Casting Notes: Christoph Waltz In Water For Elephants; Hugh Jackman In Avon Man; Ben Stiller Replaces Eddie Murphy

Casting Notes: Christoph Waltz In Water For Elephants; Hugh Jackman In Avon Man; Ben Stiller Replaces Eddie Murphy

While I’m not wild aboutFrancis LawrencedirectingWater for Elephants, some of thecast additionshave me more and more interested. We already knew thatRobert PattinsonandReese Witherspoonwould be the primary leads for the picture, which takes place in a low-rent traveling circus.Sean Pennwas in the mix as one supporting role, but nowChristoph Waltzis replacing him as the antagonist, according toDeadline Hollywood. (I’d originally reported that Waltz and Penn were both in the film; that seems to be incorrect.)

Waltz and Witherspoon are a married couple working in the circus; Pattinson is the young vet who signs on to care for the outfit’s menagerie after the death of his parents. He falls in love with Witherspoon’s character and has to deal with her paranoid schizophrenic animal trainer husband. With Penn gone, we still need to know who plays Uncle Al, the impresario who runs the show.

After the break, Hugh Jackman sells cosmetics for director Kevin Lima, and Ben Stiller plans a heist.

The fact thatHugh Jackmansigned on toAvon Manis old news — summer of ‘09 to be exact — but we never covered it, so I’ll useProduction Weekly’s announcementthat the film will shoot this April in Atlanta to bring it to the attention of those who may have missed the news.HitchwriterKevin Bischscripted, andKevin Lima(Enchanted) will direct.

Here’s the story:

Jackman is one of a number of men laid off from an auto dealership. [He] is reluctantly recruited into becoming an Avon salesman, and while the experience is initially emasculating, he uses his charm and good looks to become a top seller. The comedy takes on a “Full Monty” vibe when the car salesman sets out to save his financially strapped family and town by conscripting his buddies into the makeup business to win a regional contest.

Finally,Ben Stilleris joiningTrump Heist, said to be a “black Ocean’s Eleven,” possibly as a replacement for Eddie Murphy. The film is about workmen who plan to rob the residents of New York’s Trump Tower, where they happen to be employed. If this goes through, a rewrite will likely ensue. (Can’t really have a “black Ocean’s Eleven” with Stiller in the lead.)

I like the idea of casting Stiller against type as the mastermind of a heist, but hope that the rewrite doesn’t rob the movie of teeth. The LA Times also says that the film could be retitledTower Heist(yawn) and doesn’t have any news on whether other proposed cast membersChris RockandChris Tuckerare likely to stay on. A black heist film with Trump Towers as the object of the crime could be socially and politically loaded; if the script is any good, that would be really interesting to see. Oh, wait:Brett Ratneris the director. Never mind.