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Archive for the ‘Role Rumors’ Category
Universal Wins Auction For ‘Don’t Mess With Texas;’ Spec Teams Reese Witherspoon And Sofia Vergara
After a spirited bidding battle, Universal has just closed a deal for Don’t Mess With Texas, a comedy spec by John Quaintance & David Feeney that will make for an onscreen pairing of Reese Witherspoon and Modern Family‘s Sophia Vergara. Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea will produce through their Pacific Standard banner along with Dana Fox. Vergara will be co-producer. Fox is the scripter of such features as What Happens In Vegas, and also the exec producer of the Ben And Kate, the just-canceled Fox series where Quaintance & Feeney were writers. Don’t Mess With Texas is on a fast track, with plans to begin production March, 2014.
Pic is a female driven comedy about a cop and a prisoner on the run in Texas, with crooked cops in hot pursuit. Witherspoon is coming off the Jeff Nichols-directed Mud, and she will star alongside Keanu Reeves in Passengers, the sci-fi film that was bought by The Weinstein Company at Cannes. She will next be seen starring in the Atom Egoyan-directed drama Devil’s Knot about the West Memphis 3 case, and she’ll next star for Paul Thomas Anderson in Inherent Vice. She’s repped by CAA and Management 360. Besides the hit ABC series Modern Family, Vergara most recently starred in The Three Stooges, with Machete Kills upcoming. She’s repped by CAA, Latin World Entertainment and Untitled. Fox is repped by WME, Quaintance by CAA and Art/Work, and Feeney by UTA.
- Deadline
Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Chastain among the front-runners to play Hillary Clinton in Rodham
Scarlett Johansson and Reese Witherspoon are among actresses being considered to portray the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Rodham – about the younger years of the former First Lady and senator – is due out some time around the 2016 presidential election, in which Clinton might be a canditate. It will focus on 1974, when she was a Washington lawyer.
Among those in the running to play the 26-year-old Clinton are Amanda Seyfried, who starred in Les Misérables, Zero Dark Thirty’s Jessica Chastain, Reese Witherspoon, and Scarlett Johansson, most recently seen playing Janet Leigh in Hitchcock.
Rodham director James Ponstoldt said: “They’re all wonderful actresses. We’re very fortunate that a lot of really great actors are interested in playing these roles. We’re in an enviable position.”
“Regardless of people’s political affiliation or how they feel about Hillary Clinton, you don’t find people who question the quality of her intelligence or her drive. I want a wonderful actress who could embody that.”
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Cannes: Weinstein Co. Picks Up Reeves-Witherspoon Space Romance ‘Passengers’
The Weinstein Company has acquired the U.S. rights to sci-fi romance movie, Passengers, starring Keanu Reeves and Reese Witherspoon.
The company has committed to a multi-million dollar guarantee and will spend a minimum $25 million on marketing the release. Wayfare Entertainment is financing and producing the film.
Developed by Reeves and Stephen Hamel at their Company Films, the script was written by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus). The film will be the feature directing debut of Irish TV director Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire).
Reeves plays a character aboard a spaceship destined for a faraway colony whose sleep chamber malfunctions and awakens him 90 years before the ship is due to arrive. Facing a solitary life and death in deep space, he wakes up a fellow passenger, played by Witherspoon, and a novel interstellar romance ensues.
Hamel and Wayfare CEO Ben Browning are producing. Start Media’s Michael Maher and Lynwood Spinks are onboard to executive produce. Exclusive Media is selling the project to foreign buyers in Cannes.
The Weinsteins have been busy on the Croisette this year. The company pre-bought the U.S. rights to the Michelle Williams starrer Suite Francaise, which starts shooting in June; and also inked a deal for Stephen Frears’ Philomena — starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan — paying $6.5 million for rights in the U.S., Canada and Spain.
The Weinstein Co. also grabbed North American rights to writer-director Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin, which is showing in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar in Cannes.
- THR
Reese Witherspoon Reuniting With ‘Walk the Line’ Director
Reese Witherspoon is reuniting with James Mangold for Three Little Words, an adaptation of the memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter.
Witherspoon will star in the adaptation, which Mangold will direct.
