The Playlist is reporting that Academy Award-winning actor Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) has signed on to star in Ben Affleck's latest directorial effort entitled Argo. His role will be that of former O.S.S. spy turned movie producer Lester Siegel, described as "equal parts bookie and rabbi."
The Film Stage is reporting that actor James Badge Dale (The Pacific) is in talks to star in the upcoming adaptation of Max Brooks's novel World War Z. Dale is apparently up for the part of a U.S. soldier "who tries to alert authorities that the zombie threat is real.”
As I mentioned at the end of my review for X-Men: First Class, from the major acclaim that the film is receiving, you can be sure that sequels will follow. We've already heard reports that director Matthew Vaughn has thought about using JFK's assassination as a key moment in the next film and some of the writers have already discussed certain characters they'd like to see in the sequel, but today we have some thoughts from executive producer and director of the first two X-Men films, Bryan Singer, on where the next film could go.
Not long ago, we reported that director Darren Aronofsky was being sought to make both Maleficent, a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, and a biblical epic about Moses. Around the same time, there were rumors that there was another possibility, a dark take on the tale of Noah.
There had been some speculation as to whether or not Harvey Keitel would be in Wes Anderson's upcoming film Moonrise Kingdom, but now it has been confirmed by several sources that he will indeed be starring in the film. Nothing is currently known about Keitel's role, but he has been spotted alongside Bill Murray on the set of the film.
It's being reported that Harry Potter star Rupert Grint and Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean, Tomorrow Never Dies) will be starring in the upcoming World War II soccer drama called Wartime Wanderers. The film is being directed by David Whitney from a screenplay by Tim Purcell and Jack Seddon, based on Purcell's book.
The trend of superheroes and sequels continues with Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the whole X-Men gang together. If you don’t count Wolverine’s solo origin story (it seems that most people would rather forget that even happened) then it’s been five years since X-Men: The Last Stand.
Just hours after completing my script review for The Hunger Games, I receive the news that Lionsgate has chosen not to use Billy Ray's draft of the script. Lionsgate posted this tweet on the matter: "The current draft of The Hunger Games script was not written by Billy Ray. It is a collaboration between Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins."
It seems like every few days we get yet another casting update on the highly-anticipated adaptation of the first book in Suzanne Collins's trilogy. Apparently the books are really popular, and yet, I had never heard of them until the adaptation was announced, so that's another one I can add to the list which already includes other series like Twilight and Percy Jackson. However, the difference here is that The Hunger Games actually has a very intriguing premise and has potential to be a really fun movie.
Vanishing on 7th Street is a classic example of where a writer will have an interesting premise, but no idea where to take that premise. In this case, the writer, Anthony Jaswinski, came up with an interesting idea, but just didn't know how to execute it.
