There’s a lot of breaking news in Hollywood happening every minute. In the age of the blockbuster, it’s easy for some smaller movie and television news to slip through the crack. Last Week in Hollywood is our new weekly series highlighting all the interesting news from the last week that we thought didn’t warrant its own post, but was still worth mentioning. It’s less personal opinions and more a hearty roundup of what you might have missed.
Gran Turismo Expands Cast
Djimon Hounsou, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Daniel Puig, Josha Stradowski, Thomas Kretschman, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Emelia Hartford, Pepe Barroso, and Sang Heon Lee are the latest additions to the cast of Gran Turismo, Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions‘ feature adaptation of the best-selling racing video game. Neill Blomkamp is directing the film, which is currently shooting in Hungary.
David Harbour, Archie Madekwe, Orlando Bloom, and Darren Barnett are also starring in the film, which is based on a true story about a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won him a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race-car driver. Madekwe is playing the teen while Harbour is a retired driver who teaches him to drive. Gran Turismo opens in theaters on August 11, 2023. | Source: THR, Deadline
Viola Davis to Lead Action-Thriller G20
Viola Davis is set to star and produce G20, an action-thriller from Amazon Studios and MRC Film. Patricia Riggen (Miracles From Heaven) will direct the film from a screenplay by Noah and Logan Miller (White Boy Rick), with revisions by Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss (The Red Lion).
The upcoming action-thriller is “set at the G20 Summit, which is overtaken by terrorists. Davis is playing the American president, named Taylor Sutton, who must bring all her statecraft and military experience to bear to defend her family, her fellow leaders, and, of course, the world.” G20 was developed with MRC Film and will premiere on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide at release. | Source: THR
Maria Bakalova Joins Dirty Angels
Maria Bakalova has joined Eva Green and Ruby Rose in Dirty Angels, an upcoming action-thriller from Millennium Media. JoJo T. Gibbs and Rona-Lee Shim’on are also set to star.
Martin Campbell will direct Dirty Angels, which is scheduled to begin shooting in Morocco and Greece in December. Written by Alissa Silverman, the fictional story is “set against the backdrop of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and follows a group of female soldiers posing as medical relief who are sent back in to rescue a group of kidnapped teenagers caught between ISIS and the Taliban.” | Source: THR
Percy Jackson Series Casts Three Greek Gods
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jay Duplass, and Timothy Omundsen are set to guest star in Disney+‘s Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Miranda will play “Hermes, the messenger god who looks out for travelers and thieves and is a bit of a trickster himself. He is charismatic & boisterous, the life of the party. Unfortunately, his charm does not do much to heal his strained relationship with his son, Luke (Charlie Bushnell). He’s hesitant to help Percy and his friends on their quest as sometimes getting involved is more trouble than it’s worth.”
Duplass will play Hades, the god of the Underworld who feels like “an outcast from his family and a misunderstood genius. He holds a grudge for past wrongs and plays his cards close to the chest.” Omundson will play Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths who became “disabled when he was thrown off Mount Olympus as a baby. Despite that, his strength is legendary, and his capacity for kindness and mercy sets him apart from his brothers and sisters in the dog-eat-dog world of the gods.” | Source: Variety
The Fall Guy Adds Ted Lasso, Black Panther Stars
Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) and Winston Duke (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) have joined the cast of Universal‘s upcoming actioner The Fall Guy. They join an ensemble that already includes Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Stephanie Hsu.
The film is currently in production in Australia and is inspired by the classic 1980s television series of the same name. However, in “a switch from the original 1980s show that starred Lee Majors, the story doesn’t focus on a stuntman with a side hustle as a bounty hunter. Instead, the script by Drew Pearce focuses on a battered and past-his-prime stuntman (Gosling) who finds himself back on a movie with the star for whom he doubled long ago and who replaced him. The wrinkle, however, is that the star has gone missing.” Bullet Train director David Leitch will helm the film. | Source: Deadline, THR
Morgan Freeman Back for Lucy TV Series
EuropaCorp and Village Roadshow have partnered up to develop and produce a Lucy spinoff series that will be set in the universe of the hit 2014 action movie starring Scarlett Johansson. Morgan Freeman is in advanced negotiations to reprise his role as the wise Professor Norman in the spinoff series. Plot details are being kept under wraps at this time. The 2014 film earned over $460 million globally at the box office. A sequel was at one point rumored to be in development but looks to have stalled out. | Source: Variety
More Casting News
- Clive Standen, Alano Miller, Lindsay Duncan, Nicole Beharie, Jon Hamm, Tig Notaro, Stephen Fry, and Natalie Morales have all joined the cast of Season 3 of Apple TV+‘s The Morning Show in main or recurring roles. (Deadline)
- Momona Tamada and Alyvia Alyn Lind are set for heavily recurring roles in Disney+’s live-action series The Spiderwick Chronicles. (Deadline)
- Brett Goldstein and Bowen Yang are the newest additions to the cast of the animated Garfield film in the works from Alcon Entertainment. (Deadline)
- The upcoming Netflix film The Electric State has added Billy Bob Thornton, Giancarlo Esposito, Anthony Mackie, and Ke Huy Quan to its cast. (Empire)
- Vinnie Jones will lead the cast of Netflix’s The Gentlemen TV series. He will be joined by Kaya Scodalerio, Giancarlo Esposito, Daniel Ings, Joely Richardson, and Peter Serafinowicz. (Deadline)
- Kyle Chandler and Glenn Close are set to join Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx in the Netflix action-comedy Back in Action. (Deadline)
- The ensemble for Greg Berlanti’s mysterious sci-fi film Artemis has continued to expand, with Donald Elise Watkins joining the cast. (Deadline)
That’s it for the last few weeks. What projects mentioned are you interested in seeing once completed? Tell us in the comments!
