Teresa Palmer Cast in Transformers 2

More Transformers sequel news on the home front today as it was announced by Courier Mail that Teresa Palmer has been cast in Michael Bay's newest. The Australian actress was most recently slated for the role of Talia al Ghul in the Justice League movie, but since that film has been shelved for the time being, her schedule has opened up and she's probably jumping at the chance to get into a movie that's going to make mega-bucks next summer when it opens.

I guess Bay is sticking to the Australian theme he set last year by casting Rachael Taylor in the first movie of this series (no word yet on her return). At least Teresa Palmer is a lot prettier than Jonah Hill.

Jonah Hill in Transformers 2?

Entertainment Weekly says funnyboy Jonah Hill is in early talks to star as Shia LaBeouf's sidekick in Transformers 2. Supposedly he would play a character named Chuck, Sam Witwicky's college roommate who runs a conspiracy theory website and whose theories start to come true. Sounds like Hill could fit in well with this type of movie; considering the cast they had for the last film, this casting news doesn't surprise me at all. One interesting thing to keep in mind, though: Michael Bay has said multiple times that he'll be releasing "misinformation" regarding the Transformers sequel to throw off the fans. This could be one of those leaks, but I guess it's still worth reporting in case it turns out to be true.

Sir Ian McKellen News

Old Gandalf himself spoke with Empire Magazine and gave them the scoop on his upcoming projects. First off, he says he has signed on to reprise his role as Gandalf in Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit and its sequel. This has long been speculated, but now it's finalized - and it's a good thing, too. They better try to secure as many of the original cast members as possible.

Also, Sir Ian told the magazine that he won't be coming back for the Magneto spin-off film, once titled X-Men Origins: Magneto. He confirmed that the story is a prequel dealing with the early days of Magneto, but he says all the talk about the anti-aging technology that was supposed to be used was rubbish. He said, "I don't think I could get away with playing a 19-year-old." Probably true, sir. Hopefully this is one of those films that never gets made; who wants to see more of Magneto when he's a child? Not me.

Mel Gibson Goes To The Edge of Darkness

Still reeling from the bad publicity of his outbursts a year or two ago, Mel Gibson has decided to step back in front of the camera for a film called Edge of Darkness, marking the first time he's been on screen (in a starring role) since 2002.

Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale) directed a six-hour miniseries of the same subject matter in England back in 1985, and will fittingly take over the director's chair in this version as well. William "The Departed" Monahan wrote the script, so I'm actually intrigued with this project. I always kind of liked Mel Gibson, so maybe this movie will be enough to have people forget and forgive what he did a while back.

Gibson will play a by-the-book police investigator whose activist daughter is killed. Immersing himself in the case, he finds corruption in the system that led to his daughter's death. No word yet on a release date or how long the movie is going to be.

Ewan McGregor to Join Angels & Demons?

After recent news of Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer (I've never heard of her either) being cast as female lead Vittoria Vetra in the adaptation of Dan Brown's prequel, we get word thanks to Reuters that Ewan McGregor is in talks to join the cast as Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca. Anyone who has read the novel will realize that this is great casting. Hopefully this film doesn't get delayed any longer than it already has been, because I liked "Angels & Demons" a lot better than "The Da Vinci Code."

"FSM" Cast Reunites

Forgetting Sarah Marshall stars Jonah Hill (Creepy Hotel Worker) and Russell Brand (Aldous Snow) are set to reunite with director Nicholas Stoller for his newest comedy called Get Him to the Greek. Variety says this Apatow-produced movie centers on a "fresh-out-of-college insurance adjuster (Hill) who is hired to accompany an out-of-control rock star from London to a gig at LA's Greek Theater."

So basically Russell Brand is playing the EXACT same character in this movie as he did in the last one. I hope they don't even try to cover that up: I hope his name is Aldous Snow and he literally is the same character from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Either way, I thought he was one of the best parts about that movie (Mila Kunis' stunningly good looks aside), so I'm happy to hear that we'll be getting more ridiculous antics from Brand in the future. Jonah Hill is funny in his own way, I guess - but it'll be good to see him in a more reserved role than the "crazy fat kid" that he always plays.

T4 Is Still Kicking, Adds Another To Cast

If you guys have been cheating on me in the last week by reading other web sites, you might have come across a rumor that Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins was scrapped and they were abandoning the project completely. I, in my infinite knowledge, decided not to post on this "news" since I smelled something strange about it, and now my suspicions have been confirmed: that was nothing more than a rumor and the movie is still definitely being made. Reuters reports that Moon Bloodgood (ridiculous? I think so) has joined the official cast of Christian Bale, Anton Yelchin, and Sam Worthington (Jeff's son) in the newly-titled Terminator 4. She'll play a member of the rebellion, which I guess is good enough for me.

Notice that they didn't confirm the earlier rumor regarding Josh Brolin as the new Terminator. Which I still think would be outrageous but awesome at the same time. I'll keep you in the loop. as more info comes my way.

Brett Ratner To Direct Eddie Murphy; Continue To Kill Both Careers

Brett Ratner is in talks to direct Eddie Murphy in a remake of the 1957 classic The Incredible Shrinking Man. Hollywood Reporter says that they are taking a more "comedic approach" to the material and updating the storyline to be about a Las Vegas magician who is put under a spell that causes him to shrink. WTF?

The first movie was actually really good considering the time it was released, and it dealt with some complex issues (such as man's place in the universe) and had extremely sophisticated undertones. Now they're giving a remake up to one of the worst actor/director combos I've ever heard of. Save yourself the money when this comes to the theater and go rent the original.

