Welcome to Back Room Edition – an inside look at big topics happening in the industry and casting news and rumors. Let’s get started!
Although it’s still four months away, the Oscars got a shot in the arm this week when producers announced that the next ceremony’s hosts will be Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. The pairing is a likely one: The two are friends who have worked together before (Martin was nominated for an Emmy for his guest turn on last season’s 30 Rock) and they’ve separately hosted Saturday Night Live a combined 29 times. It also promises a night full of surprises.
Martin is an old hand, having hosted the ceremony twice, but Baldwin is the wild card. His career trajectory has seen him go from handsome leading man to unfortunate remake participant (1994’s The Getaway, anyone?) to more studied work (including an Oscar nomination for 2003’s The Cooler) and finally as a TV actor the academy adores. His work as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock pits him as straight man to Tina Fey’s neurotic producer Liz Lemon, but he’s the one who ends up with the best lines and most of the laughs. In part that’s because it’s Fey who writes his lines.
Fey herself was offered the chance to host the Oscars with Martin but was unavailable owing to her 30 Rock duties. There is speculation, however, that she may end up contributing to the team of writers tasked with providing Martin and Baldwin their script for the evening of March 7.
It’s an interesting combination that ups the want-to-see factor tenfold. Maybe even more so because, although he’s a showman extraordinaire, with Hugh Jackman last year, you sort of knew what you were gonna get.
Speaking of the Oscars, one film that has jumped up onto the radar all of a sudden is Fox Searchlight’s Crazy Heart. Although Scott Cooper’s feature debut is now officially set for a December 16th, 2009 release. The studio is holding last-minute, surprise screenings this week, giving credence to the belief that the film will have an Oscar qualifying run this season.
The Wednesday screenings in L.A. were a hit with critics, who are now proclaiming that Jeff Bridges — one of the most underrated actor in Hollywood — is finally about to get his first Oscar. This is a film to keep an eye on.
The Casting Couch
- In random casting news, Owen Wilson has gone to the dogs. They say an actor should never work with children or animals. Wilson did both in 2008’s Fox hit Marley & Me and now he’s going even more Method: He’ll voice the lead canine in Fox’s Marmaduke, which is set for 2010. [link]
- Zach Galifianakis continues to be superhot coming off the summer hit The Hangover. The actor may get his big first death scene courtesy of DreamWorks Animation: He is in talks to lend his voice to Humpty Dumpty for the upcoming Shrek spinoff, Puss In Boots. The long-in-the-works project that stars Antonio Banderas as the Mediterranean swordscat is being prepped for a 2011 release. It will be interesting to see if the role of the notorious egg is expanded beyond just the wall and the fall. [link]
- In what was referred to by Screen Daily as “an intriguing pairing,” Nicole Kidman and Robert Pattinson have teamed up for indie film Bel Ami. The adaptation of Guy de Maupassant’s story of seduction and power in 19th-century Paris could give French literature teachers newfound cult status among high school students. But a report circulated this week that Kidman’s reps have denied the actress’ participation. Still, Kidman has an eye for vampires, so the Pattinson attraction makes sense — she was, after all, once married to the man who played, to some discerning fans of princes of darkness, the biggest rock-star vampire of them all, Lestat. [link]
- Which brings me to Tom Cruise and the latest stop on the journey that is The Tourist. This remake of 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer has had more people attached to it in the past several months than stickers to a steamer trunk. When the remake first surfaced, it looked like Cruise was going to star, with Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) directing. Charlize Theron was also attached to star as the female Interpol agent who draws an unwitting American tourist into her attempt to locate a criminal who was once her lover. Cruise dropped out; Terminator Salvation star Sam Worthington picked up the baton. Last month, Theron departed and Angelina Jolie stepped in. At that time, Oscar-winning director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck was said to be circling the director’s chair. This week, however, it was reported that von Donnersmarck is out and Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) is now next in line to step behind the camera. But wait, there’s more: Worthington has also exited and Johnny Depp is said to be eyeing the role. Are you getting dizzy yet?!
The film is looking at a February start date, which means that someone had better pack his bags and commit to the damn trip already! [link]
