Oldman wanted for Star Wars, Evangeline Lilly in negotiations for Ant-Man and Seth Gordon confirmed for Sony’s Uncharted

The Uncharted gaming saga has a pretty huge fanbase in the gaming world. The trilogy, made up by the original, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and it’s sequels, Among Thieves and Drake’s Deception, has sold a brilliant 17 million copies. In 2011, director David O’Russell (Three Kings, The Fighter, American Hustle, Silver Linings Playbook) put an adaptation into development in 2011. He got as far as nailing Mark Wahlberg, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci into the cast but frustration at lack of development took over and the five time Oscar nominee.

Since, Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless, The Lucky Ones) joined and then departed to make Divergent. Sony have confirmed that Seth Gordon, seasoned in documentary and comedy, will be tackling this as director, with Safe House’s David Guggenheim rewriting the script. Gordon, who’s also set to direct Queen of Hearts (a Lewis Carroll biopic) and a new remake of War Games, came to initial success with documentary The King of Kong. He then settled into comedy with Four Christmases, Horrible Bosses and Identity Thief as well as episodes of The Office, Community and Parks and Recreation. Uncharted tells the story of Nathan Drake, a man in pursuit of the lost treasure of El Dorado.

Any fan of The Hobbit or Lost will know of Evangeline Lilly. Tauriel the Elf, who’s also in The Hurt Locker and Real Steel, is in talks for a role in Marvel’s superhero adventure Ant-Man. We’re still not sure how she’ll fit into Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish’s plot but we can pose two main guesses. One is that Lilly will play Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) daughter while the other suggests that she’ll play the hugely important role of Janet Van Dyne, aka the superpowered Wasp. The latter would be much more promising and hints at a multi-picture deal for Lilly. Paul Rudd leads the cast Scott Lang while Michael Douglas and Michael Pena are set to make up the supporting cast.

Star Wars: Episode VII is making some huge casting developments. With the script finished, JJ Abrams is letting us into who may be into the sequel. Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Zac Efron and Daniel Day Lewis are among the more far fetched rumours while more likely castings are Michael Fassbender, Adam Driver, Michael B Jordan, Hugo Weaving, Jack O’Connell, Saorise Ronan and Sullivan Stapleton. Another venerable star could be heading to a galaxy far far away now too. While promoting RoboCop, Oscar nominee Gary Oldman let slip that Star Wars talks have taken place.

“They’ve called, yeah,” Oldman tells Sky Movies. “I’m more cynical about it now, I believe it when I’m on the plane home. You know, the deal isn’t done. But yeah, they’ve inquired.” Oldman is a veteran to more than one franchise. Most notably, he’s Comissioner Jim Gordon in The Dark Knight trilogy but is also Sirius Black in Harry Potter and Lord Shen in Kung-Fu Panda as well as star of Leon,Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, True Romance, The Fifth Element and JFK. Sadly, there’s now information about who he could be playing but, if you can’t wait to see Oldman on screen, you can catch Jose Padhila’s RoboCop in theatres this weekend before Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes on July 17th.

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

Ant-Man – July 17th 2015

RoboCop – February 7th

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – July 17th

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune/Uncharted – 2017?

Queen of Hearts – 2017?

Golden Globes winners plus Fassbender, Weaving and more for Star Wars 7

It’s over a month it’ll we reach what I consider to be the main events of the award season, the Oscars, Academy Awards, and BAFTA, British Academy of Film and Television Awards, but the Golden Globes possibly give the most accurate early insight into who’s leading the way to bringing home Best Picture. The show, hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, was held on Sunday and heralded these results.

