How about a few casting updates not worthy of complete articles from yesterday and today? Okay? Yeah? Let’s go!
Wilmer Valderama has set up at Universal a pic based on PartyBuddys, a real-life New York nightclub guide service started by James King and Jason Roefaro. Valderrama will produce and possibly star in the project, which Mike Samonek is penning. The PartyBuddys company ferries clients — primarily out-of-town businessmen willing to pay hefty fees — around Manhattan hotspots and helps them get past velvet ropes and into VIP rooms. [Variety]
Emmanuelle Chriqui is set to star opposite Justin Long in Patriotville, which starts filming on Tuesday in South Carolina. Chriqui plays a woman who takes it upon herself to put right all her town’s sexual infidelities. [Variety]
The Ten gets one more as Arlen Escarpeta joins the ensemble cast in the film which spoofs The Ten Commandments. [Variety]
James McAvoy has landed the starring role in Universal Pictures’ Wanted a sci-fi actioner set to be directed by Night Watch helmer Timur Bekmambetow. The film is based on a comic book series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones published by Top Cow. The story follows a put-upon young man who discovers that his long-lost father is an assassin. After his dad is murdered, the son is recruited into a covert organization of killers and trained to follow in his father’s footsteps. The comic is considered hard-core, and the movie probably will be rated R. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Finally, Nick Lyon is set to direct Species IV as the franchise continues, most likely in direct-to-video fashion. The fourth film in the franchise follows Miranda Hollander, a beautiful and brilliant young university professor who’s horrified when her “uncle,” Tom Hollander, reveals that she is not actually human after all, but an alien hybrid he created in a laboratory with his former scientific associate Forbes McGuire. When Miranda’s bestial alien side emerges, with bloody consequences, Tom rushes her to Mexico, hoping that Forbes will be able to help. But when Forbes and Tom combine forces to prolong Miranda’s lapsed life span, they soon learn that the “cure” is far worse than the disease. [Production Weekly]
