Casting Bits: Samantha Morton In David Cronenberg’s ‘Cosmopolis;’ Alan Rickman In ‘Gambit;’ Rick Yune In RZA’s ‘The Man With The Iron Fists’
The casting forDavid Cronenberg’s adaptation of theDon DeLillonovelCosmopolishas been an up and down affair, with original talents Colin Farrell and Marion Cotillard dropping out.Robert Pattinsonis now the male lead — he plays a young billionaire who deals with quite a few problems as he spends a day crossing Manhattan in his limo. Also in the cast areJuliette BinocheandPaul Giamatti.
And now Robert Pattinson tellsMTVthatSamantha Mortonis in the film, and that a new young actress has been chosen to play his character’s wife, but that he can’t yet reveal her name. I’m very interested to hear who that will be, but in the meantime having Samantha Morton in the cast is a great thing. She is reliably excellent, and even without knowing her specific role the fact that she is cast says good things about the movie overall.
After the break. The Coen Brothers-scriptedGambitgets Alan Rickman, and Rick Yune is in RZA’s kung-fu movie.
Quite a few years backJoel and Ethan Coenwrote a script to remake the ’60s romantic heist movieGambit, and it is finally about to get made.Michael Hoffman(The Last Station) is directing, withColin FirthandCameron Diazin roles originated (more or less — a few things have been tweaked) by Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine.
NowAlan RickmanandTom Courtenayhave joined the cast, according to a press release. Crime Scene Pictures says that “Rickman will portray Lord Shahbandar and Sir Tom Courtenay will step into the role of The Major.” Given that the film is summarized as “Harry Deane (Firth), a London art curator, enlists a Texas Rodeo Queen (Diaz) in a scheme to con the richest man in England,” we might presume based on this new info that Alan Rickman is the target of the con. Which is fantastic. Trying not to get my hopes up too high here, but how can you not be at least a little bit excited for this one, if only for the Coen Bros. dialogue?
Finally,RZAandEli Rothhave reportedly wrappedThe Man With the Iron Fists(or, possibly,Man With an Iron Fist) and the management for martial artist, boxer and actorRick YunetellsThe Wrapthat he was in the film along withRussell Crowe,Lucy Liu,Pam Grierand RZA.
The film has been generally low-profile, owing to the fact that it shot in Shanghai and Hong Kong. I have no idea what to expect from the film, which is RZA’s first serious foray into directing, with Universal backing the film and quite a varied cast on board. But I can’t wait to see it.
