Casting Notes: Alan Cumming In Burlesque; Mirren Does Espionage; Dempsey Steals Laughs; Weaver And Shawkat Hit Cedar Rapids
It's casting notes time again. Alan Cumming has joined Steve Antin's Burlesque, about "an ambitious small-town girl with a big voice who finds herself at a neo-burlesque club." Christina Aguilera is the girl, Kristen Bell is the rival dancer, and Cumming is the gender-bending club MC. So this is really a failsafe in case that Showgirls sequel falls through? [Variety]
After the break, news about Helen Mirren, Patrick Dempsey, confirmation on a Gerard Butler role and more for the Ed Helms flick Cedar Rapids.
Helen Mirren will work alongside Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis in the espionage thriller Red, based on the WildStorm/DC comicbook. The comics, about a former CIA operative being pursued by a high-tech assassin, were written by Warren Ellis. Erich and Jon Hoeber wrote the script, while Robert Schwnetke is directing.Patrick Dempsey will be in the currently untitled heist comedy written by credited Hangover scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, with directing duties going to Lucky Number Slevin and Gangster No. 1's Paul McGuigan. Hopefully it'll be better than McGuigan's last film, the tepid sorta-superhero movie Push. [THR]Cedar Rapids continues to add good cast members. The film is a vehicle for Ed Helms, and has also had John C. Reilly and Anne Heche aboard for a while. Now they're joined by Alia Shawkat and Sigourney Weaver. We don't know Shawkat's part yet, but Weaver plays Helms' old seventh-grade teacher. Odds that those characters hook up? Nah, forget it. [Variety]
And finally, a quick note of confirmation about one of Gerard Butler's next pics: we'd reported a couple weeks ago that Butler is joininga film version of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, which will be the the feature directing debut of Ralph Fiennes. Now we know his role: he'll be Tullus Aufidius, commander of an army that opposes Rome, and outspoken enemy of main character (likely played by Fiennes) Gaius Martius. The film will be a contemporary version of the play, so we'll see when and where it actually takes place soon. [THR]