By: James White With shooting set to start on the series imminently, Bryan Fuller,Michael Green and the American Gods cable TV team have cast two more key roles with Crispin Glover and Jonathan Tucker. In Neil Gaiman‘s novel, chronicling the struggle between the gods of old (mythological legends from around the world) and new (reflecting…
Category: Empire Magazine
Gary Oldman to play Winston Churchill in WWII drama Darkest Hour
By : Owen Williams As previously reported, director Joe Wright is reuniting with his Atonement studio Working Title for the WWII drama Darkest Hour. Now it looks like he’s found his Winston Churchill, with Gary Oldman in talks to play the bulldog British Prime Minister. Darkest Hour is set in 1940, when Churchill was in his first…
The Jungle Book | Review
By : Chris Hewitt Raised by a pack of wolves, man-cub Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is forced to return to his village when bloodthirsty tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) gets his scent in his nostrils. But getting there won’t be as straightforward as Mowgli hopes. ★★★ You can’t accuse Disney of timidity when it comes to mining…
Forest Whitaker Headed For Memphi
by James White He recently played a real-life (albeit tweaked) figure in The Butler, and Forest Whitaker seems destined to follow that up with another historical icon, entering talks to portray Martin Luther King in Paul Greengrass’ long-gestating picMemphis. Greengrass has been trying to get this one made since at least 2010. It fell apart early in…
Warners Playing Dungeons & Dragons
Rolling the dice on a fantasy franchise by James White Dungeons & Dragons is such a core concept of early gaming life for those who grew up during (and just after) its heyday that it seemed inevitable that someone would one day turn it into a film. That day was late in 2000, when the execrable Jeremy…
Ewan McGregor Joins Jane Got A Gun
He’s the new villain by James White Get your “Ewan grabs his gun, eh?” Carry On-style puns out of the way, because the casting wheel has spun again on troubled Western dramaJane Got A Gun. After a search that included an attempt to secure Bradley Cooper’s services, Gavin O’Connor has locked down Ewan McGregor to play the big bad….
Tom Vaughan To Direct Tom Jones
The foundling, not the Welsh rocker by Owen Williams “It’s not unusual to…” No, wait, wrong Tom Jones.* Slightly older than the Welsh crooner, the Tom Jones we’re talking about here dates back to 1749, and the publication of Henry Fielding’s famous (and infamous) novel The History Of Tom Jones, A Foundling. It’s been filmed before, but it’s…
Joe Johnston Takes On Gotti
by Owen Williams Proving that you can’t keep a good gangster down, after years of struggleGotti finally has a director. Joe Johnston (The Wolfman, Captain America) has just signed to fill the director’s chair vacated first by Nick Cassavetes and subsequently by Barry Levinson. John Travolta, who’s been with the project from early on, remains incumbent as the “Dapper…
Jeremy Irvine On For Angel Of Death
by James White He’s dealt with the horror and terror of war (for War Horse) and the pressure of great expectations (in, er, Great Expectations) but is Jeremy Irvine ready to have the life scared right out of him? He’ll need to be, because he and Phoebe Fox have signed on to star in The Woman In Black: Angel Of…
Johnny Depp May Head Into The Woods
by James White When Rob Marshall started developing a film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s fairytale-tweaking musical Into The Woodswith Disney, mention was made of him considering the idea as he madePirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It would seem someone else from the high seas mega-franchise was interested, since Johnny Depp is in talks to…
Worthington Enters The Keeping Room
by Owen Williams With Clash and Wrath Of The Titans, Avatar and its future sequels, and his recent work with Arnold Schwarzenegger on the action thriller Ten, it’s fair to say that Sam Worthington gravitates towards big, blockbuster-type projects. But there’s at least one smaller-scale indie flick on the horizon for the Aussie actor, in the form of American Civil War drama The Keeping…
Michael Fassbender Will Be Macbeth
by James White Sooner or later, it seems that every young actor is drawn to Macbeth. James McAvoy performed the role on stage recentlty and a castle-load of people have embodied the character on screen, including Orson Welles and Sam Worthington. Now Michael Fassbender seems set to join the ranks of the crown-coveting fraternity. Snowtown director Justin Kurzel…
Jamie Foxx In Talks For Annie
by James White As Will Smith, Jay-Z and Sony finally see their efforts to launch a remake of Annie take off, the cast is coming into focus. Quvenzhané Wallis landed the lead already, but the other key role of Daddy Warbucks was still up for grabs.Until now, that is, because it appears Jamie Foxx will take it on. In what…
Tatum Could Be Part Of Guys & Dolls
Joseph Gordon-Levitt also eyed by James White There are some projects that studios hunt down mercilessly as though they were characters in Moby Dick. For 20th Century Fox, that has long been the rights to remake stage and, even more famously, movie musical Guys And Dolls. Finally, the deal is done and development can begin in earnest, with…
Thor: The Dark World Gets A Poster
Written by Ali Plumb You may not have seen this coming, but the first poster for the Thor sequel, namely Thor: The Dark World, features a big fella man with long hair holding a hammer. Also, lightning! And, um, snow! Chances are you’re keen to see a trailer now, and the good news is that it’s coming in a…
The Hobbit’s Baddie Talks!
Interview by Nick de Semlyen Kiwi actor Manu Bennett has appeared in movies including 30 Days Of Night, Lantana and The Marine, but his most high-profile work to date has been in Starz’ Spartacus series, as ludicrously chiselled slave Crixus. The performance caught Peter Jackson’s eye, leading him to cast Bennett as the dwarf-bothering Pale…
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