Casting Bits: Ron Livingston In 'Game Change;' Steve Austin And Danny Trejo In 'Recoil'

The Tom Hanks company Playtone is putting together Game Change, in which Julianne Moore will play Sarah Palin under the direction of Jay Roach (Austin Powers). The film follows the 2008 Presidential election, and Ed Harris plays John McCain. Now Ron Livingston has been cast as Mark Wallace, senior advisor to the McCain-Palin ticket. In other words, he gets to play the guy who coached Sarah Palin for her debates, and so his scenes with Julianne Moore could be gold. And, no, this movie is not a comedy. At least, I don't think it is. [Deadline]

Next up is casting for an action/revenge film called Recoil. These two casting announcements couldn't be more different, but how great would it be to combine them into one film? Anyway, more Recoil news after the break.

Recoil sounds like it should be a Sylvester Stallone picture. Instead it will star Steve Austin and Danny Trejo in a story about "an ex-cop whose life is ripped apart when his family is viciously murdered. He then makes it his life's passion to find those responsible and serve up his own kind of justice." Wait, did I say it should be a Stallone picture? Maybe a Dolph Lundgren one. Or a Thomas Jane or Ray Stevenson one. In other words, how is this not The Punisher?John Sullivan writes and Terry Miles directs. Danny Trejo will be " a cold-hearted killer who is seeking his own vengeance against the ex-cop over the murder of his brother." Patrick Gilmore from SGU is also in the cast. The film will be sold at Cannes. [Variety]

Oh, and in case you need the quick recap of the book upon which Game Change is based, here it is again:

Even before the book was out, its juiciest bits were everywhere: Sarah Palin was serene when chosen for V.P. because it was "God's plan." Hillary didn't know if she could control Bill (duh). Elizabeth Edwards was a shrew, not a saint. Overall, the men from the campaign garner less attention in these anecdote wars than the women and tend to come off better—but only just: Obama, the authors note, can be conceited and windy; McCain was disengaged to the point of recklessness; and John Edwards is a cheating, egotistical blowhard. But, hey, that's politics, and it's obvious that authors Heilemann (New York Magazine) and Halperin (Time) worked their sources well—all 200 of them. Some (including the sources themselves) will have trouble with the book's use of quotes (or lack thereof). The interviews, according to the authors, were conducted "on deep background," and dialogue was "reconstructed extensively" and with "extreme care." Sometimes the source of a quote is clear, as when the book gets inside someone's head, but not always. Many of the book's events were covered heavily at the time (Hillary's presumed juggernaut; Michelle Obama's initial hostility to her husband's candidacy), but some of what this volume delivers is totally behind-the-scenes and genuinely jaw-dropping, including the revelation that senators ostensibly for Clinton (New York's Chuck Schumer) pushed hard for Obama. Another? The McCain camp found Sarah Palin by doing computer searches of female Republican officeholders.