LaBeouf To Travel The Dark Fields

Hollywood favorite Shia LaBeouf has signed on to play the lead role in The Dark Fields, an adaptation of the book written by Alan Glynn. The sci-fi story actually sounds pretty intriguing. This description comes from Amazon.com:

Imagine a drug that makes your brain function with perfect efficiency, tapping into your most fundamental resources of intelligence and drive, releasing all the passive knowledge you'd ever accumulated. A drug that made you focused, charming, fast, even attractive. Eddie Spinola is on such a drug. It's called MDT-48, and it's Viagra for the brain-a designer drug that's redesigning his life. But while MDT is helping Eddie achieve the kind of success he's only dreamed about, it's also chipping away at his sanity-splitting headaches, spontaneous blackouts, violent outbursts. And now that he's hooked and his supply is running low, Eddie must venture into the drug's dark past to feed his habit. What he discovers proves that MDT, once a dream come true, has become his worst nightmare.

This could be a really cool project that allows the kid to show us what he's got in terms of dramatic roles. It's going to be directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist), so I'm at least interested and at most slightly excited.

Midnight Meat Train Derailed?

According to some site called Horror-movies.ca, the laughably-titled Midnight Meat Train will no longer be getting a theatrical release and will instead go straight to DVD. The writer says that Lionsgate e-mailed him to tell him personally, but no other sites are reporting this yet, so I'm not sure how factual it is. This news sounds kind of fishy to me, so we'll see how it turns out.

I don't quite know how to feel about this - on one hand, I'd be glad the movie isn't getting released because I think it's going to suck pretty badly, but on the other hand I'd be disappointed because I won't get to look up at the marquee and see "Mister Lonely Midnight Meat Train" and laugh.

Trick 'R Treat Loses Distribution

Unfortunately for horror fans, Trick 'R Treat has been dropped by Warner Bros. distribution and is now searching for companies with enough faith in it to get it out to theaters. Featuring a cast including Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Leslie Bibb, and Dylan Baker, the movie follows four interwoven stories of terror on a Halloween night. Check out the trailer (featured on the 300 DVD) below. I hope this finds distribution; I actually kind of wanted to see it. Plus, it was made by Legendary Pictures (Batman Begins, 300, etc) so I want it to succeed because I love those guys. The trailer starts off really creepy, then kind of gets ridiculous, but it looks like it has promise. It's the directorial debut of the guy who wrote X-Men 2, whatever that may mean to you.

Denzel Signs For Matarese Circle

One of Robert Ludlam's non-Bourne books, The Matarese Circle, is getting adapted for the screen for an expected 2009 release. The story revolves around two secret agents who must work together to fight a group called the Matarese - but the catch is that the two agents have a history of being nemeses and each has killed someone close to the other. The two agents are Russian and American, so Denzel has obviously signed on to play the Russian, with Dolph Lundgren in talks for the American role.

I'm legally required to say that I'm joking about that last part.

Fraser and Rock Join G.I. Joe

Latino Review brings us news this afternoon that the ridiculous cast of G.I. Joe has potentially added two more to its ranks. Brendan Fraser has apparently already finished filming a cameo as "Gung Ho," and Dwayne Johnson has been offered the role of "Shipwreck," a large Latino Navy SEAL. Yep, sounds about right. As others have pointed out, this move makes sense because director Stephen Sommers has directed both of these actors before in The Mummy Returns, so it's legit that he would call in a favor like this.

So far the cast includes the likes of Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marlon Wayans, Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Arnold Vosloo, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols, and Jonathan Pryce, not to mention these new additions and any other last-minute casting decisions they might make. Written by Stuart Beattie and directed by Stephen Sommers (Van Helsing, Deep Rising), G.I. Joe comes to theaters on August 7th, 2009. Unfortunately, it's probably going to suck.

O'Donnell Cast In Max Payne

That's what I'm talkin' about. Everyone's favorite live-action Robin is taking a break from rom-coms to star opposite Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis in the film adaptation of Max Payne.

Entertainment Weekly says O'Donnell is set to play "executive Jason Colvin," whose character I don't recognize from the video games. I'm just psyched for the opportunity to see some CO'D action up on screen again. Some potentially bad news for this flick though - I hear they're trying to make it PG-13.

Stuart Beattie Writes Halo Spec Script

Latino Review brings word that one of my favorite Hollywood writers, Stuart Beattie (Collateral, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, the upcoming G.I. Joe film), is such a big Halo fan that he's written his own spec script to try to sell to the studios. The Halo movie has been put off for quite some time now, ever since the original project (with Peter Jackson attached as a producer) was put into development hell.

Beattie's script, called Halo: Fall of Reach, is the first of a three-part series intended for the big screen. This first installment sounds like a futuristic version of 300, following the Master Chief character from childhood into the fighting soldier fanboys love. If all goes according to plan, the next film will deal more with the Covenant and take place on the Halo ring, and the third film will return to Earth in a storyline mirroring the third video game.

I'm not the biggest Halo fan ever, but they would probably make some cool-looking movies. Sounds like good summer fun to me. Of course, my bias allows me to hope they go with Beattie's version - they should either do that or abandon the project completely.

Joel McHale Returns To Movies!

That's right, folks - our favorite comedy host will be coming back to the big screen, this time opposite Matt Damon in a Steven Soderbergh-directed flick called The Informant. McHale will play an FBI agent working with Damon's character to "stop a price-fixing scam in agri-business." I don't know what that really means, but it doesn't matter - Joel McHale is back! Could this be the push he needs to boost himself into enough popularity to become a contender for the future 2016 Election? Shooting starts this month.