The latest batch of casting news concerns the latest projects from one Hollywood icon and two decorated auteurs: Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, Chan-wook Park’s Stoker, and Danny Boyle’s Trance.
Just about every noteworthy actor under the sun (and we mean everybody) seems to be signing up for Spielberg’s biopic about the 16th U.S. president, who will be brought to life by multiple Academy Award-winner Daniel Day-Lewis. It goes without saying that this is shaping up to be a major critical hit when it arrives in theaters next year.
Deadline is reporting that the latest addition to the Lincoln cast is Lee Pace, who some still know best as Ned the pie maker from the now-defunct Pushing Daisies. Seeing how he’ll next be starring in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn and is going to play the Elven King Thranduil in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, it’s only a matter of time before more people learn Pace’s name.
Lincoln is based on the popular non-fiction book “Team of Rivals” by Pulitzer Prize-winner Doris Kearns Goodwin, and is expected to focus primarily on Honest Abe’s time in office, dealing with the Civil War. Spielberg’s Munich scriber (and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright) Tony Kushner is co-writing the film adaptation with Kearns.
Spielberg’s film already has a dream cast and will definitely boast some great production values as well. Expect the project to realize its 19th century setting with excellent attention to detail – lest it pale in comparison to another upcoming Lincoln movie, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
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Stoker
Even as many fans continue steaming over the news about Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy being given the Hollywood remake treatment, the Korean filmmaker is prepping his first English-language movie, Stoker. The mysterious project (which is not a vampire tale, despite previous rumors) was scripted by actor Wentworth Miller (Resident Evil: Afterlife), under the pseudonym “Ted Foulke.”
Deadline has learned that Oscar-nominee Jacki Weaver has signed on for Park’s film, which revolves around a grieving teenager (Mia Wasikowska) whose mourning for her recently-deceased father is interrupted by the arrival of her estranged and eccentric uncle (Matthew Goode). Weaver will presumably be playing a matriarchal figure of sorts – and if you’re familiar with her turn as the sinister mother in Animal Kingdom, then you know this is definitely a plus for Stoker.
Foreign filmmakers often struggle to maintain the quality of their previous work when they make their first picture in the States (see: Kar Wai Wong’s My Blueberry Nights). There are notable exceptions, like John Woo, and Park has already helped his case by recruiting admirable starlets like Weaver and Nicole Kidman to appear in Stoker. So here’s to hoping that nothing gets lost in translation.
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Trance
Danny Boyle’s followup to the Oscar-nominated 127 Hours is going to be Trance, a film that’ll see the director get back to his edgy genre roots. Although the project is slated to begin shooting this fall, it won’t be ready for release until early 2013, due to Boyle’s commitments as the creative consultant behind the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
James McAvoy is all but officially set to star in Trance as an art house employee who aids a gang of criminals in a heist-gone-wrong. Deadline is saying that Rosario Dawson (Sin City) has snagged the female lead role – a femme fatale who “develops an unusual relationship” with both McAvoy’s character and the vicious gang leader. Black Swan‘s Vincent Cassel is in negotiations for that part, which was originally to be taken by McAvoy’s X-Men: First Class costar, Michael Fassbender.
Trance is the sort of gritty caper flick with a twist that seems right up Boyle’s alley, as a director. His films are always very slick in construction and never fail to make an impression (even if it isn’t a perfect one). Suffice it to say, Trance doesn’t sound like it will be the exception.
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Stoker is expected to reach theaters first, possibly by Fall 2012.
Lincoln should reach theaters no later than December 2012.
Trance is tentatively eying a March 2013 release date.
We’ll let you know when any one of these films has secured an official U.S. release date.
