They say only about 10 percent of working actors become movie stars, and the studio execs coming up with the major movies roles don’t have a creative bone among them. When you combine these two facts, you get my weekly Role Call. Here’s the skinny on who’s doing what–in all its good, bad and very ugly glory.
Wood goes Pop!
It looks like Elijah Wood will be Frodo no more. The actor has been having a very eclectic year since donning big, hairy feet and shrinking several inches as the earnest and stalwart Hobbit Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings series (OK, he didn’t actually shrink but you get the picture). He’s starring in two indies this month–coming out in the same week, mind you. First up is Everything Is Illuminated, a drama about a young Jewish man who searches for his grandfather’s rescuer during the Holocaust, directed by actor Liev Schreiber. Then there’s Green Street Hooligans, a story about an American who gets caught up in the underworld of British football hooliganism. Now, it’s rumored Wood is being cast as Iggy Pop in a yet untitled biopic about the punk icon. The movie is set to start shooting in 2006 and the actor admits he’s a little scared about playing the rocker because he doesn’t want to screw anything up. I don’t blame him. To begin with, I didn’t know Iggy Pop had a rich enough life to warrant a biopic. Secondly, it’s more than a little difficult picturing Wood as the stick-thin and angular Pop, let alone getting into the whole rocker-on-the-edge persona. If Wood can pull it off, however, the Academy may come calling. They tend to reward those actors who lose (or gain) weight and change their appearance completely.
Radcliffe and Bell vie to play young Bond
Daniel Radcliffe, known best as Harry Potter, and Jamie Bell, known best as Billy Elliot, are each in the running to play James Bond in a new movie about suave superspy teenage years. The film will be an adaptation of hit book Silverfin–the first in a series written by British comic Charlie Higston about the 007 secret agent as a 13-year-old. The story centers around Bond’s time in Britain’s prestigious public school Eton, but movie producers are planning to raise the age of the teenage spy to secure either 16-year-old Radcliffe or Bell, 19, in the lead role. I think they should pick Radcliffe. He definitely looks the part and is probably ready to move on from being the boy wizard.
Yeoh and Boyle to team up
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon actress Michelle Yeoh has signed up to star in Sunshine, the forthcoming film from British director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later). The film centers on a group of astronauts who are sent to discover what became of a space mission crew gone AWOL. Hmmm. Sounds a little overdone but one can only hope in the hands of Boyle, it’ll at least leave a quirky taste in your mouth. The former Bond girl (Yeoh is probably one of the best Bond girls ever in Tomorrow Never Dies) has been interested in teaming up with Boyle since seeing his grim drug opus Trainspotting, and she can’t wait to take on the role of a botanist in the new movie. Yeoh said in an interview with the Prestige Hong Kong magazine, “They have an amazing team. I’ve wanted to work with these people for a long while.” Yeoh will also bee seen in the upcoming Memoirs of a Geisha, directed by Rob Marshall. Now, that’s one I’m really looking forward to seeing.
Now you see him, now you don’t
Christian Slater and Peter Facinelli (HBO’s Six Feet Under) are set to go head to head, but you won’t be able to see them do battle. The actors will play two invisible men–one good and one evil–in a sequel to 2000 movie Hollow Man. The story is about a Seattle detective and a biologist, who are on the run from a dangerous invisible assassin gone rogue as well as the government forces who created him. Web site www.fangoria.com reports Slater will play the evil invisible man, while Facinelli will play the good guy. As I’m letting all that sink in, I find myself shaking my head, wondering what the heck happened to Christian Slater.
Speaking of Invisible…
Justin Chatwin, who played Tom Cruise‘s son in War of the Worlds, is in talks to star in The Invisible, a Disney supernatural thriller being directed by David S. Goyer, the writer of the Blade trilogy. Chatwin plays a teenager who, after being attacked and left for dead, finds himself in limbo, invisible to the living and racing against time to find his body before he truly perishes. The only person who might be able to save him is his attacker (newcomer Margarita Levieva), who is on the run from the law. This could be way cool if done right.
Stutters unite!
Director Jeffrey Blitz–who gave us the Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound, which followed a spelling bee–is turning his attention to an indie feature about high school debating. Rocket Science centers on 15-year-old Hal Hefner (Reece Thompson), who despite his terrible stuttering joins a high school debate team. He soon finds himself immersed in the ultra-competitive world of high school debating. Like the story’s protagonist, Blitz also suffered from a stuttering problem at an early age and credits the affliction with starting his fascination with speech and storytelling, according to the Hollywood Reporter. That’s a nice touch but it still seems like an afternoon TV special. We’ll see.
Until next week…
