K.T Simpson
A whole bunch of casting news for you today, so I’ve put it all together in this nifty article!
First up, Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn is in talks to join “Captain Marvel” as a villain, Variety is reporting. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are discussing the role with the “Ready Player One” star, who would potentially come aboard as the main antagonist – the leader of the Skrulls.
Brie Larson is in the role of Captain Marvel, but no other casting announcements have been made – and Marvel made no comment about these negotiations. Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige is on board as a producer. “Captain Marvel” is set for release March 8, 2019.
Jamie Foxx has jumped aboard the cast of “Signal Hill” from director Taylor Hackford. He joins cast members Anthony Mackie as attorney Johnnie Cochran, and Elizabeth Banks as Mary Neiswender, with Foxx to play character Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt.
According to the Deadline report, the film follows Neiswender, an investigative newspaper reporter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram who investigated and broke stories on the coverup. Long before he defended O.J. Simpson in the trial of the century, Cochran established himself as a legal superhero because of his unrelenting pursuit of justice in the Signal Hill police brutality case in 1981. Cochran represented the former Black Panther party leader and Vietnam vet (Foxx’s character Pratt) in helping to overturn a murder conviction that sent Pratt to prison for 27 years for a crime he said he didn’t commit. Cochran helped Pratt to settle a false imprisonment suit for $4.5 million in 1992.
The film’s script is being written by David McMillan, with Mackie, Hackford, Jason Spire, Robbie Brenner, Kevin McKeon and Jeff Kwatinetz to produce. Production is expected to being in January.
Justin Long and Donald Faison are teaming up for “The Wave”, an indie feature that follows an image-obsessed attorney (Long) who changes course on a high-stakes insurance case when a life-changing, drug-induced night on the town with co-workers, including Jeff (Faison), ends up changing his outlook on life (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Gille Klabin is set to direct the film from a screenplay penned by Carl Lucas, who will also produce alongside Joshua Bunting.
Syfy pilot “Tremors”, which is a reboot of the 1990 film, has added 5 new cast members to the mix. Original star Kevin Bacon is reprising his role for the series, and joining him is P.J. Byrne, Hunter Parrish, Ebonée Noel, Brandon Jay McLaren, and Haley Tju.
According to Deadline, the series sees the killer Graboid worms that nearly destroyed Perfection, NV, 25 years ago are back, and the town’s only hope for survival is Valentine McKee (Bacon), who beat them once. But to do it again he’ll have to overcome age, alcohol and a delusional hero complex.
Byrne will play Melvin, a survivor of the original Graboid attack and real estate developer obsessed with reinventing Perfection, all fueled by jealousy he holds for Valentine McKee. Parrish is Arthur Brandt, a young, magnetic leader of the pot-growing, earth-worshipping tribe of Millenials who’ve moved to Perfection to soak in its unique spiritual energy. Noel will portray Zoe, a truth-seeker possessed with deep, sensual intuition and mystic power, Zoe’s connection to Mother Earth is aided by Perfection’s unique energy and provides her with visions of events to come. McLaren is Toby, a likable guy who nobody likes; he’s the public liaison to a data storage company in Perfection that failed to create any local jobs. He’s hanging around to facilitate the company’s transition from staffed to unmanned operation. Tju will portray Jai, a dirt-biking drug smuggler and Perfection’s resident badass.
Regina King is joining “If Beale Street Could Talk”, a film from “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins. King joins Stephan James and newcomer KiKi Layne in the production, which has just begun in New York.
Deadline reports the film as being adapted from the 1974 James Baldwin novel, which is about a newly engaged Harlem woman who races against the clock to prove her lover’s innocence while pregnant with the couple’s first child.
