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Entries in Casting Couch (89)

Tom Cruise, Sam Raimi Teaming Up for DC Comics' 'Sleeper'

There's bouncing back from adversity and then there's what Tom Cruise has managed to pull off in the past two weeks. In the middle of a fairly brisk period of headlines for the former top star in the world, his longtime friend and producing partner Paula Wagner bailed on their joint project of running United Artists. He has also seen his name scratched off above the title of the CIA flick Edwin A. Salt (only to see it replaced by the name Angelina Jolie), and his WWII film Valkyrie, which moved from late 2008 to early 2009 a couple months ago, has now moved back to 2008.

And then there's the matter of his borderline brilliant cameo in a recent comedy.

But the news keeps on coming for Cruise, who, separate from his deal with United Artists, has now expressed interest in three upcoming projects operating at rival studios. The Spyglass thriller Tourist was first, followed by the Universal/Working Title comedy Food Fight, and now there's the DC Comics adaptation Sleeper, which will be produced by Sam Raimi and his Star Road Entertainment.

The Hollywood Reporter has all the details, but we'll give you the highlights: Sleeper is a sci-fi comic that ran from 2003 - 2005. Should Cruise star in the film (and it's his interest that is reportedly moving the business end of the deal along), he would likely play "an operative whose fusion with an alien artifact makes him impervious to pain and allows him to pass it on to others through skin contact." That's right: He has Impervious Cooties. We all knew this day would come.

Here's another hot little detail: The film is the property of Warner Bros., which is in the news for its arm wrestling match with Fox over the rights to Watchmen. Because the studio may look at this as a franchise opportunity, they will probably be a lot more careful when it comes to the language of the contract.

The project sounds really interesting. Raimi has an eye for quality material, and frankly, the movies Cruise has chosen to do over the past few years all sound interesting at first; it's when you actually see a Lions for Lambs or a Vanilla Sky that things start to fall apart. Hopefully, the combo of Raimi and Cruise can attract a top-flight writer who understands the comic and how to transfer it to the screen, and then they can hope to find a director who can create the world that story needs to succeed. It's not enough to have a big name star wanting to do a movie anymore, particularly one with the names Marvel or DC etched on the side.

Posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 01:51AM by

Colin Boyd in Casting Couch, Tom Cruise, Comic Book Movies, DC Comics, Sci-Fi, Sam Raimi |

1 Comment

Tarantino's Increasingly Inglorious 'Bastards'

Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Inglorious Bastards continues to make headlines on an almost more-than-daily basis. Two weeks ago, the news was great for QT fans: Brad Pitt was definitely in, the movie would begin filming this October, a studio signed up to distribute and help produce the film, and next year's Cannes Film Festival was still the date circled on the calendar.

Then everything else happened. Leonardo DiCaprio passed on the project, and QT signed his friend (though not a noted actor) Eli Roth for a different character. The other names mentioned for the ensemble cast in the Nazi-killin' WWII drama included Simon Pegg, Nastassja Kinski, B.J. Novak from The Office, and David Krumholtz from Numbers.

Two of those names have been crossed off the list, with Pegg citing scheduling issues and though we don't know the reasons for Krumholtz' removal from the list of potential Bastards, it's interesting that his younger brother on Freaks and Geeks, Samm Levine, has joined the cast. So in short order, Tarantino's mammoth epic (the script for which was apparently leaked online; you can read it here), has gone from pairing two of the biggest icons of their generation to getting half of that combo, the director of Hostel, maybe "The Temp" from The Office, and a kid from Freaks & Geeks.

Did I mention Mike Myers? That's an odd little nugget.

Oh, and now the Germans are pissed off.

The Guardian says that many detractors in that country feel there is not a big enough distinction between Nazis and Germans. And historically, it's not accurate in any way to say that all Germans were Nazis. But in the script, the only good German is a dead German. And in typical Tarantino fashion, these will not be deaths by natural causes.

"The film depicts scalpings, disembowelment and swastikas being engraved in foreheads," claims The Guardian, "as a group of American Jewish soldiers are airdropped into Nazi-occupied Europe to wreak revenge on the Germans."

The article continues, "Apart from baseball-bat bashing and skin engravings, we see one German officer being shot in the testicles, as well as scalps being peeled 'like a banana skin' from others."

Click to read more ...

Posted on Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 11:09PM by

Colin Boyd in Casting Couch, Brad Pitt, Simon Pegg, War Movies, QT, Eli Roth |

6 Comments

Seriously, Brian Austin Green Wants To Be The Riddler

You can probably gauge an actor's level of heat by how their casting rumors are circulated, particularly for a movie like the follow-up to The Dark Knight. If you're Angelina Jolie and the rumor du jour is Catwoman, it's probably because Angelina is in the running for every role: Who wouldn't want her in their movie? The same goes for Johnny Depp playing The Riddler. There's zero evidence indicating any of that is true, and yet, because it would be a big role in a big movie, the chatter starts and it's hard to stop.

