Casting

Survival Thriller NOT WITHOUT HOPE Taps Zachary Levi To Star, Joe Carnahan To Direct Based On NY Times Best-Seller

Joe Carnahan will write and direct Not Without Hope, which is casting Zachary Levi (upcoming Shazam! Fury of the Gods) in the lead for the film’s April shoot in Louisana. The film centers on four best friends – Nick Schuyler (Levi) and Will Bleakley, and NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith – for whom a fishing trip from Clearwater, Florida to their favorite spot seventy miles out in the Gulf Of Mexico turns into a nightmare scenario. A trapped anchor causes their boat to capsize, violently throwing them into the freezing ocean just as a severe storm heads their way. With the U.S. Coast Guard’s air and sea rescue mission thwarted by the ferocity of the massive storm, the group must fight to survive in the ultimate test of teamwork and endurance. Carnahan is also producing the pic from his own script based on the New York Times best-selling non-fiction novel of the […]

87North’s BALLERINA OVERDRIVE Casts Up, Taps ‘Close’ And ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Momentum is picking up for Born Of War and Close helmer Vicky Jewson’s Ballerina Overdrive, which is launching ahead of the EFM market with The Veterans repping international and CAA for domestic. The project is revving up as a hot action package at this point as Jewson, who recently directed The Witcher: Blood Origin, is being joined by Kelly McCormick, David Leitch and Annie Marter who will produce the pic via 87 North, the company behind action Kate, Bullet Train and Violent Night to name a few. What’s more is that Heidi and Renae Moneymaker, best known for their combined total experience of 144 film credits in stunt performance excellence, are tapped to design the film’s balletic action sequences according to Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman. Rounding out the current cast is Lena Headey, Yara Shahidi, Isabela Merced, Iris Apatow, Millicent Simmonds and Lana Condor, from Afterlife scribe Kate Freund “about a […]

RACHEL: Hannah John-Kamen And Theo Rossi Topline Jenn Wexler’s New Sci-Fi Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Production is set to start this spring in Minnesota as Hannah John-Kamen (Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp and the upcoming Thunderbolts) and Theo Rossi (FX’s “Sons of Anarchy,” Emily the Criminal) are both set to star in the new sci-fi thriller, Rachel. The film will be directed by Jenn Wexler who debut-directed SXSW horror film The Ranger and is completing post-production on The Sacrifice Game, starring Mena Massoud and Olivia Scott Welch, and is written by playwright Vincent Delaney. In Wexler’s Rachel, John-Kamen will star in the title role, described as “a new mother with the perfect life except she doesn’t recall the recent birth of her baby boy or even being pregnant. Her cookie-cutter husband Stephen (Rossi) deflects her probing questions as strange neighbors begin stalking her. Flooded with memories of an 11-year-old girl who seemed to be her daughter, Rachel’s perfectly constructed world begins to tear apart. Is […]

GUNNER: ‘Kickboxer’ Reboot Director Casts Luke Hemsworth To Star

Lee B. Golden III

HBO series Westworld may be over but actor Luke Hemsworth is still going strong as he’s now poised to take on the lead role in action thriller, Gunner, as Deadline’s Matt Grobar noted on Monday. What’s more though is it will have Dimitri Logothetis directing from a script by Gary Scott Thompson, last reported to be priming a series turn for the Kickboxer franchise as of late last year. More on Gunner: The film written by The Fast and the Furious scribe Gary Scott Thompson follows Special forces veteran Lee Gunner (Hemsworth) as he takes his two boys on a camping trip where the boys stumble upon a fentanyl lab and are kidnapped by drug runners. Unfortunately for the drug runners, Lee will stop at nothing to get his boys back safely, going up against not only the criminal cartel, but the FBI and local police as well, using the […]

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PLACE OF BONES: New Western Casts Tom Hopper, Heather Graham For Highland Sales At EFM

