SkimIt
While the lead role in the upcoming comedy Avon Man would have been a great career move for Hugh Jackman, who was originally slated to star in the film, Mark Wahlberg has agreed to fill in for Jackman. Wahlberg just seems to click with comedic material, so he should be perfect as a man laid off from an auto dealership who finds success as an Avon salesman. The script is currently being re-worked by Baby Mama scribe Michael McCullers.
Mark Wahlberg (AP)
TV Casting News
With her community service now a thing of the past, Lindsay Lohan will officially portray screen icon Elizabeth Taylor in the Lifetime biopic Liz & Dick. Set to begin shooting in June, the TV movie will focus on Taylor's highly publicized romance with fellow film legend Richard Burton. I could be the only one who feels this way, but I honestly wish Lohan the best and know that somewhere locked away inside of her lies the talent to pull this one off.
Lindsay Lohan (AP)
Amber Tamblyn will return as the bright but inexperienced intern Martha Masters for FOX's series finale of House. Olivia Wilde will also reprise her role for the show's final hurrah, airing May 21 and ominously titled "Everybody Dies." So is that some kind of statement about human mortality, or just a massive spoiler? I expect the former, but the latter could make for some riveting water cooler conversation the next day.
Amber Tamblyn (AP)
Not to break the tradition of outrageously beautiful actresses playing high-ranking law enforcement officers, CSI: Miami's Taylor Cole will hop over to the A&E detective drama The Glades for a recurring role during the show's third season. Cole will play an FDLE Bureau Chief assigned to evaluate Longworth's (Matt Passmore) high success rate. Could there be sexual tension? Methinks so.
Taylor Cole (Getty)
Movie Casting News
It's official: Russell Crowe will gather animals two by two in Darren Aronofsky's Noah, set to be released in March of 2014. Would I have preferred the once-attached Christian Bale as the biblical hero? Sure, but I'm certain that Crowe is capable of screaming and herding animals just as well. As a big fan of The Fountain, I will undoubtedly show up for this on opening weekend.
Russell Crowe (Getty)
Lionsgate has secured the rights to Jeanette Walls' bestselling dysfunctional family memoir The Glass Castle, and they've already settled on who they want in the lead role: Jennifer Lawrence. The starlet hasn't officially signed on for anything, but if she has any free time between filming sequels to X-Men: First Class and The Hunger Games, it would be silly for her not to snag this Oscar bait project.
Jennifer Lawrence (Getty)
Guy Pearce has landed a supporting role in next May's Iron Man 3 as a brilliant geneticist working on new technology known as "Extremis" (cue the geek Hallelujah chorus). Don't get me wrong, I'm as excited as the next nerd for The Avengers, but with Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) directing, Ben Kingsley playing the villain and the plot focusing exclusively on Tony Stark and not his superpowered allies, Iron Man 3 sounds like the real deal.
Guy Pearce (Getty)
Currently wrapped up with starring alongside his pops in M. Night Shymalan's After Earth, Jaden Smith is all but confirmed to portray a brainwashed and emotionless teen assassin for Sony's Boy Nowhere. The kid has been pretty darn obnoxious in every role so far, so maybe cutting all sense of emotion out of the equation may help him out in the acting department. Well, until the obligatory scene where he learns to "feel" again. Oy...
Jaden Smith (Getty)
Once the cinematic grandeur of Prometheus has come and gone, Charlize Theron will return to the realm of sci-fi with a starring role in Agent 13, with Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) set to direct. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but I vow to boycott the film if the synopsis ends up looking anything like this: A deadly agent loses her memory, wakes up in a strange location and gradually fights her way to the truth. Cross your fingers for something original, folks!
Charlize Theron (Getty)
Melissa Leo and Til Schweiger have joined the cast of The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, a romantic action flick starring Shia LaBeouf as a Joe Schmo who falls head over heels for a girl (Evan Rachel Wood) with ties to a psychotic crime boss. Not sure who's playing who here, but hopefully the final product can take advantage of the mixed bag of talented actors it has collected.
Melissa Leo (Getty)
Virgin Records producer Richard Branson collaborated with The Rolling Stones on three albums during the '90s, and now he has purchased the rights to adapt Robert Greenfield's book Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones. And no, this will not be another Stones documentary, but a dramatic retelling of the complex relationship between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards during the early '70s. So naturally, we have to ask one important question: Who should play these two rock 'n' roll legends?
Richard Branson (Getty)
