Peter Jackson is wrapping up major casting on The Hobbit, and now Luke Evans, whose first movie was last year's Clash of the Titans, is set to play the character of Bard. Deadline describes Bard as "a skilled archer, the heir of King Girion of Dale," and "somewhat reminiscent of the action-hero exploits of Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn." Evans missed out on the part of Tom Buchanan in the new Great Gatsby, so hopefully this softens the blow -- or at least gives the trashy rich in the West Egg something to discuss. [Deadline]
"Here's a little movie-magic fun fact for you. I did all my research for that scene by going on Chatroulette, that website where guys masturbate for strangers. My moves in Hall Pass are an amalgamation of, I don't know, maybe 20,000 different dudes. I took the facial expressions from SexHog22; I took the hand motions from GrizzlyBearDong. Those guys really know what they're doing." [Playboy]
Annette Bening is one of our most celebrated four-time Oscar losers, right up there with Julianne Moore. (Glenn Close glowers menacingly from her 0-5 cell.) Now that she's picked her first role since No. 4 loser The Kids are All Right, is Bening assured that a gold statuette is in her future? Let's investigate ahead.
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Open up your Google Calendars, movie fans! Universal has just set release dates for three highly anticipated films: The Oliver Stone-directed Savages will open on Sept. 28, 2012; Despicable Me 2 arrives on July 3, 2013; and Oblivion with Tom Cruise is set for July 19, 2013. Yes, 2013. Nothing like planning ahead! Write these dates in the Internet version of pencil, just in case. [Deadline]
If not for his untimely death at the age of 25, Tupac Shakur would have turned 40 today. The West Coast rapper had already reached legendary status in the hip-hop world before his tragic (and still unsolved) murder in 1996 after just five living years in the game, during which time he'd released five studio albums and established himself as one of the most fascinatingly enigmatic, troubled, and complex figures of his generation. But he'd also demonstrated talent and depth in six feature film roles. On his 40th birthday, revisit his brief but memorable film work.
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About once a year we hear something new about the Ouija movie, which, as far as I can tell, is the first movie based on a "game" where there isn't a winner. It's not a game, actually. It's cardboard. It's a flattened cereal box with the decoder ring taped to the outside. Since you're surely intrigued by this inanimate slab's transformation into a "supernatural action-adventure movie" and the news that Mr. and Mrs. Smith scribe Simon Kinberg was hired to polish it, let's take a couple of cracks at the plot.
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If you were planning on buying tickets to see both The Smurfs and Mr. Popper's Penguins this summer, you might want to think again. At least that is what an ingenious new article from Chud.com proves via a side-by-side comparison of each comedy's eerily similar plot points. But really, how many ways can you spin a family-oriented studio adaptation without making the adorable title characters Nazis? [Chud.com]
Canadian filmmakers take note: If you spend 40+ years making movies in the True North, the government may repay you for your loyalty by helping fund one of your projects. At least that is what the government's film financier Telefilm Canada is doing for David Cronenberg by covering $2.7 million of his budget for Cosmopolis, his adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel starring Robert Pattinson.
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· The Transformers: Dark of the Moon promotional push continues with the release of five more new stills. Which is fine, if only because this picture of Shia LaBeouf hanging on to a collapsing building for dear life is pretty awesome. Question: Who comes in for the save: Bumblebee or Optimus Prime? Click ahead for the pic, then stick around for more Buzz Break.
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Accio, intrigue! World-renowned Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has said numerous times that she would never write another Harry Potter-related book -- and at least once that she would consider doing something else with the characters; thanks, Oprah -- which begs the question: Is her newly launched "Pottermore" website the start of future Hogwarts adventures?
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Now that Jason Reitman has wrapped on Young Adult with Charlize Theron, he's reportedly set to court another Oscar-winner, this time Kate Winslet, for his next project, Labor Day. The film -- based on Joyce Maynard's 2009 book about a single mother who takes in and falls in love with a possibly sinister stranger (to be played by Josh Brolin) -- has the chance of being crazier than Winslet's other recent film, Roman Polanski's Carnage, where she screams at Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz, and John C. Reilly for two hours. Mildred Pissed, more like! [EW]
"Wait, wait, wait, stop. Is this another Muppet trailer parody?" asks Jason Segel toward the end of the latest Muppets trailer parody -- this one mocking Green Lantern. "Why don't we just show a real trailer? What are we hiding? Did we make the movie in Swedish or something?" To answer his second rhetorical question with another rhetorical question: Why show an actual trailer when these parodies are so funny? Click through for the Muppet-related LOLz.
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Gavin O'Connor didn't win the directing run-off for The Wolverine, which is a shame. For Hugh Jackman. At least judging from this new poster for the fall MMA drama Warrior, which makes stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton look like co-Mr. Universes. Imagine what O'Connor could have done for the already-jacked Jackman! The Wolverine could have been Pumping Iron with Adamantium. Anyway! Click through for the ladyporn poster.
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Say what you will about Battle: Los Angeles -- and both Roger Ebert and Movieline's Michelle Orange had a lot to say -- Aaron Eckhart was convincing as the strong-jawed military hero who faces a SoCal alien air raid. That's saying a lot considering that Hollywood has created some very unlikely characters to go up against extraterrestrials. In honor of this small coup for Battle: Los Angeles (available on DVD and Blu-Ray this week), let's round up some of the most surprising movie personalities to fend off aliens.
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Steven Soderbergh's retirement from filmmaking really won't sink in for a few years. After all, between Contagion (out this fall), Haywire, and the still-to-shoot Magic Mike, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Liberace, the Oscar-winning director could have movies in theaters through 2014. Still, Soderbergh is going out -- Oprah-style, if he had his way: "A year-long daily celebration of my fabulousness would be nice. Or maybe just a smallish parade" -- and he's got some ideas about what's next.
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