John Wick 2, Zootopia, The Girl on the Train, and other films have made recent film casting, screenwriting, and director news. These films come from movie studios primarily based in the United States. The castings, screenwriters, and directors are subject to change.
Cruise
Kathrine Narducci will join Spencer Boldman (Disney XD’s “Lab Rats”) and Emily Ratajkowski (“Gone Girl”) in Rob Siegel’s indie movie “Cruise”
Set during the summer of 1987, “Cruise” stars Boldman as Gio Marchetti, a young Italian-American who loves racing cars and chasing girls — until he meets Long Island girl Jessica Weintraub (Ratajkowski).
Narducci will play Boldman’s mother, while Gino Cafarelli will play his father. Cafarelli co-starred in Siegel’s directorial debut, “Big Fan,” and serves as an executive producer on “Cruise.”
John Wick 2
Common has been cast as the villain in Lionsgate’s “John Wick 2”
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but Common is expected to play the muscle for a female crime lord who comes after Reeves’ ex-hitman.
Ian McShane is set to reprise his role as Winston, the owner of the boutique hotel that caters to hit-person community with its discretion, on-call doctors and no-killing rule.
Chad Stahelski returns to direct the sequel, but he’ll be on his own this time, as his collaborator David Leitch is preparing to direct the Charlize Theron thriller “Coldest City” for Focus.
Zootopia
Joining Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman and Shakira will be Oscar winners J.K. Simmons and Octavia Spencer, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Alan Tudyk, Nate Torrence, Tommy Chong, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Raymond Persi, Katie Lowes, Jesse Corti, John DiMaggio and Tommy “Tiny” Lister.
Shakira – Gazelle, an international superstar famous throughout Zootopia.
Idris Elba – Chief Bogo, head of the Zootopia Police Department. A tough cape buffalo with 2,000 lbs of attitude, Bogo is reluctant to add Judy Hopps, Zootopia’s first bunny cop, to his squad of hardened rhinos, elephants and hippos.
J.K. Simmons – Mayor Leodore Lionheart, the noble leader of Zootopia, who coined the city’s mantra that Judy Hopps lives by — “In Zootopia, anyone can be anything.”
Nate Torrence – Benjamin Clawhauser, the Zootopia Police Department’s most charming cheetah. Clawhauser loves two things — pop star Gazelle and donuts. From his reception desk, he greets everyone with a warm smile and a helpful paw, which is always covered in sprinkles.
Jenny Slate – Assistant Mayor Bellwether, a sweet sheep with a little voice and a lot of wool, who constantly finds herself under foot of the larger-than-life Mayor Lionheart.
Tommy Chong – Yax the Yak, the most enlightened, laid-back bovine in Zootopia. When Judy Hopps is on a case, Yax is full of revealing insights.
Octavia Spencer – Mrs. Otterton, a desperate otter who turns to Officer Judy Hopps for help in solving her husband’s mysterious disappearance.
Bonnie Hunt – Bonnie Hopps, mother of Judy — and her 275 brothers and sisters. Mrs. Hopps loves and supports her daughter, but is a hare nervous about Judy moving to Zootopia to become a big-city police officer.
Don Lake – Stu Hopps, Judy’s father who’s a carrot farmer from Bunnyburrow. Along with Mrs. Hopps, he is worried about Judy moving to Zootopia and the untrustworthy big-city mammals who live there — especially foxes.
Alan Tudyk – Duke Weaselton, a small-time weasel crook with a big-time weasel mouth, who tries to give Judy the slip during a police chase.
Tommy “Tiny” Lister – Finnick, a fennec fox with a big chip on his adorable shoulder.
Raymond Persi – Flash, the fastest sloth working at the DMV — the Department of Mammal Vehicles.
Katie Lowes – Dr. Madge Honey Badger, who heads up all of City Hall’s most pressing medical cases.
Jesse Corti – Manchas, a jaguar and highly-regarded chauffeur who works for the biggest — and shadiest — limo company in town.
John DiMaggio – Jerry Jumbeaux Jr., the easily annoyed owner of Jumbeaux’s Café, his elephant ice cream parlor.
