Casting

THE CONTINENTAL Adds Mel Gibson To The Three-Part Event Series John Wick Spin-Off

Making a rare pivot to television, actor Mel Gibson is joining the John Wick cineverse a la The Continental, Starz’s three-part TV spin-off of the Keanu Reeves-led film franchise from Lionsgate. Deadline‘s Mike Fleming Jr. reports: The Continental will explore the origin behind the hotel-for-assassins, which increasingly has become the centerpiece of the John Wick universe. This will be accomplished through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, who is dragged into the Hell-scape of a 1975 New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the New York’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the iconic hotel, which serves as the meeting point for the world’s most dangerous criminals. No word yet on who’ll play Winston Scott (the hotel owner is played in the films by Ian McShane). Gibson will play a character named Cormac. There’s no […]

I AM VASH: 108 Media And Revolution Set Cast, 2022 Start For 70’s Action Crime Series With ‘Paskal’ And ‘Wira’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Adrian Teh (The Wedding Diary, Paskal, Wira) will direct I Am Vash, an original action crime series that will star award-winning talents, actress Sangeeta Krishnasamy (Best Female Actor winner at the 29th Malaysian Film Award, Adiwiraku) and actor Bront Palarae (Gundala, Fly By Night). 108 Media is producing the series with Zainir Aminullah’s premium production shingle Revolution Media as co-producer, with eight one-hour episodes to commence principal photography next May for an early 2023 premiere. I Am Vash takes its cues from historical events, iconography, and real-life superheroes, written and authentically developed with a cross-border writers’ room for both local and international market appeal, with the show’s dialogue to be primarily written in English and Malay, as well as in Tamil and Cantonese dialects. The series revolves around the crime-ridden seaside town of Port Klang during the groovy 1970s in Malaysia, where we meet Vash, a rebellious policewoman who stands […]

BOY KILLS WORLD: Bill Skarsgård Toplines SA Shoot For Dystopian Actioner With Samara Weaving and Yayan Ruhian

Lee B. Golden III

Bill Skarsgård is set to lead Boy Kills World from debut director Moritz Mohr. Arend Remmers (Sløborn) and Tyler Burton Smith (Kung Fury: The Movie) penned the script which also brings actress Samara Weaving, and international action star Yayan Ruhian. Bill Skarsgard (Deadpool 2, It Chapter Two) will lead the cast as protagonist Boy, a deaf mute with a vibrant imagination. When his family is murdered, he escapes to the jungle and is trained by a mysterious shaman to repress his childish imagination and become an instrument of death. Also attached are Samara Weaving (Ready or Not, Bill and Ted Face the Music), who will play assassin June 27, and martial arts expert Yayan Ruhian (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, The Raid: Redemption), who will be Boy’s mentor. Tom Grater’s Deadline exclusive on Thursday bills the film as a “dystopian fever dream” which will be shot in South Africa. Mohr’s own […]

Hideaki Anno Exhibition Offers First Look at SHIN KAMEN RIDER

Edward Orndorff

Hideaki Anno, creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion and director of Shin Godzilla, is currently the subject of an exhibition in Japan. This exhibition displays many pieces involved with his works, and covers his past, present and future works. As part of this exhibition, new information about the upcoming Shin Kamen Rider movie has been shared, including two teaser trailers, and cast reveals. Trailers: Toei has shared two versions of the first teaser trailer for the movie, featuring the updated designs of both Kamen Rider Ichigo and his iconic motorcycle, the Rider Machine, Cyclone! Trailer A Trailer B Cast The first two members of the cast have been announced. On the left is Sosuke Ikamatsu (The Last Samurai, Death Note: Light Up The New World) as Takeshi Hongo. After being kidnapped by Shocker, an evil organization bent on world domination, he was transformed into the cyborg soldier Kamen Rider. Upon his […]

RAGING GRACE: AMC’s Shudder Announces Cast And Production For New ‘Coming Of Rage’ Horror Drama

