Here’s the latest casting news coming out of Hollywood…
Having started out as a child star in the 1980s, by the late 90s it looked like Lukas Haas was going to handle to transtition to adult film star well, but since then he’s slightly dropped off the radar. However that looks like it’s set to change, as not only does he appear in Christopher Nolan’s Inception, which opens next month, but he’s just signed on for Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood. The film is set in a medieval village being terrorised by a werewolf, and revolves around a young woman (Amanda Seyfried) who falls for a guy (Shiloh Fernandez) she’s not meant to. Hass will play the village priest. (Source: Variety)
Rising British star Toby Kebbell has received good notices for the likes of Dead Man’s Shoes, Control and Rocknrolla, and this year sees him appear in Prince Of Persia, The Sorceror’s Apprentice and as John Wilkes Booth in Robert Redford’s The Conspirator. He’s certainly becoming one to watch, and now he’s got a new role as the lead in The Veteran. Matthew Hope’s British indie film is about a young soldier who returns home from Afghanistan, but gets targeted as a clandestine operative to monitor suspected terrorists in the UK. The movie starts shooting later this month. (Source: THR)
I’m slightly starting to think that The Help is just going to keep gradually adding cast members but never actually start shooting. The Dreamworks film, based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel, already has the likes of Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Chris Lowell and Octavia Spencer onboard, and now they’ve been joined by Jessica Chastain. The film is set in 1960s Mississippi and explores how the unspoken code of behaviour governing Southern households is shattered when an aspiring writer interviews a maid, who speaks candidly about her experiences. The interview sets off shock waves that reverberate across the entire community. Chastain will play Celia Foote, an insecure Southern lady constantly trying to fit in with the high society women who reject her. (Source: THR)
The always reliable character actor Fred Ward, who’s starred in everything from Tremors and Short Cuts to Sweet Home Alabama and Armored, has signed on to appear in 30 Minutes Of Less, the new comedy from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, which starts shooting next month. In the film, a teacher (Aziz Ansari) and a pizza delivery guy (Jesse Eisenberg) are forced by criminals (who include Danny McBride) to rob a bank, strapping a bomb vest to one of them to make sure they get the job done. Ward will play ‘The Major’, the father of McBride’s character. (Source: THR)
American Pie’s Jason Biggs and Avatar’s Joel David Moore will star in the indie comedy, Grassroots, which start shooting in Seattle soon. Stephen Gyllenhaal (father of Jake and Maggie) is directing the based-on-a-true-story film, which will see Biggs play a recently fired journalist who reluctantly agrees to lead his eccentric friend’s (Moore’s) campaign to get elected onto Seattle City Council. (Source: Variety)