Backstabbing for Beginners
Ben Kingsley and Josh Hutcherson of “The Hunger Games” are set to star in the political thriller “Backstabbing for Beginners”
Per Fly (“The Inheritance”) will direct from a script he co-wrote with Daniel Pyne (“The Manchurian Candidate”).
the film tells the story of Michael (Hutcherson), a young idealist who lands his dream job as a program coordinator for the U.N.’s Oil for Food program. He is thrown into an already fraught post-war Iraq where government agents and power-hungry countries are circling Iraq’s oil reserves like sharks. He seeks answers from the one person he thinks he can trust, Pasha (Kingsley), his boss, a seasoned diplomat. The more Michael learns, however, the more he suspects a conspiracy at the highest level. The only way out will be to expose it all — risking his life, his mentor’s career, and the life of the Kurdish woman he loves.
Bad Moms
Mila Kunis, Christina Applegate, Kristen Bell have signed on to star in an untitled comedy…previously known as “Bad Moms”
Jon Lucas and Scott Moore will direct from their own screenplay.
Like most modern mothers, Amy (Kunis) takes care of everyone but herself. Her life is perfect — a happy marriage, overachieving kids, a beautiful home, and 365 good-hair days a year. She bakes for the school bake sale and chairs every committee, all the while holding down a career. And, she makes it all look easy.
But just under the surface, Amy is at her breaking point — too over-worked, over-committed, and over-exhausted to take one more demand from anyone. Why work so hard for so little appreciation? What would happen if she did what she wanted for a change?
Fed up, Amy joins forces with two other over-stressed moms, leading them on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities, going on a wild un-mom like binge of freedom, fun and self-indulgence — accidentally landing on a collision course with PTA Queen Bee Gwendolyn and her blindly devoted clique of “perfect” moms.
War For The Planet Of The Apes
Sara Canning has joined the cast of War For The Planet Of The Apes. She’s set to play a new ape character — though, as is par for the course with the production, details about her character and the role she’ll play have not been revealed.
Pantelion’s Latin Lover
Cochran & LaFarge
Go The F*** To Sleep
Return Of The Jocks
Me Time
Ken Marino is set to direct Pantelion’s Latin Lover with Eugenio Derbez…Written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack, the comedy is about an aging Latin lover who gets dumped by his sugar mama and must fend for himself in a harsh world.
Marino would go from Latin Lover to Cochran & LaFarge at Fox with Sacha Baron Cohen starring. Marino is writing the features Go The F*** To Sleep at Fox 2000 as well as Return Of The Jocks at Fox (with his wife, Erica Oyama). Universal Pictures recently acquired the comedy pitch Me Time from Oyama and Marino who are both writing
A Meyers Christmas
Kimberly Elise has joined the family for A Meyers Christmas, Universal’s comedy starring Danny Glover and Gabrielle Union. She’ll play the eldest child in an estranged family that is brought together for the holidays for the first time since the mother’s death. Jessie T. Usher co-stars in the pic
David E. Talbert (Baggage Claim) wrote and will direct A Meyers Christmas
The Girl on the Train
Justin Theroux is circling a lead role in director Tate Taylor‘s buzzy thriller “The Girl on the Train”
Theroux would fill the role previously flirted with by “Avengers” star Chris Evans, playing the ex-husband of Emily Blunt’s character.
Luna Park
Jason Fuchs has been set to write the latest draft of Tom Cruise and Doug Liman’s sci-fi actioner “Luna Park”
Variety first reported that Cruise was joining Liman to develop “Luna Park” with an eye to star in the film for Paramount.
“Luna Park’s” plot revolves around a group of renegade employees who venture to the moon to steal an energy source.
Update:
Colossal
Dan Stevens has landed one of the male leads opposite Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis in the sci-fi pic “Colossal” sources tell Variety.
The story follows a woman who moves back to her hometown after losing her job and boyfriend in New York, only to discover that she is somehow strangely connected to a giant creature that has materialized over Seoul and is wreaking havoc on the city.
Stevens will play the ex-boyfriend who originally scorns her only to later fight to win her back.
Pitch Perfect 3
Elizabeth Banks will return to direct the next installment in Universal’s musical franchise, “Pitch Perfect 3.”
Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and Brittany Snow also return as lead cast, with a screenplay from Kay Cannon
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