Casting Round-Up: Penelope Cruz, Thandie Newton, Jay Baruchel, And Maggie Grace

Geoffrey Golden — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:45:45 +0000

It’s time for another casting round-up, cowpokes. We sat ourselves down in front of studio lots, waited fer critters (celebrities) to walk out, hog tied ‘em, and asked them what parts they got. Here’s what y’all need to know:

PENELOPE CRUZ will team up with director Woody Allen once again, this time on a film set in Rome. There are no plot details yet, but the computer program I wrote says the odds are very high that it won’t be as good as earlier Woody Allen movies. (EW)

THANDIE NEWTON will play opposite Tyler Perry in his next film Good Deeds, which Perry will write and direct as well. The film is about a successful businessman who must choose between his rich fiancée and a down-on-her-luck single mother. Even if it’s bad, Newton can take comfort that it can’t be worse than Norbit. (TheWrap)

JAY BARUCHEL will join Robert Pattinson, Samantha Morton, and Paul Giamatti in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis. Pattinson plays a billionaire who loses everything he has in one day, including his new wife. Bad things happening to Pattinson, I can get on board with. Baruchel plays the original founder and conscious at Pattinson’s company. (Deadline)

MAGGIE GRACE will star alongside Liam Neeson in Taken 2, produced by Luc Besson. And yes, the will-he-or-won’t-he-tension of whether Neeson would take on Taken 2 has been resolved in the affirmative. Eight-time “Namey” award winner Olivier Megaton will direct. (Deadline) (Collider)

Liam Neeson Has Nothing To Do Besides ‘Taken 2′ After All

Geoffrey Golden — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:07:28 +0000

taken” src=”http://www.screenjunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/175990.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”225″ />Looks like the star of Taken may not be back to reprise his role in Taken 2. Maybe sequel co-writer/producer Luc Besson will kidnap Liam Neeson‘s daughter until he says “yes?” Of course, the joke would be on him, since Neeson only has sons.

Besson has been putting together the sequel to the hit ex-CIA agent vs. the French Underworld drama, and he’s currently talking to Best Last Name Ever Award Winner Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3) about directing it. However, Besson wants to shoot Taken 2 this year, while forgettable Jedi Neeson wants to take the year off for personal reasons. Can you do a sequel without the lead from the original? Besson is willing to try: his list of possible replacements to play Bryan Mills (or a character very, very similar) includes Ralph Fiennes, Mickey Rourke, and Jason Isaacs.

Faced with replacing Neeson with “The Ram,” Besson recently went back to Neeson and the two are currently trying to work out a shooting schedule for late this year, but nothing is confirmed yet. (Deadline)

UPDATE: My hostage plan worked, I assume. Liam Neeson just officially signed on for Taken 2. Neeson will get some time off before dealing with more stuff getting taken – the sequel starts filming late 2011 / early 2012.

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Casting Round-Up: Penelope Cruz, Thandie Newton, Jay Baruchel, And Maggie Grace

Liam Neeson Has Nothing To Do Besides ‘Taken 2′ After All