Though Cusack doesn’t seem like the obvious choice for the lead, it’s actually fitting seeing as both men need a hit. What better way to show some range and stretch himself as an actor than playing a character involved with Viagra-popping, Oxycodone, and yelling “slut” and “prostitute” at young, female college students? I should amend that. What better way to show some range and stretch himself as an actor than playing a character involved with Viagra-popping, Oxycodone, and yelling “slut” and “prostitute” at young, female college students in a non-Hot Tub Time Machine sequel?

Seriously though, how did this role not go to Meat Loaf? (NY Times)

George Harvey – The Lovely Bones

George Harvey works as a particularly scary serial killer because he seems like he could be real. The wolf who hides in sheep’s clothing, always one step ahead of his victims and authorities. He hides in plain sight as an affable dollhouse maker and confirmed bachelor. Really, the last guy you’d ever expect to have a hollowed out rape den beneath the local cornfield.

Patrick Bateman – American Psycho

This Harvard grad has it all. A successful Wall Street career, good looks, an apartment next to Tom Cruise, and stellar taste in music. He’s also absolutely insane and kills prostitutes, homeless people, and Jared Leto for sport. He’s the last person you’d expect to be capable of killing strangers with power tools, and he has the resources to cover up his unspeakable crimes. He’s easily the most dangerous 1980′s douche bag. And, yes, I’m factoring in Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid.

Stuntman Mike – Death Proof

I pray to God every night that Death Proof’s Stuntman Mike doesn’t actually exist. Sure, the State of Texas boasts an abundance of gorgeous young women, but that doesn’t mean that a twisted gear head is free to go about killing them as he pleases. There’s not an endless supply. No one appreciates your vehicle-based babe slaying, Mike.

I guess it makes sense that Alaska would have pimps and hoes but I find this concept utterly fascinating. A&E had better get their reality show cameras up there immediately. I want Ice Road F*ckers on air by this spring. (via Cinema Blend)

In an odd reversal, John Cusack will play the psychopath while Nic Cage plays the lawman who eventually brings him to justice, with the help of Hansen’s sole living victim. The film marks Walker’s directorial debut, and the premise sounds pretty awesome. Couple that with that fact that Cage’s participation doesn’t involve hamming it up as yet another psycho, and this project sounds very promising.

No casting announcement has been made on the living victim, but expect the role to get a lot more interest now that Cage and Cusack are hopping on. (Deadline)

As previously reported, The Raven stars John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in the final days of his life. Luke Evans plays a detective who teams with Poe when a vicious serial killer kidnaps the author’s really hot fiancee (Alice Eve) and begins modeling his killings after Poe’s work. Talk about commitment from a writer. I doubt you’d see Tucker Max on the scene with a magnifying glass if a killer were to start murdering women in the douchiest ways possible.

The Raven opens in theaters March 9th, 2012. (Bloody Disgusting)

The reason for this change is not known, although some are speculating it’s so as not to conflict with an adaptation of the scifi short story “The Raven,” which is also in production. Which is total BS, because Poe thought of the title “The Raven” first.

Anyway, it’s not all bad news for The Untitled Raven Project, since it also has a release date: March 9, 2012. So mark your gothic, Poe-themed desk calendars now. (/Film)

Director Alejandro Agresti (The Lake House) will helm Dictablanda, which sounds like a furniture line at IKEA. The name actually translates to ‘Soft Dictator’, which is what Muammar Gaddafi calls it when he can’t get it up. *Rimshot* Kevin Morris and Paul Hipp (to be square) star alongside Cusack. The film is about an “international incident” and has the hilarious tag line: “People don’t die, they get killed.” Uh, okay. If you say so, movie tag line.

Filming begins later this month in Argentina. (Cinema Blend)

Here’s a pic of John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven. As you can see, he’s holding a raven. It’s so on the nose you might not be able to conceive it. Good job, studio. You completely surpassed our threshold for simplicity and looped back the other way. Now we’re all baffled as to what the film, directed by James McTeigue, is portraying. Maybe you could work on a title sequence that’s completed constructed by, with, and for ravens. (Vulture)

Yahhaw! Here we go with anuther Non-Monumental News Round Up! And this one is rootin’ tootinier than the last. We got a lot of non-monumental items to glance at in our boredom, so let’s git to it!

Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – has a teaser poster featuring a metallic, pirate skull. It looks like The Expendables teaser poster dressed as Capt. Jack Sparrow for Halloween. (IMP Awards)

John Cusack Is Dressed Like Edgar Allan Poe - Here’s a snapshot of John Cusack on the set of James McTeigue‘s The Raven. It looks more like John Cusack dressed as Johnny Depp for Halloween. (Daily Dead)

First Look At Cars 2- Pixar provides the first official image from Cars 2, showing Lightning McQueen and Mater the Tow Truck participating in the World Grand Prix — an international race to determine the fastest car in the world. While overseas, Mater gets caught up in the world of spy espionage. A backward hillbilly getting mistaken for an international spy? That sounds more like the plot of a Larry the Cable Guy movie. Oh. (Hey You Guys)

Cowboys & Aliens teaser poster - Those aliens don’t stand a chance against Daniel Craig’s boomstick and Nintendo Power Glove. Sadly, no naked Olivia Wilde. Now THAT would be a tease. (Yahoo)

Cat Dressed As A Taco - And here’s a picture of a cat dressed as a taco.

