Kyle Chandler Joins Kathryn Bigelow's Bin Laden Film

Deadline reports another stellar addition to Kathryn Bigelow's (Point Break, Hurt Locker) untitled Bin Laden film. Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) has joined the production who is best known for films like King Kong, Super 8, and the upcoming CIA thriller Argo. The film focuses on the mission given to SEAL Team Six to ultimately kill the terrorist leader hiding in Pakistan. The rest of the cast includes Jason Clarke (Public Enemies, Wettest County), Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Animal Kingdom), Jessica Chastain (Help, Tree of Life, Debt), Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Chris Pratt (Moneyball) and Edgar Ramirez (Che). It's release date has been set for December 19th 2012.

RED 2 Has A Director

Variety reports that the sequel to the action comedy hit RED could finally have it's director. Dean Parisot is in final talks to helm RED 2 with the production expected to start up after Willis wraps Die Hard 5. Currently a script is in place written by Erich and Jon Hoeber who originally adapted the comic book for the first movie. Willis is a given but it's unknown if Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Karl Urban and Morgan Freeman will be signing on to reprise their roles.

The inclusion of Parisot gives me the impression we could end up seeing a Die Hard reunion of sorts. The Galaxy Quest director has previously worked with Alan Rickman who played villain Hans Gruber in the original Die Hard. I wouldn't be shocked to see Rickman take a role in the sequel as previous supporting roles have been filled by seasoned dramatic actors. Alan might be known for serious characters but has a history of amazing dry comedic performances which would suit the sequel. Of course this is only my opinion.

Nonso Anozie Joins Ender's Game

Deadline reports that rising star Nonso Anozie has landed a supporting role in Ender's Game. Nonso is best known to British audiences for roles in RockNRolla, Cass, Atonement, Happy-Go-Lucky and Brighton Rock. North American audiences will recognize him from Conan The Barbarian and The Grey. He also landed a part in season two of Game of Thrones which will likely help boost his awareness. Nonso will play Sgt. Dap in the film that is being released on March 15th 2013.

Jamie Blackley Joins 300: Battle Of Artemisia

Deadline reports that young actor Jamie Blackley has landed the role of Calisto in the 300 prequel. Jamie isn't well known but has had supporting roles in London Boulevard, Snow White And The Huntsman and the British series Misfits. The growing cast includes Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom) as General Themistocles and Eva Green (Casino Royale, Kingdom of Heaven) as Atremisia. Some might remember the original film being a rather large stepping stone for actors like Gerard Butler and Michael Fassbender.

Poster For Sci-Fi Thriller Lockout

John Carter Sequel Gets A Title

It looks like the John Carter sequel talk is back in full swing from Disney and director Andrew Stanton. Now that film has screened to press members and bloggers they feel confident in bringing up the sequel again. Producer Jim Morris reveals to ComingSoon that the working title of the second film is John Carter: The Gods of Mars. Taking it's cue from the second book in the Barsoom series from writer Edgar Rice Burroughs. Morris goes on to confirm that Stanton is currently working with writer Michael Chabon on the sequel. It was reported back in during John Carter's production that a script was already being written during the shooting of the first film. Giving the impression it could be ready to go into production sometime soon.

ThePlaylist was able to get a few words from Stanton who mentioned that he is likely returning for the sequel but has another secret project to go if things don't work out. From what I've heard, people have had an overall positive experience which is great news. However, it looks like no matter how good the film ends up it's box office return is going to be the deciding factor for a sequel to be made.

Brian Taylor To Direct Twisted Metal For Sony

Deadline reports that Sony is developing a Twisted Metal movie based on the classic 90's video game. The extreme version of an underground demolition derby was somewhat inspired by Roger Corman's Death Race but had it's own original racers. The face of the series is Sweet Tooth, a psychotic clown that drives an Ice Cream truck armed to the teeth. Brian Taylor one half of the directing duo Neveldine/Taylor has been hired to write and direct the film. It will be the first feature film that Brian will do without his partner Mark Neveldine. The pair will still work together on Crank 3 and possibly Ghost Rider 3, if the new film does well at the box office.

