Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio Wanted For Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's The Revenant

Back when Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu announced that his next directorial effort would be the period revenge thriller The Revenant, it was rumored he might reunite with his Biutiful leading man. Then Javier Bardem moved on to the high-profile gig of playing a Bond villain, and Inarritu was forced to look elsewhere.

According to Deadline, the Babel director now would like to cast his 21 Grams lead Sean Penn alongside Leonardo DiCaprio for an adaptation of Michael Punke’s novel. The story follows frontiersmen in the 1820 who encounter a bear while on a fur-trapping expedition. When one trapper is mauled so badly he can’t be transported back to safety, his friend hires two men to watch him as he goes for help. The men, however, rob the wounded stranger, convinced he won’t make it. Guess what? He does, and sets out to track those who’ve wronged him.

The site says Inarritu would like Penn to play one of the wicked men who abandoned the mauled frontiersman. I wonder if that means DiCaprio, should he sign on, would play the bear victim who eventually muscles up and tracks the two fiends. Coming off of Django Unchained, this could be back-to-back badass period pieces for the Titanic pretty boy. Then again, Penn’s also hard at work on Gangster Squad, so he’s no slouch in the macho department.

Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio Wanted For Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's The Revenant

Back when Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu announced that his next directorial effort would be the period revenge thriller The Revenant, it was rumored he might reunite with his Biutiful leading man. Then Javier Bardem moved on to the high-profile gig of playing a Bond villain, and Inarritu was forced to look elsewhere.

According to Deadline, the Babel director now would like to cast his 21 Grams lead Sean Penn alongside Leonardo DiCaprio for an adaptation of Michael Punke’s novel. The story follows frontiersmen in the 1820 who encounter a bear while on a fur-trapping expedition. When one trapper is mauled so badly he can’t be transported back to safety, his friend hires two men to watch him as he goes for help. The men, however, rob the wounded stranger, convinced he won’t make it. Guess what? He does, and sets out to track those who’ve wronged him.

The site says Inarritu would like Penn to play one of the wicked men who abandoned the mauled frontiersman. I wonder if that means DiCaprio, should he sign on, would play the bear victim who eventually muscles up and tracks the two fiends. Coming off of Django Unchained, this could be back-to-back badass period pieces for the Titanic pretty boy. Then again, Penn’s also hard at work on Gangster Squad, so he’s no slouch in the macho department.

Akira Now Testing Ezra Miller, Alden Ehrenreich To Play Tetsuo

With Garrett Hedlund in talks to star in the live-action Akira movie, whether you want him to or not, it's now time to figure out which other actors might fill in the American adaptation of the famous manga series and animated film. As you might know, Akira focuses on two young male members of a biker gang, Tetsuo and Kaneda, and with Hedlund in talks to play Kaneda, they've got dozens of other young actors lining up for the role Tetsuo, who starts showing psychic powers and attracts the attention of the government, who wants to research him.

THR says Warner Bros. is reading a lot of actors for the part, but the names mentioned most often are Ezra Miller and Alden Ehrenrenreich, both up-and-comers without titles even as big as Hedlund's Tron: Legacy to their names. Miller will be seen soon in Lynne Ramsey's grim indie We Need To Talk About Kevin, but you might also recognize him from Californication, the indie City Island or USA's Royal Pains. Ehrenreich emerged seemingly from nowhere to star in Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro, and since then has been cast in the vampire story Stoker, and was also one of the names rumored for The Amazing Spider-Man, if you remember those heady days before Andrew Garfield got the part.

Both Miller and Ehrenreich seemed more interested in making their names as serious actors in small-scale films-- Ehrenreich has the favor of the Coppola family and that's no small thing-- but I guess when Warner Bros. comes calling with a franchise and a big paycheck, you'd be an idiot to say no. Now that Akira has a green light we can reasonably expect this long-delayed project to actually happen, though no matter how many interesting actors they look to cast, it's hard to imagine anime fans or anyone familiar with the original will see this movie as anything but doomed.