Best Motion Picture – Drama:

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Rush

Best Actress – Drama

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Judi Dench – Philomena

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Kate Winslet – Labor Day

Best Actor – Drama

Matthew MacConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Idris Elba – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Robert Redford – All is Lost

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

American Hustle

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Christian Bale – American Hustle

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis

Joaquin Phoenix – Her

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Julie Delpy – Before Midnight

Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha

Julia Louis Dreyfus – Enough Said

Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County

June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Screenplay

Spike Jonze – Her

Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan – Philomena

John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Eric Warren Singer, David O’Russell – American Hustle

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

Alexander Payne – Nebraska

David O’Russell – American Hustle

Best Animated Feature

Frozen

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Best Foreign Language Film

The Great Beauty

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The Hunt

The Wind Rises

Best Original Score

All is Lost

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Gravity

The Book Thief

12 Years a Slave

Best Original Song

“Ordinary Love” – Mandela Long Walk to Freedom

“Atlas” – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

“Let it Go” – Frozen

“Please Mr Kennedy” – Inside Llewyn Davis

“Sweeter Than Fiction” – One Chance

American Hustle leads the way with three wins but it’s Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity and 12 Years a Slave that’ll be remembered for last night’s success. The victories Alfonso Cuaron, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Leonardo Di Caprio and Matthew MacConaughey were expected but there’s some real surprises with Spike Jonze, Amy Adams and Jared Leto picking up Globes.

I’ll give a quick review on the TV results. As expected, the final season of Breaking Bad won Best Drama and Best Actor, for Bryan Cranston, while Robin Wright won the Globe for Best Actress with Netflix’s House of Cards. In comedy, brand new cop show Brooklyn Nine-Nine caused an upset for the bookies as it starred taking Best Comedy and Best Actor (Adam Sandberg) in a Comedy from favourites such as The Big Bang Theory, Arrested Development, Girls and Modern Family. Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra won both Best Mini-Series or TV Movie and Best Actor in a Mini-Series for Michael Douglas while Elizabeth Moss (Top of the Lake) won the corresponding Best Actress award. Jacqueline Bisset (Dancing on the Edge) and Jon Voight (Ray Donovan) respectively won Best Supporting Actress and Actor.

Star Wars: Episode VII, as you know, is an upcoming sci-fi reboot of George Lucas’ classic ’77 – ’83 trilogy that gained an poor name thanks to Lucas’ failed prequel ’99 – ’05 trilogy. JJ Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8, Lost, Felicity) will direct the new instalment that’s seen a number of intriguing cast rumours.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Day Lewis, and Chiwetel Ejiofor have gone round the rumour mill while Soarise Ronan, Jack O’Connell, Michael B Jordan and Sullivan Stapleton are confirmed to have had auditions. The Episode VII producers took a tour of Britain with open auditions across about five or six cities to find fresh face and old Star Wars favourites Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, Warwick Davis, Samuel L Jackson and Anthony Daniels are rumoured to reprise their roles.

Now, four fresh entrants to the series are in contention but, before you accuse this as a wild guess, consider that the closer we get to the film’s release, the more accurate the rumours’ll be. The latest batch of potential Star Warriors are Michael Fassbender, Hugo Weaving, Jesse Plemons and Adam Driver.

The Irish/Germanic Fassbender is probably the most known of the four. He’s equally spread between mainstream and award worthy performances after leading box-office success with Prometheus, Inglorious, X-Men: First Class and 300 and winning the critics in the more art-house Shame, Hunger and 12 Years a Slave, for which he’s tipped for Oscar success. I’m not sure if Fassbender will sign on as he’s already doing X-Men: Days of Future Past, Frank, Untitled Terrence Malick project, Assassin’s Creed, MacBeth and Prometheus 2 already lined up.

The other three are much more likely candidates. Hugo Weaving (The Matrix’s Mr Smith, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit’s Elrond, Captain America’s Red Skull, V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas’ Mrs Noakes), Adam Driver (Frances Ha, Lincoln, Inside Llewyn Davis and Girls’ Adam Sackler) and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad’s Todd, Friday Night Lights, Battleship, Paul) are the other three stars rumoured for Star Wars. Casting venerable stars such as Weaving is fine as long as they don’t waste them on pointless politician roles, see Terence Stamp as Chancellor Valorum. There was a rumour that a casting call went out for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s daughter or granddaughter but that may just be fiction.