Lee B. Golden III

Heather Graham (Half Magic, The Hangover) and Tom Hopper (Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy,” Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard) will star in upcoming Western, Place Of Bones, along with UFC welterweight and mixed martial artist Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (The Equalizer 2, Netflix’s Spenser Confidential) and Corin Nemec (Showtime’s “Stargate SG-1,” Joe Baby, Run Hide Fight). Audrey Cummings (She Never Died, Netflix’s hit comedy-drama “Ginny & Georgia”) is directing from a script written by Richard Taylor. Eric Gozlan is producing under his Goldrush Entertainment banner, next to for Latigo Films which is also co-financing. David Lipper and Robert A. Daly Jr. Tom Whiteman is exec producing the film which recently wrapped in Los Angeles and will take to the European Film Market for world sales agent Highland Film Group. Set in the Wild West of 1876, a botched bank robbery sees vicious outlaw gang leader Bear John (Hopper) feverishly hunting down his traitorous accomplice, […]

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OLD GUY: Christoph Waltz Leads New Action Comedy From ‘Con Air’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Christoph Waltz (No Time to Die, Big Eyes, Inglourious Basterds) is set to star in Old Guy, a new action comedy from director Simon West (The Expendables 2, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Mechanic). Highland Film Group is co-financing and handling worldwide rights on the pic at this year’s EFM, with cameras looking to roll in early 2023 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. West directs from a script by Greg Johnson (The Last Son), the story of Terry Eubanks (Waltz), an aging contract killer who still believes he’s the best at what he does. Stuck at a dead end, Terry is thrilled when The Company pulls him back in the field, but only to train Gen Z newcomer Wihlborg, a prodigy assassin with an attitude. The mismatched duo is asked to eliminate top members of a competing crime syndicate and, in the process, uncover their employer’s true motive: removing the old […]

DEAD MAN’S HAND: Grindstone Nabs Newly Wrapped Western Revenge Thriller From ‘The 2nd’ Helmer

Lee B. Golden III

Grindstone Entertainment Group has acquired the North American rights to Dead Man’s Hand, the new Western thriller that just completed production in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pic hails from Milestone Studios and stars Stephen Dorff (HBO’s “True Detective”), Jack Kilmer (The Nice Guys, Val), and Cole Hauser (“Yellowstone”). Written, directed, and produced by Brian Skiba (The 2nd, Pursuit) under his banner SkibaVision, the film is based on the story of popular graphic novel, “No Rest of the Wicked – Dead Man’s Hand”, from authors Kevin Minor and Matthew Minor. Producing are Laurie Love and Jim Burleson, with Alan B. Bursteen, Dawn Bursteen, Barry Brooker and Stan Wertlieb exec producing. Kilmer plays Reno, a newly married gunfighter, hangs up his six-shooters when he says “I do” to his bride, Vegas. But when Reno kills a bandit in self-defense, the bandit’s brother, the ruthless Mayor Clarence Bishop (Dorff), will not let his […]

Netflix Takes On CITY HUNTER With Ryohei Suzuki Starring In 2024

Lee B. Golden III

Netflix just released its first look at actor Ryohei Suzuki (Hentai Kamen 1 & 2, Tokyo MER franchise) in the title role of City Hunter. The live-action feature adaptation of Tsukasa Hojo’s hit manga is being directed by Yuichi Sato (Strawberry Nights, The End of the Tiny World), from a script by Tatsuro Mishima. Netflix describes the project as “a modern-day updated version of the manga, set in the bustling streets of Shinjuku. The streamer has set a 2024 target launch for the film. “When Ryo’s partner Makimura is killed,” the longline adds, “he and Makimura’s sister Kaori team up to find out the truth, thus forming a new duo.” The film hails from Netflix and Tokyo-based outlets Horipro and Office Shirous. Keisuke Sanpei and Kosuke Oshida are producing the pic with Shinichi Takahashi serving as exec producer, with a release date to be set in 2024 according to multiple trade […]