Lee B. Golden III

BIFA-nominated director Paris Zarcilla (Pommel, The Century Egg), produced by Chi Thai (The Promise, Little Miss Sumo) will pair up this November for the UK production of horror drama, Raging Grace. Zarcilla will direct the AMC Network’s Shudder Original film from his own script for a cast led by Filipina actress Max Eigenmann (Verdict) and actor David Hayman (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Finding Your Feet). Raging Grace is billed as a “Coming of Rage” film, aimed at spotlighting “the Filipino immigrant experience through a blend of horror and drama”, according to the announcement. In the film, an undocumented Filipina immigrant lands a job as a careworker for a seemingly terminal old man, securing a better life for her and her daughter. But a dark discovery threatens to destroy everything she’s strived for and holds dear. “In Raging Grace, rising filmmaker Paris Zarcilla and producer Chi Thai craft a subversive, contemporary spin on gothic horror,” said Shudder’s Emily Gotto, VP of Acquisitions, […]

KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC: Mackenyu Arata Leads International Debut Adapting ‘Saint Seiya’ For The Big Screen From Toei, SPWA

Lee B. Golden III

It feels so timely that I’ve only just seen actor Mackenyu Arata’s most recent performance in the fourth installment of the Rurouni Kenshin saga. If you ask me, considering he’s the one cast for the lead role in what looks to be a bolstering international debut with Tomasz Baginski’s Saint Seiya treatment, Knights Of The Zodiac, I’d say Baginski is in good hands. The new movie is produced Toei and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, and just wrapped filming in Croatia and Hungary with Arata joined by Madison Iseman, Famke Janssen, Sean Bean, Diego Tinoco, along with Nick Stahl and action star Mark Dacascos. Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken (10 Cloverfield Lane) penned the most recent drafts, according to THR‘s Borys Kit. The manga and anime, created by Masami Kurumada and first introduced in 1986, told of warriors known as The Saints who gather their powers from the constellations. They are […]

RUST: Joel Souza’s Western Actioner Adds Travis Fimmel And More For October Shoot

Lee B. Golden III

Highland Film Group is announcing cast for Crown Vic helmer Joel Souza’s new Western, Rust, following the attachment of Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe Award winner Alec Baldwin (Mission: Impossible franchise, NBC’s “30 Rock”) last year. Principal photography will commence come early October in New Mexico with Baldwin joined by Travis Fimmel (Ridley Scott’s “Raised by Wolves,” Universal Pictures’ Warcraft, Amazon’s “Vikings”), Brady Noon (Universal Pictures’ Good Boys, Disney +’s “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changer”) and Frances Fisher (Titanic, Warner Bros.’ Unforgiven). Rust is an action/western which tells of infamous Western outlaw Harland Rust (Baldwin), who’s had a bounty on his head for as long as he can remember. When his estranged 13-year-old grandson Lucas is convicted of an accidental murder and is sentenced to hang, Rust travels to Kansas to break him out of prison. Together, the two fugitives must outrun legendary U.S. Marshal, Wood Helm, and bounty-hunter, Fenton “Preacher” Lang, who are hot […]

DAFT STATE Adds Four As Cameras Roll For Chad Bishoff’s New Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Principal photography is underway in Omaha, Nebraska for Chad Bishoff’s psychological thriller, Daft State. With two names already announced, another four were added and confirmed this week with Two-time Teen Choice Award nominee-Jake T. Austin (Disney’s “The Wizards of Waverly Place”, New Year’s Eve), Paulo Costanzo (CBS’ “The Good Fight,” Netflix’s “Designated Survivor”), Ka’ramuu Kush (Five Deep Breaths, Salvation Road) and Iman Karram (Netflix’s Glow) also set to join the pic. The four stars join previously announced leads Christopher Backus (HBO’s “Big Little Lies”, Netflix’s “Mindhunter,” Apple TV+’s “Truth be Told”) and Skye P. Marshall (Netflix’s “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” NBC’s “This is Us”). Billed as a “relentlessly gripping thriller, molded in the vein of classic Hitchcockian suspense masterworks”, Daft State charts the mysterious psychological destruction of central character Easton (Backus), who is driven to the edge of sanity, and possible self-harm, by those that love him most – […]

