Casting Bits: John Cusack And Johnny Knoxville In ‘Carnaval’, Katherine LaNasa In ‘Dog Fight’ And ‘The Frozen Ground’, Vanessa Redgrave, Melanie Laurent In ‘Night Train To Lisbon’
John CusackandJohnny Knoxvilleare set to star inCarnaval, a comedy directed byJosh Stern. Cusack will play a sports scout who tavels to Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval to sign a soccer star, while Knoxville has been cast as Cusack’s musician best friend who tags along. Cusack’s character needs to bring the player on board so that he can take over his agency, but his plans go awry when Knoxville’s character sleeps with the player’s girlfriend.Carnavalwill begin shooting in Rio this January.
Knoxville’s been on a roll lately in terms of landing roles. Over the past few months, he’s signed on for the teen comedyFun Size, anuntitled camping comedywith Patton Oswalt, and the Arnold Schwarzenegger action flickThe Last Stand. Cusack also has a handful of movies lined up for next year, including Lee Daniels’The Paperboy, the Edgar Allan Poe thrillerThe Raven, and the serial killer dramaThe Frozen Ground. [The Hollywood Reporter]
After the jump, TV actress Katherine LaNasa gains two movie husbands, and a whole bunch of people boardNight Train to Lisbon.
The Frozen Groundis one of two gigs that LaNasa has recently picked up. The other,Jay Roach’sDog Fight(formerly titledSouthern Rivals, and then justRivals) should be much lighter. The comedy follows two politicians (Will FerrellandZack Galifianakis) running against each other in a congressional district race in South Carolina. LaNasa will play Ferrell’s wife, whileSarah Bakerwill co-star as Galifianakis'.
LaNasa’s extensive small-screen work includes parts inTwo and a Half MenandBig Love, but she’s been gravitating toward film roles as of late. Her most notable upcoming gig isJayne Mansfield’s Car, directed by Billy Bob Thornton and co-starring Kevin Bacon, Ray Stevenson, and John Hurt. [The Hollywood Reporter]
We haven’t heard much aboutBille August’sNight Train to LisbonsinceJeremy Ironsjoinedback in June, but a slew of intriguing names have just become attached to the project.Vanessa Redgrave,Melanie Laurent,Bruno Ganz,Christopher Lee,Lena Olin,Martina Gedeck, andJack Hustonwill also star in the thriller, an adaptation ofPascal Mercier’s bestselling novel. They’ll be joined byAugust Diehl,Nicolau Breyner,Adriano Luz,Jose Wallenstein, andBeatriz Batarda, all of whom were also recently announced for the picture.
The plot centers around a Swiss classics professor who saves a mysterious Portuguese woman from jumping to her death. Soon afterward, he falls in love with a Portuguese novel that inspires him to quit his job and travel to Lisbon in order to learn more about its writer. It is not clear at this point which actors will be playing which characters. The existential thriller is scheduled to begin shooting in March. [Variety]