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

Star Wars 7 for Britain open auditions, Gemma Arteton part of search for 2014 BAFTA Rising Star and Favreau for Jungle Book

I remember names like Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Kermode being part of the judging panel for the BAFTA Rising Star Award over the years. Now Gemma Arteton, who’s impressed in supporting roles in Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia and Clash of the Titans and recently starred with Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck in thriller Runner Runner, has been recruited by the British Academy of Film and Television to help select next year’s nominees and winner alongside Empire Magazine’s Chris Hewitt, Harry Potter’s casting director Karen Lindsay-Stewart, In Bruges producer Peter Czernin and Nanny McPhee director Kirk Smith. If you think it’s a random pick at today’s talented youth then think again. Previous winners of the award include James McAvoy (2005), Eva Green (2006), Shia LaBeouf (2007), Noel Clarke (2008), Kristen Stewart (2009), Tom Hardy (2010), Adam Deacon (2011) and most recently Juno Temple.

Jon Favreau started his directing career with family fantasies like Elf and Zathura. After that, he took to the more adult superhero franchise starters Iron Man and Iron Man 2. He took a quick break to TV, directing episodes of The Office, Revolution and About A Boy, but he’s back to cinema next year with Robert Downey Jr comedy Chef (May 9th 2014). He’s now in talks for a new remake of the classic Disney animation The Jungle Book, itself based upon the Rudyard Kipling novel.

Deadline interviewed the man on his new project. “I can’t say that much, but there is an interesting take that could be very cool and the hope is to relaunch a family brand with certain mythic elements. It is my first real family film since Elf, and there are action elements and visual effects that I feel like my experience on the Iron Man films are going to be useful.”

The aforementioned Benedict Cumberbatch, Saorise Ronan, Sullivan Stapleton, Daniel Day Lewis and more recently Chiwetel Ejiofor are just some of the names rumoured to be in JJ Abrams sci-fi epic reboot Star Wars: Episode VII. It’s now revealed that Disney will be recruiting for roles with open auditions throughout the UK. Here’s the casting call.

Seeking young woman to play 17-18 year old. Must be beautiful, smart and athletic. Open to all ethnicities (including bi and multi-racial) Must be over 16.  

Rachel – Was quite young when she lost her parents. With no other family, she was forced to make her way in a tough, dangerous town. Now 17, she has become street smart and strong. She is able to take care of herself using humor and guts to get by.  Always a survivor, never a victim, she remains hopeful that she can move away from this harsh existence to a better life. She is always thinking of what she can do to move ahead.

Seeking young man to play 19-23 years old. Must be handsome, smart and athletic. Must be over 18.  

Thomas – Has grown up without a father’s influence. Without the model of being a man, he doesn’t have the strongest sense of himself. Despite this he is smart, capable and shows courage when it is needed. He can appreciate the absurdities in life and understands you can’t take life too seriously.

I first thought that Thomas and Rachel don’t sound like the kind of names that you’d find in the Star Wars universe but they could be the working names of Han and Leia’s children to throw the public of the scent. The names I mentioned above were all of well established stars so they’ve got to try and mix up the cast with some unfamiliar, but, talented, faces. After all, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher had seen very little screen time before landing the roles of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia while Alec Guinness was already a screen legend at the time of A New Hope’s release. We’re likely to do a special on what the future Star Wars titles could be in the future.

A meet and greet with casting directors will be coming to:

Amolfini Art Centre, Bristol – November 9th and 10th, 11 am to 3 pm

Progress Centre, Manchester – November 16th and 17th, 10 am to 2 pm

South Block Wasp Studios, Glasgow – November 16th and 17th, 10 am to 2 pm

Filmbase, Dublin – November 23rd and 24th, 10.30 am to 2.30 pm

Apiary, London – November 23rd and 24th, 10 am to 2 pm

You will also need warm clothing as some venues may not be heated and bring a headshot of yourself for the casting directors to keep. You could be landing a four year long role on the world’s biggest franchise so good luck!

Star Wars: Episode VII – Christmas 2015

The Jungle Book – 2016?

