Bruce Willis is in talks to join the cast of Paramount’s G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation as the original Joe, General Joe Colton, the man who in 1980s comic books starts the G.I. Joe strike team, called the ultimate freedom fighting force, and got the handle G.I. Joe. Willis joins previously cast Channing Tatum, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung, RZA, D.J. Cotrona, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson and Joe Mazzello. John Chu (Step Up 3D) is directing for a June 29, 2012 release. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Afterlife) is returning to write and direct Resident Evil: Retribution, the fifth film in the Resident Evil franchise, with Milla Jovovich returning to play the franchise lead, Alice. Sienna Guillory was expecting to reprise her role as Jill Valentine in the fifth film as she posted on Twitter back in March, “RE:5 alert! Training begins! I aim to mostly put less in the big hole on the front of my face than comes out of the little one on my arse.” Pleasant. However, now she is apparently being recast and is retweeting fan attempts to keep her in the franchise and just replied to one fan saying, “I’m loyal to R.E. always. Don’t know about where the rumors come from. But if they want someone else it’s not up to me!”
Resident Evil: Retribution is expected to begin shooting in October for a September 14, 2012 release date. [Bloody-Disgusting]
Director David O. Russell and actor Vince Vaughn have dropped out of 2 Guns as Mark Wahlberg enters final negotiations to star in Universal’s adaptation of a Boom! Studios comic book. The story centers on a DEA agent and an undercover Naval Intelligence officer who are unwittingly investigating each other and who steal mob money for the good guys. The duo realizes later that the mob actually got them to steal $50 million from the CIA. Russell came on board to rewrite Blake Masters‘ earlier script and direct, but a scheduling conflict with his new drama, The Silver Linings Playbook, caused him to drop out. Universal is now planning on using Masters’ script and a winter start for 2 Guns. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Dermot Mulroney is the latest to join Chan-wook Park‘s Stoker, which tells of a girl (Mia Wasikowska) and her mother (Nicole Kidman) who are visited by a mysterious uncle (Matthew Goode) after the girl’s father dies. Jacki Weaver, Lucas Till and Alden Ehrenreich round out the cast. Fox Searchlight will be distributing the picture. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Open Road has secured a January 27, 2012 release date for Joe Carnahan‘s The Grey, which stars Liam Neeson, Dallas Roberts, James Badge Dale, Dermot Mulroney and Joe Anderson as a group of oil-rig roughnecks left stranded on the sub-arctic tundra after their plane experiences a complete mechanical failure and crashes into the remote Alaskan wilderness. The survivors, battling mortal injuries, biting cold and ravenous hunger, are relentlessly hunted and pursued by a vicious pack of rogue wolves. Word is the studio may still set up an Oscar run for Neeson in December. Unfortunately Carnahan won’t have the film finished in time for Telluride, Toronto or the New York Film Festival, but advance screenings are expected to help decide whether or not an Oscar run is in the cards. [Deadline]
Finally, the official website for David Fincher‘s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has been updated with several character bios and also includes a snippet of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross‘ score for the film, which you can listen to by hitting play on the player embedded here. Otherwise, click the following link to check out the character bios and pictures. [DragonTattoo.com]
