Here is the special thread completely devoted to all film casting and development updates. Please feel free to comment and add the lastest information for September, 2008.
Ashley Judd joins Fox's 'Tooth Fairy' Hockey comedy stars Dwayne Johnson
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Ashley Judd is set to star with Dwayne Johnson in 20th Century Fox comedy "Tooth Fairy," which shoots in Vancouver in October. Michael Lembeck is directing.
Blumhouse's Jason Blum is producing with Mayhem Pictures partners Gordon Gray and Mark Ciardi.
Johnson plays a minor league hockey player nicknamed the Tooth Fairy. Judd plays his girlfriend, a single mother of two kids.
Pic was scripted by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel and Joshua Sternin & Jeffrey Ventimilia.
Judd next stars in "Crossing Over," which the Weinstein Co. will release Oct. 24, and she recently completed the indie films "Bug" and "Come Early Morning."
Whitaker, Zellweger find 'Love' Olivier Dahan to write, direct indie drama
By DAVE MCNARY
Production will launch next month in Kansas and New Orleans on indie drama "My Own Love Song," written and to be directed by Olivier Dahan ("La Vie en rose") and toplining Forest Whitaker and Renee Zellweger.
Producer is Alain Goldman, who also produced "La Vie en rose."
Madeline Zima ("Californication") is joining the cast.
Story centers on a roadtrip to Memphis undertaken by a wheelchair-bound former singer and her friend. Both have faced tragedy in their lives, and each becomes the other's chief support.
Zellweger's wrapped work on Western drama "Appaloosa" and comedies "Chilled in Miami" and "My One and Only." Whitaker will next be seen in "Winged Creatures."
Denzel Washington picks up 'Book' Hughes bros. to direct post-apocalyptic drama
By MICHAEL FLEMING, DAVE MCNARY
Denzel Washington will star in "Book of Eli," a post-apocalyptic drama that will be directed by Allen and Albert Hughes.
Alcon Entertainment is financing the film and Warner Bros. will distribute.
Washington will portray a lone hero in a not-too-distant apocalyptic future who must fight across America to bring society the knowledge that could be the key to its redemption.
Gary Whitta wrote the script, and Anthony Peckham did the rewrite.
Joel Silver is producing with Washington, Susan Downey and Alcon co-founders Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson. Shooting begins in January.
Washington most recently starred with John Travolta in the Tony Scott-directed "The Taking of Pelham 123."
The Hughes sibs are making the project their first drama since 2001's "From Hell."
Whitta adapted the Katsuhiro Otomo graphic novel "Akira" into two films for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. Peckham scripted "The Human Factor," which Clint Eastwood will direct and also rewrote "Sherlock Holmes" for WB.
Bettany, Connelly to star in 'Creation' Amiel to direct thriller/love story about Darwins
By ALI JAAFAR
Husband-and-wife team Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly have boarded helmer Jon Amiel's "Creation."
The thesps will play Charles and Emma Darwin in the pic, described as part ghost story, part psychological thriller and part love story.
"Creation" will follow Darwin as a young man, struggling to cope with the loss of a child. John Colley ("Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World") penned the script, based on the book "Annie's Box," written by Darwin's great-great-grandson Randal Keynes.
Jeremy Thomas is producing via his Recorded Picture Co. Pic was co-developed with BBC Films and public funding org the U.K. Film Council.
Jeremy Northam ("The Tudors"), Toby Jones ("Frost/Nixon") and Benedict Cumberbatch ("Atonement") have all joined the cast.
Lensing begins Sept. 28. Locations include the Darwins' home, Down House, in what was then the Kent village of Bromley, which has now been swallowed by London.
Release is skedded for 2009, the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. Icon Film Distribution has acquired U.K. and Australian theatrical rights. HanWay Films is handling worldwide sales.
Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen join cast of crime thriller
By Borys Kit
TORONTO -- Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen have been cast in "Bone Deep," a Screen Gems crime thriller being directed by John Luessenhop.
Co-written by Luessenhop, Gabriel Casseus, Peter Allen and Avery Duff, the film revolves around a group of criminals who find their $20 million plan interrupted by a hard-boiled detective (the previously cast Matt Dillon).
Walker stars as the leader of the bank robbers. Christensen is a newbie detective.
In addition to Dillon, the cast already includes Chris Brown, T.I. and Idris Elba.
Walker, repped by CAA and Luber Roklin Management, will next be seen toplining Universal's "Fast and Furious." His credits include "Flags of Our Fathers," "Eight Below" and "Running Scared."
