Leading off today’s roundup is a set of photos from vehicles heading out to the set of Mad Max: Road Fury, which I suppose is exciting news if looking at really big tires if your sort of thing. If that is your thing then you’ll probably want to click here for more.
In this past weekend’s roundup, I cited a story about Ryan Reynolds being the frontrunner to star in a highly coveted role opposite Denzel Washington in Safe House. Well, Deadline has followed up that report with the news that Reynolds is now negotiating to play the young CIA agent who must transport a dangerous criminal (Washington) to safety after both are attacked at a safe house. The other names in contention for the part were Shia LaBeouf, Taylor Kitsch, Chris Pine, Sam Worthington, Garrett Hedlund, Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, Chris Hemsworth and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Reynolds already has a full plate of projects on his table, so how Safe House fits into his hectic schedule will surely play into the negotiations. He’ll next be seen in Buried and will begin filming the comedy The Change-Up for director David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) in October before getting around to Safe House, Deadpool, RIPD and what will surely be a massive promotional tour for next summer’s Green Lantern.
Universal Pictures has announced that director P.J. Hogan’s (My Best Friend’s Wedding) next movie, Mental will be filmed in Australia in early 2011 with a Christmas/January 2012 release date in mind. Mental will reunite Hogan with his Muriel’s Wedding muse Toni Collette and is being described by the director as “The Sound of Music on acid.” The announcement also noted the new film from director Alex Proyas (The Crow), Dracula Year Zero, will be shot in Australia with Sam Worthington in the lead role. [Encore]
Karl Yune (Speed Racer, Memoirs of a Geisha) has joined the cast of the robot boxing movie Real Steel, which is being headlined by Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Date Night). He’ll play a robot designer in the DreamWorks picture, set for a November 18, 2011 release date. [Variety].
Nick Vivarelli of Variety reports Robert De Niro is in final talks to play a divorced American professor living in Rome in the Italian romancer Manual of Love 3. The role will require De Niro to speak some of his lines in Italian in what would be his first foreign-language production since Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 in 1976, but I’m sure many of you are instantly reminded of his Oscar-winning performance in The Godfather: Part II for which most of his lines were spoken in Italian.
Speaking to MTV‘s Blair Marnell, Guillermo del Toro said he would like to return to the Hellboy franchise but the fate of the series really lies with star Ron Perlman, who might prefer not to endure six hours of makeup before each day of shooting. Could you blame the guy? There’s also the potential problem of finishing the series (del Toro has said the third installment would be the last) before Mike Mignola’s comic book series is even finished. That would certainly take all the suspense out of the story for the followers of the comics.
Heat Vision has the exclusive on producer J.J. Abrams and long-time collaborator and frequent “Lost” director Jack Bender developing a thriller based on the teenage makeout game 7 Minutes in Heaven. The idea, which comes from the mind of Bender, focuses on a pair of teens and game participants who enter the closet and find all their friends dead when their seven minutes are up. Bender is on board to direct, but they’re still looking for a writer to put the idea onto paper. I’ve certainly heard of worse ideas (Battleship, anyone?) so let’s wait and see how this one develops.
Scott Speedman is negotiating a deal to join the cast of the romantic drama The Vow alongside Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. The movie is based on the true story of a woman (McAdams) who is put in a coma and is cared for by her devoted husband (Tatum) after a terrible car crash. When she wakes up in an amnesiac state, the husband must attempt to win her heart all over again. Speedman would play a former fiance who also begins to rekindle a romance with the amnesiac McAdams. It’s a shame that McAdams is forced to choose between two of the lamest actors imaginable. [The Hollywood Reporter]
The lawyer of “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis has sent a threatening letter to the Weinstein Company asking the Piranha 3D producers to “refrain from maligning Mr. Francis.” Jerry O’Connell plays a soft-core pornographer loosely based on Francis in the movie, which is being released this Friday. The more I hear about this movie, the more appealing it becomes to me. Does that make me a bad person?
Check out two clips of O’Connell in character in Piranha 3D directly below.
In a related nugget, here’s a rather funny video of O’Connell and several other Piranha stars pleading their case for consideration in this year’s Oscar ceremony. Just imagine it… Kelly Brook: Oscar winner.
And finally a batch of three new images, the brand new poster and the trailer for Wes Craven’s My Soul to Take arrived late yesterday, and I have added one of the images directly above and the trailer and poster directly below along with the official synopsis. You can check out the rest of the images in the gallery right here.
My Soul to Take hits theaters on October 8.
From writer/director Wes Craven comes a suspense thriller that warns us evil is working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And if you have any chance at beating it, you’ll have to fight for your life 25/8.
In the sleepy town of Riverton, legend tells of a serial killer who swore he would return to murder the seven children born the night he died. Now, 16 years later, people are disappearing again. Has the psychopath been reincarnated as one of the seven teens, or did he survive the night he was left for dead? Only one of the kids knows the answer.
Adam “Bug” Heller (Max Thieriot) was supposed to die on the bloody night his father went insane. Unaware of his dad’s terrifying crimes, he has been plagued by nightmares since he was a baby. But if Bug hopes to save his friends from the monster that’s returned, he must face an evil that won’t rest…until it finishes the job it began the day he was born.
