Variety reports that rising stars Oscar Isaac (Drive) and Jason Clarke (Lawless, Zero Dark Thirty) have joined William Monahan's next directorial effort titled Mojave. The original thriller also written by Monahan focuses on a man who escapes into the desert only to encounter a doppelganger-like antagonist and subsequently enter a vortex of criminality and violence. I'm sure the supporting cast will be equally as talented.
Monahan is best known as an Oscar winning screenwriter. Taking on all sorts of genres writing screenplays for films such as Kingdom of Heaven, The Departed and Sin City A Dame To Kill For. He went behind the camera in the messy British crime thriller London Boulevard which didn't do well with critics. It will be interesting if this second outing will be more successful for Monahan.
TwitchFilm is reporting that Oscar nominated actor Mark Wahlberg (Departed, The Fighter) is in early talks with Michael Bay for a lead role in Transformers 4. It's expected that the fourth film will purge all previous actors and re-cast the humans. There had even been rumors of a more futuristic science-fiction human world, that remains to be seen. Bay recently worked with Mark on the action thriller Pain And Gain so chances are good to wrangle the action star. Not to mention he was able to convincingly carry on conversations with talking teddy bear in Ted. So talking to giant robots should be a cake walk for Wahlberg. Jason Statham had been originally linked for a role but it has been denied by everyone involved.
Variety reports that James Badge Dale has joined the cast of Iron Man 3. He'll will play Lt. Eric Savin a soldier who is brutally injured after stepping on a landmine. Savin transforms from soldier to a villainous cyborg named Coldblood. James is best known for his role on HBO's The Pacific along with supporting roles in The Departed, The Grey, Shame and Disney's upcoming adaptation of The Lone Ranger. They also confirm that Rebecca Hall (The Town, Prestige), Guy Pearce (Lawless, Prometheus, Hurt Locker) and Ben Kingsley are all set for the sequel. Shane Black will be co-writing/directing the film with Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle returning.
Warner Bros. is really coming out with some seriously interesting projects in the last couple of months. This new one that ThePlaylist (via GQ) mentions sounds like something that could have Oscar contender written all over it. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are re-teaming for a bio-pic of Boston mobster Whitey Bulgar who was the head of the notorious Winter Hill gang. While there are a number of other Bulger films in development Damon hopes their project will scare off the other guys. The big weight behind their version is that Terence Winter the writer of HBO's Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire will be handling the script with Ben Affleck directing. Not to mention a major studio is backing them.
Damon and Affleck would star in the film but it's unknown if it will be a straight up period piece similar to Goodfellas. Bulger was a major influence on Jack Nicholson's character Frank Costello in Martin Scorsese's The Departed. I wouldn't be shocked to see Martin Scorsese attached as a producer down the line along with familiar faces in supporting roles. I'm beyond exicted to see another crime drama directed by Affleck and having it written by Winter is a giant bonus. I'm a massive fan of Ben as a director and I really wish he sticks to this sort of genre for at least a couple more films. He's been offered more commerical films like Man of Steel and Stephen King's The Stand but I'd prefer he'd stick to these type of movies.
If I had to come up with one actor that needs to be included in this film it's Alec Baldwin. Alec played such an amazing gangster in The Cooler and a ruthless salesman in Glenngary Glen Ross. It would be a shame for him to retire before going all out that a film like this could allow him to do. I felt he was short changed in The Departed since he plays such great villains.