THE BOOK OF CLARENCE Announces Production And Cast Details

Lee B. Golden III

Filming is underway for The Book of Clarence, the latest from The Harder They Fall helmer Jeymes Samuel. Production was announced on Tuesday with Samuel directing from his own script, as well as producing and scoring. Samuel is rejoined by The Harder They Fall cohorts, LaKeith Stanfield, who stars in the title role and actor RJ Cyler. The film also stars Omar Sy, Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy, Anna Diop, Teyana Taylor, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, along with Caleb McLaughlin, Babs Olusanmokun, Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Nicholas Pinnock, Micheal Ward, Chase Dillon, Tom Glynn-Carney, and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor. Inspired by classic Hollywood epics set in biblical times, The Book of Clarence tells the tale of “Clarence,” a down on his luck denizen of Jerusalem embarking on a misguided attempt to capitalize on the rise of celebrity and influence of the Messiah for his own personal gain — a journey that leads […]

Bruce Lee Biopic Gets New Life At Sony Division, Ang Lee Tapped To Direct Son In The Lead Role

Lee B. Golden III

Media mogul Shannon Lee has been pursuing a biopic about her late father, actor and martial arts sensation Bruce Lee for years but now it looks like we have a solid footing over at Sony’s 3000 Pictures. What’s more is that celebrated Life Of Pi, Hulk and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director Ang Lee is on deck to direct the film with none other than his son, Mason Lee (The Hangover II, Who Killed Cock Robin?) attached to play the part of the screen legend. The film had been in the works as of 2015 for Bruce Lee’s daughter who launched Bruce Lee Enterprises a year prior. One project would have seen the then-titled “Little Dragon” with Shekaur Kapur at the helm as of its announcement back in 2017 which unfortunately never came to pass, while other screen incarnations of her father would materialize through George Nolfi’s Birth Of The […]

ULTERIOR Taps ‘Money Heist’ Star Alba Flores To Head Up New Sci-Fi Thriller Series

Lee B. Golden III

Actress Alba Flores is set to star in new sci-fi thriller series, Ulterior. L.A.-based Upgrade Productions is partnering with Spain’s Morena Films, with Flores rejoined by Alex Rodrigo who is creating the series alongside Manuel Burque, and with Flores exec producing alongside Morena’s Pedro Uriol (Disney+’s “The Invisible Girl,” Paramount+’s “The Invisible Ladies,” Netflix’s “Below Zero”). The eight-part Spanish-language series reads as follows: “In a society with an increasingly low tolerance for suffering, Hevǝn is a company that offers its customers the opportunity to virtually connect to a simulation of their own lives where they can erase every painful memory, leaving only happiness. But when Ada, a successful singer and influencer, wakes up in a life that she does not recognize, she must play along in order to return to her real life, a life that she isn’t sure actually exists. Now, with the help of a mysterious stranger, she […]

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SAND AND STONES: Nic Cage Tapped To Star And Produce Dystopian Survival Thriller From ‘The Trust’ Co-Director

Lee B. Golden III

Ben Brewer, lead VFX artist for A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once, will reunite with actor Nicolas Cage for the survival-action thriller Sand And Stones. Cage is set to star from a script by Michael Nilon (Braven), who also reunites with the actor to produce the pic after working on numerous titles together, including The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, and crime thriller The Trust which Brewer co-directed with Alex Brewer. Sand And Stones sets Cage in the role of Paul, who lives in a sparsely populated future with his twin teenage sons, Thomas and Joseph. Together, the trio have managed to claw out an existence in their remote farmhouse, yet they live in constant fear. When the sun sets, ferocious creatures of the night awaken to hunt and consume all living souls in their path. And when Thomas makes one small mistake, the nocturnal creatures gain the upper hand […]

