Casting News: Mia Wasikowska Offered Oldboy; Eva Green Joins 300: Battle of Artemisia; Canadian Actor Joins Ender's Game
Posted 12.20.11 by Ryan
Since coming to worldwide attention in last year's Alice in Wonderland, Australian actress Mia Wasikowska has been up for a variety of roles, including the lead role in American remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Amazing Spider-Man, but didn't end up landing the roles.
According to Twitch, the latest part that Wasikowska could land in the female lead role in director Spike Lee's Oldboy remake, which is being offered to the actress. The role was originally offered to Rooney Mara, ironically, the actress that eventually won the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo role over Wasikowska, but turned down the role in October.
The Oldboy villain role is also close to being cast. The part was offered to Colin Firth last month, but the Academy Award–winning actor turned it down, and now Clive Owen, who worked with Lee on the 2006 thriller Inside Man, has been offered the villain role instead. Should Owen and Wasikowska accept their respected roles, the actors will join Josh Brolin, who was cast in the movie's lead role in August.
Oldboy will follow Brolin as a man who is kidnapped on his daughter's birthday and held in solitary confinement for 15 years. When he is released, he seeks revenge from his captors. Inspired by director Chan-wook Park's 2003 South Korean movie of the same name, Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend) wrote the script for the movie, all based on the mid 1990s Japanese manga series written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi.
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Casting for the upcoming 300 sequel, 300: Battle of Artemisia (formerly Xerxes) seemed to be well on its way early last month when Joel Edgerton (The Thing, Warrior) was reported to be in talks for the lead role of Themosticles, the famed Athenian archon and general who led the Greeks to victory against the invading Persians in the Battle of Artemisium. Weeks later, those talks apparently died down, as Edgerton passed on the sequel. Now it appears the movie may have its first cast member.
THR reports that Eva Green (Casino Royale) is in negotiations to play Artemisia, a ruthless, gold-covered goddess who persuades Xerxes to amass his Persian navy and helps lead them into battle against the smaller Greek fleet, led by Themosticles. The battle took place during "the exact same three days" as as The Battle of Thermopylae, which was the inspiration for the first 300.
300 director Zack Snyder and his screenwriting partner Kurt Johnstad wrote the script for the sequel, which is again based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, which has yet to be released. Director Noam Murro (Smart People) will direct the movie, while Gerard Butler and Lena Headey will reportedly reprise their 300 roles of Leonidas, king of the Spartans, and Queen Gorgo, respectively.
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With Asa Butterfield (Hugo, Son of Rambow), Ben Kingsley (Hugo, Ghandi) and Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) already cast as Ender Wiggin, Mazer Rackham, and Petra Arkanian, respectively, in the adaptation of Ender's Game, a new recruit has been added to the International fleet.
Based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott Card, the movie is set in a future where mankind has been devastated by an alien attack. Gifted children are recruited by government to join the fight against the invading forces. THR reports that Brendan Meyer (Spooky Buddies) has joined the cast as Stilson, one of Ender's less-than-supportive classmates.
Ender's Game is looking to start shooting next February in New Orleans under the direction of Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), who also adapted the screenplay. Ender's Game is scheduled for a March 15, 2013, release date.