More Film News ...

Originally posted on www.thefancarpet.com

Alexia Fast Joins One Shot

News has surfaced that actress Alexia Fast is the latest to join the film adaptation of One Shot.

The feature film, which is being directed by Christopher McQuarrie, stars Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, a former military spy who is investigating a sniper who is accused on murdering five people, however after Cruise’s character goes off on his own, he discovers thing aren’t quite what they seem.

Since the announcement that Fast would be starring in the new film project, The Hollywood Reporter has announced a few details about her character, they said she would play “Sandy, a seductive young siren involved in a setup of Cruise’s character.”

Now that does sound exciting doesn’t it.

A lot has been heard about this film over the past few weeks and it should be interesting to see how it’s pulled off, after all the story is there and they have a great cast, so it looks like it’ll be for the public to decide one it hits cinema screen in the future.

The film will also star Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo and Richard Jenkins, and is expected to start filming next month in Pittsburgh.

Six Jump Into Mud

Following the recent announcement that both Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey would be heading the cast of new film Mud, six more people have been added to the cast list.

Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Ray McKinnon, Joe Don Baker, Sarah Paulson and Paul Sparks have all signed on for Jeff Nichols new coming of age drama.

The film’s main storyline will be revolving around a recluse, who is hiding out in Mississippi and is later discovered by two teenage boys. After discovering the recluse the two boys decide to help the man avoid the law, so that he can reunite with his one true love, Juniper, but with cops and bounty hunters getting in the way thing don’t exactly go to plan.

McConaughey will be playing the recluse Mud and Witherspoon will be playing his one true love, Juniper. Tye Sheridan is on board to play one of the boys; Shannon will be playing Galen, an uncle of one of the boys. Paulson and McKinnon will play one of the boys parents.

Baker and Sparks will play the hunters, and Shepard will be playing Tom Blankenship, another recluse.

The film has started production this week and looks set to be released in 2013.

Eric Bana Is Brilliant

Hulk star Eric Bana has signed on to star in new heist thriller movie Brilliant.

The film, which is in development at Lakeshore Entertainment, will see a small time crook get mixed up in the world of real crime when he becomes involved in a diamond robbery with some big time gangsters. It would appear that Bana would be playing the role of the small time crook who gets a bit out of his league, but this hasn’t been announced from anyone as of yet, so he could in fact be playing a big diamond stealing gangster, interesting.

There are also unconfirmed reports circulating at the moment that, Cameron Diaz has been cast in an unconfirmed role, but nothing has been made official.

It looks like this film is still a little bit of a mystery to everyone.

Gillian Gorfuk, who produced Blood Diamond, has written the film’s screenplay. Robert Luketic has signed on to direct the project.

No other details regarding the release date or shooting dates yet, but watch this space because they should be around soon.

Some Film News ...

So recently I've been doing some writing for thefancarpet.com where I've been writing about some of the latest news in the film business. So here's the first few:

Nicole Kidman in talks to join the paper boy

Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman is in talks to take over the Sofia Vergara role in the Lee Daniels directed film The Paperboy.

The film has been plagued with drop outs as stars attached to the project such as Toby Maguire and Sofia Vergara have both left for different reasons. Now that Kidman is in talks to play role previously assigned to Vergara things are beginning to look back on track.

Actor Matthew McConaughey is still tipped to play the films lead role, a reporter who investigates the events surrounding a murder, along with his brother, which could lead to a prisoner on death row walking free.

Kidman’s character (if she signs to the film) is a woman with a sinister side to her and has a penchant for writing letters to inmates on death row, and initially brings the case to McConaughey’s characters attention.

With teen heartthrob Zac Efron also on board it appears as though the only cast member in need of replacement is Maguire. The film plans to begin filming in the late summer if the casting switch is successful.

Affleck set to star and direct!

Ben Affleck set to direct and star in his next film, Argo.

The political thriller set in 1979 will see Affleck play Tony Mendez, a CIA in disguise expert who, in order t help six American diplomats escape from Iran, creates a fake Hollywood production.

The film will be working from a script by Chris Terrio that had previously appeared on 2010s Black List.

Affleck has previously stepped behind the film camera and proven his abilities as a director with film such as Gone Baby Gone and The Town, but Argo will be his first ‘period’ film with a whole new set of challenges, but given his previous record it shouldn’t prove to be a big issue.

Other news surrounding the film is the talk that actors Alan Arkin and John Goodman are very close to signing up for Affleck’s latest venture on the big screen.

Given Affleck’s previous track record and the talk of the new signings, he looks set to prove why this film shouldn’t have been on the Black List.

Scarlett Johansson joins Judd Apatow/John Carney film

The Sunday Business post online has reported that screen siren Scarlett Johansson has been added to the cast of Can A Song Save Your Life?

The film is a musical picture that will be directed by Carney and will follow a “a washed-up A&R man who forms a passionate bond with a younger singer/songwriter (Johansson) from out of town.”

The film has been in the works for some time with writer/producer/director Judd Apatow stated way back in the summer of 2009 that he was working a movie with John Carey.

After two years the two men have finally cleared their busy schedules and began work together and the film is finally shaping up.

Carney said “I’ve been writing it for a year and a half.” He later added ‘I went out to Los Angeles to meet Scarlett a couple of months ago. She was everything you could imagine – very hot, elegant and she’s really smart.”

It comes as no surprise that Johansson will be singing in the new film after proving her worth as a vocalist over the past few years, with an album on Tom Waits covers and she collaborated with Pete Yorn on his album Break Up.

The film has a budget of $10 million and is planned to begin shooting next year in New York.

Madonna's W.E sent into Oscar race

Madonna’s narrative feature directional debutW.E will be released on December 9^th, during the heart of the awards season.

Following the stars critically panned directional debut Filth and Wisdom it appears that The Weinstein Company have some faith in her follow up feature.

“Madonna beautifully interweaves past and present in W.E. It’s a very smart film, and a stunning feature directorial debut,” said Weinstein. “I’m incredibly excited about this movie and I wanted to give it a prominent release date.”

The film looks at the fabled romance between American Willis Simpson and Britain’s King Edward VIII, who gave up the thrown to marry the woman he loved. More than six decades later, their story enthralls Wally Winthrop, a young woman who sees a stark contrast between her unhappy marriage and their devotion, an example she follows as she searches for true love.

Considering the film looks at what was happening off screen in The King's Speech, it makes perfect sense to release the film during award season given the success of the latter at this year’s award ceremonies’.

The films platform release will occur on the 9^th of December in New York and LA before going wide sometime in January.