Since crossing over into the mainstream with 2006’s “Borat,” Sacha Baron Cohen has worked with the likes of Tom Hooper, Martin Scorsese and Tim Burton, a feat impressive for any actor, much less a comedic one. Variety reports Baron Cohen is in early talks to re-team with his “Sweeney Todd” co-star Johnny Depp for the slow-brewing “Alice in Wonderland” sequel, “Through the Looking Glass.” Depp and Mia Wasikowska will reprise their roles with “The Muppets” director James Bobin stepping in for Burton. All that’s known about is Baron Cohen’s role is that it’ll be the main villain. “Through the Looking Glass” hits theaters May 27th, 2016.
Though she’s done her fair share of work in her native county, Penelope Cruz has yet to work with fellow Spaniard “Sex and Lucia” director Julio Medem but that’s all about to change. Per THR, Cruz will co-produce and star in Medem’s “ma ma” as Magda, but not much else is known other than the rest of the cast—“Miami Vice” and “The Limits Of Control” actor Luis Tosar and Spanish TV actor Asier Etxeandia—and that Alberto Iglesias will handle scoring duties. Filming starts this spring in Spain.
After last year’s sad “A Good Day To Die Hard,” the thought of Bruce Willis leading another action movie might leave you cold but with a $305 million worldwide haul, it’s obvious there’s still an audience for Willis. To that end, Deadline reports he’s been locked up to star in the “futuristic action thriller” “Vice.” Co-starring Ambyr Childers (“The Master”), the Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore-scripted thriller “is set in a city in which humans can enact their most perverse fantasies onto androids. Once android becomes self-aware and breaks out, only to become intent on shutting down the organization.” Hmm, sounds vaguely familiar. “Vice” begins shooting this March in Alabama.
First announced last fall, the Lake Bell and Simon Pegg-starring 2011 Brit List winner “Man Up” will finally be heading in front of cameras this week in London with some new names added to the cast. As THR reports, Olivia Williams, Rory Kinnear and Stephen Campbell Moore have joined the Ben Palmer-helmed film which follows Bell as a single gal “who’s mistaken for a stranger’s blind date en route to her parents’ anniversary, leading to her finally finding the perfect boyfriend.” No release date is set for “Man Up.”
Lastly, THR reports that Daniel Radcliffe has signed up to star in “Brooklyn Bridge” for writer/director Douglas McGrath (“Emma,” “Infamous“). The film will find Radcliffe playing “a brilliant but inexperienced engineer who is left to oversee the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge when his father passes away. Besieged by calamity, danger and doubt, his obsession to get the job done threatens his health and his family until he discovers an improbable ally in his charming and shrewd wife.” Production begins in August.