DAFT STATE Casts Leads For Psychological Thriller Shoot This Month

Lee B. Golden III

Christopher Backus (HBO’s “Big Little Lies”, Netflix’s “Mindhunter”, Apple TV+’s “Truth be Told”) and Skye P. Marshall (Netflix’s “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”, NBC’s “This is Us”, “Black Lightning) will star in Daft State, co-written by Sam Harter and director Chad Bishoff. Cameras are set to roll on the new psychological thriller on location in Omaha, Nebraska from Monday, August 9, 2021. This relentlessly gripping thriller, molded in the vein of classic Hitchcockian suspense masterworks, charts the mysterious psychological destruction of central character Easton (Backus), who is driven to the edge of sanity, and possible self-harm, by those that love him most – his wife (Marshall) and daughter. Will Easton succumb to their increasingly traumatizing pressure, or will he conquer the dark forces at play in his addled psyche? Inny Clemons (Straight Outta Compton, Next Day Air, Netflix’s Sneakerheads, A Lot of Nothing), Lisa Crnic (Paramount’s Clifford the Big Red […]

JOHN WICK 4 Adds Marko Zaror

Lee B. Golden III

Deadline is reporting that Chilean action star Marko Zaror will join the cast of Chad Stahelski’s fourth installment of the John Wick saga from Lionsgate. Zaror’s addition tops an already sizeable bevy of action talents taking aim at the franchise with the martial arts star reuniting with Undisputed 3: Redemption and Savage Dog star Scott Adkins, and fellow action stalwarts Donnie Yen and Hiroyuki Sanada. Rounding out the cast are Rina Sawayama, and Shamier Anderson, and franchise regular Lance Reddick, all next to titular franchise star Keanu Reeves as he returns to his journey as the afflicted ex-hitman now on the run from his very criminal underworld after avenging the murder of his canine keepsake in the first film, killing a member of the high table who attempted to silence him after a job, and fighting back against high table only to be betrayed and left for dead. If you’ve […]

X VENGEANCE: JuJu Chan Szeto Leads Australian Action Thriller Shooting This Fall

Lee B. Golden III

Antony Szeto (Jackie Chan Presents: Wushu) will direct Aussie action thriller, X Vengeance. The film was announced over the weekend at the Cannes Marché du Film by Ken DuBow for US-based Access Entertainment. As Jeremy Kay’s report via Screen notes, the film marks an on-set reunion for the director actress and martial arts star JuJu Chan Szeto (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny). Their previous credits include Szeto’s Palace Of The Damned (2013) and Roger Corman’s Fist Of The Dragon (2014). Plot details are under wraps save for what Kay’s report states of the film’s setting which is in “north Queensland’s beaches and rainforests”. Also starring are Australian-Chinese actor Chris Pang (Crazy Rich Asians, Roger Corman’s Fist Of The Dragon) and Robert Mammone (The Condemned), with cameras set to roll this October ahead of a Spring 2022 rollout. Madd Films’ Tim Maddocks and Filmworks’ Janice Eymann are producing with […]

GWEILO: Bryan Larkin And Ko Shibasaki Topline Action Crime Thriller For ‘Legacy Of Lies’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Adrian Bol, who scored some fanfare in the past year with Scott Adkins headliner, Legacy Of Lies, will next direct action crime thriller, Gweilo, starring Bryan Larkin (London Has Fallen, Chasing The Dragon) and actress Ko Shibasaki (47 Ronin, Baragaki: Unbroken Samurai). Larkin is also penning the script with Rick Romano producing for Firemagine Pictures, and with TDP Films’ Julien P. Bourgon serving as exec producer. Gweilo follows a former SAS captain (Larkin) with a troubled past who abandons his estranged family to avoid facing life behind bars. He travels to Hong Kong where the promise of a new life awaits and his value as a soldier is used to full effect by a charismatic fixer, who recruits him as a hitman. Haunted by his past and the sudden appearance of a fiery and street-wise Chinese girl, his plans go off the rails, forcing him to turn against his employer (Shibasaki). Together, they navigate […]

