Oscar Isaac has landed one of the lead roles in the adaptation of Emile Zola’s novel Therese Raquin. The dark thriller stars Elizabeth Olsen as a young woman in 1867 Paris whose aunt, Madame Raquin, is forcing her into an arranged marriage with her rich, but sickly, first cousin (Tom Felton). As Therese soon becomes obsessed with Laurent, a friend of her husband’s, a devastating affair ensues with a very heavy price. Deadline reports that Isaac will take on the role of Laurent, and while we previously had Glenn Close attached to play Olsen’s aunt, Deadline’s report now says that Jessica Lange has the role.
Isaac had a nice supporting role in last year’s Drive and he appears in the upcoming reboot The Bourne Legacy. The talented actor is currently filming Joel and Ethan Coen’s folk music drama Inside Llewyn Davis, and he make a nice addition to the promising Therese Raquin cast. Though Close was a nice fit, Lange does “overbearing motherly figure” like nobody’s business so I have no qualms with the switch.
Kamala has tapped David and Janet Peoples (Blade Runner, Twelve Monkeys) to write the script, with Lin set to direct. I haven’t read Lone Wolf and Cub, but it’s largely considered to be a seminal work. Lin is great with popcorn action fare, but it’ll be interesting to see him take on such a beloved piece of material. Production is still probably quite a ways off, as Lin will be busy with Fast 6 for the next year or so, after which Universal will most likely want to get the ball rolling on Fast 7. Read the synopsis for Lone Wolf and Cub below.
Collider: How much fan did you have with your cameos in The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man?
Benjamin Walker Time Index
Regarding the “alien race” comments, Liebesman said the “alien” aspect actually comes straight from the series:
“Whatever mythology we’re building on or expanding is coming from that guy, Kevin Eastman’s head, who created the Turtles in the first place. And so everything will tie in with the mythology; fans will be extremely excited with what we’re coming up with. A lot of it is stuff he’s wanted to do for a long time, but just hasn’t had the opportunity because now we have the budget and things on this film to expand it in the right way. And so, I’m happy that everyone is extremely passionate, and they will not be disappointed. It’s all coming from the best possible place for this franchise.”
I think this is a great way to go, and if Liebesman can bring Weta Digital in to create photorealistic turtles then I think we’ll be in for a visually stunning TMNT. The director also stressed that the film won’t be entirely about action:
I think Tucci’s an incredible talent, and I’m enthused that Yates has settled on him to take the coveted role. The director did a swell job bringing the Harry Potter series to a close with nuance and grace, and I’m eager to see him tackle this smaller, dramatic pic. Variety’s report notes that the film doesn’t yet have a greenlight, but Tucci’s involvement should move things along. Apparently Warner Bros. is so high on the project that they’re already eyeing it as a major contender in the 2013 Oscar race, especially the Best Actor category. A little premature, but I’m encouraged by their enthusiasm nonetheless. “The Tucc” is long overdue.
Not so long ago, The Master was “postponed indefinitely.” Then the ineffable Megan Ellison (True Grit) rescued the project and earlier this month promised an October release date on Twitter. Box Office Mojo narrows down the time window to October 12, which may now be the official date that Oscar season starts. Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, and David Warshovsky co-star in the drama about a man (Hoffman) so shaken by the horrors of World War II that he creates a new religion. Anderson shot The Master in 65mm; There Will Be Blood composer Johnny Greenwood is scoring the film.
Aykroyd made the announcement on his Facebook page:
Maggie Grace Time Index
Additionally, producers are recasting yet another role for the sequel to Percy Jackson & The Olmpians: The Lightening Thief. We recently learned that Nathan Fillion will be taking over the role of Hermes in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, and now Heat Vision reports that Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has been tapped to play Chrion in follow-up. The centaur part was filled by Pierce Brosnan in the first film, but for unspecified reasons Head will be stepping in this time around. Thor Freudenthal is directing the pic, which sees the return of Logan Lerman as the titular Percy. He embarks with his other demigod friends to the Island of the Cyclops (the Bermuda Triangle) in order to retrieve a Golden Fleece.
Collider: What can you say to tease fans about the season finale and where things will end up for each of your characters?
How surprised were you guys, by the ending of this season and the outcome for your character? Could you see where it was going, or were you just completely taken by surprise?
HOPE: For me, it was really the true relief when Emmet is there, for real. That was the end of the previous episode. Despite all the harrowing things that Tess goes through in this finale, particularly in relation to Lincoln, I was so pleased to have Bruce there with me. For me, that was my favorite part. To have to slog through those seven episodes, and then have my old friend that, who I had known before, was great. In my real life, I was away from my husband, shooting this show, and I was lonely for my real-life son, and there was something very comforting for me, to have Bruce there with me, in the end. 
ANDERSON: Yeah, it was exhausting and it’s a challenge to try to keep it fresh and, as an actor, try to keep it so that you don’t just have one scared look. You have to be different, every time. And, of course, it’s a scary show, so you’re coming up against that, all the time. It was quite challenging for us to keep that fresh. But then, we were right there, in the jungle, in the building and on the boat, where there is weird stuff happening. We shoot in digital, so it is dark on the boat and it is eerie and it is wet on the floor. It all adds to it. Other than being tired, it was fun to immerse yourself in the whole thing. 