When your career resembles that of Brian Austin Green's, however, you have to start your own rumors. Yes, the former beau of Megan Fox and the one-time 90210 cast member told MTV this week his grand plan to crash the Batparty:

"I would love to be the Riddler,” says BAG boldly of the yet-to-be-determined next Batman movie. “I hope to God that they don’t try to replace Heath and have the Joker. And Two-Face is gone. So they need a new villain, and the Riddler makes sense,” Green reasoned.

OK...assuming we were intrigued by that possibility in the slightest, how would Green approach the role of the Batman villain? "That’s impossible to answer now,” Green said. “That would take years of preparation. It’s tough. Heath set the bar at a new level, which I think is fantastic for comic book lovers and movie lovers. He changed the face of what people expect out of those films.”

I've heard worst casting ideas - like yesterday's shot across the bow that Mike Myers may be in Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards - but I think I'd rather have Tori Spelling play the Riddler, honestly.

Posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 at 01:54PM by

Colin Boyd in Casting Couch, Comic Book Movies, Batman, DC Comics, Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan |

9 Comments

Inglorious 'Guru': Mike Myers May Join Tarantino's 'Bastards'

I'm not even going to pretend I understand the logic on this one, but Quentin Tarantino has asked Mike Myers to join his Inglorious Bastards cast, according to Variety. Both men are coming off the worst-received films of their careers, Tarantino with Death Proof and Myers with The Love Guru, so suddenly it's like two acquired tastes that probably don't go all that well together.

Myers is the latest and the weirdest name on QT's wish list for the epic World War II exploitation film. Brad Pitt is already in the cast, as is horror film director Eli Roth. On top of those names, the director hopes to land Simon Pegg, Nastassja Kinski, B.J. Novak from The Office and David Krumholtz, an actor you recognize anytime you see him, though you might not be able to place the name; he's currently on the CBS series Numbers.

Myers would play a British general in Bastards who helps hatch the plot to wipe out the damned Nazis.

It bears pointing out that even really good movies can be undone by shaky casting. Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, while still as good as any version of the story ever film, suffers when Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, and (surprisingly) Jack Lemmon are on screen. It's more noticeable in average movies, though, like Sofia Coppola in Godfather Part III or the collected works of Bubba Smith.

Can Myers pull off drama? He tried in 54...and failed. Oh, how he failed. And again, that was not a great movie so the performance looks that much worse.

The trouble with Inglorious Bastards is that only two of the casting decisions so far seem to be natural choices, Pitt and Kinski. You hope Tarantino knows what he's doing, but with the film blazing into production this October and eyeing a Cannes premiere in May, you'd think doing a high-wire walk with the actors might not be the most valuable way to go.

And what does Pitt think of all of this? He was the lead, he was the first one to sign on, and now they're grabbing three comedians and a director of bad horror movies? He's backed out of movies before. I'm just sayin'...

Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 08:15PM by

Colin Boyd in Casting Couch, Mike Myers, Brad Pitt, Inglorious Bastards, War Movies, QT |

1 Comment

More Cruise News: 'Valkyrie' Moved to December, Paula Wagner Leaves UA

For a guy whose career has been more notable for its instability than its steady stream of success over the past three years, there still aren't many stars who can grab a headline like Tom Cruise. Earlier this week, it was revealed that the spy movie he had long been linked to, Edwin A. Salt, was moving on without him. In his place: Angelina Jolie. Hard to knock that choice. After all, she is taller.

WENN reports what we presumed about all of this, specifically that Cruise is not a guaranteed box office draw anymore. Truthfully, he hasn't been a sure thing in nearly a decade. His only substantial hit since Jerry Maguire is War of the Worlds. By substantial, we mean something that unquestionably made a lot of money here in the U.S. So that's two movies in 12 years. We'll be generous and throw M:I 2 in that group, even though it was very, very expensive and didn't come close to the profit margin of the first one.

Not surprisingly, a 46-year-old action star who hasn't performed like Will Smith and who has been a public relations nightmare might have problems keeping the momentum going.

That includes a potential Mission: Impossible 4, which Cruise wants, but which Paramount, according to a source, would rather place in the hands of a younger, more affordable guy. At a recent meeting about the project, recounted in the New York Post, Cruise "had a tantrum and ran out of the meeting."

Whether that last detail is true or not, the spirit of the story is hard to argue. Action movies these days, with few exceptions, don't need to be star-driven. At least not megastar-driven. And if he's not dropping his asking price, it's a tough scenario for any studio to buy into.

But there's more bad news for Cruise: His longtime producing partner Paula Wagner is leaving her position as CEO of United Artists. Wagner and Cruise have been in charge of the studio for a little over a year, with very few positive results.