Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more exciting casting news about Marvel’s upcoming epic The Avengers, it looks as though the Avengers Mansion may be getting a visitor from Wisteria Lane.
Fox News is reporting that Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker is in talks to join the cast of the super-hero extravaganza. An inside source tells Fox Longoria may be laying claim to the role of The Wasp.
“Marvel is in negotiations with Eva and she is just right for the role,” says the insider. “First, she read for the part, then she went into the studio for camera tests. The team liked her for The Wasp so much that she did green screen work in the late spring. She’s perfect in size and attitude.”
The Wasp aka Janet Van Dyne, made her first appearance in Tales to Astonish #44 way back in 1963. Able to shrink, fly and fire energy blasts, Wasp joined The Avengers in the very first issue of the comic.
According to the insider, the filmmakers see a correlation between The Wasp and Longoria’s Desperate Housewives alter-ego. “Eva is cute, sexy and full of energy for the part. The character is a bit like Gabby, her character on Desperate Housewives.”
Director Joss Whedon – who introduced the cast as it currently stands at this past weekend’s Comic-Con is apparently keen to pair Longoria up with Nathan Fillion as her husband Ant-Man.
They would join Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Evan’s Captain America, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, Mark Rufalo’s Incredible Hulk, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor on the super-hero squad.
The Avengers is still a long way off though. The team won’t assemble on screens until 2012.
(Photo by PR Photos)
Despite a multitude of film credits – as well as being Drew Barrymore’s boyfriend – actor Justin Long is perhaps still best known as the “Mac Guy” in the popular series of computer commercials.
Now Long has been spared the embarrassment of having to show off his other apples in the new film Going the Distance.
The 32-year-old actor shot a number of nude scenes for the upcoming romantic comedy in which he stars opposite Barrymore. The story is about a young couple forced to endure a long distance relationship, and the script called for multiple scenes of Long in the buff.
Starpulse reports that Barrymore found her real-life boyfriend’s on-set nudity hilarious. “It’s funny,” she says “Because usually it’s the girl who’s naked. I was like, ‘That’s right b—-, the tables are turned.”
But fans hoping to find out if the actor’s name is appropriate will be left disappointed. One particular scene, in which Long was particularly exposed, didn’t make the final edit.
“There was one cut where you saw everything,” says Barrymore, adding that the number of nude scenes in the film has “actually been trimmed down – there were more.”
Going the Distance zips up into theatres August 27.
Isaiah Mustafa is having his moment. If you don’t recognize the name, you’ll undoubtedly recognize his voice. And his abs.
Mustafa has shot to fame as the “Old Spice Guy” from the popular series of commercials for the men’s grooming products line. With his good looks, charm and insane amounts of charisma, Mustafa has captured the attention of the ladies of the world and increased sales of Old Spice products by 107% (according to more reports then there are that insist Old Spice sales are actually down).
Now the actor behind the marketing meme is looking to capitalize on his success and make the leap to the silver screen. The 36-year-old former NFL player was already offered a part in Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf during a guest appearance on Oprah.
Now the Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Mustafa has signed on to join Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman in the big screen comedy Horrible Bosses. The actor is excited about the role – even if he’s not sure who he’ll end up sharing screen time with.
“It’s a smaller role,” Mustafa tells the industry news site, “But who wouldn’t want to be in one of these funny, irreverent comedies? The cast is great. I’m playing a cop because I play these authoritative characters well. I don’t know exactly who I’m in the scene with — maybe Jennifer Aniston!”
Mustafa has also signed a talent agreement with NBC, meaning the network has dibs on potential future television projects for the actor. First up will be a guest-starring role on an episode of Chuck.
The actor is awed by his own good fortune. “It’s a dream come true,” he says. “I think about it all, and it wows me.”
Singer and former model Carla Bruni has been turning heads on the international political stage ever since her whirlwind courtship and marriage to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Now the lovely First Lady of France is set to turn even more heads with a high-profile cameo in the new film by Woody Allen. Albeit very briefly. There has been a lot of speculation regarding Bruni’s appearance in Allen’s upcoming project. Now we know she will be seen carrying a baguette while entering a supermarket. So, maybe there’s no Best Supporting Actress Oscar coming for this one.
People.com reports that, though Bruni has never done any acting before, she was eager to take the part. “I am not an actress at all… but I can’t miss an opportunity like this one in my life,” she says. “When I’m a grandmother, I’d like to be able to say I made a film with Woody Allen.”
The movie, Midnight in Paris, features an all-star cast including Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen and Marion Cotillard. Bruni was apparently the opposite of a diva on set, taking time to joke around with the picture’s cast and crew.
“Carla and Woody got along incredibly well on the set,” says an inside source. “They talked constantly and laughed quite a lot between takes. Owen as well.”
The scene, though deceptively simple, was reshot by the Manhattan director – know for his fussiness – multiple times. “They must have shot the same set up, where she walks along holding a baguette in her hand going into a supermarket around 32 times,” says the source.
There’s no planned release date yet for Midnight in Paris, though it’s hard to imagine the film won’t have its international premiere in the City of Love.
On Tuesday, TV network NBC confirmed that Steve Carell will be leaving the hit series The Office after next season. Fortunately, the funnyman is already working fast to fill in the hole in his schedule.
The Despicable Me star has just signed on for the awkwardly titled comedy Raised by Wolfs. Written by TV veteran Les Firestein, the script is being kept tightly under wraps and very little is actually known about the story.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Carell will star in and produce the movie through his production company Carousel Prods.
2010 has been a big year at the movies for Carell. After starring in the hit Date Night with Tina Fey, the 47-year-old actor voiced the lead character Gru in the animated smash Despicable Me.