Were you ever worried that it would be difficult to sustain the level of terror and scares, when you have to go to commercial break, or do you think the viewers need that moment to take a breath?
According to The Live Feed, Mary Elizabeth Ellis will reprise her role as Caroline, the manipulative ex-girlfriend of Nick (Jake Johnson) in the final three episodes of the first season. Nick considers moving in with Caroline, which would open up a room in the apartment. Jess (Zooey Deschanel), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), and Winston (Lamorne Morris) start looking for possible replacements—Lennon will guest star as one of the candidates. The season finale will air on May 8, cementing the first unqualified hit sitcom Fox has premiered in quite some time.
Collider: Are you getting a sense of the excitement for the film, now that little pieces have gotten out?
How do you honor that iconography, but also make it your own movie?
Stone: Well, there were fun elements, like swinging, that I’d never done, or reacting to something that’s not there, which was interesting. But, the greatest take-away was realizing that everything is so grounded in reality. It doesn’t matter how big the world is around you, or the blue screens in the background. You are doing a scene between two people, and it’s human and it’s real. That’s a comforting thing, when you’re in something that’s so seemingly daunting and it’s such a big environment. It’s nice, at the end of the day, to know that you’re just acting as you would be, in any circumstance. 
Stone: Yeah, there’s her duty to her father and her duty to her boyfriend because she’s a real confidante for him. Their intimacy is such an incredible element. Gwen has been in control her whole life. She’s the oldest daughter of a police chief, who is constantly terrified that her father is going to die, every day. She has to have an element of being smart because she has to be. She’s a valedictorian because she has to be. She has to take care of things and be responsible for her family. She has to try to let go and trust somebody else who puts themselves in the face of death, every day. It’s like, “Great, now she’s drawn to another person that could die, at any moment, and she has to keep his secret, and pick and choose between her first love, which is her father, like every girl.” That’s the first man in your life, and then there’s your first boyfriend. So, it’s a pretty complex situation for Gwen. There’s a lot of sadness and fear in her life, combined with the fact that she’s outwardly confident and strong and smart, and takes no bullshit. She’s soft and 17, underneath it all. 
With the romance being so important in the story, how quickly did you see the chemistry happening between Emma and Andrew [Garfield]? Did that happen right away?
Webb: Well, we’re telling the story in a different way. I think it’s really important, when you’re redefining a character, for the audience to experience things that they haven’t experienced, from the ground up. I wanted to build a character. I feel like point of view is a really crucial thing in the story, and that you need to build up the emotional building blocks, so that you can experience all the other emotions in a very specific way, rather than just experiencing it in an intellectual way. That’s why, at the beginning of the movie, there’s the story of his parents being pulled from him. You want to feel what that sense of abandonment, as an audience member, so that you can readily and appropriately identify. We’re creating a different universe with different rules and a different tone and different villains. We were very careful to honor the iconography of Spider-Man, but we wanted to tell it in a new and different way. 
Stone: The Sam Raimi trilogy. I didn’t read comics, growing up. I watched a lot of movies, and those were my comic books. So, it was the trilogy. And then, my exposure really increased by becoming affiliated with Spider-Man. When I found out that I was going to audition for Gwen, I looked into the Gwen Stacy story. I was so excited that it was Gwen because, when your exposure has been the Sam Raimi trilogy, you only really knew about Mary Jane, other than Bryce Dallas Howard’s portrayal in the third movie, but that’s a totally different version of Gwen. So, it was like I had some backstory, all of a sudden, to the Peter and Mary Jane relationship. He’s gone through something so horribly traumatic in his life and has such a sense of guilt that it really added so much to the story. So, I was so excited to get to be a part of bringing that story to life. 
Webb: We looked at a lot of people, and then we started casting and there was something about him. I remember that there was a very specific moment, when we were screen testing with Andrew. He was eating a cheeseburger that wasn’t really in the movie. It was just for the screen test. And he moved in a way that felt adolescent. He was eating a cheeseburger and he flopped his elbows around, and I didn’t know what I was drawn to, initially. I just watched it over and over again. I couldn’t stop watching it. I thought that it was so interesting, and there were so many layers in the performance, and I was drawn to it. I just wanted to watch it, over and over again. Beyond that, he’s emphatic about finding authenticity and emotional reality in a scene, and he will not reach for jokes. He will not reach for any kind of emotion that does not feel real or authentic. That’s an enormous gift. It’s a very difficult thing for actors because they’re often asked to do things that are really crazy. When you have to react to a lizard that’s a tennis ball, it’s a really, really difficult, tricky piece of craft. He could do that in a way that felt real, and I felt that was really exceptional. Beyond that, he can do emotional depth and heartbreaking scenes. There’s a lot of tragedy in the movie. He can do romance and he can do humor, as can Emma, but that’s a very, very rare combination to find, in an actor. You become increasingly aware of how rare that is, as you start to try to find that. He’s an exceptional human and an exceptional craftsman, in that regard. 
Webb: I think it emerges from a kind of attitude. There’s a punk rock quality to Peter Parker, that I identified with when I read the comics, and that I really liked. He has this chip on his shoulder. That humor is something that’s so crucial and so part of the DNA of Spider-Man and the comics. I liked a little bit of that wise-ass quality, and Andrew really took a shine to it and was able to pull it off. He hadn’t done a lot of funny movies before this, but he can be very wistful. 