It has been nine days since our last Casting Couch, and I have to admit I didn’t miss it. Semi-worthless casting mentions get entirely tedious, but since some of them remain interesting and informative it is obviously worth it, so let’s dive in.
Plum Pictures has set Patrick Wilson and Amy Smart as stars in their drama Life in Flight with Tracey Hecht set to make her directorial debut. Hecht penned the screenplay which centers on a talented builder-architect with a seemingly perfect life who’s forced to reassess his existence after an unexpected meeting with an urban designer. Filming will take place in Manhattan. [Variety]
Martin Lawrence is still getting work as he is now set to star in The Better Man for Malcolm Lee. The comedy finds Lawrence playing a single father who has just made it big as an outrageous syndicated talkshow host. When he returns home to attend the 50th anniversary of his parents with his famous fiancee, he begins to question his path in life. The film is set to begin March ’07. [Variety]
Old School director Todd Phillips is getting ready to produce and possibly direct the buddy comedy The Fix Up for Warner Bros. Michael Colton and John Aboudwill work on the script which was originally written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. The story revolves around an average Joe whose life is turned upside down after being falsely accused of a crime. A government agent mixed up in the case resolves to make things right, with the duo setting off on a road adventure. [Variety]
All aboard The Pineapple Express, or at least Seth Rogen and James Franco are aboard for producers Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson and Columbia Pictures. David Gordon Green will direct from a script penned by Rogen and Evan Goldberg about a pair of toking buddies who get mixed up with a drug gang. Production is slated to start early next year. [Variety]
Mr. Smith, a.k.a. Hugo Weaving, Rose Byrne and Matt Le Nevez are set to star in The Tender Hook for writer/director Jonathan Ogilvie. The pick is set in a stylized version of jazz-age Sydney, the story follows a young woman’s rise to the apex of a love/power triangle in the world of boxing. Iris, McHeath and Art each fight to establish their sovereignty within a flawed moral landscape. Filming will begin in Sydney, Australia on February 19. [Production Weekly]
Finally we learn there will be another Starship Troopers movie and Edward Neumeier, who penned RoboCop, is set to make his directorial debut on the pic. Neumeier penned the script and has penned all the screenplays for the franchise. Casper Van Dien is in talks to reprise his role as Johnny Rico, now a General in the Terran Mobile Infantry embroiled in a vast interplanetary war with the “Bugs.” The project will be shot in hi-def on location in South Africa, with principle photography scheduled to begin in March. [Production Weekly]
