Will Chris Pratt make the forever gestating "Cowboy Ninja Viking" finally happen? Kicking around since at least 2010, the comic adaptation has seen "Zombieland" writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick take a crack at the script, while Marc Forster at one point was attached to direct. None are involved now, but Pratt is reportedly attached to lead the movie at Universal. The story centers on Duncan, part of a "counter-intelligence program made up of Multiple Personality Disorder patients who are transformed into agents known as Triplets, so-called for their three different personalities (hence the title). Duncan subsequently escapes and uses his skills to track down the billionaire who masterminded the program." Sounds like ‘Bourne,’ but with a triplet twist. [Collider]
Stephen Graham is stepping off "Boardwalk Empire" and into "A Patch Of Fog." The actor will star in the movie about "a celebrated novelist and TV personality who finds his reputation on the line and his life invaded by a lonely security guard (Graham) when he is caught shoplifting." Michael Lennox directs, Conleth Hill, Arsher Ali and Ian McElhinney co-star and production starts next week. [Screen Daily]
Sean Bean will lead the ITV‘s crime series "The Frankenstein Chronicles." The six-episode show is set in 1827 and follows Inspector John Marlott’s "discovery of the corpse of a child that turns out to be a crude assembly of body parts. Marlott accepts the challenge to track the perpetrator of this crime." Filming starts in January. [Variety]
Rising star Haley Bennett is replacing Imogen Poots in the adaptation of Patricia Highsmith‘s "The Blunderer" with Patrick Wilson and Jessica Biel. The untitled 1960s set thriller "follows Walter Stackhouse (Wilson), a successful architect married to the beautiful Clara (Biel); they lead a seemingly perfect life. But Walter’s fascination with an unsolved murder leads him into a spiral of chaos as he is forced to play cat-and-mouse with a clever killer and an overambitious detective while at the same time lusting after another woman." Andy Goddard directs and filming is underway. [THR]
Riley Smith, aka Keith from "True Blood," has joined the sprawling cast of the second season of "True Detective." He’ll play a Sheriff’s deputy in the next round of the show led by Colin Farrell, Taylor Kitsch, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn, that will center on "a web of conspiracy in the aftermath of a murder." [Deadline]
Comedian Hannibal Buress is joining Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, and Linda Cardellini in "Daddy’s Home." The story "centers on a mild-mannered easy-listening radio executive (Ferrell) looking to become the best stepdad possible to his wife’s two children just as their freewheeling and freeloading real father (Wahlberg) arrives on the scene." Buress will play a "sarcastic handyman" who thinks Wahlberg’s character is racist. Filming is already underway. [THR]
Olivia Cooke ("Ouija") has been offered the role of Tirzah in Timur Bekmambetov‘s "Ben-Hur." Jack Huston, Morgan Freeman and Toby Kebbell are already lined up for the movie, but Cooke isn’t locked down just yet as the actress is in contention for other "high-profile" projects. [The Wrap]
Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Alden Ehrenreich, Jonah Hill and…Christopher Lambert? Yep, the actor has joined the cast of the Coens’ "Hail, Caesar!" playing "Arne Slessum, a married European filmmaker whose scandalous affair with a young starlet (Johansson) becomes yet another headache for the studio." Filming is underway. [THR]
"Nebraska" screenwriter Bob Nelson waited a decade for Alexander Payne to direct his script, but this time around, another ten years won’t pass before another screenplay sees the big screen. Clive Owen, Jaeden Lieberher (that kid from "St. Vincent"), Maria Bello, Patton Oswalt, Tim Blake Nelson, Robert Forster, Matthew Modine and Stephen Tobolowsky (nice cast) have joined "The Confirmation," which will mark Nelson’s directorial debut. The movie kicks off "with 8-year-old Anthony (Lieberher) and his estranged father (Owen) spending two days together for the first time in forever, as the boy’s mom (Bello) and new husband (Modine) head off to a religious retreat. Their mutual unease is exacerbated when the father’s truck breaks down, his landlord locks him out of his house, and the toolbox that provides his living gets stolen. As they search for the stolen tools with help from an odd neighbor (Oswalt), the father and son begin to establish a connection." Filming is underway. [Deadline]
"Gone Girl" star Rosamund Pike will climb "The Mountain Between Us" with Charlie Hunnam. Based on the book by Charles Martin, the story follows "Ashley, a writer catching a flight from Salt Lake City and heading East for her wedding. Ben is a doctor returning from a medical conference. When their flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer, the strangers agree to charter a ride, only to see the pilot suffer a heart attack and crash into a desolate snowy mountain region. He breaks ribs and she suffers a leg fracture. Fortunately, aside from a doctor he’s an avid climber, and as he struggles to get her down from the mountain in harsh weather, she begins to realize that maybe she was headed to marry the wrong guy." What? Hany Abu-Assad ("Paradise Now") directs. [Deadline]