Christensen, repped by Paradigm, next stars opposite William Hurt in "Beast of Bataan" and will appear in the ensemble shorts movie "New York, I Love You."
Tom Cruise, UA pick up 'Monster' Studio acquires rights to Douglas Preston book
By NICK VIVARELLI
VENICE — Tom Cruise and United Artists have acquired rights to serial-killer thriller "The Monster of Florence," with Cruise attached to produce and possibly to star, according to Douglas Preston, author of the bestseller.
Preston and Italo journo Mario Spezi told Corriere della Sera they have inked with UA for a big-screen adaptation of their reconstruction of eight grisly double homicides believed to have been committed single-handedly between 1968 and 1985 in and around the Italian Renaissance gem.
"It's the biggest movie deal in my life," the leading Italo daily quoted Preston as saying in a front page story. Previous Preston tomes made into movies include thriller "The Relic."
"The film will have Florence and the Chianti as protagonists: two of the locations most beloved by Americans," said Spezi, a Florentine crime reporter and "Monster" contributor, to Corriere.
Reps for United Artists could not immediately be reached for comment.
Spezi said the script will be penned by Chris McQuarrie ("Valkyrie") and that Cruise will produce and decide whether he wants to star once he reads it.
The "Monster of Florence" case had previously inspired the Thomas Harris sequel "Hannibal."
Originally posted by PaddyFilm: Tom Cruise, UA pick up 'Monster' Studio acquires rights to Douglas Preston book
By NICK VIVARELLI
VENICE — Tom Cruise and United Artists have acquired rights to serial-killer thriller "The Monster of Florence," with Cruise attached to produce and possibly to star, according to Douglas Preston, author of the bestseller.
Preston and Italo journo Mario Spezi told Corriere della Sera they have inked with UA for a big-screen adaptation of their reconstruction of eight grisly double homicides believed to have been committed single-handedly between 1968 and 1985 in and around the Italian Renaissance gem.
"It's the biggest movie deal in my life," the leading Italo daily quoted Preston as saying in a front page story. Previous Preston tomes made into movies include thriller "The Relic."
"The film will have Florence and the Chianti as protagonists: two of the locations most beloved by Americans," said Spezi, a Florentine crime reporter and "Monster" contributor, to Corriere.
Reps for United Artists could not immediately be reached for comment.
Spezi said the script will be penned by Chris McQuarrie ("Valkyrie") and that Cruise will produce and decide whether he wants to star once he reads it.
The "Monster of Florence" case had previously inspired the Thomas Harris sequel "Hannibal."
Will Smith puts on 'Pharaoh' hat Actor set for Columbia's 'Last' film
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Will Smith may next morph into a god.
"Braveheart" scribe Randall Wallace will write "The Last Pharaoh," a Columbia drama crafted as a vehicle for Smith to play Taharqa, the pharaoh who battled Assyrian invaders in ancient Egypt.
Smith, James Lassiter and Ken Stovitz will produce for Overbrook Entertainment.
Smith, who has long wanted to play the pharaoh, brought Wallace the Taharqa story.
The film will focus on his battles with Assyrian leader Esarhaddon starting in 677 B.C.
Smith next stars for Columbia in "Seven Pounds," a reteam with "Pursuit of Happyness" director Gabriele Muccino that Overbrook produced with Escape Artists.
Wallace will next direct a Mike Rich-scripted Disney film about Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat and its owner, Penny Chenery. He also just signed on to a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Disney adaptation of the WWII battle saga "Killing Rommel," which Wallace will write with author Steven Pressfield.
Jessica Alba turns 'Invisible' Film begins shooting next month
By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK
Jessica Alba will topline modern-day fable "An Invisible Sign of My Own."
Silverwood Films and iDeal Partners Film Fund closed a financing deal for the pic over the weekend at the Toronto Film Festival.
Filmmaker Marilyn Agrelo ("Mad Hot Ballroom") begins lensing the film, based on Aimee Bender's tome, next month from a screenplay by Pam Falk and Mike Ellis ("The Wedding Planner"). It is her first feature directorial outing since "Ballroom" (2005).
"Invisible" revolves around a young woman who has retreated from the world and is consumed by numbers and math. Things begin to change when she becomes a second-grade math teacher.
Producers are Jana Edelbaum, Falk, Ellis and Silverwood's Lynette Howell. Rachel Cohen of iDeal and J2 Pictures' Jason Felts and Justin Berfield exec produce.
Endeavor's indie film unit, led by Graham Taylor, will handle domestic rights to the pic. Kimmel Intl. will handle foreign rights. Alba was last in theaters with "The Love Guru" and "The Eye."