Taylor's credits are impressive when compared to other action films considering the rather small budgets he's given to work with. Brian is first and foremost a genre centric director and his films reflect that. Not to mention he makes these rather action packed films with very little money. His directing credits include Crank, Gamer, Crank II: High Voltage and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Brian's writing credits include a majority of the films he directed. He also co-wrote the underrated medical thriller Pathology and an adaptation of the DC Comics character Jonah Hex. The latter had the duo set to direct but dropped out and their script was bastardized leading to one of the worst films of 2010 .

Jonathan Liebesman Could Direct New Ninja Turtles Film

Looks like Paramount is really hedging their bets when it comes to their genre films. We've already heard news that they're planning a reboot of sorts with the next Transformers film. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one project the studio seems to want to make sooner rather than later. It was previously reported that Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol writers Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec were working on a script. Now, Variety reports that director Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of The Titans) is in talks to helm the live-action reboot.


Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes is involved which is known for horror remakes such as Friday The 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street and Texas Chainsaw Masacre. One of the good things about Dunes is that their movies are highly artistic visually and somewhat faithful to the original source material. It's unknown how graphic the project will be considering how violent the comic book was compared to the Saturday morning cartoon series from the 80's. I would assume that Paramount wants a PG-13 rating.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter International Trailer

UK Poster For Pusher Remake

British Pusher Remake Gets A Trailer

Spielberg Confirms Peter Jackson Is Directing Tintin Sequel

TotalFilm was able to get confirmation from Steven Spielberg on the fate of the sequel to The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of The Unicorn. While the film hasn't made a giant splash in North America gathering just $75 million in box office. It's been a massive success internationally raking in $300 million which solidifies the sequel to move forward. Steven confirms that indeed Jackson will be directing the sequel just as soon as he is done with photography on the Hobbit.

"Peter [Jackson]’s doing it. I wanted to do it, but Peter has to because we made a deal. I said, ‘I’ll direct the first one, you direct the second one.’


“And Peter, of course, is going to do it right after he finishes photography on The Hobbit. He’ll go right into the 31, 21 days of performance capture.


“We’re not telling the world what books we’re basing the second movie on yet.”

 It was originally announced that Spielberg would direct the first film with Jackson the second and the possibly of Spielberg returning for the third. However, there have been rumors that Andy Serkis who is currently the second unit director on The Hobbit could be groomed to direct the third film in the series. When Peter took over directing duties from Guillermo del Toro for the Hobbit it looked like Jackson wouldn't end being able to direct the sequel which was originally planned.

FIRST LOOK: Eli Roth In Chilean Earthquake Horror Film Aftershock

Stills From Brad Pitt Gangster Flick Cogan's Trade

Guillermo del Toro Will Direct Beauty And The Beast For WB

Variety reports that Guillmero del Toro (Hellboy, Blade 2, Pan's Labryinth) will direct Warner Bros' live-action adaptation of Beauty And The Beast. Del Toro is currently finishing up production on Pacific Rim for the studio. Harry Potter's Emma Watson is set to star in the film with Andrew Davies handling script duites. Davies' credits include the first two Bridget's Diaries films and last year's Three Musketeers. Guillermo is known for lining up many projects but this will be the first one in the pile with both a lead and writer attached. This would likely push back other projects such as his Frankenstein and Haunted Mansion adaptations. A production date isn't mentioned but with Pacific Rim not being released until May 10th 2013, it's expected a start date won't happen until next summer.

It's not surprising that there is heat behind two Beauty And The Beasty projects. As Disney re-released the animated film in 3D recently and had a decent return. The competing French production from Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of The Wolf) will likely be a French language film. I also expect with del Toro now directing the WB project will end up being more lavished from a heightened budget and design focused.