Next up for the star is Dinner for Schmucks, in which the former Daily Show correspondent co-stars with Paul Rudd and Zach Galifianakis as bizarre dinner guests at an unusual party.
Carell had been openly hinting for months that he planned to step away from The Office at the end of its seventh season next year. NBC hasn’t yet confirmed if the show will continue following Carell’s departure.
Dinner for Schmucks opens nationwide Friday.
(Photo by PR Photos)
Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation
After the critical diasaster that was Kevin Smith’s last movie, the wacky police comedy Cop Out starring Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan, the director is looking to try something a little different next time around.
For the first time, Smith is looking to make something other than a comedy and instead, veer off in another direction. That direction? Horror. The destination? Red State.
Smith says Red State will be a quixotic and frightening take on the infamous Reverend Fred Phelps, an American preacher who has become known in recent years for protesting homosexuality at the funerals of American soldiers.
Smith told Rotten Tomatoes that the project is “very much about that subject matter, that point of view and that position taken to the absolute extreme. It’s certainly not Phelps himself but it’s very much inspired by a Phelps (like) figure.”
Now CinemaBlend reports that Smith has found his Phelps (like) figure. Grindhouse and Kill Bill star Michael Parks has signed on to play the lunatic in Smith’s screamer.
Smith announced the news at this year’s Comic-Con, which was being picketed by, don’t you know, none other than Fred Phelps.
There’s no set timetable for shooting or releasing Red State just yet. Smith has been trying to get the project off the ground for almost five years, but has had trouble securing financing after announcing his previous producing partners the Weinstein’s had passed on the project.
If there’s one thing Ashton Kutcher knows how to get, it’s attention. Now the Twitter King is fighting to keep a controversial title for his new movie in the hope that it might attract some attention itself.
The Killers star says the title of his new comedy, The F—buddies, might be changed by the studio – but he hopes it won’t. Says the star: “I think people would love to go see a movie called The F—buddies.”
Directed by Hollywood veteran Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) and co-starring Kevin Kline and Natalie Portman, Buddies was a much buzzed-about script for years around Hollywood before getting made.
While there are already rumours the studio is looking to change the picture’s name to Friends With Benefits, Kutcher tells MovieHole.net he likes the title as it is. He says, “I think if I saw a poster and it said The F—buddies, I’d be like, ‘I’m in, I’m going to see it…’”
Kutcher predicts the movie will be hilarious and thinks audiences will “get” the joke of the title. “I think it’s going to be a really, really funny movie,” he says. “I can’t think about it without laughing. That should be the title. I’m shooting for that.”
Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave has been hired to do a rewrite on The Crow’s upcoming big screen remake.
The Wrap reports that Crow producer Ed Pressman has hired the musician to take another pass on the script director Stephen Norrington (Blade) just finished.
It’s not Cave’s first scripting gig. He wrote The Proposition for director John Hillcoat, released in 2005, and co-wrote Ghosts… of the Civil Dead with Hillcoat and others. At the request of his friend Russell Crowe, he wrote a script for a proposed sequel to Gladiator, but it was rejected by the studio. He has also completed the script for a new film, The Death of a Ladies Man, named after the Leonard Cohen song. Cave was named one of Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch in 2006.
The Crow was first brought to the screen in 1994 by director Alex Proyas in a cult-hit film that starred the late Brandon Lee. Lee, son of Bruce Lee, died in a freak on-set accident involving a prop gun that turned out to be loaded. The character has since returned in multiple sequels and even a TV series.
Created as a comic book by James O’Barr, The Crow is about Eric Draven, a man haunted by the murder of his girlfriend and seeking vengeance on those who did her in.
No word yet on who will play Draven in the new movie or exactly when audiences can look forward to seeing The Crow fly again.
(Photo by PR Photos)
Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation
MGM’s financial troubles may have grounded 007, but Daniel Craig isn’t slowing down for anyone.
The actor has just signed on to star as Mikael Blomkvist in Sony’s upcoming adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The deal will also see him reprise the role in The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest.
Dragon Tattoo has become an international bestseller as well as a literary sensation. The Swedish thrillers by the late Stieg Larsson have already been adapted into a successful trilogy of Swedish films, in which Michael Nyqvist played Blomkvist.
Deadline reports that just as soon as Craig wraps the Jon Favreau sci-fi mash-up Cowboys and Aliens he’ll head off to Sweden to begin filming. The deal required the studios behind Cowboys, Dragon and Bond to play nice, but these days everyone wants to keep the super-hot Craig happy.
Director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) is set to helm the project. The director is reportedly still searching for the right actress to play Lisbeth Salander, the young woman at the heart of the novels.
Rumour has it Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska and Natalie Portman are among the potential candidates for that role.
Sony recently announced plans to have Tattoo in theatres on December 21, 2011.
International pop superstar Rihanna has just signed her first contract to star in a major motion picture.
The trade magazine Variety reports the Rated R singer has signed on to join director Peter Berg’s scif-fi action-adventure Battleship, an adaptation of the classic game, one of many Hasbro-related properties Universal has in development. Rihanna joins Friday Night Light’s star Taylor Kitsch and True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgard in the cast.
The film won’t be about Rihanna and the boys playing the naval combat game on a rainy afternoon. Instead, it’s the story of an alien invasion of earth.
“The enemy does come from another planet,” Berg revealed to Latino Review. “We tried to keep it a secret, but it’s our goal to make that as intelligent and logical, certainly as District 9 was able to do… Hopefully it’ll make for good fun and an intense ride.”
No word on any potential musical numbers to be performed on the deck, but we can certainly keep our fingers crossed. Battleship will sail into theatres on May 25, 2012.
