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Film Casting: THE MARTIAN, Dwayne Johnson in SHAZAM

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The Martian, Shazam, and other films have all 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.

Shazam

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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson [will play] Black Adam In [DC Comics] ‘Shazam’

The Last Witch Hunter

Julie Engelbrecht is set to make her American film debut in Lionsgate/Summit’s The Last Witch Hunter opposite Vin Diesel, Michael Caine, Elijah Wood, and Rose Leslie…Engelbrecht will do battle with Diesel in the villainous role of the Witch Queen, a part she landed after an international casting search.

Gosnell

Andrew Klavan (One Missed Call, A Shock To The System, Haunting Melissa) has been hired to script the crowdfunded TV film project Gosnell, about Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell. The infamous doctor was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder for mercilessly killing babies of botched abortions who were born alive by driving a scissors into their necks and snipping their spinal cords. His practices are believed to have gone on for as many as forty years and Gosnell is currently serving a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole.

CHiPS

Dax Shepard [will] write, direct and star in a screen version of CHiPS, that TV series that ran from 1977-83 and featured two officers who patrolled the highways of California armed with motorcycles and the tightest khaki cop uniforms in television history. Shepard will play Officer Jon Baker (played in the original by Larry Wilcox), while Michael Pena is attached to play Frank “Ponch” Poncherello, the role Erik Estrada originated.

Me Before You

MGM is negotiating with Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin to star in the Thea Sharrock-directed Me Before You, the adaptation of the Jojo Moyes best-selling novel…The author wrote the first draft of the script, and (500) Years Of Summer scribes Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber did the most recent draft.

Skiptrace

Johnny Knoxville has been set to star alongside Jackie Chan in Skiptrace, the Renny Harlin-directed film that has just begun shooting in China. [It’s] the tale of a Hong Kong detective (Chan) who teams up with a mouthy American gambler [Knoxville] to save his niece and take down the city’s most notorious criminal.

[The film also stars Fan Bingbing.]

Jay Longino, Brian Gatewood & Alessandro Tanaka, Geoff Moore & David Posamentier, and BenDavid Grabinski all had a hand in the script and Rodney Rothman is polishing.

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The Martian

Jessica Chastain is in early talks for the female lead opposite Matt Damon the Fox sci-fi pic “The Martian.”

Ridley Scott is directing.

Hack Attack

George Clooney has come on to direct “Hack Attack” for Sony Pictures…The pic will be an adaptation of journalist Nick Davies’ account of the British phone hacking scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s news empire.

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Source: Variety, Deadline

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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