Akira Now Testing Ezra Miller, Alden Ehrenreich To Play Tetsuo

With Garrett Hedlund in talks to star in the live-action Akira movie, whether you want him to or not, it's now time to figure out which other actors might fill in the American adaptation of the famous manga series and animated film. As you might know, Akira focuses on two young male members of a biker gang, Tetsuo and Kaneda, and with Hedlund in talks to play Kaneda, they've got dozens of other young actors lining up for the role Tetsuo, who starts showing psychic powers and attracts the attention of the government, who wants to research him.

Grittier Version Of Ghostbusters Coming Whether You Like It Or Not

The cliche about pitching a movie is that you describe it as two movies put together-- "It's Titanic meets A Beautiful Mind!"-- or a slightly tweaked version of something people already like -- "it's Gone With the Wind, but with dogs!" This tactic works, but there are times when there are two ideas that simply can't be mashed together and taken seriously. Like "gritty Ghostbusters," for example.

And yet, that's the exact description being thrown around for Spectral, a supernatural action project recently picked up by Legendary Pictures. According to THR the company picked up the project from writer Ian Fried, who wrote a treatment and a "rip reel" that, in true pitch form, showed clips from other movies that would give Legendary a sense of what they were buying. I told you that strategy works! The story follows a "modern-day, militaristic and gritty approach to fighting the supernatural," and somehow avoids a copyright claim by following a special ops groups that fights the evil ghosts that have taken over Manhattan. Yes, the same Manhattan that the Ghostbusters protected. I don't know how they're getting away with it either.

You can say it's a bad idea to try and replicate the Ghostbusters formula, and I'll agree with you; then again, it's not nearly as bad an idea as Ghostbusters 3, a movie that people out there are actively trying to make, so we can take comfort in that. I'd much rather see Spectral exist than for Bill Murray to be dragged kicking and screaming back into Venkman's coveralls; if we somehow wind up with both, we'll know that the evil Stay-Puf Marshmallow Man has truly won.

Grittier Version Of Ghostbusters Coming Whether You Like It Or Not

The cliche about pitching a movie is that you describe it as two movies put together-- "It's Titanic meets A Beautiful Mind!"-- or a slightly tweaked version of something people already like -- "it's Gone With the Wind, but with dogs!" This tactic works, but there are times when there are two ideas that simply can't be mashed together and taken seriously. Like "gritty Ghostbusters," for example.

And yet, that's the exact description being thrown around for Spectral, a supernatural action project recently picked up by Legendary Pictures. According to THR the company picked up the project from writer Ian Fried, who wrote a treatment and a "rip reel" that, in true pitch form, showed clips from other movies that would give Legendary a sense of what they were buying. I told you that strategy works! The story follows a "modern-day, militaristic and gritty approach to fighting the supernatural," and somehow avoids a copyright claim by following a special ops groups that fights the evil ghosts that have taken over Manhattan. Yes, the same Manhattan that the Ghostbusters protected. I don't know how they're getting away with it either.

You can say it's a bad idea to try and replicate the Ghostbusters formula, and I'll agree with you; then again, it's not nearly as bad an idea as Ghostbusters 3, a movie that people out there are actively trying to make, so we can take comfort in that. I'd much rather see Spectral exist than for Bill Murray to be dragged kicking and screaming back into Venkman's coveralls; if we somehow wind up with both, we'll know that the evil Stay-Puf Marshmallow Man has truly won.

J.J. Abrams Wants Benicio Del Toro To Play The Villain In The Next Star Trek Movie

There aren't that many questions left about J.J. Abrams' next Star Trek movie. We know that the project is in active development and that Abrams is once again attached to direct. We know that the script is being written by Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. We know that the entire cast will be returning, from Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk to Simon Pegg as Scotty. There is, however, one major mystery still out there that will determine the direction of the sequel: who is the villain going to be? We still don't have that answer, but today we learn who might be the man to play him.

