Shia LaBeouf Joins Robert Redford's 'The Company You Keep'

I've always liked Shia LaBeouf as an actor (his movies are a different story), even though in some recent interviews he comes off as a bit of a dickhead, for lack of a better word.  He wants to make great films and his next project is a damn good start in that direction.  Deadline reports the young actor has just landed the lead role in Robert Redford's next political drama The Company You Keep.  

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New Shot of John Wilkes Booth from 'The Conspirator'

Here's a new image of Toby Kebbell as John Wilkes Booth in the new Robert Redford film, The Conspirator. It's not about Booth, though you can't tell the story without him; instead, it concerns the trial of Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) and herappointed attorney, Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy).

A few new photos have surfaced at the official production company website for The Conspirator, The American Film Company. It's a unique idea: AFC wants to make not only historically accurate films - take that, dramatic license! - but also films that bring to light some lesser-known moments in American history. This one qualifies, since more people would think just of Lincoln and Booth, but Lincoln's not a big factor in this movie. You will see Evan Rachel Wood, Kevin Kline, Tom Wilkinson, Danny Huston, Justin Long, and Alexis Bledel, however, so The Conspirator means business. Below is the official synopsis:

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Redford's 'Conspirator' Fills Out Cast, Starts Filming

The Robert Redford historical drama The Conspirator has already begun filming with an eye on a 2011 release, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The film stars James McAvoy as a young military attorney assigned to defend Mary Suratt (Robin Wright Penn) and comes to believe she's innocent of plotting to kill Abe Lincoln.

Several notable new cast members have been added this week. First there was Justin Long, which seems like a bad fit, Tom Wilkinson, which does not, English actor Toby Kebbell, Alexis Bledell, Kevin Kline, and now Evan Rachel Wood. There's no word on exactly what characters each will be playing, but in some cases, I'm not sure it matters. For example: You've got Tom Wilkinson.

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McAvoy, Wright-Penn Join Redford's 'Conspirator'

While nothing's been made official either way, I'm ready to conclude that James McAvoy won't play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. He keeps adding films to his schedule and we already know that Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson hope to film early next year. And this weekend, McAvoy officially joined one more project, casting doubt throughout the shire.

The actor had been rumored for a role in The Conspirator, Robert Redford's new historical drama set around the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Variety reports that both McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn (who I guess will revert to "Robin Wright" now that's getting the dee-vorce) are joining the cast. Wright will play Mary Surratt, the only woman charged in connection with the assassination and McAvoy will portray Frederick Aiken, "an idealistic young war hero who reluctantly defends Surratt and in the process comes to believe she is innocent." The film will shoot beginning next month and if there's a Wanted 2 - which is a near certainty - that would get started once 2010 rolls around.

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Redford Takes Aim at Lincoln Assassination Movie

One of the projects I've been waiting to see get off the ground is Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. The subject is, of course, one of the more important ones in American history. There are few directors with a knack for history that Spielberg shows. He has had Liam Neeson lined up for ages, and in my own mind, I have Jeremy Davis (Cpl. Upham from Saving Private Ryan and Daniel Faraday on Lost) as John Wilkes Booth. That would be a hell of a movie.

But Spielberg keeps delaying it for reasons I can't understand and now Robert Redford is going make a very similar movie. The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Redford is directing The Conspirator, the story of Mary Surratt, who had a hand in setting up the Lincoln assassination. The rumor is they want James McAvoy for one of the roles, and though Mary Todd Lincoln was certainly no looker, I'd guess if this is true they probably have him in mind for Booth, which I don't really see, or a Union soldier appointed to defend Surratt at trial.

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