Movies

Casting Net: Banks, Li, Theroux, And Morton All Find Work

By  · Published on August 25th, 2009

Casting announcements shoot across the net almost every day, but not every announcement, rumor, or speculation deserves its own post. Of course we’d be remiss in our duties as the web’s premier source of movie news, reviews, and snark if we didn’t cover them in some fashion… so welcome to the Casting Net!

Elizabeth Banks Updating Her Calendar For ‘The Next Three Days’ – Banks is reportedly in negotiations to join Russell Crowe for The Next Three Days. The thriller is a remake of the French film Pour Elle and should be a noticable departure from Banks’ usual comedic fare. Per Variety, Paul Haggis (Crash, the non-disturbingly sexy one) is writing and directing the film about “an ordinary couple who find themselves in an unthinkable situation and have to make desperate choices that will test the limits of love.” That description is so terrible that I had to quote it verbatim.

Jet Li Returns To China And Finds An ‘Ocean Paradise’ – Li is about to start filming a new movie back on his home turf. The original Chinese newspaper report about Ocean Paradise stated only that it will be directed by an unnamed first-timer and will not see Li fighting. Publicist Zhang Hongyan wouldn’t commit to that statement, but Variety reports he did say the film will be “very different” from Li’s previous work. Li’s last two movies were The Forbidden Kingdom and the latest Mummy sequel, so hopefully “different” means less shitty.

Justin Theroux Returns To Acting At The Request Of ‘Your Highness’ – Actor turned screenwriter Theroux is moving back in front of the camera again. After co-writing last summer’s hit Tropic Thunder and next summer’s guaranteed hit Iron Man 2 Theroux is now set to play the heavy in Danny McBride’s period comedy Your Highness. THR reports he’ll play a baddie named Leezar who kidnaps the delightful Zooey Deschanel thus necessitating rescue by McBride’s lazy prince.

Dominic West and Samantha Morton Take A Trip With ‘John Carter Of Mars’ – Pixar’s Andrew Stanton is moving ahead with his first live action film and continues to amass quite an eclectic and impressive cast. John Carter of Mars is based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs series about an immortal Virginian who travels to Mars for adventure and intergalactic booty calls. West and Morton are joining Taylor Kitsch (as Carter) and Willem Dafoe for the Disney film. The multi-book story may seem slightly convoluted, but if you just remember that the green martians are bad and the red martians are good you should be able to follow along just fine.

Are you looking forward to any of these films?

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Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.