Deadline reports Peter Stormare (Fargo) has signed on to play the villainous town sheriff “Berringer” in Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. He’ll act alongside the likes of Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton and Famke Janssen.
Stephen Root, who can currently be seen in Cedar Rapids, has joined the cast of Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar. Variety reports he’ll play Arthur Koehler, an introverted man and wood specialist who helps controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) piece together the Lindbergh kidnapping case through an examination of the ladder used by the abductor.
Giovanni Ribisi has joined Mark Wahlberg in Ted, the directorial debut from “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane. The film is the raunchy tale of a grown man (Wahlberg) dealing with his teddy bear coming to life as the result of a childhood wish. The Variety report also mentions that Mila Kunis is in final negotiations to join the cast.
Warner Bros is finally going to deliver the remake you have all been waiting for, the 1992 Kevin Costner/Whitney Houston romance The Bodyguard! The film will update the story of a Secret Service agent protecting a singing diva from the stalker by turning the bodyguard into an Iraq war veteran who sees the impact the internet has made on celebrity access. Deadline reports the studio hopes to find a young female star with global appeal, much like Houston had back in 1992. Taylor Swift? Rihanna? Gaga? The possibilities are endless!
Speaking of Costner, rumors are floating around that he is being targeted for a key role in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot. Deadline broke the story, but they aren’t sure what role Snyder has in mind for Costner.
Paramount has purchased the rights to John Scalzi’s novel series Old Man’s War, which director Wolfgang Petersen (Troy, Das Boot) will turn into a large-scale science fiction project. The film centers on a 75-year-old man who trades in his old body for a new one, allowing him to combine the experience of age with the strength of youth and join an outer space military coalition sent to protect human colonies in outer space. Deadline offers a longer plot synopsis, but I feel like it gives away almost the entire story. We’ll see if Petersen can recapture some of the magic he failed to find with 2006’s Poseidon, but doesn’t it just seem like all these studios are desperate to find their own Avatar with all the sci-fi flicks being put into production lately?
And finally, Universal Pictures has secured Paul Greengrass (United 93, the Bourne sequels) to direct Memphis, a drama about the assassination of Martin Luther King. Deadline reports the picture will be produced by Scott Rudin, who has two horses in Sunday’s Best Picture race with The Social Network and True Grit.
