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John Hillcoat pushes Tom Hardy into ‘The Wettest Country in the World’
The revival of John Hillcoat’s The Wettest Country in the World continues as news surfaces that Tom Hardy will join Shia LaBeouf to play two of three brothers in the director’s follow-up to The Road. Based on the Matt Bondurant novel of the same name, the adaptation, penned by The Proposition writer Nick Cave, fell apart after The Road underperformed and caused Hillcoat’s financial backer on both projects, Millenium Films, to downsize.
Cate Blanchett returns to Middle Earth in ‘The Hobbit’
Cate Blanchett will be reprising her role of Galadriel in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, New Line, Warner Bros. and MGM announced Tuesday. Also on board are Ken Stott (Charlie Wilson’s War) as Dwarf Lord Balin, Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who #7) as wizard Radagast the Brown, LOTR bit-player Jed Brophy as dwarf Nori, William Kircher as dwarf Bifur, Ryan Gage as Drogo Baggins and finally Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt to play shape-shifter Beorn. We imagine that the cast will appear in both portions.
Three More Flirting on Lee Kirk’s ‘The Giant Mechanical Man’
Writer Lee Kirk is making his directorial debut with the offbeat romantic comedy The Giant Mechanical Man and with filming in Detroit underway, the final casting pieces have now been set in place. Joining Jenna Fischer, Topher Grace, Malin Akerman and Chris Messina are You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger’s Lucy Punch and AMC stars Bob Odenkirk of Breaking Bad and Rich Sommer of Mad Men.
Neill Blomkamp heading to ‘Elysium’
It worked once before, so why not try again? This is the thinking behind writer/director Neill Blomkamp’s next sci-fi feature project, Elysium. With District 9, Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson adapted themes from the director’s short Alive in Joburg and hired long-time friend Sharlto Copley to star.
Jez Butterworth to Clash with ‘London Calling’
The Clash were an integral part of the original wave of British punk, and now the 1979 album that launched their popularity overseas will be made in to a feature film of the same name: London Calling. Jez Butterworth, whose writing credits include the recent Fair Game and wrote and directed Birthday Girl almost a decade back, will pen the screenplay with the help of original Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon.
