Cate Blanchett, Ken Stott, Sylvester McCoy, and Mikael Persbrandt Join Peter Jackson’s THE HOBBIT
by Matt Goldberg Posted: December 7th, 2010
Cate Blanchett, Ken Stott (Charlie Wilson’s War), Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who), and Mikael Persbrandt (Everlasting Moments) have joined the cast of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit. Blanchett will reprise her role as Galadriel, the Lady of Lothlorien. Stott will play Dwarf Lord Balin, McCoy will play wizard Radagast the Brown, and Swedish actor Persbrandt will play shape-shifter Beorn.
Also joining the cast are actors Ryan Gage (Outlaw) as Drogo Baggins, and Jed Brophy (District 9) and William Kircher (Legend of the Seeker) as the dwarfs Nori and Bifur, respectively. These actors will join Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Aidan Turner, Rob Kazinsky, Graham McTavish, John Callen, Stephen Hunter, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Adam Brown, and James Nesbitt. Hit the jump for the press release. The Hobbit will be released in 3D in December 2012 and December 2013.
Here’s the press release:CATE BLANCHETT, KEN STOTT, SYLVESTER MCCOY, MIKAEL PERSBRANDT JOIN CAST OF PETER JACKSON’S “THE HOBBIT”
Los Angeles, CA—December 7, 2010—Cate Blanchett, Ken Stott, Sylvester McCoy and Mikael Persbrandt and have joined the cast of Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic “The Hobbit.” Also joining them are Ryan Gage, Jed Brophy and William Kircher. The films, which are scheduled to commence principal photography in February 2011, mark Jackson’s return to Middle-earth following his Oscar-winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. The announcement was made jointly today by Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer, New Line Cinema, Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros. and Steve Cooper, co-Chief Executive Officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.Jackson, who directed all three “Lord of the Rings” films, will helm the two films back-to-back, telling the story of “The Hobbit” in two parts from a screenplay by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro.
Cate Blanchett (“Lord of The Rings” trilogy, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) will reprise her role from “Lord of The Rings” trilogy as Galadriel, the Lady of Lothlorien. Ken Stott (“Charlie Wilson’s War”, TV’s “Rebus”) will play the Dwarf Lord Balin, Sylvester McCoy (TV’s “Doctor Who”) will play the wizard Radagast the Brown and well-known Swedish actor, Mikael Persbrandt (“Everlasting Moments”, “Day and Night”) will play the shape-shifter Beorn. British actor Ryan Gage (“Outlaw”, TV’s “Doctors”) will play Drogo Baggins, with New Zealand actors Jed Brophy (“Lord of The Rings” trilogy, “District 9”) playing the role of the dwarf Nori, and William Kircher (“Out of the Blue”; TV’s “Legend of the Seeker”) rounding out the company of Thorin Oakensheild in role of the dwarf Bifur.
Peter Jackson welcomed the news of Cate Blanchett’s return to Middle-earth “Cate is one of my favorite actors to work with and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have her reprise the role she so beautifully brought to life in the earlier films” On the casting of Scottish actor Ken Stott, Jackson commented “Fran and I have long been fans of Ken’s work and are excited he will be joining us on this journey.” Jackson also welcomed the addition to the cast of Swedish actor, Mikael Persbrandt “The role of Beorn is an iconic one and Mikael was our first choice for the part. Since seeing him read for the role we can’t imagine anyone else playing this character.”
The actors join the previously announced cast including Martin Freeman (TV’s “Sherlock,” “Breaking and Entering”) as Bilbo Baggins, Richard Armitage (upcoming “Captain America: The First Avenger”), Aidan Turner (TV’s “Being Human”), Rob Kazinsky (TVs “EastEnders”), Graham McTavish (“Secretariat”), John Callen (TV’s “Power Rangers Jungle Fury”), Stephen Hunter (TV’s “All Saints”), Mark Hadlow (“King Kong”) and Peter Hambleton (TV’s “The Strip”). Additional cast announcements include James Nesbitt (“Millions” and TV’s “Cold Feet”) and newcomer Adam Brown.“The Hobbit” films received a green light on October 15, and have release dates targeted for December, 2012 and December, 2013. Jackson will utilize groundbreaking visual effects and his incomparable storytelling to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel to the big screen. Both “Hobbit” movies will be filmed in Digital 3-D, using the latest camera and stereo technology to create a high quality, comfortable viewing experience.
