Friday, February 26, 2010

FILM: Wanted 2 Cancelled, Kidman's Sandler-comedy cameo, Portman's pot comedy, and more

Angelina Jolie might be one of those actresses who people consider can do no wrong. But since she dropped out of the Wanted sequel, causing the director Timur Bekmambetov to cancel it, I beg to differ. I get it. She doesn't want to play second fiddle to James McAvoy. She wants to be the lead in her own films. Fine. But maybe you should've thought of that before you did the first one! *Sigh* There saying she, instead, signed on for the Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) space thriller Gravity, where she'll play the sole survivor of a space mission gone wrong who desperately tries to return to Earth and see her daughter again. Of course! Dangle a child in front of her and she'll just jump at the chance.

• OH MY GOD! Will someone please stop greenlighting vigilante stories where fathers go bat-shit when their kid is either killed (Death Sentence, Law Abiding Citizen, and Edge of Darkness) or kidnapped (Taken). Enough already. Now, the 36-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio has resigned to entering the dad-phase of his career. He's interested in starring in Prisoners, a thriller about "a small-town carpenter whose young daughter and best friend are kidnapped. After the cops fail to find them, the man turns vigilante and starts an investigation of his own." Of course he does. If you think I'm overacting, then you'll be surprised to learn that Nicholas Cage has signed on for Drive Angry. It's a revenge thriller about "a man driven by rage who is chasing the people who killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby." Of course he is.

• Do you remember the last time Nicole Kidman was funny? Bewitched? Yeah, me either. Well, she's just been cast in the Adam Sandler-Jennifer Anniston comedy Just Go for It. The producers are refusing to disclose her exact character, but the rumor is that it's a bit-role similar to that of Tom Cruise's in Tropic Thunder. That sounds impossible, doesn't it? Sandler will be playing a guy who thinks he can land the girl of his dreams (Sports Illustrated cover girl Brooklyn Decker) if he gets a single-mom (Anniston) and her kids to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife and family. Sounds like your average delusional Sandler flick, but I still don't see where Kidman fits in. Who knows, maybe motherhood turned her into Lucille Ball.

Natalie Portman is jumping on the wedding comedy bandwagon. But it won't be your run-of-the-mill Bridezilla, obsessive-female rom-com. Nope, there's a twist. In Best Buds, she'll go on a road trip with her best female friends to another friend's wedding—wait for it—with a bag of weed. Should they even be driving?

• The hunt for Captain America just got a little more interesting. While names like Scott Porter ("Friday Night Lights"), Chace Crawford ("Gossip Girl"), Mike Vogel (Cloverfield), Michael Cassidy ("Smallville" and "The OC") and Patrick Fluger ("The 4400") have been dropped, there are now rumors that John Krasinski ("The Office") is favored to star. Action would be an interesting career change for the goofy comedian, but if I were to peg him for a superhero, I'd say Stretch Armstrong. Unfortunately, somehow Taylor Lautner scored that role.

• The Superman reboot that nixes Brandon Routh as the lead, will be called The Man of Steel. Unlike most reboots it will not be an origin story. However, it will be delving into Kryptonian mythology. "In this incarnation, his foster parents are still alive, Clark Kent himself is more of an extrovert, there is no Fortress of Solitude and people are unaware of Superman having an alter-ego (thus aren't suspicious of Kent)." Also, Lex Luthor and Braniac will appear as villains.

Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover) just signed on for the buddy supernatural comedy Miracle Workers. It's "Supernatural" meets "Psych," where Two friends pretend to be exorcists. Of all the comedy plots that I've read today, this is the only one that made me Laugh-Out-Loud. How are you going to pretend to exorcise demons?

• There's a CG sketch of Buzz Lightyear on SeagullsFly.com that's got me thinking that the next logical step after the 3D animated Toy Story 3 hits theaters this June is a live action version.


• Hmm, a comedy starring Kevin James and Vince Vaughn? That might be…funny-ish. In the untitled Ron Howard comedy, they'll play best friends who have their relationship tested by a huge secret. Vaughn thinks he saw James' wife cheating, and he'll have to decide whether he should tell him.

Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes) will be playing the villain Sinestro in the upcoming Green Lantern.

Ian McShane ("Kings" and "Deadwood") will play Blackbeard, the main villain of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He'll be less of a pirate and more of a politician. He's "a smart businessman who used his fearsome image and reputation rather than force to get what he desired."

Isla Fisher (Confessions of a Shopaholic) is back from maternity leave. She's currently filming the Simon Pegg horror comedy Burke and Hare. Unfortunately, she's also rumored to have signed on for several projects, including the rom-com Kiss & Tell. In it, she'll play a woman who has the ability to learn how long a relationship will last with a just a kiss. Hmm, let me guess, she then meets the perfect guy and refuses to kiss him, because she doesn't want their relationship to end. Oh Isla, give yourself more credit than that.

• Speaking of lame girl comedies, Jennifer Anniston and Anna Faris will star in the adaptation of Karen McCullah Lutz's novel The Bachelorette Party. It's being toted as the "female version of The Hangover." Riiiiight. The story is about a high school teacher who has to throw her uptight cousin a bachelorette party. Three guesses who plays the uptight one. Of course, nothing can ever go right when it comes to Hollywood weddings, so here are the few hitches: 1) The groom is best friends with the unwilling party planner. 2) She was left at the altar once. 3) She catches the bride drunkenly hooking up with some guy. Hmm, drunken debauchery sounds more like Faris's schtick. Maybe Garner isn't the uptight one. Whatever. Lutz has written 10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, She's the Man, and The Ugly Truth so she knows how to make ladies laugh.

Leighton Meester ("Gossip Girl") just scored her first Lolita role. Who didn't see that coming? In the dramedy The Oranges, Hugh Laurie ("House") plays a man who gets into a relationship with the daughter (Meester) of a family friend. Sounds scandalous.

• I had high hopes that Amanda Bynes' next film Hall Pass would be impressive enough to secure bigger lead roles for her, but with the latest news of the slew of B-list actors who've been cast, that doesn't seem likely. Alyssa Milano ("Charmed") and Vanessa Angel ("Weird Science"), really?

• Speaking of the B-list. It seems like someone still believes Sean William Scott is a leading man. Kevin Smith just cast him in the lead for his next comedy Hit Somebody. He'll play a "rough hockey enforcer prone to fighting who tries to improve his playing skills so that he can score just one goal."

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