Movies
[News Bites] Casting Round Up: ‘WER,’ ‘Beautiful Creatures’ and ‘Open Grave’
Kyle Gallner (pictured above), who you may remember from A Nightmare on Elm Street and Jennifer’s Body, is set to round out the cast of Alcon Entertainment’s Beautiful Creatures, which will be distributed by Warner Bros. on February 1, 2013, says Variety. Richard LaGravenese is writing and directing the supernatural love story based on the first novel in Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl’s popular series. Alden Ehrenreich and newcomer Alice Englert star as teenage lovers who uncover dark secrets about their families, their history and their town. Pic co-stars Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum and Thomas Mann. Gallner will play Larkin, Rossum’s younger brother whom she casts a spell on.
Sharlto Copley (District 9, Elysium) is heading to Hungary to begin shooting Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego’s Open Grave, and he has closed his deal to play the villain in Spike Lee’s Oldboy, a remake of the cult 2003 Korean revenge thriller from Park Chan-wook, reports Deadline. The actor will play the lead character in Lopez-Gallego’s follow-up to Apollo 18. Copley’s character wakes up in the pit full of rotting bodies with no idea how he got there, begins to have flashbacks of himself murdering people and stars to believe he’s the killer. Bloody Disgusting exclusively learned that Thomas Kretschmann (Hostel: Part III, King Kong, Resident Evil: Apocalypse) and Josie Ho (Contagion) round out the cast.
Lastly, Vik Sahay (pictured below; “Chuck”) officially joins A.J. Cook (“Criminal Minds”), Simon Quarterman (The Devil Inside) and Brian J. O’Connor (Epic Movie) in WER, the werewolf flick being directed by William Brent Bell (The Devil Inside), reports THR. Finally breaking the silence, they confirm our exclusive plot details: “The story is set in Paris and follows an investigation of a gruesome slaying of a family. Sahay is a member of the defense team which learns its client (O’Connor), who is suspect in the slayings, is a werewolf.” Shooting starts in Bucharest, Romania this month and is being produced by FilmDistrict (Insidious).
The Evil Dead franchise is alive and well these days, with brand new installment Evil Dead Burn arriving in theaters this summer and Evil Dead Wrath already set for release in 2028.
But one person you shouldn’t expect to see in either movie is Bruce Campbell, who made it clear back when “Ash vs. Evil Dead” was cancelled that his days of playing Evil Dead hero Ash Williams are very much over. Sure, he made a very small vocal cameo in Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise, but Campbell is still sticking to his vow of being retired from playing Ash.
In a new chat with Detroit Free Press, Bruce Campbell again makes it clear that he’s moved on from Ash Williams and the Evil Dead franchise has moved on from Bruce Campbell.
Campbell explains, “We’ve done three things: We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell.”
“Thankfully, Evil Dead Rise made the most of any money we’ve made from any Evil Dead, so far, and it validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements,” Campbell continues. “You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements.”
“They’re Hollywood, they’re studio movies now,” Campbell says of the franchise today. “They’re not indie movies anymore. And that’s where I found that my use has just phased out.”
Bruce Campbell’s hands-on involvement with the Evil Dead movies has come to an end both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Campbell told Forbes this year, “We had a meeting a couple of years ago and the French director of Evil Dead Burn was there to experience his first script development meeting. He turned in a 10-page treatment to say, “Here’s my rough idea. Here’s what I’m thinking, A to Z’ and I think he got 20 pages of notes back.”
“That’s when I said to myself, ‘You guys got this. I think you guys got this.’ I got tired of arguing points with someone who’s 26 years old about story and structure, and all that sort of stuff, and what matters and what doesn’t,” Campbell explained. “So, I just found out it’s way better to just step back. I’m partners with the guys. Nothing else has changed. I just told them, ‘Guys. I’m actually doing my own thing now, and it takes a lot of time and attention. If I can get fewer emails for approvals not clogging my timeline, that’s good for me at this point.'”
Up next from Bruce Campbell? He directed and stars in the indie comedy Ernie & Emma, which follows a pear salesman who embarks on a journey following the death of his wife.
After 25 years as an executive secretary, Emma leaves behind a detailed list of instructions regarding her ashes, which leads Ernie on a series of challenging and reflective escapades.
Campbell is hitting the road with Ernie & Emma. Follow him on Twitter for updates.
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