JUNG-E: Kim Hyun-Joo Ends Film Hiatus To Lead ‘Train To Busan’ Director’s Sci-Fi War Epic

Lee B. Golden III

Celebrated director Yeon Sang-ho (Train To Busan, Peninsula, Hellbound) is currently in production with futuristic sci-fi, tentatively titled Jung-E, as announced by Netflix earlier this week. The film stars actresses Kim Hyun-joo and Kang Soo-youn, and actor Ryu Kyung-soo (A Resistance, Itaewon Class, Lovestruck in the City) from a script storied and written by Yeon. Per the streamer, “The setting of this film is in the 22nd century where climate changes have made Earth uninhabitable, and humans are living in a man-made shelter. An internal war breaks out, and its outcome hinges on the success of brain cloning technology of the legendary robot mercenary Jung-E.” Kim, whose prominent career on television took hold following her last film appearance in Kim Do-hyuk’s Shin Suk-ki Blues (2004), makes her feature film return here in Jung-E now in a titular capacity – the role billed as “the most elite soldier of the allied forces fighting […]

Scott Adkins Joins The Fourth Installment Of The JOHN WICK Saga

Lee B. Golden III

Filming on the fourth installment of the John Wick saga has already begun and with a cast that already bodes with promise. Late Tuesday, that roster got a little bigger with word actor and martial arts film star Scott Adkins is in talks a role in the hitman franchise, joining him with Keanu Reeves, Rina Sawayama, and Shamier Anderson, and screen action legends Hiroyuki Sanada and Donnie Yen. The move notably also marks a reunion between Yen and Adkins who fought each other to the brutal finish in the fourth and final chapter of the Yen-led Ip Man saga, Ip Man 4: The Finale, which released in the U.S. via Well Go USA. Beyond that, Adkins has long been a favorite since his heyday as an up-and-coming TV actor and stunt performer; his credits partly include having worked on Jackie Chan’s The Accidental Spy and The Medallion, Louis Leterrier’s Unleashed […]

RUPTURE: UK Actor And Martial Artist Mark Strange Set To Star In Ranjeet S. Marwa’s New Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Pre-production has started for independent action thriller, Rupture, which has actor and martial artist Mark Strange (Ip Man 4: The Finale, Redcon-1) set to star. Cameras will roll in July in Birmingham, U.K. with Ranjeet S. Marwa (upcoming Exiled: The Chosen Ones) directing from a script and story treatment from Daniel White. Raven, a recently freed man from prison must confront the people who put him inside. However, revenge is not always the answer, redemption is. The project was moved up in light of Marwa having to push back a seperate project titled Berzerker, which would have had Malaysian actor and action star Hairul Azreen (Paskal, Wira) on set in the U.K. by now. I’m told that scheduling was the reason for the delay in addition to mitigating factors pertaining to the pandemic. The decision has also allowed Marwa to develop the project a little more in time for Azreen’s […]

HAVOC: Timothy Olyphant, UFC Fighter Michelle Waterson, Action Star Sunny Pang And More Added To The Cast

Lee B. Golden III

Director Gareth Evans (Apostle) shot his shot earlier this year with Netflix, scoring a major deal to produce several projects in a creative partnership with the streamer. The first to come will be Havoc, as announced back in February with Tom Hardy and Forest Whitaker set to star. As of Monday, more names are being added to the roster including Timothy Olyphant (FX’s Justified, Disney+’s The Mandalorian), Justin Cornwell (CBS’s Training Day, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy), Jessie Mei Li (Netflix’s Shadow And Bone, upcoming Last Night in Soho), Malaysia’s Yeo Yann Yann (Wet Season, Lee Chong Wei). In addition, actor Luis Guzmán will also star in a supporting line-up next to Quelin Sepulveda, UFC mixed martial artist Michelle Waterson, and The Night Comes For Us star Sunny Pang. After a drug deal gone wrong, a bruised detective must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged […]