Originally posted by PaddyFilm: Braveheart" scribe Randall Wallace will write "The Last Pharaoh," a Columbia drama crafted as a vehicle for Smith to play Taharqa, the pharaoh who battled Assyrian invaders in ancient Egypt.
Ed Norton stars in Tim Blake Nelson's comedic thriller
By Borys Kit
Susan Sarandon and Richard Dreyfuss have signed on to join Ed Norton in "Leaves of Grass," a comedic thriller actor-turned-filmmaker Tim Blake Nelson wrote and is directing.
Nu Image/Millennium Film has come aboard to produce and finance the picture, which also sees Keri Russell in negotiations to hop on board as well.
The announcement was made at an informal press conference during the Toronto Film Festival attended by Norton, Nelson, Lerner, Davidson and Dubin.
Norton is portraying twin brothers, one an Ivy League philosophy professor, the other a small-time and brilliant marijuana grower. The professor is lured back to his Oklahoma hometown for a doomed scheme against a local drug lord (Dreyfuss) that unravels his life.
Sarandon plays the brothers' eccentric mother, while Russell will play a love interest.
Nelson is playing a best friend to one of the brothers. Lucy DeVito, the daughter of Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, and country singer Steve Earle are also in the cast.
Norton and Nelson are producing with John Langley, Elie Cohn, Kristina Dubin and Bill Migliore. Exec producing are Danny Dimbort, Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, Stuart Blumberg and Eric Gitter.
Shooting is scheduled to being Sept. 22 in Shreveport, La. The budget will be between $9.5 million and $14 million.
Nelson wrote "Grass" with Norton in mind and showed it early last year to the actor, who wasn't looking for a new project and put off reading the script. When Norton finally did read it, he was hooked.
"I called him and said, 'You're right. It's great,' " recalled Norton. "There have been only a couple of times in my career that I've gone, 'That's exactly what I want to do.' It felt very complete."
Norton then went on a quest for financing with his Class 5 Films partner, and initially found it in Barbarian Films. When that fell through, the project landed on Lerner's doorsteps.
Nelson worked with Lerner on "The Grey Zone," which he described as a movie "that shouldn't have been financed." Lerner quickly countered the film was "the best I've ever made."
Amanda Seyfried sparks to 'John' Actress to star in Hallstrom-directed adaptation
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Amanda Seyfried will follow "Mamma Mia!" with a starring gig in "Dear John," the Lasse Hallstrom-directed adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks bestseller.
Seyfried joins Channing Tatum in the pic and will play a young woman who meets and falls in love with a soldier while he's on leave.
Jamie Linden wrote the script.
Relativity is fully financing the film, which begins shooting Oct. 13 in South Carolina. Screen Gems will distribute domestically.
Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh will produce with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, the Temple Hill partner who developed the film under their New Line deal and then enlisted Relativity when that distributor was absorbed by Warner Bros. Relativity's Tucker Tooley will be executive producer.
Seyfried has been shooting her regular role on the HBO series "Big Love," and will jump right into "Dear John" when production wraps. She will next be seen in the Karyn Kusama-directed "Jennifer's Body," a Diablo Cody-scripted comic thriller.
Actors join Mulroneys' 'Paper' chase Daniels, Reynolds, Kudrow set for comedy
By MICHAEL FLEMING
Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds and Lisa Kudrow will star in “Paper Man,” a comedy that marks the feature directing debut of Kieran and Michele Mulroney, who wrote the film as well as “Justice League.”
FilmColony’s Richard Gladstein will produce with Management 360’s Guymon Casady and Artfire’s Art Spigel and Ara Katz. Artfire is financing the film, and shooting begins Nov. 12 in New York and Montauk.
The coming-of-middle-age comedy chronicles an unlikely friendship between a failed author (Daniels) and a Long Island teen.
“Paper Man” was developed through Sundance writer and director labs.
Darin Friedman and Dan Fireman will be executive producers.
Reynolds just wrapped the Greg Mottola-directed “Adventureland.”
Daniels next appears in “The Dream of the Romans” and “State of Play.” Kudrow recently wrapped “Powder Blue.”
NEW YORK -- David Strathairn, Alan Alda, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker and Paul Rudd are attached to join James Franco as Allen Ginsberg in the beatnik biopic "Howl."
Telling Pictures documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will make their narrative writing, producing and directing debut with the 1950s-era tale, focusing on the obscenity trial launched to censor Ginsberg's groundbreaking book-length poem. The pair were approached by the Allen Ginsberg Trust to make a film commemorating the 50th anniversary of "Howl."
