasts a confident summer release date of June 29th. Watch the first trailer, courtesy of Moviefone, below.

Olivia Wilde and Brie Larson to play sisters in rom com “Relanxious”

March 13, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

Up and coming funny ladies Olivia Wilde and Brie Larson are joining “Saturday Night Live” comedians Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen in relationship comedy “Relanxious”, according to Deadline.

Christopher Storer will make his directorial debut on the film, which revolves around Wilde as anxiety-ridden Barrett, who meets and falls for Sudeikis’ George, an agoraphobic (that’s the fear of wide, open spaces). Their combined phobias limit their relationship to long phone calls in which they detail the dates they would go on if they weren’t so afraid of the outside world. The two attempt to put their fears aside to pursue a real-life romance, but of course that’s not as easy as it looks. Larson will play Wilde’s sister while Armisen plays Sudeikis’ friend and only connection to the outside world.

Wilde is currently filming Ron Howard’s Formula One biopic “Rush” opposite Chris Hemsworth and recently completed work on magician comedy “Burt Wonderstone” opposite Steve Carell and Jim Carrey. Larson played evil ex Envy Adams in Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim vs the World” and will next be seen opposite Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as the female lead in “21 Jump Street.”

Olivia Wilde wins female lead in “Burt Wonderstone” opposite Steve Carell and Jim Carrey

October 31, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

That was fast! Olivia Wilde has beaten out the likes of Judy Greer, Sarah Silverman, Jessica Biel and Michelle Monaghan to win the coveted female lead in magician comedy “Burt Wonderstone”, reports THR. She is now in negotiations to join a cast that includes Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, James Gandolfini and Steve Buscemi in the Don Scardino directed film.

Carell stars as the title character, a traditional Las Vegas magician who is left abandoned by longtime partner (Buscemi), is upstaged by a hip street magician played by Carrey and must rediscover his love of magic. Wilde will play Burt’s love interest, his former assistant who now works for Carrey’s charcter. Filming is scheduled to begin in January.

The hard working Wilde can currently be seen opposite Justin Timberlake in Andrew Niccol’s “In Time” and has wrapped Jennifer Garner’s ensemble comedy “Butter”, along with family dramas “Welcome to People” with Chris Pine and “Blackbird” with Eric Bana. She’s also scheduled to shoot “Better Living Through Chemistry” opposite Sam Rockwell this fall and recently landed another highly coveted female lead, opposite Chris Hemsworth in Ron Howard’s Formula One racing biopic “Rush.”

Olivia Wilde joins “Rush” opposite Chris Hemsworth

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

Olivia Wilde continues her takeover of Hollywood by adding another highly coveted female lead to her growing resume. Deadline reports Wilde will portray onetime supermodel Suzy Miller in Ron Howard’s racing biopic “Rush” opposite Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, whose rivalry set the Formula One racing world aflame in the 1970s.

The film, scripted by Peter Morgan, chronicles the two men’s fight for dominance in the sport in the 1970′s. Hunt went on to win the 1976 title, while Lauda, who won the World Championship three times, crashed in a near-fatal accident in the same race. Wilde’s Miller falls for and marries Hemsworth’s Hunt, but the relationship is short-lived as she soon falls for his actor friend, Richard Burton. Burton then proceeded to pay Miller’s legal fees in her divorce proceedings, freeing her up to marry him shortly after. Deadline reports Howard is keen to get Russell Crowe to cameo as Burton.

The hard working Wilde will be seen in Jennifer Garner’s ensemble comedy “Butter” and opposite Justin Timberlake in Andrew Niccol’s “In Time”, along with family dramas “Welcome to People” with Chris Pine and “Blackbird” with Eric Bana. She’s also scheduled to shoot “Better Living Through Chemistry” opposite Sam Rockwell this fall and may or may not still be a contender for the last remaining female lead opposite Tom Cruise in the sci-fi epic previously known as “Horizons.” Jessica Chastain landed the first female lead a couple of weeks ago.

Olivia Wilde to have “The Longest Week” in indie comedy

September 9, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 2 Comments

The ever-busy Olivia Wilde has attached herself to yet another project. Variety reports from Toronto that Wilde has been tapped to star in indie comedy “The Longest Week”, which Peter Glanz is making his feature directorial debut on.

The film revolves around a young man named Conrad Valmont, “affluent and aimless, who lives a life of leisure in his parents’ prestigious Manhattan hotel. In the span of one week, he finds himself evicted, disinherited and in love.” Wilde will play his love interest. Glanz is basing the pic on his own black and white short titled “A Relationship in Four Days”, which premiered in Cannes in 2008. Model Liesl Gaffney-Dawson and commercial actor Peter Chekvala played the couple back then, but everything, including the characters’ names, seems to be changing for the feature.

Wilde will be seen in TIFF-bound ensemble comedy “Butter” and opposite Justin Timberlake in Andrew Niccol’s “In Time”, along with family dramas “Welcome to People” with Chris Pine and “Blackbird” with Eric Bana. She’s also scheduled to shoot “Better Living Through Chemistry” opposite Sam Rockwell this fall and remains in the mix for one of the female leads opposite Tom Cruise in sci-fi epic “Horizons.”

Olivia Wilde to replace Jennifer Garner in “Better Living Through Chemistry”

August 25, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 3 Comments

Call it a win-win situation. Jennifer Garner is gearing up to welcome a third child, and subsequently has left the door open for Olivia Wilde to add another movie to her rapidly filling upcoming slate. Garner had been attached to play the female lead in dark indie comedy “Better Living Through Chemistry”, but due to her just-announced pregnancy, has had to drop out. Variety reports Wilde is now in negotiations to take her place opposite Sam Rockwell (who himself is a replacement, taking the role left vacant by Jeremy Renner).