Screen-Shot-2021-03-17-at-2.37.37-PM-1280x720.png

JOHN WICK 4 Casts Hiroyuki Sanada

Lee B. Golden III

Deadline is reporting that the next chapter of John Wick will have Hiroyuki Sanada on board for the cast. This a big, major development that’s likely been waiting to happen since prior to the third film’s shoot when That Hashtag Show first gave rise to rumors of the actor’s involvement in January 2018. It was definitely an exciting prospect that finally looks to be a reality for fans of the hit assassin franchise. At any rate, the move marks a long-awaited reunion for the actor alongside 47 Ronin cohort Keanu Reeves who leads the franchise for a fourth and hopefully fifth outing as hyped in previous interviews from director Chad Stahelski. For relative fans of Asian movies and action films, Sanada is best known for his staunch 55-year career starring for directors such as Teruo Ishii, Kinji Fukusaku, Yoji Yamada and Corey Yuen among others; Western audiences know better the […]

Screenshot_20210616-112625_Photo Editor.jpg

THE DIVE: Survival Thriller Heads Up New Production/Sales Partnership For augenschein and Protagonist

Lee B. Golden III

Sophie Lowe and Louisa Krause are set to star in elevated survival thriller, The Dive, from rising German filmmaker Maximilian Erlenwein. Principal photography on will commence in mid-August on location in Malta and Germany. The official logline for The Dive reads as follows, according to augenschein: “A dive at one of the world’s most remote spots becomes a fight for survival for sisters Drew (25) and May (30), when rocks tumble into the sea after a landslide, trapping May in the deep. As their oxygen runs low, Drew is forced to make a decision on life and death all by herself, with no help in sight…” The film is the first to emerge in a new slate stemming from a partnership between augenschein Sales and production, finance and sales outfit Protagonist Pictures. The two firms will co-represent worldwide rights on The Dive, as well as future select feature film titles […]

BANDIT: Josh Duhmael-Led Crime Thriller Adds Nestor Carbonell

Lee B. Golden III

Filming is currently underway in Georgia for Allan Ungar’s new action crime thriller, Bandit, and with the addition of actor Nestor Carbonell (Lost, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises) announced on Tuesday. Highland Film Group is handling international sales on the project which joins Carbonell with a lead cast that includes Mel Gibson, Josh Duhamel, and Elisha Cuthbert. Ungar directs from a script by Kraig Wenman, based on author Robert Knuckle’s best-selling novel, as well as journalist Ed Arnold’s interviews with the film’s real-life inspiration, Gilbert Galvan Jr. – a.k.a. Robert Whiteman when he was dubbed the Flying Bandit in 1987. Duhmael takes on the moniker of the man himself who successfully got away with 63 bank and jewelry heists during his notorious crime spree. After escaping from a US prison and crossing the border into Canada under a new identity. He falls in love and marries Andrea (Cuthbert), […]

THE ENFORCER Enlists Antonio Banderas To Star From Millenium Media

Lee B. Golden III

Anyone else up for another Antonio Banderas-led turn at the action genre? Take a gander at Richard Hughes’ The Enforcer, which launches sales for the virtual Cannes market this month from Millennium Media. Set in Miami, the story follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cybersex trafficking, putting a young runaway he has befriended at risk. The enforcer sets out to sacrifice everything to save the young girl from the deadly organisation he has spent his life building. Banderas, who joins Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg for Sony’s upcoming action adventure, Uncharted, will star from a script by W. Peter Iliff who penned both Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break and the 2015 reboot among other credits. As Screen Daily reports, “Rob Van Norden, Yariv Lerner, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, and Les Weldon of Millennium Media are producing alongside Natalie Burn of Born to Burn Films. […]