1.) The casting has been rumored and teased since last week, but Frank Grillo has now officially landed the villainous role of Crossbones in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Grillo has been enjoying a rare late-’40s breakout, recently appearing in Warrior, The Grey and End of Watch. And we’ll continue to see more of him with the new year approaching, as he also has roles in Zero Dark Thirty and Gangster Squad.
In addition to Grillo, Sebastian Stan is confirmed and will return as Bucky Barnes (who becomes assassin the Winter Soldier), Samuel L. Jackson will again play Nick Fury, Cobie Smulders returns as Agent Maria Hill, Scarlett Johansson will play Black Widow and Anthony Mackie will play The Falcon. Captain America: The Winter Soldier will begin shooting in March in Cleveland, OH with the production title Freezerburn. The film is slated for an April 4, 2014 release. [Variety and Feature Film Casting]
2.) With his directorial debut The Man with the Iron Fists getting a wide release this weekend, RZA is already gearing up for two new projects. The first is an actioner called No Man’s Land. The script has been compared to the The Warriors and centers on a man who steals a powerful criminal’s diamond and gets help from a dancer as he attempts to stay alive and cash in on the jewel.
The second is a Genghis Khan biopic, with a script by John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Conan the Barbarian) that has been floating around for years. Milius initially planned to direct the film himself, with Mickey Rourke attached to star at one point. The story is told from the viewpoint of the 13th century ruler’s son and grandson and will bring RZA back to the land where he shot Iron Fists, as he looks to shoot in China next year. [Heat Vision]
3.) Jaime King and Jamie Chung have officially joined Sin City 2, which Robert Rodriguez actually started shooting yesterday (hard to believe, right?). King, as you probably remember, appeared in the first film as the blonde prostitute Goldie, as well as her twin sister Wendy. She’ll return to the role of the latter for the sequel.
Chung (Sucker Punch, The Hangover Part II) steps into the vacated role of roller-skating assassin Miho, portrayed in the first film by Devon Aoki. The returns of Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba and Rosario Dawson were previously announced, while Clive Owen is expected to return as well. Sin City 2 will feature a combination of stories that appeared in the comics and a new one written by Frank Miller specifically for the movie. [Heat Vision]
4.) Tom Cruise chatted with Total Film and hinted he’s in the early stages of prepping a fifth Mission: Impossible film. “We’re already working on different images. Talking conceptually,” he said, mentioning that he likes checking out architecture and planning out the action sequences while he’s traveling around the world promoting different movies. It also sounds like he plans to keep the Ethan Hunt character going for several more films, rather than completely pass the torch to another agent as had been previously rumored. “I started Mission: Impossible hoping I could make many of them. It’s a character that I can grow with.” Excited yet?
5.) A Quentin Tarantino interview also appears in the magazine, and he talks about how Django Unchained might be considered Part 2 of a trilogy that began with Inglourious Basterds. “As different as they are, there is a companion piece quality. There might very well be a third one,” he said. Hm, I guess we’ll get a better idea of what he’s talking about soon enough. [Total Film]