According to inside sources over at Variety, J.J. Abrams has decided that he wants Benicio Del Toro to play the central antagonist in the still untitled Star Trek: The Second. While no offer has been made as of yet, the filmmaker has met with the actor about the part and negotiations could begin as early as this weekend. What's also interesting is that even Del Toro doesn't know what the role is, as Abrams wants to continue keeping it a secret. Should he take the part, the Oscar winner would be succeeding Eric Bana, who played the tragic Romulan villain Nero in 2009's Star Trek. Production on the movie is scheduled to begin early next year.

As much as I really like this idea - Del Toro is a phenomenal actor and it would be great to see him as an antagonist - the only thing that gives me pause is that he is hard enough to understand as it is and it won't get any easier if his face is covered in prosthetic makeup.

Miley Cyrus Cast As Dracula's Daughter In Hotel Transylvania

Back on Halloween, the first concept art for the new Sony Pictures Animation film Hotel Transylvania appeared online. But while the drawings only showed off the character at the center of the piece, there are many other monsters in the film as well, including Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and a teenage girl (yeah, I went there). But while the first four characters all have actors set to voice them (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Cee-Lo and David Spade, respectively) Dracula's daughter was left speechless. That is, until today.

Entertainment Weekly has learned that Miley Cyrus will be joining the movie as the teenager responsible for stressing out the king of vampires. The plot of the film revolves around Dracula running a monsters-only resort that gets disrupted when his daughter brings in a human (Andy Samberg). The first image of the character has also been released and you can check it out below:


Perhaps it's just the stripes on the stockings, but is anyone else getting a Lydia Deetz vibe from this design? This will be only the second time that Cyrus has provided a voice for an animated film, the first being the 2008 Walt Disney Animation film Bolt (which earned high praises from critics when it came out). The cast of Hotel Translyvania also includes Steve Buscemi, Fran Drescher and Molly Shannon and the film is being directed by Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky. Still in production, the movie will arrive in theaters on September 21, 2012.

J.J. Abrams Wants Benicio Del Toro To Play The Villain In The Next Star Trek Movie

There aren't that many questions left about J.J. Abrams' next Star Trek movie. We know that the project is in active development and that Abrams is once again attached to direct. We know that the script is being written by Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. We know that the entire cast will be returning, from Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk to Simon Pegg as Scotty. There is, however, one major mystery still out there that will determine the direction of the sequel: who is the villain going to be? We still don't have that answer, but today we learn who might be the man to play him.

According to inside sources over at Variety, J.J. Abrams has decided that he wants Benicio Del Toro to play the central antagonist in the still untitled Star Trek: The Second. While no offer has been made as of yet, the filmmaker has met with the actor about the part and negotiations could begin as early as this weekend. What's also interesting is that even Del Toro doesn't know what the role is, as Abrams wants to continue keeping it a secret. Should he take the part, the Oscar winner would be succeeding Eric Bana, who played the tragic Romulan villain Nero in 2009's Star Trek. Production on the movie is scheduled to begin early next year.

As much as I really like this idea - Del Toro is a phenomenal actor and it would be great to see him as an antagonist - the only thing that gives me pause is that he is hard enough to understand as it is and it won't get any easier if his face is covered in prosthetic makeup.

Miley Cyrus Cast As Dracula's Daughter In Hotel Transylvania

Back on Halloween, the first concept art for the new Sony Pictures Animation film Hotel Transylvania appeared online. But while the drawings only showed off the character at the center of the piece, there are many other monsters in the film as well, including Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and a teenage girl (yeah, I went there). But while the first four characters all have actors set to voice them (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Cee-Lo and David Spade, respectively) Dracula's daughter was left speechless. That is, until today.

Entertainment Weekly has learned that Miley Cyrus will be joining the movie as the teenager responsible for stressing out the king of vampires. The plot of the film revolves around Dracula running a monsters-only resort that gets disrupted when his daughter brings in a human (Andy Samberg). The first image of the character has also been released and you can check it out below: