This week:
The White House gets crowded in Olympus Has Fallen; Michael Keaton joins Larry David and Jon Hamm in Greg Mottola’s latest laugher; Will Smith gets jiggy directing The Redemption Of Cain; Walter Hill decides to find out What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and we get our first look at the new Q in Skyfall.
Olympus Has Fallen (nick-named Die Hard in the White House) has attached even more talent. Ashley Judd, Robert Forster, Cole Hauser, Radha Mitchell, Melissa Leo and Rick Yune have joined the cast of the Antoine Fuqua directed film, which has just started shooting.
According to THR:
“Gerard Butler is playing an unlikely Secret Service agent trying to stop Korean terrorists who have taken over the White House and take the president (Aaron Eckhart) hostage. Judd will play the first lady. Forrester will play a high-ranking general who is forced to deal with the nuke-loving terrorists.”
Ironically, Hauser has just wrapped A Good Day to Die Hard.
Yippee-ki-yay…
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Michael Keaton looks set to join Larry David and Jon Hamm in Greg Mottola’s next, as yet untitled film.
According to Variety:
“[The] plot is said to involve David and Hamm as characters who each invest in an electric-car company with different goals in mind. When the car becomes a success, David’s character gets his investment back, while Hamm’s businessman becomes extremely rich, causing tension between the duo. Keaton is being recruited to play a crazy businessman named Stumpo, who is David’s friend.”
Consider me there.
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Will Smith might be getting ‘jiggy with it’ from the director’s chair.
The Men In Black star is eyeing directing duties on The Redemption of Cain – which is presumably the vampire tinged The Legend of Cain that was announced last year.
It’s still in development and it won’t hit screens for a while. Smith is already a box office powerhouse, a heavy-hitting producer and a multi-million album selling musical artiste. Why shouldn’t he direct?
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Walter Hill is known mainly for his gritty, macho action pictures, so it’s a surprise to discover that he’s developing a remake of Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
According to THR:
“Hill will adapt the screenplay from Lukas Heller’s screenplay for the original film, which in turn was based on Henry Farrell’s novel.”
Adell Aldrich (daughter of Robert) will produce alongside Walter Hill, who has just completed the Sylvester Stallone actioner Bullet To The Head.
So, it’s now time to start guessing about which ageing actresses will be slipping into the shoes of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
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It has been confirmed that Ben Whishaw will indeed be playing Q in the latest Daniel Craig starring James Bond adventure, Skyfall.
Skyfall’s producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said:
“It’s a real thrill to confirm the return of Q in Skyfall played by the enormously talented, Ben Whishaw. We are delighted to have this beloved character back in the series.”
Whishaw is the fourth actor to play the Q (stands for quartermaster), following in the footsteps of Peter Burton, the legendary Desmond Llewelyn and John Cleese (who started off as R, but got ‘prompted’ to Q in Die Another Day).
Ssshplendid
That’s it for now. See you at the movies.
