Posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 by Russ Fischer
Often with these aggregated casting pieces the idea is to group together a number of fairly small stories. In this case the names are big — Robert De Niro, Rachel McAdams, Woody Allen, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carrell — but the films are either ones we don’t know much about or have recently covered in detail. Essentially, we don’t have too much to add to the news about any of these projects at this point other than: “hey, now this person is on board.”
Take Dark Fields, the thriller directed by Neil Burger that will star Bradley Cooper. There was recently unconfirmed word that Elizabeth Banks is joining the cast, and while that remains to be confirmed, Variety now says that Robert De Niro is on board. He’ll play “a brilliant financial mogul who begins pursuing Cooper’s character,” who is a New York writer “who comes into possession of a designer drug that gives him newfound intelligence and success.” Time was I would have been thrilled to heard about De Niro being part of a film like this. Can Burger make this one work? Hope so.
After the break, McAdams augments Allen, and Ryan Gosling might do a comedy. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 by Russ Fischer
Well, what’s this? Does Terrence Malick have yet another film in the works? According to Nikki Finke he does. She’s reporting that the reclusive, methodical filmmaker is prepping “an as yet untitled love story” for which he’s written a script. Claim is that he’s got Christian Bale, Javier Bardem, Olga Kurylenko and Rachel McAdams on board to appear in the movie. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Remember that rumor that popped up last week claiming that Rachel McAdams had been cast in Spider-Man 4 as Black Cat? McAdams has responded, calling it pure internet rumor… but is it?
Earlier today a rumor broke that Rachel McAdams is in talks to join Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 as the anti-hero/love conflict Black Cat. We didn’t know if this was true, or just another one of the countless internet superhero rumors. I still can’t confirm the validity of the story, but a /Film reader named Ambrose H forwarded me a link that at least confirms two parts of the story:
Sam Raimi and Co are already casting the feature
They are looking for a new female lead
Not only that, but Romola Garai has auditioned for the role. Garai is a 27-year-old British actress who starred in Amazing Grace, The Other Man and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.
Mania is reporting a rumor that Rachel McAdams has met with the producers of Spider-Man 4 to play the role of Black Cat. The female cat burglar has long been rumored to be part of the next installment of Sam Raimi’s big screen Spider-Man series, although there has never been any confirmation of such. If true, she would likely be one of two rivals in the fourth movie (technically, she is more of an anti-hero/love intere st). Many people assume that the other villain would be The Lizard. Black Cat would be a good addition to the film series as she would fit into both Peter Parker’s personal and private superhero storylines.
Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Keith Pollard, Black Cat first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #194, published in July 1979. While the character is sometimes confused as a copy of DC Comics’ Catwoman, the character actually predates the look of the Batman villain by almost a decade. The daughter of a world-renowned cat burglar, Black Cat first met Spider-Man while trying to break her father out of prison. Felicia quickly fell in love with Spidey and looked for a way to earn his trust while continuing with the Black Cat persona as “a misguided attempt to attract his affection.”
Discuss: Do you think McAdams would be a good choice to play Black Cat?
Robert Schwentke’s big screen adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife has been sitting on the shelf for over a year. To give you an idea of how long that has been, The Time Traveler’s Wife went into post production before the non-canceled television series Journeyman even premiered. I mention Journeyman because many people accused the show of borrowing conceptual elements from the Audrey Niffenegger novel. The film is a romantic drama about a Chicago librarian (Eric Bana) with a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, and the complications it creates for his marriage. Rachel McAdams and Ron Livingston co-star.
Tonight we have a bit of good news, Warner Bros has finally announced that they will release the movie on August 14th 2009, up against Final Destination: Death Trip 3D and Neil Blomkamp’s Cloverfield-like sci-fi film District 9. Now does anyone have any idea when The Weinstein Brothers intend on releasing The Road?
USA Today has the first photo from Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes which features all three lead characters - Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes and Rachel McAdams as “the deceptive” Irene Adler. I would point you toward USA Today’s article for more info on the film, but it’s mostly about Downey’s Oscar thoughts (which to me were not too interesting). They do reveal that the film is aiming for a PG-13 rating, which I haven’t seen before in print (I’m sure it probably has).
Posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Universal Pictures has released the trailer for State of Play, the new dramatic crime thriller starring Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe. Based on the BBC mini-series of the same title, the film tells the story of ” a team of investigative reporters work alongside a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman’s mistress.” Ben Affleck, who replaced Edward Norton in the final hour leading up to the production, plays the fast-rising politician who is caught up in a murder conspiracy. Crowe of course plays a journalist who is investigating the killing. Brad Pitt was attached to play the reporter role but also dropped out at the last minute. Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman co-star.
State of Play is directed by Kevin Macdonald, the Academy Award winning documentary turned feature filmmaker behind Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void and One Day in September. The screenplay adaptation was penned by Michael Clayton and Bourne scribe Tony Gilroy and Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom). The movie looks like a decent crime thriller, but not much more. May-be I was just expecting a lot more considering all the talent (currently and formerly) involved with the project. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
MGM has hired Steve Pink (Accepted) to write and direct a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The original 1988 Frank Oz film starred Steve Martin and Michael Caine as two con men who find that their town isn’t big enough for the two of them. They agree to a “loser leaves” bet. In 2005, the film was adapted into a Broadway musical starring John Lithgow. No actors have been cast but top-level talent is said to be interested. MGM has gone remake crazy as of late, with Red Dawn, Robocop, Fame and Poltergeist already in various stages of development. I’ll ask the expected question: Do we really need a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels?
Rachel McAdams has been cast as Irene Adler, the “enigmatic love interest” in Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. I’m slightly disappointed that Hollywood needs to add a romatic interest into the mix, even if that romantic interest is played by McAdams. The character appeared in just one of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, A Scandal in Bohemia from 1891. The film will be based on the forthcoming comic book adaptation which portrays Holmes as a more adventurous and tough version of the classic character. Previously announced: Robert Downey Jr will play Holmes, Mark Strong will play Blackwood, the main villain, and Jude Law has been cast as Watson.
Discuss: Does Sherlock Holmes need a love interest?
Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, the creators of the Harold and Kumar films, have signed on to write and direct Til Beth Do Us Part for Warner Bros. The comedy is about two friends who have their friendship put to the test when one of them becomes engaged. The film is said to be similar in tone to the Kumar films, but without the crazy fantastical elements. Nobody has been cast as the two male leads, but Warner hopes to have the film in production before April 2009. I’m interested to see what Hurwitz and Schlossberg can do outside of the racial discrimination/weed-infused comedy of Harold and Kumar.
Discuss: Will their next comedy film be funny if you don’t see it stoned?
