Casting News: Matthew Fox and Ed Harris Join World War Z; Christian Bale Could Play Noah; Ellie Kemper Recruited for 21 Jump Street
Posted 06.14.11 by Ryan
With productions ramping up to start or already in the midst of shooting, casting announcements are pouring in for several upcoming movies.
With Brad Pitt headlining Paramount's adaptation of World War Z as a U.N. researcher, the Marc Forster-directed production has been adding cast members at a slow trickle, with Mireille Enos (AMC's The Killing) cast in April as Pitt's wife and James Badge Dale (HBO's The Pacific) recently added as a soldier looking to warn humanity about the zombie uprising. Finally, they're getting some company.
Deadline reports that Matthew Fox and Ed Harris are in talks to join the cast in unspecified roles. According to Bloody-Disgusting, Fox will play a part called "Parajumper," which, considering his lack of an actual name, doesn't sound like he makes it for long, but we could be wrong. No details on Harris' role have been revealed yet.
French actress Julia Levy-Boeken (Road Trip: Beer Pong) is also set to join the cast, and again, no details on her role have been given.
World War Z was based on on Max Brooks' best-selling novel and adapted by screenwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom) and J. Michael Straczynski (Changeling). Production begins this month in London before moving to Glasgow, Scotland.
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In March, director Darren Aronofsky decided a year-long shoot in Japan was too long and dropped out of Twentieth Century Fox's stand-alone, non-sequel The Wolverine. Now it looks like he has his next project all lined up, a Biblical "fantasy epic" called Noah, but needs another studio to partner with New Regency to secure the appropriate funding to get it off the ground. One solution to raising $130 million dollars? Cast Christian Bale.
Vulture reports that Aronofsky is "in talks" with Bale for the lead role in the movie, which will hopefully make studios comfortable shelling out the funds for the effects-heavy project that reportedly, won't be too family-friendly. Considering Aronofsky made the seemingly innocuous world of ballet look like the seventh circle of Hell in Black Swan, it isn't unusual that Aronofsky would have a dark take on the Noah's Ark Bible story as well.
Should Bale sign on, funding should be secured and the project will likely move forward (unless it shoots in Japan for any length of time). Currently, New Regency president Hutch Parker has insisted that "there hasn’t been any change [on the project] since it was last reported."
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Already in production, the cast of Columbia Pictures' remake of 21 Jump Street has added a new cast member in Ellie Kemper, who can currently be seen in Bridesmaids and will again appear next season on NBC's The Office.
Variety reports that Kemper will play "annoyingly sincere chemistry teacher" Ms. Griggs in the movie, and will be the love interest for Channing Tatum, who, along with Jonah Hill, plays one of the the two lead undercover cops infiltrating a high school for drug use.
Brie Larson plays the female undercover cop in their unit, with Ice Cube playing the chief and Dave Franco playing a high school drug dealer. The remake, conceived by Hill and written by Scott Pilgrim vs. the World screenwriter Michael Bacall, is being directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). Johnny Depp, who starred on the original Fox show which serves as the basis for the movie, has already shot a cameo.
Next Showing: 21 Jump Street opens on March 16, 2012