The two films are being co-produced by New Line Cinema and MGM, with New Line managing production, Warner Bros Pictures handling domestic distribution and MGM distributing internationally.
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Carolynne Cunningham are producing the films, with co-writer Philippa Boyens serving as co-producer and Ken Kamins and Zane Weiner as executive producers. The Oscar-winning, critically acclaimed “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, also from the production team of Jackson, Walsh and Cunningham, grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box office.. In 2003, “The Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the 11 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.
http://www.collider.com/2010/12/07/the-hobbit-cate-blanchett-peter-jackson/
Sony Picks up VALET GUYS as Starring Vehicle for Adam Sandler and Kevin James
by Adam Chitwood Posted: December 7th, 2010
In recent “fat guy in ‘funny’ situations” movie news, Sony Pictures has made a deal for a film set to star Adam Sandler and Kevin James as valets. Valet Guys is being set up as a starring vehicle for Sandler and James as two valet parking guys who witness a murder and are forced to go on the run. The project will be written by James and his writing partner Nick Bakay (Paul Blart: Mall Cop). Bakay also wrote the upcoming James starrer Zookeeper, for which you can watch the (painful) trailer for here.Deadline reports that Valet Guys will be a co-production between James’ Hey Eddie, Sandler’s Happy Madison, and Todd Garner’s Broken Road. Those three companies also produced Zookeeper. No matter how spectacularly unfunny most of James and some of Sandler’s movies may be, they sure do make money. James will next be seen this January in Ron Howard’s The Dilemma, and Zookeeper opens on July 8, 2011. Sandler’s film Just Go With It, with Jennifer Aniston hits theaters on February 11, and he’s currently filming Jack and Jill, in which he plays both a brother and sister.
http://www.collider.com/2010/12/07/adam-sandler-kevin-james-valet-guys/
Mark Wahlberg Talks Seth MacFarlane’s Upcoming Feature Directing Debut, TEDDY BEAR
by Matt Goldberg Posted: December 7th, 2010
In October, we reported that Mark Wahlberg was in talks to join Teddy Bear (aka “Ted“), which was the feature directing debut of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. At the time, we believed the plot was about a Boston man (Wahlberg) whose childhood stuffed animal/best friend has come to life. Wahlberg has now told MTV some new details regarding the plot:“But it’s about this kid who gets a bear for Christmas. And, you know, it’s the ’70s — it’s one of those Teddy Ruxpin-ish teddy bears where you squeeze it and it says, ‘I love you!’ The kid wishes and dreams that the bear would come alive — and a Christmas wish must be granted — and it does [come alive].”Hit the jump for more on the project including the use of motion-capture for the teddy bear.
While we knew that MacFarlane would be providing the voice of the bear, Wahlberg also revealed that the R-rated comedy would have MacFarlane will be performing the role using motion-capture:
“Seth McFarlane’s voicing the bear — the bear is gonna look like a little teddy bear, but it’s motion-capture. It’s like ‘Avatar.’ It’s never been done before. It’s insane — I mean, what the bear does… ” Wahlberg trails off, unwilling to divulge the bear’s surely NSFW antics, but then continues with a smile, “The bear becomes famous, and that’s my ticket to getting things and living a life of privilege.”Wahlberg says that he plans to shoot Teddy Bear at the beginning of next year. He’s also attached to star in David O. Russell’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Allen Hughes’ Broken City.
http://www.collider.com/2010/12/07/mark-wahlberg-teddy-bear-seth-macfarlane-2/