Amanda Seyfried, who last starred in Les Miserables, is in talks to star opposite Witherspoon but no deal is done.
Mangold is producing with also producing with his partner, Cathy Konrad, via their Tree Line Films banner, marking a reunion of the team behind Walk the Line, for which Witherspoon won a best actress Oscar.
Jami Gertz (A Better Life) and her Lime Orchard Production banner are also producing.
Red Crown’s recent boarding of the project gave it momentum and principals Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Riva Marker and Daniel Crown are on board to produce. Red Crown’s Dover Shores Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, is fully financing the project, for which Good Universe will launch international sales at Cannes.
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Cannes: Reese Witherspoon Joining Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Inherent Vice’
All actors want to work with Paul Thomas Anderson and it’s no surprise he’s lining up a killer cast for his adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel Inherent Vice. I hear Reese Witherspoon is the latest marquee name to join Joaquin Phoenix, Owen Wilson and Benicio Del Toro in the film. Book takes place in Los Angeles at the turn of the 1970s, as drug-fueled detective Larry “Doc” Sportello investigates the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend. Witherspoon re-teams with Phoenix, with whom she had a triumphant pairing in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line. Witherspoon won the Oscar for her portrayal of June Carter and Phoenix got an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Johnny Cash. Warner Bros will distribute Inherent Vice. She’s repped by CAA and Management 360.
- Deadline
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Fox 2000 Acquires Americanized ‘Get Her Off The Pitch’ For Reese Witherspoon
Fox 2000 has acquired Depth Of Field, a screenplay by J. Mills Goodloe that is an Americanized version of Get Her Off The Pitch, the 2009 bestselling memoir by Times Of London cultural critic Lynne Truss. Elizabeth Gabler bought it with the idea of shaping it as a star vehicle for Reese Witherspoon, who’ll produce it with Twilight Saga‘s Karen Rosenfelt and Bruna Papandrea.
Truss, once a self-described proud sports atheist, was sent on a lark by her editor to cover the World Cup. Her readers were amused, and Truss eventually spent four years covering major sporting events throughout Europe and America, writing humorous and somewhat academic essays. Along the way, she slowly became a convert, discovering the significance of sport, and how it affected her own life and relationships. Get Her Off The Pitch was never published in the U.S., but Goodloe discovered it in a bookstore while on a trip to Sydney. He transplanted Truss’ story to an American sport.
This seems like a good fit for Witherspoon, who has done well with fish-out-of-water pics from Legally Blonde to Sweet Home Alabama. It becomes another strong project she and Papandrea have set up to produce under their Pacific Standard banner at Fox. They include Gone Girl, the Gillian Flynn bestseller that I keep hearing will be David Fincher’s next film. Witherspoon just opened opposite Matthew McConaughey in the Jeff Nichols-directed Mud. Goodloe most recently adapted the Nicholas Sparks novel The Best Of Me for Warner Bros and director Michael Hoffman. Witherspoon is repped by CAA and Evelyn O’Neill at Management 360. Goodloe is repped by UTA and Eryn Brown at Management 360.
- Deadline
Reese Witherspoon in Talks to Join Keanu Reeves in Sci-Fi Love Story ‘Passengers’
Reese Witherspoon has entered into talks to star opposite Keanu Reeves in Passengers, a sci-fi love drama that Brian Kirk is directing for Wayfare Entertainment.
The script – Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) wrote the most recent draft – in which a starship transporting human cargo to a colony malfunctions, causing one passenger (Reeves) to prematurely thaw from a cryogenic slumber nearly a century before anyone else. Not wanting to be alone, he decides to wake up another passenger, a female.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that talks are in the early stages, but should a deal close, Witherspoon would play the female lead.
Reeves is producing the movie with Stephen Hamel and Ben Browning. Michael Maher is exec producing. The project is expected to be presented to buyers at Cannes.
A shoot in Montreal is being planned.
Witherspoon, who was arrested last month in Atlanta for disorderly conduct after her CAA agent husband was pulled over for a DUI, is making the rounds promoting her indie drama Mud, in which she stars with Matthew McConaughey. She next appears in Devil’s Knot, a true-life drama about the West Memphis Three.
