Joel Edgerton And Jon Bernthal Up For Flagg Role In SUICIDE SQUAD; Joe Manganiello Playing DEATHSTROKE?

There's a whole heap of casting rumors concerning Suicide Squad coming out online today.

The first one comes from Cinema Blend, who are saying that actors Joel Edgerton (Exodus, Zero Dark Thirty, Warrior, The Great Gatsby) and Jon Bernthal (Fury, Wolf of Wall Street, Walking Dead) are in the mix to replace Tom Hardy as Rick Flagg.

Out of the two I'd say Bernthal is the better fit since he worked with director David Ayer in Fury and co-starred with Margot Robbie in Warner Bros' The Wolf of Wall Street. Plus, he's been a much more consistent actor than Joel and Flagg could be right for him.

Jake Gyllenhaal had been offered the role recently but passed on it, and I don't blame him. It's been said the role has been cutdown a lot from Ayer's rewrites and likely won't have as much screen time as other characters in the film.

Joe almost played Superman and Batman, might as well play Deathstroke.

Another mysterious rumor via The Playlist is suggesting that Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike, True Blood, Sabotage, Spider-Man) is up for the role of Deathstroke, there had been rumors the character was in the film but nothing has been confirmed or reported by major outlets.

Joe is a bit different than the other names mentioned here since the actor did on the recommendation of director Zack Snyder did test for both Superman and Batman roles. He also previously worked with David Ayer on the Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick Sabotage.

We know that David Goyer (Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Blade, Man of Steel, Metal Gear Solid) had penned a Deathstroke movie and had planned on producing the film too, so it would be a role that could turn into it's own franchise.

The last one comes from Latino Review, who wasn't confident enough with this rumor to post it on their site but tweeted-out that Gary Sinise (Forest Gump, Snake Eyes) is said to be in talks for the role of General Eiling.

UNCONFIRMED TWITTER RUMOR: Pending more concrete sourcing, I hear Gary Sinise supposedly in talks to join SUICIDE SQUAD as GENERAL EILING.
— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) January 22, 2015

Take all these as rumors at this point.

SOURCE: CINEMA BLEND

RUMOR! ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK Lead Down To Charlie Hunnam, Dan Stevens & Jon Bernthal?

One of the John Carpenter's most celebrated cult-film Escape From New York is getting a remake from producer Joel Silver. The dystopian sci-fi action flick follows a fallen hero who has become the most famous outlaw in a crumbling fascist America, where entire cities are setup as guard-less prisons. Propaganda and the police-state rule the country, with most freedoms becoming outlawed. Snake is forced into saving the day on suicide-missions, usually with threat of death/execution.

Starlog reports that the three new names being in the mix for Snake include  Charlie Hunnam, Dan Stevens (The Guest, Downton Abbey) and Jon Bernthal (Wolf of Wall Street, Walking Dead, Fury). Stating that Hunnam is the top-choice for the role, but cautious considering his recent involvement in top-lining Guy Ritchie's Knights of The Roundtable: King Arthur, taking the Arthur role.

Out of the three names, the one that stands-out as solid potential lead is Dan Stevens. The trailer for his well received action thriller The Guest, has gotten my attention and I expect big things for the British actor. If he decides to pursue a career in action film. I also have nominated Stevens to play Daniel Rand in Marvel's Netflix series Iron Fist. Here's hoping he lands the Plissken role first.



There has been talk the reboot will actually be a slight prequel to the events of the original movie, exploring a bit of the origins of Snake in the first film, what gave him his hero status. Before being thrown into the meat-grinder of the prison city of New York. The site mentions that it's going to be more of a team-based film than we've know the films to be. Claiming that actors being looked-at for the lead, will likely take supporting parts in the reboot. Which is said to be the first in a new trilogy (that's if this even get's made, and is even welcomed by audiences).

Producer Joel Silver talked to Collider and revealed a majority of these details back in February. Silver also confirmed they didn't have a completed script, we haven't heard names of who is actually writing or directing the film (directors have come and gone). Starlog states the studio is also looking for investment partners and will be shopping the film at The American Film Market. This could mean the remake will be made outside of the studio system, which tends to lead to more interesting films. Dredd being an excellent example of a solid indie remake.

“There was a videogame that came out a few years ago called 'Arkham City,' which shows how Gotham became this kind of walled prison and how it became a walled prison. And they never deal with that in the story of 'Escape from New York,' so part of our idea was to kind of see how the city became this walled prison and how the Snake Plissken character was a hero and how he became not looked at as a hero. And then, in the middle of the story, would be the movie that we, you know, previously saw about the President’s daughter goes down, he has to go in and get her. And then, you know, they did a sequel, 'Escape from L.A.,' but I would like to then kind of find a way to have New York go back to a place that we’d like to see what it is today.”

These aren't the first names to be linked for the Snake Plissken role, during the reboot's many years of development. Names such as Gerard Bulter, Jason Statham, Tom Hardy and Timothy Olyphant (Justified, Dead Wood) have been mentioned in trade reports concerning the recasting the Snake role. It's unknown if any of these past candidates would be willing to appear in the film.

SOURCE: STARLOG

Shea Whigham Joins THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Deadline reports that character actor Shea Whigham has joined Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. Shea is best known for his role in HBO's Boardwalk Empire but has had roles in films such as Sliver Linings Playbook, Savages, Take Shelter, Knight of Cups and Machete. The thriller stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Kyle Chandler (Zero Dark Thirty), Matthew McConaughey, Jon Bernthal (Walking Dead), Jon Favreau and Margot Robbie (Pan Am).