Tim Burton has added another member to the cast of Dark Shadows, his adaptation of the 1960s TV series. Deadline reports Thomas McDonell (Prom) will portray the younger version of the lead character played by Johnny Depp. It was also confirmed by The Playlist that Michael Sheen has entered negotiations for a supporting role. He’d join a cast that already includes Depp, Jackie Earle Haley, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter.
While Paramount once planned to shoot the Chris Pine-led Jack Ryan franchise reboot before their star heads off to reprise his role as Captain Kirk in the Star Trek sequel, script problems have scrapped those plans. Steve Zaillian (Clear and Present Danger) was hired last month to rewrite the script but has since had a change of heart and has withdrawn from the job. Deadline reports the studio is now interviewing other writers, though director Jack Bender (“Lost”) is still on board. The new film will be a Jack Ryan origin story dealing with a plane crash that nearly killed Ryan when he was 23. As for Star Trek, Paramount expects it to shoot in the fall so they can make the proposed June 29, 2012 release date.
The L.A. Times has the scoop on By Virtue Fall, written and directed by Up In The Air co-writer Sheldon Turner. The film is a dramatic thriller that centers on two ATF agents who find themselves at odds after one sells out to the other. Colin Farrell and Eric Bana were both interested in the project last year, but Farrell opted out. The latest update has a cast led by James Spader, Ryan Phillippe and Carla Gugino, so it looks like Bana might be out as well.
Will Sasso (“MadTV,” “$#*! My Dad Says”) has been cast as Curly in the Farrelly Brothers’ The Three Stooges movie. Casting will be completed by the end of this week, so stay tuned. Deadline adds that Hank Azaria has emerged as a frontrunner to play Moe and James Marsden’s name has been thrown around in regards to Larry. As previously reported, the film will be divided into three 27 minute segments with a PG rating in mind.
Variety reports Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland, Paul) will direct the pilot for HBO’s “More as the Story Develops,” from writer/producer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network). The show offers a behind-the-scenes look at a CNN-like cable news network, and Jeff Daniels is in negotiations to star as the hard-to-handle host of his own political. No other casting news has been reported.
Deadline reports Sarah Gadon has been cast alongside Robert Pattinson in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis. The actress just finished working with Cronenberg on A Dangerous Method and was given this job after negotiations with Keira Knightley didn’t pan out. She’ll play the estranged wife of a young billionaire (Pattinson), who risks his entire fortune and puts himself in an assassin’s crosshairs in what sounds like the worst day ever. Samantha Morton, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti and Mathieu Amalric fill out the cast.
Armie Hammer (The Social Network) has been cast as Prince Andrew Alcott in Relativity’s The Brothers Grimm: Snow White, directed by Tarsem Singh (The Fall). This is the revisionist version of the fairy tale with Julia Roberts set to play the Evil Queen. Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones, Hanna) has also entered discussions to play Snow White, according to Deadline. Kristen Stewart will play Snow White in Universal’s rival project Snow White and the Huntsman. Will moviegoers have as much trouble telling these movies apart as I am?
Oliver Stone’s Savages has been acquired by Universal Pictures, which Variety reports outbid at least two other studios for distribution rights. The film follows two Laguna Beach drug kingpins who are forced to work for a Mexican cartel after their free-spirited female friend, O, is kidnapped. Taylor Kitsch (“Friday Night Lights”) and Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) have received offers to play the dealers, as has Benicio Del Toro for the role of a cartel enforcer. My last report also had Salma Hayek in line to play the cartel matriarch who becomes a mother of sorts to O. There was interest in Jennifer Lawrence for O before she committed to The Hunger Games, but Stone is now looking Teresa Palmer, Blake Lively and Olivia Wilde as replacements.
