Casting news never gets old and today’s casting news is no different. In this edition of Casting News we got Dwayne Johnson heading further away from his family comedy roles and returning to his action roots, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges joining an ensemble cast, and Alan Rickman joining a caper comedy.
Dwayne Johnson will star in the action thriller Snitch. Inspired by true events chronicled in a PBS “Frontline” documentary, the film centers on a devoted father whose son faces 30 years in prison after being set up in a drug deal. The father goes undercover in the drug world to make a bust that will free his son. (Variety)
If you thought the Valentine’s Day movie was ludacris (no pun intended), then wait till you see the New Year’s Eve one. Rapper/Actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges is joining the cast of New Year’s Eve. The follow up to Valentine’s Day will be set in New York and follows intertwining stories of characters trying to navigate their way through romance on New Year’s Eve.
The enormous cast also includes Katherine Heigl (who initially replaced Halle Berry), Ashton Kutcher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, Lea Michele, Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vergara, Jessica Biel, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Til Schweiger, Josh Duhamel, Halle Berry, Carla Gugino and Alyssa Milano. (THR)
Finally we have Alan Rickman joining the cast of Gambit. Should neogitations be finalized, the actor would join Colin Firth and Cameron Diaz in the remake of the 1966 Michael Caine-Shirley MacLaine caper movie. Joel and Ethan Coen wrote the script for the remake, that will be directed by Michael Hoffman (The Last Station).
Gambit centers on a British thief (Firth) who comes up with a fool-proof plan to steal an expensive statue from one of the richest men in the world. His strategy involves the participation of a beautiful woman (Diaz) who happens to be the spitting image of the rich man’s late wife. But nothing goes as planned. Rickman will play the rich man. (THR)
