Casting Notes: Danny McBride In Bullies, Sam Worthington Offered This Means War; Nicole Kidman And Nicolas Cage In Trespass; Clive Owen And Nicole Kidman In Hemingway & Gellhorn
I love seeingDanny McBridebreak out as a legit talent —The Foot Fist Way,Tropic ThunderandPineapple Expressgot him in front of audiences, but the HBO showEastbound and Downreally made his name. Now, as the second season of that show prepares to air, there’s word that McBride will get to star inBullies, based on his own story idea.
The film follows “two brothers who finally get a comeuppance after bullying people their whole lives.” Curious to hear who’ll co-star with McBride (the plot sounds like it could so easily be a Will Ferrell / John C. Reilly affair) but we do know thatAndrew MogelandJarrad Paulwill write, and McBride will produce withDavid Gordon Green,Jody HillandMatt Reilly. [Deadline]
After the break, loads more casting info, including new work (maybe) for Sam Worthington, Nicole Kidman, Nicolas Cage and Clive Owen.
McGispreppingThis Means War, withChris Pineas one half of a best-friend pair who also happen to be (a) spies and (b) in love with the same woman, played byReese Witherspoon. The two friends get into city-wide warfare with each other when their romantic intentions clash. NowSam Worthingtonhas been offered the other lead male role. (There was a minute where Seth Rogen was said to be one of the options for the role.) But the film has been around for over ten years; it was originally written as a Martin Lawrence vehicle. It’s been rewritten numerous times and had a parade of stars and directors attached. Supposedly the movie is a priority at Fox, but I’ll believe it when cameras actually roll. [Vulture]
Undeterred by thecritical savagingof his Sundance entryTwelveor thedistributor indifferenceto his dumped filmBlood Creek,Joel Schumacheris getting right back into the game with a new action-adventure filmTrespass. He’s lined upNicolas CageandNicole Kidmanto star as “a husband and wife taken hostage by four brutal perpetrators seeking easy cash. Complications ensue amid the unexpected discovery of betrayal and deception.” [Variety]
Nicole Kidman is also now booked to co-star oppositeClive OweninHemingway & Gellhorn, an HBO movie based on the relationship between Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, a war correspondant. The two met in Key West, FL, and covered the Spanish Civil War together during their five-year marriage. Gellhorn was part of the catalyst for the creation of Hemingway’s novelFor Whom the Bell Tolls.
Philip Kaufmanwill direct fromBarbara TurnerandJerry Stahl’s script;James Gandolfini(who once planned to play the lead) is producing. [Deadline]