BERLÍN: Pedro Alonso Heads Up New Cast For ‘Money Heist’ Prequel Spin-Off Series

Lee B. Golden III

The creators of hit Netflix series, La Casa De Papel (a.k.a. Money Heist) are moving forward with prequel series spin-off, Berlín, according to announcements made this week and hinted several days prior at various news outlets. The cast was also announced on Wednesday via Twitter, listing Michelle Jenner, Tristán Ulloa, Begoña Vargas, Julio Peña Fernández, and Joel Sánchez, and with none other than leading man Pedro Alonso reprising his role from the aforementioned inaugural hit series. It’s been five years since the first season of La Casa De Papel landed on the streamer and became a supercharged hit running five seasons. The show features Alonso aligned with a ragtag team of thieves initiated by a brilliant-minded “Professor” as they spend months incognito preparing to rob the Spanish Royal Mint of nearly a billion Euros. The heist unravels in the first two seasons of the show as it toggles back and […]

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DEADPOOL 3 Claws Back In With Hugh Jackman As Wolverine

Lee B. Golden III

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman) Marvel Studios and 20th Century Studios are officially moving forward with a third installment of the Deadpool franchise, and as of Tuesday’s announcement from star Ryan Reynolds, with the addition of Hugh Jackman back in the saddle one more time as X-Men favorite, Wolverine. The rapport between Reynolds and Jackman dates back as far as the 2009 film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, with Jackman cameoing in a paper cutout at the tail-end of the Tim Miller’s inaugural Deadpool adaptation in 2016. David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 entrenched itself a little further into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with several more cameos of the recent X-Men cast. Shawn Levy is tapped to direct his Free Guy and The Adam Project star along with Jackman with franchise scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick for a September 6, 2024 release.

D23: MARVEL’S THUNDERBOLTS Casting Assembles For Phase Five Of The MCU

Lee B. Golden III

It’s all about D23 this weekend with news and events pouring out, including and not limited to the additions of Florence Pugh (Don’t Worry Darling), Sebastian Stan (Fresh), David Harbour (“Stranger Things”) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Downhill) for the production of Marvel’s Thunderbolts, according to Variety‘s E.J. Panaligan. The quartet will join actor Wyatt Russell who will reprise his role from Marvel’s Falcon And The Winter Soldier as John Walker a.k.a. U.S. Agent, Pugh and Louis-Dreyfus will reprise their roles as Yelena Belova and Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine following their respective appearances in Marvel’s Black Widow, Marvel’s Hawkeye, and Marvel’s Falcon And The Winter Soldier; Stan will tackle his recurring MCU role once more as Bucky Barnes a.k.a. The Winter Soldier with Harbour reclaiming the mantle as Alexei, a.k.a. Red Guardian. Also starring are Marvel’s Black Widow co-star Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster and Marvel’s Ant-Man And The Wasp co-star […]

LAND OF BAD Adds Luke Hemsworth, Milo Ventimiglia And More As Production Commences This Month

Lee B. Golden III

Action thriller Land Of Bad is adding Luke Hemsworth (Westworld), Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us), Ricky Whittle (American Gods) Daniel MacPherson (Poker Face, Foundation) and Chika Ikogwe (Heartbreak High) to the cast following announcements back in April. Will Eubank (Underwater, The Signal) will direct the film from a script he co-wrote with David Frigerio (The Signal) as cameras roll on the Gold Coast and South East Queensland starting this month. In Land Of Bad, when a Delta Force spec ops mission in the Philippines goes terribly wrong, Air Force drone pilot Reaper (Crowe), has 48 hours to remedy what has devolved into a wild rescue operation. The Tier-One team, led by Cpt. Sugar (Ventimigila) and Sgt. Abel (Luke Hemsworth) is re-deployed to return and retrieve their captured man and the asset, joined by Kinney (Liam Hemsworth), a green Air Force JTAC officer, who is thrust into the middle of a […]