Alice Eve and Luke Evans, but mainly Alice Eve, have joined the cast of The Raven. John Cusack is already on board to don the ascot of that waaaaaaaacky author Edgar Allan Poe. Evans will play a "detective who partners with Poe to search for a serial killer who has kidnapped the author’s fiance (Eve) and has gone on a murders spree that mimics the author’s work." Just like it happens in the classic novel!

James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) will begin shooting the film November 9, with Budapest and Serbia standing in for 1849 Baltimore. Things haven’t changed much there in the past 160 years. (THR)

_{Quoth the Raven, "Herpity derp!"}

John Cusack has announced via his Twitter that he will be playing all around bad boy Edgar Allan Poe in James McTeigue‘s thriller The Raven. The movie won’t be about a guy in a room who keeps hearing strange knocking (Cusack already did that in 1408), but instead "a serial killer thriller in which the famed horror author would have to solve clues of a string of murders based on his stories."

Considering Poe wasn’t a stranger to smoking a boat-load of opium for inspiration, I wonder if they’ll incorporate that character trait into the film. Nothing would give me more pleasure than watching John Cusack stumbling around 1850s Baltimore stoned out of his gourd on barbiturates. It would be like a really old school episode of "The Wire." (ComingSoon)

Screen Junkies has been given an exlusive sneak peak of Rob Corddry and Clark Duke in a red band threeway. Don’t worry, there’s a chick involved, and it’s from their upcoming movie Hot Tub Time Machine, not some grainy, stolen sex tape. The scene perfectly portrays the overall tone of the film. It’s fun, raunchy, and chock full of set pieces that will have you grinning to LOLing. 

Be sure to check back next week for my on camera interviews with the film’s stars Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, and Crispin Glover. But for right now, enjoy the ménage a trois below. Hot Tube Time Machine materializes in theaters Friday, March 26.

Hot Tub Time Machine Exclusive Red Band Clip – Watch more Movie Trailers

Also check out this awesome red band ad that incorporates fans’ Twitter reviews.

Hot Tub Time Machine Twitter Reviews — Red Band – Watch more Movie Trailers

A new poster for Hot Tub Time Machine goes beyond the red band trailer to reveal the secret of time travel. Scientists are going to kick their own asses in the balls when they see how simple the formula was all along. Using simple algebra, one combines energy drink, vodka, and a squirrel. Add that to four mismatched friends and divide the sum by a hot tub.

Let’s sincerely hope those components do not actually unlock space and time. Ted Nugent probably has a hot tub and more than likely he’s tripping over crunk juice and squirrels. I don’t want to imagine a reality where he has traveled back through time and become our overlord. He’ll hunt us all. (EW)

The red band trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine is here to give us a swearier/boobier look at what we’ve already seen. It stars John Cusack, Rob Corddry, and Craig Robinson as the characters from The Hangover, as well as Clark Duke as a kid that looks like a koala or a young Charles Nelson Reilly. You can catch the movie in theaters on March 19th. You can also catch hepatitis from a toilet seat, which I would gladly do over watching this movie. (Coming Soon)

WATCH THE NSFW TRAILER AFTER THE JUMP…

I’ve heard of a night of wild drinking, but this is ridiculous (Rim shot. Fart.)! The new trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine just materialized and it’s got a bit of a retro vibe to it. First of all, John Cusack must be having the biggest mindf*cking of his life after being dropped back in to Better Off Dead. After that wild winter why would he ever want to go back to the slopes?

Hot Tub stars Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke as friends who after a night of drinking Red Bulls and vodkas, and supposedly not playing "let’s compare penises" in a whirlpool, travel back to the 80s, where all the people they know in the present are younger, and there are cassette tapes. Holy sh*t! My guess is there will be a ton of jokes based on the fact that things are different in the world now. Fingers crossed there’s one about ungroomed pubic hair. Women’s businesses be nasty back then.

Hot Tub Time Machine materializes in theaters March 19th, 2010. Check out the trailer after the jump.

Hot Tub Time Machine Trailer – Watch more Movie Trailers

Cast: John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke

Synopsis: After a night of drinking Red Bull and vodkas, a group of guys travel back in time to when they were younger cads.

Release Date: March 19th, 2010

Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay should have an explosion war.  Both of them get a sick kick out of blowing up monuments, landmarks, and national treasures.  In fact, they even blow up the same icons in several different movies.  Why not just go back in time and punch Betsey Ross in the kidney while she’s sewing the stars and stripes on the American Flag?  Or better yet, have the Red Coats crash a tidal wave down on top of her. Maybe Emmerich can work that into a redux of the The Patriot.  Until then, we can watch John Cusack and a motley cast of other recognizable faces outrun the end of the world much like the characters do in The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day.

Cast: John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson 

Synopsis: An epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors