This week:
Christoph Waltz joins Candy Store; Shia LaBeouf and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo sign up for Villain; Hasbro tries to stop the Dungeons and Dragons movie; Michael Giacchino will score Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Rza is cast in the District B13 remake; and Joel Edgerton and Michelle Williams will play a couple in The Double Hour.
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Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz has joined the cast of writer/director Stephen Gaghan's upcoming film, Candy Store.
Waltz joins a cast that already includes fellow Oscar winner Robert De Niro and Zero Dark Thirty's Jason Clarke. At one point Chris Hemsworth was rumored for a role, but that casting has presumably fallen through.
Candy Store's narrative centers on a covert operative (Clarke) that teams up with a local Brooklyn cop (De Niro) to take down a criminal organization. Along the way, the duo encounters a pimp (Omar Sy), a beautiful girl wrapped in an elaborate threat, and Waltz's character, a suburbanite with Cold War ties.
Source: Coming Soon
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Shia LaBeouf has been cast as the lead in Villain, a psychological thriller that will be directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later).
The script for Villain was written by Josh Zetumer (the Robocop remake), and follows two brothers who mysteriously reconnect in the wilderness. The role of LaBeouf's brother has not yet been cast, but that announcement is reportedly on its way.
Although Fresnadillo has only a few credits to his name, he has been attached to some high-profile projects, like The Crow and Highlander. He has since departed both films, which frees him up to helm Villain.
And for LaBeouf, this film sounds like the type of mature fare he has been looking for since the conclusion of his role in the Transformers franchise. Before the cameras role, however, the project is headed to Cannes to find distribution.
Source: Deadline
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Toymaker turned production company Hasbro has filed suit against Sweetpea Entertainment for their in-development Dungeons and Dragons film, Chainmail.
Earlier this month, we reported that Chainmail was on the fast track at Warner Bros. However, that project was put into development under the pretense that Sweetpea Entertainment and director Courtney Solomon still held the rights to the D&D property, which Hasbro now claims they do not.
At the root of the issue is the film Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God, a low-budget, straight-to-DVD release that Solomon argues is a sequel to his 2000 film, Dungeons and Dragons. According to Solomon's contract with Hasbro, if he delivered a sequel within five years of his first film, the D&D rights would still be his.
Solomon believes he delivered that sequel, while Hasbro doesn't see it that way. Hasbro also happens to have their own D&D film in development, which is likely a key reason for this dispute.
Source: Deadline
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Star Trek Into Darkness composer Michael Giacchino will score Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for director Matt Reeves.
This will be the third time Reeves has used Giacchino, with the other two collaborations being Cloverfield and Let Me In. Basically, after Reeves was brought on to direct Dawn, it was almost a forgone conclusion that Giacchino would provide the score.
That's because Giacchino has become something of a staple amongst the former and current Bad Robot crowd (a.k.a. anyone with close ties to J.J. Abrams), as well as a number of Pixar directors. The Oscar winner has scored both of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films, two Mission Impossible movies, and Lost. Needless to say he's become a hot commodity, but he always seems to make time for his friends.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is slated to release May 23, 2014.
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Source: Michael Giacchino - Twitter
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Rapper turned actor turned director Rza has signed on for Brick Mansions, the English language remake of the French action film District B13.
Rza will be playing the film's villain, a drug warlord who has activated a neutron bomb within an apartment complex. Paul Walker is already set to play the film's protagonist, an undercover cop who is trying to disarm the threat. Although most will recognize Rza as one part of the rap group Wu Tang Clan, he has slowly started to make a name for himself in feature films. He just recently directed and starred in The Man with the Iron Fists.
The original District B13 received mostly positive reviews, but much of the attention was focused on the film's dynamic, parkour-based action scenes. In other words, the story wasn't terribly memorable, but the action was pretty unique. Brick Mansions is being directed by Camille Delamarre, a protégé of French director Luc Besson, who just so happens to be the producer on both this film and the original. District B13 was directed by another one of Besson's protégés, Pierre Morel (Taken).
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Source: THR
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Michelle Williams (Oz the Great and Powerful) and Joel Edgerton (The Great Gatsby) have signed on to star in The Double Hour for director Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace).
The film is based on the 2009 Italian film of the same title, and follows a couple that meets through speed dating and plan a romantic getaway. However, that fling soon takes a turn for the worse, and the two get caught up in a robbery.
We know that Edgerton and Williams will play the couple in the remake, but it's unclear how closely this film will follow the original. That film was nominated for several awards at the Venice Film Festival, so Marston (who is also writing the film) shouldn't have to change much.
Source: Deadline