HOUSE OF NINJAS Netflix Series Drama About Modern Day Ninjas Announces Cast

Lee B. Golden III

From Today, It’s My Turn!! star Kento Kaku is one of a sextet of headliners formally announced on Thursday for the new Netflix series, House Of Ninjas. The cast also lists Yosuke Eguchi (Rurouni Kenshin franchise), Tae Kimura (Wilderness: Part 1 and Part 2), Kengo Kora (Shoplifters, Aristocrats), Aju Makita (Pure Japanese), and Nobuko Miyamoto (BL Metamorphosis, The Tale Of Princess Kaguya). Dave Boyle (Big Dreams Little Tokyo, Man From Reno) is directing from a script he penned with Masahiro Yamaura, Kota Oura, and Kanna Kimura, based on a story created by Kaku along with Yoshiaki Murao, Takafumi Imai. Here is the logline: Ninjas were a fixture of milestones in Japanese history, and even now they’re taking on secret missions behind the curtain of Japanese society. Set in modern Japan, this series tells the story of the Tawara family, the last ninja family that had abandoned its roots after a […]

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: Kinnaman Takes Cage For A Ride In New Psych-Thriller Now Filming

Lee B. Golden III

Cameras are now rolling in Las Vegas for Sympathy For The Devil, the new psychological thriller from The Operative helmer Yuval Adler. Casting buzz on Tuesday brought word of actors Joel Kinnaman (The Suicide Squad) and Nicolas Cage (Willy’s Wonderland) who will star in the pic from a script by Luke Paradise. Sympathy For The Devil “follows “The Driver” (Kinnaman) who finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse after being forced to drive a mysterious man, “The Passenger” (Cage). As their white-knuckle ride progresses, it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.” Christian Mercuri’s Capstone Studios has reteamed with Alex Lebovici’s Hammerstone Studios and Signature Films to produce since collaborating on Moritz Mohr’s upcoming Boy Kills World. Allan Ungar is producing with Mercuri, next to Stuart Manashil, and Signature’s Marc Goldberg. Lebovici is exec producing with David Haring, David Sullivan, Jason Soto, Tim Moore, Courtney […]

BERLIN NOBODY: ‘Stranger Things’ Star Sadie Sink Joins Thriller Production Now Underway

Lee B. Golden III

“Stranger Things” series co-star Sadie Sink is the latest to join the cast of Berlin Nobody, the new thriller from director Jordan Scott for which principal photography is now underway in Berlin. Sink joins Sophie Rois (Drei and Der Architekt) and German rising star Jonas (The Golden Glove), and Eric Bana (Hana) with a script by Scott based on Nicholas Hogg’s 2015 novel “Tokyo.” Berlin Nobody “follows American ex-pat and social psychologist Ben Monroe (Bana) who relocates to Berlin to further his research on the epidemic of cult mentality. While he immerses himself in German cultism, his rebellious teenage daughter, Mazzy (Sink), becomes entwined with a mysterious and enigmatic local boy (Dassler). As these two worlds collide, Mazzy finds herself in great danger and Ben will need to race against the clock to save his daughter.” Scott Free’s Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss are producing alongside augenschein Filmproduktion’s Jonas Katzenstein […]

SLEEPING DOGS: Russell Crowe To Star In New Nickel City Crime Thriller Adaptation

Lee B. Golden III

Assassins Creed and Exodus: Gods and Kings scribes Adam Cooper and Bill Collage are on track for upcoming novel adaptation, Sleeping Dogs, which shoots this January. Academy Award winning actor Russell Crowe (Gladiator, upcoming Poker Face) is set to star in the pic with Cooper making his directorial debut for Nickel City Pictures. Based on E.O. Chirovici’s critically acclaimed novel, “The Book Of Mirrors”, Crowe will play Roy Freeman, a homicide detective tasked with re-examining a past brutal murder case in the wake of a cutting-edge Alzheimer’s treatment. When a death row inmate he arrested ten years prior steps up to proclaim his innocence, Roy enlists his former partner to help him revive the investigation and discover the truth. This time though, things unfold very differently: As he uncovers a tangled web of contradictions and secrets, Roy is forced to face a horrific reality that changes his world forever in […]