Among the real-life characters featured in the film are prosecuting attorney Ralph McIntosh (Strathairn), Judge Clayton Horn (Alda), prosecution witness Professor David Kirk (Daniels), radio personality and prosecution witness Gail Potter (Parker) and literary critic and defense witness Luther Nichols (Rudd).
Gus Van Sant is executive producing the project. WMA and Cinetic Media are onboard to assemble financing and handle sales.
"Fifty years later, Ginsberg's vision is as relevant as the year he wrote it," Friedman said. "It resonates with issues of free speech, government censorship, militaristic empire building, fear-mongering, sexual conformity and the co-opting of religion."
Graphic novelist and Ginsberg collaborator Eric Drooker will create an animated reimagining of "Howl" (in segments Epstein describes as "a Beat Fantasia") and Carter Burwell will write the original score.
Epstein and Friedman produced and directed "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt," and Epstein directed "The Times of Harvey Milk," both Oscar-winning docus. Van Sant's Milk biopic features Franco and bows in November.
Franco is repped by Endeavor and James/Levy Management. Strathairn, Alda and Daniels are repped by ICM. Parker is repped by WMA. Rudd is repped by UTA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Epstein and Friedman are repped by Sloss Eckhouse Brennan Law.
Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd already star in the comedy
By Leslie Simmons
Julie Andrews has earned her wings.
The actress will join Dwayne Johnson and Ashley Judd in Fox's family comedy "Tooth Fairy."
Also on board are "Extras" star Stephen Merchant, who also co-created "The Office," and pro skateboarder Ryan Sheckler (MTV's "Life of Ryan").
The film centers on Derek Thompson (Johnson), a minor-league hockey player whose nickname is the Tooth Fairy because of his ability to knock out opposing players' teeth. Judd plays his girlfriend.
When he discourages a youngster's hope, Derek is ordered to one week's hard labor as a real tooth fairy, complete with wings, magic wand and frilly tutu. Along the way, he rediscovers his forgotten dreams.
Andrews, repped by WMA, will play Lily, a high-ranking, acerbic supervisor with the Tooth Fairy Department charged with overseeing Derek's stint as a tooth fairy.
Endeavor-repped Merchant plays Tracy, a socially awkward tooth fairy who has not yet earned his wings but is assigned to be Derek's case worker and trainer.
Sheckler, repped by CAA, plays arrogant young hockey player Mick Donnelly, who makes a pit stop in the minor leagues before heading to the NHL and treats Derek like a has-been.
Filming will begin in October in Vancouver with Michael Lembeck directing a script by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel and Joshua Sternin & Jeffrey Ventimilia.
Blumhouse's Jason Blum is producing with Mayhem Pictures' Gordon Gray and Mark Ciardi.
TORONTO (AP) - Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler," a drama starring Mickey Rourke that won top honors last weekend at the Venice Film Festival, was picked up Monday for U.S. distribution by Fox Searchlight.
Scheduled for release in December, "The Wrestler" likely will leap into the Academy Awards picture, particularly for Rourke's acclaimed turn as a one-time marquee figure on the professional wrestling circuit who now scrapes by on weekend bouts.
"Darren Aronofsky has created an unbelievably electrifying and compelling tale with tour de force performances," Peter Rice, president of Fox Searchlight, said as the company bought domestic rights for the film a day after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"The Wrestler" features Rourke in a mesmerizing role as Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a former wrestling star who describes himself as a broken-down piece of meat but still scrapes by on gigs in the ring, though he's reduced to working a day job at a supermarket to survive.
The film co-stars Marisa Tomei as a stripper he pursues romantically and Evan Rachel Wood as his estranged daughter.
Rourke, 51, has flitted in and out of favor in Hollywood for decades, making an early splash in 1982's "Diner" and starring in such '80s films as "Angel Heart" and "Barfly." In 2005, he earned solid notices in the graphic-novel adaptation "Sin City."
Aronofosky directed the critical favorites "Pi" and "Requiem for a Dream" but stumbled with the 2006 commercial misfire "The Fountain."
Congratulations, Primetime Emmy Winners!
Comedy Series: 30 ROCK Drama Series: MAD MEN Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey, 30 ROCK Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Bryan Cranston, BREAKING BAD Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Glenn Close, DAMAGES Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Glynn Turman, IN TREATMENT Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Željko Ivanek, DAMAGES Writing in a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program: THE COLBERT REPORT
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