Saorise Ronan Joins Grand Budapest Hotel Cast

Saoirse Ronan the star of Hanna and Lovely Bones will reportedly be the female lead in Wes Anderson next film The Grand Budapest Hotel.   Ralph Fiennes and Jude Law have also joined the cast alongside his usual repertoire of returning actors Owen Wilson, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray.

Director Wes Anderson recently spoke about the project and confirmed that as always the film will have a precisely crafted whimsical look and feel, this time inspired by classic Hollywood efforts to recreate the enchanting beauty of Europe on the studio backlot.

Christoph Waltz Joins Muppets Sequel Cast

Christoph Waltz, best known for his Oscar winning role as a ruthless Nazi in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, is now reportedly set to star in the next Muppets film. He’s in talks to join James Bobin’s currently untitled sequel to The Muppets triumphant 2011 big screen return, paying the role of an Interpol agent investigating the latest antics of Kermit and the beloved puppet gang.

Waltz will soon be seen playing a charismatic bounty hunter in Tarantino’s Django Unchained, a blood soaked tale of a freed slave seeking revenge against a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
However the popular Austrian actor is also lending his voice to animated adventure Epic, establishing that he’s capable of family friendly fun in addition to convincingly psychopathic smiles.

Jamie Foxx for Spider-Man Sequel Villain Electro

Jamie Foxx is reported to be in talks with Sony about taking on the villainous role of Electro in Marc Webb’s sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man. Electro is one of the few of Spider-Man’s familiar foes who hasn’t yet been brought to life on the big screen, so it’s not a total surprise to see him emerge as a likely adversary for the next film in the rebooted franchise.

The post credits sequence from Andrew Garfield’s first outing as The Amazing Spider-Man had already subtly hinted at Electro featuring in the next film, thanks to a little well placed lightning.

In the original comics Electro aka Max Dillon gained the deadly power to wield electricity after being struck by lightening. However the character has since been given a slightly more plausible back-story based on bio-engineering in subsequent comic books. Recent depictions have also given the character a slightly less ridiculous looking outfit.

It remains to be seen which version Marc Webb will take inspiration from for the new film, but it is likely be the more sensible one.

George Lucas gives Star Wars Billions to Charity

 

Following the extraordinary news of Disney’s multi-billion dollar acquisition of Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise rights, George Lucas will according to a Lucasfilm spokesperson be donating

“The majority of the (Disney acquisition) proceeds to his philanthropic endeavours”.

Confirming these intentions George Lucas himself released the following statement:

“For 41 years, the majority of my time and money has been put into the company. As I start a new chapter in my life, it is gratifying that I have the opportunity to devote more time and resources to philanthropy.”

Lucas has been heavily involved in educational charities for many years and had announced as early as 2010 his intent to dedicating the majority of his wealth to “improving education”.

Of course, if you can think of a better way for him to atone for inflicting Jar Jar Binks on adults than paying to educate your children then please do let Mr Lucas know….

Mark Hamill talks about New Star Wars Films

In a recent interview Star Wars leading man Mark Hamill aka Luke Skywalker, has admitted that he and co-star Carrie Fisher have known since August about the recent sensational news that the Star Wars Saga is now expanding to include Episodes VII, VIII and IX.

 ”[L]ast August, [Big George] asked Carrie and I to have lunch with him and we did. I thought he was going to talk about either his retirement or the Star Wars TV series that I’ve heard about — which I don’t think we were going to be involved in anyway, because that takes place between the prequels and the ones we were in and, if Luke were in them, he’d be anywhere from a toddler to a teenager so they’d get an age-appropriate actor — or the 3-D releases.

So when he said, “We decided we’re going to do Episodes VII, VIII, and IX,” I was just gobsmacked. “What? Are you nuts?!” [Laughs] I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the way it should be — and it’s great that people have fond memories, if they do have fond memories.

But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more material. It’s one of those things: people either just don’t care for it or are passionate about it.

I guess that defines what cult movies are all about. We’ll see. I’m anxious to know what’s going on, but the main story [yesterday] was the sale to Disney. I have mixed feelings about that, but they haven’t done badly by Marvel and the Muppets and Pixar. It’s one of those big decisions that at first seems unusual but then the more you look at it, the more it makes sense.”

Hamill was unable to offer any information as to possible storylines or whether the new adventures will feature returning roles for original trilogy cast members but confirmed that Lucas had been meeting with writers at that time months before Disney’s shock acquisition of Lucasfilm.

The LA Times has since reported that Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy  were indeed meeting with several

“well-known screenwriters with experience creating big-budget Hollywood films who were pitching ideas for  new story, not ones adapted from existing Star Wars Books.”