Catching you up on casting news and productions notes from the last few days . . .
-Etan Cohen (Men in Black III) has been hired to try and re-write the Ghostbusters III script and get it out of development hell. This would be a bigger story if anyone cared about the project other than Dan Aykroyd.
-In the vein of Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, the last installment of The Hunger Games (Mockingjay) will be split into 2 movies . . . and it has nothing to do with money.
-The Social Network’s Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti have been hired by Universal and Focus Features to produce the big screen version of 50 Shades of Grey. Focus Features CEO on the hiring: “At its core, Fifty Shades of Grey is a complex love story, requiring a delicate and sophisticated hand to bring it to the big screen. Mike and Dana’s credits more than exemplify what we need in creative partners and we’re glad to have them as part of our team.”
-Deadline is reporting Martha Marcy May Marlene director Sean Durkin has agreed to direct Joplin, with Tony Award winner Nina Arianda in the title role.
-James Woods (where have you been) is in talks to join White House Down alongside Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx. Cole Hauser will join the other White House flick titled Olympus Has Fallen starring Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart. Speaking of Fallen, Oscar winner Melissa Leo has joined the cast in a “key role.”
-Boardwalk Empire‘s Season 3 premiere date will be Sunday, September 16th.
-Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel will be post-converted to 3D. Why?
-As Moonrise Kingdom continues to break limited release box-office records, Wes Anderson prepares for his next film. According to Twitch, the film could include an ensemble that includes Johnny Depp, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe and Angela Lansbury.
-Anthony Hopkins has joined Darren Aronofsky’s Noah as Methuselah.
-Phillip Seymour Hoffman has agreed to play Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
-And finally . . . Top Cow’s The Darkness comic will be getting a big-screen adaptation courtesy of Len Wiseman (Underworld, Total 
Recall remake). Here is a little bit about the character via Top Cow . . . Sounds very Spawn-like . . .
Before time was time, the Earth was formless and void and darkness stretched over the surface of the deep. Then God said “Let there be light.” And there was light, and God saw that it was good. So, being the guy that he is, he decided to meddle some more and separate the light from the darkness. And the darkness? The Darkness resented it. In that moment, a bitterness and spite was born that would fester and grow for centuries, distilling itself to raw, seething perfection. Ages would pass before The Darkness found a vessel worthy to inherit its boundless hatred. The vessel was mankind, God’s most favored of all his creations. The Darkness found fertile ground for its chaotic lust in the bloodline of a family thought barely human by its fellow man: the Estacados. Each new generation inherited the gifts of The Darkness, spreading misery and unyielding chaos across the kingdoms of man. When each bearer conceived an offspring the curse of The Darkness would betray its host, leaving him to die as it bound itself to the newly innocent life, like wolves to a slaughter of defenseless lambs. Each new vessel was steered to its inevitable ruin by The Darkness. Murderers and thieves. Rapists and warlords. The Darkness thrived upon the death and devastation spread by its host and its unsuitable appetite only grew with each new generation.
Sources :
THR
Variety
Deadline
