Benjamin Walker is virtually an unknown at this point, but he recently wrapped the title role in Timur Bekmambetov’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and has now landed the role of the archangel Michael in Alex Proyas‘ Paradise Lost, the action epic battle between good and evil, inspired by the John Milton poem. As Michael, Walker will battle Bradley Cooper as Lucifer, in battle scenes using what is described as “cutting-edge visual effects that will make these battles resemble 300 meets Lord of the Rings — but with winged warriors.” Production will begin in January in Sydney and Proyas spoke with Deadline about the film, so click the link if you’re interested in learning more. [Deadline]
There were rumors of a Sex and the City prequel movie, which would follow Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte through their teens into their 20s and would be based on author Candace Bushnell‘s novels “The Carrie Diaries” and “Summer and the City”, but writer/director Michael Patrick King recently shot that down saying, “I’m not working on any Sex and the City prequel at all… I haven’t read Candace’s Bushnell’s books… My Carrie Bradshaw started at 33 and I took her to 43 — I don’t even want to know who Carrie Bradshaw’s parents are… the idea of going backward, making her less evolved, is something that I can’t even imagine doing. I have no connection to the prequel.” The biggest news there is probably learning Carrie Bradshaw was “evolved”. [Deadline]
Albert Hughes (The Book of Eli) recently dropped out of directing Akira at Warner Bros. and was subsequently replaced by Jaume Collet-Sera (Unknown), but there was expectation he wouldn’t be jobless for long and it seems his next gig may be lining up. Reports say Hughes is eying a January 2012 start date for Motor City at Warner Bros., based on a 2009 Black List script by Chad St John with Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger) offered the lead role. The film is described as a revenge feature about a small time crook who is framed and sent to jail only to go after those who put him there upon release. The kicker, the script apparently contains only one line of spoken dialogue. [Twitch]
Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father has amassed an impressive cast, a lawsuit and a name change. The once titled Gotti: Three Generations stars John Travolta as John Gotti Sr. and now has a Jr. in Ben Foster. Along with Travolta, Foster joins a cast that includes Joe Pesci, Ella Bleu Travolta, Lindsay Lohan, Kelly Preston and Al Pacino with Barry Levinson (Rain Man) at the helm. [Deadline]
Back in May it was announced The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo helmer Niels Arden Oplev would direct the Afghanistan-set war drama The Last Photograph starring Sean Penn and Christian Bale, but now word has it Zack Snyder has stepped into the director’s chair and will helm the feature following his Superman reboot, Man of Steel. This isn’t as big a surprise as it may initially sound as Snyder is a producer on the flick and co-wrote it with his 300 scripter Kurt Johnstad. The film will see Penn play an ex-special ops soldier who arrives in Afghanistan to seek vengeance for the murder of his brother’s family. He enlists a war photographer (Bale), the sole survivor of the attack that killed his brother, who captured the event in a photo. There is no word on why Oplev dropped out, but perhaps the one obvious similarity between this and Dragon Tattoo is one of the reasons. [Twitch]