Singer Ed Sheeran confirmed for Hobbit 2 soundtrack, Jackman for more Wolverine and Ejiofor rumoured for Star Wars

There’s a fairly loose connection from 12 Years a Slave and Children of Men star Chiwetel Ejiofor and Super 8 director and Lost creator JJ Abrams. The BAFTA and Golden Globe nominee Ejiofor stars with Amanda Seyfried and Chris Pine in Z for Zachariah. Chris Pine stars as Captain Kirk in the Abrams directed Star Trek and Star Trek: Into Darkness. I doubt the two have actually met but Ejiofor is now one of those rumoured to be going in for Abrams next stellar project Star Wars: Episode VII.

Benedict Cumberbatch was part of this rumour chain but he was quick to deny any connection to the project. Daniel Day Lewis was mentioned at some point and it’s confirmed that Saorise Ronan and Sullivan Stapleton auditioned. That’s all along side the speculation about previous Star Wars actors returning, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Warwick Davis (Warick Wicket III) and Samuel L Jackson (Mace Windu) could potentially reprise their roles from previous films but I’d prefer familiarity with setting and tone rather than characters. It’s rumoured that Ejiofor had a meeting but it’s hard to say who’ll be making the final cut. I must say, the last time Ejoifor starred with spaceships was the brilliant Joss Whedon sci-fi Serenity in which he too was excellent.

Ed Sheeran was one of Britain’s biggest pop/rock stars of the last couple of years. His album + took him to international fame with hits like Lego House, The A Team, Give Me Love and the Taylor Swift duet Everything Has Changed. He’s now confirmed over Twitter that providing the end credits song for fantasy sequel The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. This is the second part of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel trilogy. The 22 year old Sheeran, who’s writing and performing the song, is joining the list of Middle-Earth singers including Annie Lennox (Eurythmics), Neil Finn (Crowded House) and Enya.

Possibly the biggest news of the day is that our favourite mutant could be returning beyond next year’s Days of Future Past. Deadline reported that Hugh Jackman is likely to return as his iconic Marvel hero Wolverine for another instalment. Lauren Shuler Donner will produce and The Wolverine director James Mangold is set to write the production and I reckon he’ll end up directing too. Perhaps, this time they need a couple more X-Men (maybe Kitty, Rogue or Iceman) and The Wolverine’s Yukio (Rila Fukushima) and Mariko (Tao Okamoto).

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – December 13th

Star Wars: Episode VII – Christmas 2015

X-Men 8 – 2016?

McAvoy talks X-Men 7, Thor 2 posters, Marvel’s Ant-Man first pic, Star Wars 7 rumours and Cooper could be Mercury

Famed comedic actor Sacha Baron Cohen left the long troubled project of turning the life of 80s rock star Freddie Mercury into an on-screen biopic few months ago. Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe denied that he was to play the role about a week ago but the film may now have another contender for the portrayal of the Queen frontman.

Latino Review have informed us that Dominic Cooper was the leader in the race for the role. The London born actor had supporting roles in blockbusters like Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and Captain America: The First Avenger as well as leads in acclaimed dramas like The Duchess and The Devils Double. The idea that Cohen clashed with was the surviving band members one of having a less edgy and likely PG certificate release will be penned by Peter Morgan (two time Oscar nominated writer of Frost/Nixon, The Last King of Scotland, The Queen and The Damned United).

We’ve got big news on the Marvel front with the first picture from Ant-Man. We still don’t know who’s playing the titular superhero and his alter ego Hank Pym but director Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End, Shaun of the Dead), and presumably the others on board making the film.

This pick is most likely test-footage but Dorset born Edgar Wright has gone to Los Angeles to begin production, which he confirmed alongside this picture on his Twitter feed.

A couple of other brief snippets of Marvel news come from Thor: The Dark World which has unveiled yet more posters. Jaimie Alexander’s war-ready Lady Sif, Ray Stevenson’s jaunty Volstagg and Zachary Levi’s swashbuckling Fandral our showed off in these new banners and are all part of a much bigger lead cast in the heavily anticipated Marvel Sequel.

