Casting news: Cate Blanchett will star in David Mamet’s Blackbird, a thriller about a girl who learns shocking new facts about the 1963 assassination of JFK. Also, Samuel L. Jackson is likely to join True Grit sensation Hailee Steinfeld in Barely Lethal, an action comedy about a child assassin who retires to the suburbs. Read more casting updates from the week here.
The sequel to Chronicles of Riddick is finally coming! The first in the sci-fi series, Pitch Black, was a surprise sensation at the box office. Here’s a look at the first trailer for the third film in the series, finally being released after nine long years.
If you’re into Renaissance Festivals or the amazingly campy themed restaurant Medieval Times, you may be happy about the bizarre news that a production company has acquired the rights to make a film based on the restaurant. Whether that’s a Clerks-style comedy about employees of the restaurant or a medieval action epic based on the dinner theater production is yet to be seen. Read the announcement here.
Production began this week on The School for Good and Evil, an interesting riff on fairy tales about a school where kidnapped modern children are told how to be princes, princesses, and evil villains. This adaptation of the book by Soman Chainani should be an interesting touchstone of what our culture thinks of objective morality.
Angelina Jolie has had a double mastectomy to drastically reduce the risk of contracting breast cancer. The move has been applauded by fans and pundits worldwide as an example of putting health and sanity before the sexualizing pressures of Hollywood. Read the Times op-ed she penned about her decision here.
