Casting News: Bridesmaids' Melissa McCarthy Joins Judd Apatow's Latest; Christian Slater and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Join Headshot
Posted 07.09.11 by Ryan
Melissa McCarthy is going from the Judd Apatow-produced Bridesmaids to the Apatow-directed, untitled spin-off of 2007's Knocked Up, THR reports.
The movie, at one point called This is Forty, won't follow the characters played by Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen but will instead focus on Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd, who played Heigl's sister and brother-in-law in the 2007 comedy. McCarthy has been cast as the mother of another new cast member, Super 8's fireworks-obsessed Ryan Lee, who attends school with Rudd and Mann's children, played by Mann and Apatow's real-life children Iris and Maude Apatow. The two Apatow kids are likely working on this movie as well, though their names were not included in the report.
Production on the spin-off has already begun, with Apatow (Judd) using his Twitter account to release a photo from the set that showed Rudd on his cell phone. No sign of cast members Albert Brooks, who plays Rudd's dad, or Megan Fox, whose role is unknown. The untitled comedy opens June 1, 2012, giving Apatow plenty of time to figure out the title.
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Before Sylvester Stallone gets to work on Expendables 2, his next movie will be with director Walter Hill (48 Hours, Warriors). Based on the French graphic novel Du plomb dans la tête (or Bullet to the Head) created by writer Matz and artist Colin Wilson, the untitled action flick (formerly referred to as Headshot) stars Stallone as a New Orleans hitman who teams with a New York City cop to bring down the killers of their respective partners.
Variety reports Christian Slater (Heathers), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) and Holt McCallany (The Losers) are the latest cast members to join the movie after Sung Kang (Fast Five) and Jason Momoa (Conan the Barbarian, HBO's Game of Thrones) were cast last month. Momoa is set to play a villain role named Keegan, while Variety reports says that Kang will play the cop who teams up with Stallone. Akinnuoye-Agbaje will play the movie's main villain, an attorney trying to cover up his attempt to exploit New Orleans neighborhoods decimated by Hurricane Katrina. McCallany will play Kang's dirty cop partner, while Slater will play a local handler and middleman.
Adapted by screenwriter Alessandro Camon (The Messenger), the movie will begin production this month in Louisiana.