The next bit of Marvel news comes from the other side of the the studio(s). You’ll know that Disney owns The Avengers (Ant-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Black Panther, Agents of SHIELD, Hawkeye, Vision, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Dr Strange, War Machine, The Inhumans Loki and, potentially Blade, Elektra and Daredevil), Sony owns Spider-Man (Spider-Man, Electro, Green Goblin and others), Universal only has Namor the Sub-Mariner while Fox has the X-Men (Wolverine, Magneto, Mystique, Cyclops, Phoenix, Storm, Iceman, Rogue Kitty and others) and The Fantastic Four (Human Torch, Doctor Doom, the Silver Surfer, The Thing, Mr Fantastic, The Invisible Woman). Any chance of a inter-studio team up is, currently, nil.

Fox’s X-Men is the focus of the next few paragraphs however. James McAvoy first appeared in 2011’s X-Men: First Class, better known as the one that got the series back on track, as the younger version of Patrick Stewart’s role as Charles Xavier/Professor X, founder of the X-Men. Both Stewart and McAvoy are returning for the seventh X-Men installment, Days of Future Past, and the latter has told IGN more about his new project.

“Potentially it’s going to be the biggest, most epic X-Men they’ve ever had,” he tells us confidently. “I think it’s the second biggest production Fox have ever embarked upon, behind Avatar. So they’re definitely going for it.” He explained how he felt safe now that the series’ best and most prolific director Bryan Singer once again directing. “Bryan’s very protective of the series. He did create it. He did help form that environment that allowed subsequent superhero movies to exist and thrive like they have done for the last however many years. Not to say that there weren’t other superhero movies out at the time, but of that ilk, where it was OK to take it really seriously. He does take it really seriously. There’s a kind or reverence about it, which I like. You want people to take it seriously. That’s what he brings to it I think. And a safe pair of hands – you know you’re in good hands.”

Star Wars: Episode VII has been one of the most secretive productions of recent years. We know JJ Abrams will direct it and Episodes VIII and IX, it will film in both LA and the UK and will come out Christmas 2015. Nothing else! Fans have been demanding titles, stars and plots and Tuorhoth Movies, and the internet in general, can do nothing but to speculate rumours.

We can now confirm that Saorise Ronan (the New York born but Irish young star of Hanna, The Lovely Bones, How I Live Now, Byzantium) and Sullivan Stapleton (Aussie star of Gangster Squad and the upcoming sequel 300: Rise of an Empire) both auditioned for Star Wars while 5 time Oscar nominee (3 of which he won) Daniel Day Lewis was linked to the film. About a month ago, Benedict Cumberbatch was rumoured and then later distanced himself from the project. It’s early days but on the subject of her audition, Ronan said “But so has everyone else.” Ronan joked that Disney would “cut my head off with a lightsaber” if she revealed anything. One of the main worries expressed by the worldwide hoard of Star Wars fans was that the new trilogy would be “Disneyfied”. He likened their approach to this film to Marvel and 2012’s action-packed Disney romp The Avengers. “The beauty there is that Disney doesn’t want that. They are very sensitive to that. They’re being very careful.”

The secondary Star Wars rumour was of a live-action TV series not unlike Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. This is different to the animated Star Wars Rebels which comes out next year as a replacement to the abruptly cancelled Star Wars: The Clone Wars. A potential series called Star Wars: Underworld fell after a few hurdles after issues with a $5 million per episode budget. The new series is likely to be bridging the gap between Return of the Jedi and Episode VII seeing as that is the period of the Star Wars universe that, out of films and television, we no little about. It’s either that or a series on a pre Phantom Menace world which doesn’t light me up with excitement.

“Who should play Ant-Man?” is our question today. Richard Ayoade, Simon Pegg and Alan Tudyk are among the favourites but my selections are Firefly’s Nathan Fillion and The Great Gatsby’s Joel Edgerton. YOU DECIDE!

X-Men: Days of Future Past – May 23rd 2014

Thor: The Dark World – October 30th

Ant-Man – July 31st 2015

Star Wars: Episode VII – Christmas 2015

Star Wars: Rebels – 2014

Freddie Mercury – 2015?