Tag Archives: Dakota Fanning

Forest Whitaker in Rogue One, Katherine Waterston joins Fantastic Beasts and Rupert Wyatt in line for Gambit

The first of the Star Wars Anthology series, Rogue One, has assembled an impressive team and cast but there’s been a new addition. Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker (Platoon, Good Morning Vietnam, Panic Room, The Last King of Scotland, The Butler) is in negotiations to join the film. It’s unclear if this is a villainous role or more of a Obi-Wan esque mentor role. Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark) writes, Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) directs and the cast includes Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Four Lions), Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything, Like Crazy), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises, Killing Them Softly), Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Riot Club) and Diego Luna (Elysium, The Terminal).

After Eddie Redmayne was cast as Newt Scamander, David Yates/JK Rowling’s Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has been looking for two female leads. Previously, the older casting was between Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby) and Kate Upton (The Other Woman) but the British star of Paul Thomas Anderson stoner comedy Katherine Waterston has instead been cast. The role has been revealed and Porpentina, whose younger sister Quennie will be played by either Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Lili Simmons (Banshee), Alison Sudol (Transparent) or Dakota Fanning (Coraline, Now is Good).

X-Men: Days of Future Past opened up the series to new areas to explore. This includes a sequel to First Class, Bryan Singer’s Apocalypse (2016, and also new spin offs such as Tim Miller’s Deadpool (2016), James Mangold’s Wolverine 3 (2017) and Josh Boone’s The New Mutants (2017). Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street, Foxcatcher) has been signed on to play Gambit for a long time but he has now found a director in the form of Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Escapist).

Gambit – October 7th 2016

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – November 18th 2016

Rogue One – December 16th 2016

Fantastic Beasts female lead rumours and Tilda Swinton in talks for Doctor Strange

Tina

Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them seems to have Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) in place as hero Newt Scamander but the search is on for two different female leads. Lead one seems to be targeting a younger set of actresses: Saoirse Ronan (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Atonement), Dakota Fanning (Coraline, Now is Good), Lili Simmons (Banshee, True Detective) and Alison Sudol (Dig, Transparent).

Lead two is considering Kate Upton (The Other Woman), Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice) and Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby). Personally, from those two list Ronan and Debicki seem the best fit for the series. Harry Potter veteran David Yates is set to direct.

They might be more renowned for their blockbuster friendly action and stars (Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper) but Marvel have among their ranks plenty of venerable dramatic actors: Oscar winners Jeff Bridges (Obadiah Stane), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Tommy Lee Jones (Chester Phillips), Ben Kingsley (Mandarin), Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce) and six time nominee Glenn Close (Nova Prime) have all joined the MCU. The next Oscar winner to join is Tilda Swinton.

The British star of We Need to Talk About Kevin, Moonrise Kingdom and Michael Clayton is in talks to join fantasy action Doctor Strange. Three men (Morgan Freeman, Bill Nighy, Ken Watanabe) were rumoured to in line for the mentor role of The Ancient One but the gender of the character has been controversially altered from the comics. Scott Derickson (Sinister) directs the cast of Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, Star Trek Into Darkness), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Children of Men) and Daniel Bruhl (Rush, The Bourne Ultimatum).

Doctor Strange – October 28th 2016

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – November 18th 2016