Christopher Eccleston has quite the fan base. News that the former Doctor Who and 28 Days Later star will play supervillain Malekith the Accursed in the upcoming Thor sequel — as Deadline's Mike Fleming reported Wednesday night — set the Twitter-verse reeling today. Late Thursday morning, Eccleston was trending on the social media site, thanks to, it appeared, the many contributions of Doctor Who fans everywhere. Eccleston was the first to play the impish Time Lord when the BBC rebooted the series in 2005. He was succeeded by David Tennant, which prompted @teaspoonofsugar to tweet, "Christopher Eccleston in Thor 2? Does this mean David Tennant will be in Thor 3?" more »
Francis Lawrence's Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire has nabbed yet another notable name for film fans in Amanda Plummer, the stage/TV/film veteran perhaps best known as the diner-robbing "Honey Bunny" in Pulp Fiction as well as for her roles in The Fisher King and So I Married an Axe Murderer. Plummer will take the role of a Tribute and former Games winner whose eccentricity belies an uncanny intelligence as she competes with Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss & Co. in the arena.
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Jena Malone, seen kicking all sorts of ass last year in Sucker Punch, has nabbed the role of Johanna Mason in the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, THR reports. Malone is in negotiations to play the crafty and ruthless past Games winner from District 7, who joins Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark as they and fellow previous victors are forced back into the arena to fight to the death.
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Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller made names for themselves with their feature debut, the animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, before moving on to direct Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in the live-action hit 21 Jump Street. As they work up their next film — WB's live-action/CG blend LEGO adaptation, apparently titled Lego: The Piece of Resistance, based on the plastic toy building blocks — the duo are casting a few familiar superheroes to appear in the pic.
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After inheriting the reins of the Hunger Games franchise from director Gary Ross, Francis Lawrence is making casting moves as the YA series sequel, Catching Fire, comes into view. According to THR, the first new cast addition may be Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has reportedly been offered a key role that will figure into the next two installments in the franchise: New Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee.
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American Psycho writer Bret Easton Ellis made clear via Twitter who he'd pick as potential leads in Fifty Shades of Grey, the best-selling erotic drama by E. L. James that he claims he's hoping to adapt for the big screen. If it ever comes to pass, Ryan Gosling and Girls creator/actress Lena Dunham are clear favorites — or so he insists. What would rumored potential director Angelina Jolie say?
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After zooming to fame with TV's Las Vegas and the Transformers series (with the odd detour into Katherine Heigl rom-com territory), Josh Duhamel is coming full circle, in a way: The onetime All My Children soap star set to step into the next Nicholas Sparks romantic weepie, Safe Haven, opposite Footloose/Rock of Ages starlet Julianne Hough.
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For as long as this Lindsay Lohan-starring Liz & Dick has been swirling around in the ether, it's been difficult to nail down exactly what sort of project it might turn out to be; it is a Lifetime movie, after all, even if it's one concerned with the Hollywood glamor surrounding Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and their legendary, tempestuous romance. So the caliber of Lohan's co-star, it seemed, might give us a better idea of what to expect. And it looks like LiLo and Lifetime have finally found their Dick, all the way from the steamy climes of Bon Temps, Louisiana.
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Fitting: It looks like Thor 2 is getting a true Norse villain in Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who Variety reports is in talks to join the Marvel sequel. With TV veteran Alan Taylor (The Sopranos, Mad Men, Game of Thrones) directing, the film will reportedly begin filming this summer for a November 2013 release. Meanwhile, details on Mikkelsen's character remain unknown, though Tom Hiddleston's Loki is expected to return. So speculate away on which baddie Mikkelsen might play! (Can he just reprise that one-eyed badass Viking from Valhalla Rising?) [Variety]
The Shane Black-helmed Iron Man 3 begins filming this month, but Marvel fans are still trying to piece together clues as to who, exactly, Iron Man is going up against in his post-Avengers threequel. The latest casting news doesn't make it any clearer: James Badge Dale, most recently seen in The Grey and Shame, will play Eric Savin, a soldier known from Marvel lore. But will Dale also portray the character as the superpowered mercenary he transforms into in the comics?
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David Gordon Green's remake of Dario Argento's 1977 horror pic Suspiria was once set to star Natalie Portman, re-envisioning Argento's stylish tale of a young woman who discovers spooky goings-on at her boarding school. Now Green has found his lead in 15-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman, who herself spooked audiences in her 2009 breakout film The Orphan, and most recently nabbed a role as the sadistic tribute Clove in The Hunger Games. But that's not all! A report out of Cannes reveals that a line-up of European veterans will be joining Fuhrman -- or menacing her -- in the pic.
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And now the latest sequel call from Movieline Central Casting: "So, what do you need to do to get on set? You need to get busy... 1. Follow us on Twitter and retweet any of our tweets. 2. Like us on Facebook and share any of our posts. The more you tweet and share, the more chance you have to be cast so, tweet and share early and often. We’ll be selecting an extra this Friday afternoon and flying the selectee and a guest to LA this coming Monday, May 14th - all expenses paid. Or, most expenses anyway - flight and hotel for two nights. By the way, while you’ll definitely be an 'extra' on set, we can’t really guarantee you screen time. But... we can certainly guarantee you a good time. We’ll make sure you get some cool swag too." Whatever, just give me one of those smoldering hats. [Atlas Shrugged]
All the fuss over Spike Lee's Oldboy remake star search can finally be put to rest, it seems — though who could have predicted that South African actor Sharlto Copley would've landed the plum co-starring lead opposite Josh Brolin? According to Deadline, the District 9 star, most recently seen bursting out of the woodwork every now and then as the manic "Howling Mad" Murdock in 2010's The A-Team, has nabbed the key role of Adrian Pryce, Oldboy's villain and "a mysterious billionaire trying to destroy the life of Joe Douchett (Brolin)." Bold move, Spike. But does Copley fit the bill (and, more importantly: Can he hold his own against Brolin)? [Deadline]
While visiting Ryan Seacrest's show, The Vampire Diaries' Ian Somerhalder revealed that he might be "potentially" up for the role of gazillionaire playboy/closet BDSM freak Christian Grey in the big screen adaptation of E. L. James' breathless erotica 50 Shades of Grey. To which I say: Yes. I'll allow it. That said, Somerhalder was choosing his words so carefully it's hard to tell exactly how far in the casting process he might be, so take it with a grain of salt. Oh, and enjoy the mental image of Ryan Seacrest listening to the squirmier parts of the 50 Shades audiobook at the valet stand.
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Exciting news for Gina Carano fans: According to a THR report, the Haywire star/former MMA fighter is in talks to join the cast of Justin Lin's Fast & Furious 6. Carano would play a member of the Diplomatic Security Agent working under Dwayne Johnson's agent Luke Hobbs, who was last seen in the post-credits of Fast 5 sniffing out the trail of Dominic Toretto & Co. Details on the plot are still under wraps, but give how the last sequel ended it doesn't seem too far-fetched to hope for a potential... girl fight, if you will, between Carano's character and a certain franchise favorite. Do you believe in fighting ghosts? [THR]