The Passengers deal would mark Witherspoon’s first project since the arrest.
Witherspoon is repped by CAA, Management 360 and Hansen Jacobson.
- THR
Looks like Cameron Diaz is about to finalise a deal for Sex Tape, a role Reese was previously rumoured to be attached to (previous articles here and here).
Cameron Diaz in Early Talks to Make ‘Sex Tape’ With Jason Segel
The trio behind Sony’s surprise hit “Bad Teacher” is chalking up a reunion, as Cameron Diaz is in early talks to reteam with director Jake Kasdan and co-star Jason Segel on the studio’s comedy “Sex Tape.”
Escape Artists is producing the movie, which concerns a married couple who take a night off from their kids and decide to spice up their love life by making a sex tape. When they wake up the next morning, the tape is missing, prompting them to figure out who took it and how to get it back.
Diaz had been rumored as a possible female lead more than a year ago, but negotiations are now underway and expected to lead to a deal.
Kate Angelo wrote the script on spec, and the film will be produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch of Escape Artists.
Diaz will next be seen opposite Colin Firth in CBS Films’ remake of “Gambit” as well as Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor,” which also stars Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt. She’ll soon begin filming Nick Cassavetes’ comedy “The Other Woman” with Leslie Mann and Kate Upton.
“Bad Teacher” grossed $216 million worldwide on a modest production budget and spawned a CBS pilot that sees Ari Graynor taking over the title role.
Diaz is repped by CAA and manager Rick Yorn.
- The Wrap
Fox Finds ‘The Engagements’ with Reese Witherspoon
- March 20th 2013
Fox 2000 has acquired the rights to the novel “The Engagements” and is in negotiations with Reese Witherspoon to come on board to produce.
If the deal goes through, Witherspoon would produce through her Pacific Standard banner along with her producing partner Bruna Papandrea. Pacific Standard brought the book to Fox.
Film is based on J. Courtney Sullivan novel, to be published in June, the story tells a deeply romantic story that follows a diamond engagement ring from the 1930s to the present, connecting five very different relationships in surprising and unexpected ways.
It is unknown whether the adaptation will be developed as a starring vehicle for Witherspoon given how many projects she is already producing.
Since starting her production shingle, Witherspoon has been especially keen on producing popular book adaptations.
Witherspoon was quick to jump on as a producer of the New York Times Best-seller “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn, which was such a hot property that David Fincher has attached himself to direct. She is repped by CAA and Management 360.
- Variety
Reese Witherspoon & Ryan Reynolds Out, Amy Adams & Christoph Waltz In For ‘Big Eyes,’ Tim Burton To Direct
So, where do we start with “Big Eyes”? Well, let’s go with a brief history lesson. Developing for at least six years if not longer, the project comes from Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (“Ed Wood,” “The People Vs. Larry Flynt,” “Man On The Moon”) and with two big lead roles, over the years Thomas Haden Church and Kate Hudson became attached, and in 2012 Ryan Reynolds and Reese Witherspoon were linked, with Tim Burton slated to produce the effort that would serve as the screenwriters’ directorial debut. But it looks Burton is going to take it all for himself with a pretty killer leading duo.
Deadline reports that Burton will direct the movie, that is now set up at The Weinstein Company, in what looks like a welcome 180 for the helmer, and something that’s much more of a small scale domestic drama. The film will tell the true story of married couple Walter and Margaret Keane, who became art world phenomenons in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to their paintings of large-eyed children. However, when they split up, a legal battle ensued, with Walter trying to take credit for paintings which were actually done by his wife. But when it came to a showdown in count, where they actually faced off canvas vs. canvas, Margaret emerged victorious while Walter tried to feign a pain in his arm.
There’s no word yet if this will indeed be next Burton — he’s got a few options — but this kind of casting doesn’t come along everyday, we presume this is on the front cooker for the filmmaker. It has been awhile since we’ve had something to truly be excited about from Burton, but this looks like something that could be genuinely challenging and take him far away from his usual wheelhouse of tropes and tricks. So, fingers crossed.
- IndieWire.com
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Mud (2013)
Devil's Knot (2013)
The Good Lie (2014)