Directed by Geoff Moore and David Posamentier, “Chemistry” follows a straight-laced pharmicist (Rockwell) whose life spirals out of control after he begins an affair with Wilde’s character, a trophy wife regular customer that “takes him on a joyride involving sex, drugs and possibly murder.” Michelle Monaghan plays Rockwell’s neglected wife. Filming is set to begin this fall.

Wilde was recently seen in summer flops “Cowboys and Aliens” and “The Change-Up” but will have plenty more chances to turn her luck around. She co-stars with Garner in ensemble comedy “Butter”, headed for TIFF next month, and also stars alongside Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried in Andrew Niccol’s sci-fi thriller “In Time.” In addition, she has also completed work on family drama/thriller “Blackbird” with Eric Bana and Charlie Hunnam and “Welcome to People”, where she plays Chris Pine’s love interest. It’s no wonder her character Thirteen will finally be written off Fox series “House”, freeing Wilde up for a movie career that increasingly demands her full attention.

Olivia Wilde has “Words” with Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana

June 3, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Olivia Wilde’s increasingly busy schedule just got a little fuller, with Variety reporting the 26-year-old actress has signed on to star opposite Bradley Cooper in dramatic thriller “The Words”, which is the feature directorial debut of Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal, who wrote “Tron: Legacy”, which starred Wilde. Ben Barnes, French actress Nora Arnezeder and J.K. Simmons are also joining the cast, which already includes Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons and Dennis Quaid.

Cooper plays a successful writer who realizes he has to pay a price when he plagiarizes someone else’s work. The film – a Blacklist topper penned by the Klugman/Sternthal duo as well – is gearing up to shoot in Montreal this month.

Wilde is set to have an even bigger 2011 after having a bit of a breakout moment via “Tron: Legacy” in late 2010. She’s been slowly easy her way out of her commitments to Fox series “House” to make room for such varied projects as next month’s mega-blockbuster “Cowboys vs Aliens” opposite Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig and gross-out guy comedy “The Change-Up” opposite Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds. On the sci-fi side she has “In Time” with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried, and then there’s familial drama “Welcome to People” with Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks, indie comedy “Butter” and thriller “Blackbird” opposite Eric Bana. Long story short, if you plan on any sort of moviegoing activity in 2011, chances are you’ll be seeing Olivia Wilde on the big screen this year.

Elizabeth Banks in talks to play Effie Trinket in “The Hunger Games”

April 18, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting 1 Comment

Elizabeth Banks is in talks to join the cast of “The Hunger Games” as Effie Trinket, according to Variety. Banks would join a cast that already includes Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson and just announced newbies Amandla Stenberg and Dayo Okeniyi in the Gary Ross adaptation of Suzanne Collins‘ best-selling teen novels.

In the film, revolving around 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen and her attempt to be the sole survivor/victor in the annual Hunger Games which pits 24 children against each other in a fight to the death in front of a nationwide audience, Effie Trinket is the uptight and manically perky chaperone who leads Katniss and Peeta through the process of transforming from poverty stricken residents of District 12 into camera-ready Tributes.

Banks appears to be the most perfect casting on the film thus far, having shown time and again her dramatic chops and quick-witted comedic timing, even having played an uptight/perky character once or twice already. She recently completed filming “Man on a Ledge” opposite Sam Worthington and “Welcome to People” opposite Chris Pine, and is known for a wide array of films including “Definitely, Maybe”, “W” and “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” and her current recurring role on “30 Rock”.

“The Hunger Games” begins filming in North Carolina on May 23rd for a March 23, 2012 release.

First look: Chris Pine on the set of “Welcome to People”

January 22, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

Alex Kurtzman’s directorial debut “Welcome to People” is racking up an impressive cast, with Olivia Wilde the most recent addition to the cast, joining Elizabeth Banks and Chris Pine in the drama about a man who is reunited with a sister and nephew he never knew he had after the death of his alcoholic father. Banks and Pine play the brother-sister duo, with Wilde on board as Hannah, Pine’s character’s girlfriend. Michelle Pfeiffer is also on board to play Pine’s mother.

Recently, B-list actor and A-list director Jon Favreau – you may have heard of such tiny indie hits as Iron Man and this summer’s Cowboys vs Aliens – took to Twitter to announce that he just shot a cameo for the film: “Did a cameo role today in Welcome To People. Fun to act again, even if it was only for a day.”

No word on a release date yet. See below for several images of Pine cruising in a red convertible on his first day of shooting, courtesy of Just Jared.

Olivia Wilde joins “Welcome to People”

January 3, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Casting Leave a comment

Happy new year, visitors! Today we bring you our first bit of casting news of 2011, with Olivia Wilde joining the cast of “Welcome to People”, as reported by THR. Wilde joins Elizabeth Banks and Chris Pine in Alex Kurtzman’s drama about a man who is reunited with a sister and nephew he never knew he had after the death of his alcoholic father. Banks and Pine play the brother-sister duo, with Wilde on board as Hannah, Pine’s character’s girlfriend.

Kurtzman is stocking his directorial debut with familiar faces, as he previously wrote the script for “Star Trek”, starring Pine, and this summer’s “Cowboys and Aliens” stars Wilde. He also co-wrote the “People” script with regular collaborator Roberto Orci and Jody Lambert.

2011 should prove to be tremendous for Wilde, as she has not only the highly anticipated “Cowboys” in July, but also the Jason Bateman comedy “The Change Up” in August and Justin Timberlake/Amanda Seyfried futuristic thriller “Now” in September.

Page 1 of 212 »

welcome to people