Casting News: Michael Douglas to Play Ronald Reagan; Batman vs. Robocop; Ryan Gosling to Direct
Posted 08.30.12 by Ryan
Playing a former President or First Lady is becoming a trend in movies these days, especially with Precious director Lee Daniels' upcoming The Butler, which will span eight different administrations while it tells the story of White House butler Eugene Allen. While Alan Rickman will play actor-turned-President Ronald Reagan in that project, it looks like Michael Douglas will also get a chance to play Reagan as well.
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THR reports that Douglas is in discussions to play Reagan in the indie Reykjavik from director Mike Newell (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). The movie takes place over a few days in 1986 when Reagan met with then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the titular Icelandic city to discuss a peace agreement in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster. No actor has been cast yet as Gorbachev.
Shooting on Reykjavik is set to start next March in Germany, with Ridley Scott, who at one point was going to direct the movie, set to produce. Kevin Hood (Becoming Jane) wrote the screenplay.
Douglas is beginning to become an expert on playing real people, as he is currently playing Liberace in the biopic Behind the Candelabra for director Steven Soderbergh (Magic Mike). Check out some set photos here.
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Speaking of Michael Douglas', Michael Keaton (whose real name is Michael Douglas) is set to join the Robocop remake as Raymond Sellars, CEO of Omnicorp, the company behind the creation of the "half man, half machine, all cop." Originally cast with actor Hugh Laurie (House), Deadline reports that the former Batman actor has taken over after Laurie dropped out last week.
The re-imagining of director Paul Verhoeven's 1987 original, Keaton marks the final addition to an "amazing cast" according to Brazilian director José Padilha (Elite Squad).
It is thrilling that everything has come together to bring this innovative new vision of RoboCop to life. We’ve got a great script, a great cast, some killer ED-209’s and I can’t wait to get Alex Murphy back on the streets.
Joel Kinnaman (The Killing) is set to play Murphy, while
Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers) are part of the Padilha's "amazing" cast as, respectively, Norton, the scientist who creates Robocop, and "media mogul" Pat Novak.
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With his star on the rise, actor Ryan Gosling has built his career on daring and challenging roles in movies like Blue Valentine and Half Nelson. The actor's next challenge is going to take him behind the camera to direct the fantasy noir tale How to Catch a Monster. Gosling also wrote the script and will produce the movie as well.
According to THR, Catch a Monster is set in a "surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city" and follows a a single mother of two (Gosling's Drive co-star Christina Hendricks) who is swept into a macabre underworld while her teenage son finds a secret path to an underwater town. Ooookay.
"We responded immediately to Ryan's script and look forward to nurturing the next phase of his career," said producer Michel Litvak (Legion, Bobby) of the project, which starts shooting next spring.