Role Call: Labcoats, Roller Coasters, and Voldemort as a Concierge?
Julie Walters (Molly Weasley) lends her voice to a television ad for First Milk, introducing the characters of Cow and Bunny as brand ambassadors for the Lake District Dairy Company. In the ad, Walters plays Cow, offering information about the product and the company, while Bunny dreams about the awards he will be receiving as part of his ambassadorship. You can watch the short commercial here.
In addition to her voiceover role as Cow, Walters is also making an appearance in The Harry Hill Movie, which released its first teaser trailer earlier this month via Digital Spy. Walters is almost unrecognizable in the trailer seen above, donning a white wig, purple coat, and huge sunglasses while chasing down her on-screen grandson with her electric scooter, riding a roller coaster, and making a mess with buckets of an unidentifiable liquid. The movie is based on the comedian’s television show and is due to be released in the UK on December 20. The official synopsis of the movie contains a few wacky plot twists:
“When Harry and his Nan (Julie Walters) discover their hamster is seriously ill they set off on a road trip to Blackpool pursued by a lunatic vet (Simon Bird). Along the way, Harry falls in love with an undersea shell person (Sheridan Smith), witnesses canine superstars The Dachsund Five, and meets indie rock band The Magic Numbers – who run a B&B. It all culminates in a fight on top of the Blackpool Tower. Who could be behind it all? Could it be Harry’s evil twin Otto (Matt Lucas), who was separated from Harry at birth and brought up by Alsatians? Based on a true story, it’s all-singing, all-dancing family entertainment from the big collared loon himself.”
Emma Thompson (Professor Trelawney) will star as Mrs. Lovett in the New York Philharmonic’s presentation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, premiering in March of 2014. If you’ll be in the area, you can purchase tickets for the show here.
Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley) appears to be everywhere these days. With his new rom-com About Time set to hit US theaters next month, Gleeson is looking forward to his next few projects. He is currently working on Unbroken, a film based on a true story and directed by Angelina Jolie, where he plays the role of a stranded Army Air Corps survivor, Russell Allen Phillips. He just finished filming Frank, a comedy in which Gleeson plays Jon, an aspiring musician who follows a very strange pop star who walks around in costume, played by Michael Fassbender. Gleeson also credits his role in Anna Karenina as the reason he landed the lead role in About Time because Richard Curtis took note of his performance as Levin in the award winning film:
“There’s no way I would have ended up in this film if I hadn’t been in Anna Karenina. Joe [Wright] saw something in me that nobody else had seen before and took a risk on me that no one had taken before. He asked me to step up, and he expected me to do it, and then he inspired me and helped me to do it every day. And I owe him an awful lot for that.”
For those fans wondering what Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) has been up to lately, look no further! Announced this week, via Dread Central, is the release date for the RoboCop remake. The movie is slated to hit theaters on February 12, just in time for Valentine’s Day – how romantic! Here’s the synopsis for the film:
“In RoboCop the year is 2029, and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Their drones are winning American wars around the globe, and now they want to bring this technology to the home front. Alex Murphy is a loving husband, father, and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit. After he is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp utilizes its remarkable science of robotics to save Alex’s life. He returns to the streets of his beloved city with amazing new abilities but with issues a regular man has never had to face before.”
In the trailer, Oldman has traded in Sirius’s stylish velvet smoking jackets for a lab coat and glasses, playing the role of Dr. Dennett Norton, who helps to bring RoboCop to life. View the trailer here!
There must be something about hotels that attract Harry Potter alumni! Earlier this month, we learned that Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort) would be starring as the lead in Wes Anderson’s latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. Fiennes will play a European concierge helping a lobby boy work his way through the ranks of the hotel staff before all sorts of hijinks ensue. The international trailer shows a stylized and colorful hotel, full of uniquely entertaining guests and staff. In these chosen scenes, Fiennes gives a comedic performance as concierge Gustave that had us laughing, if for no other reason than his wonderful mustache and purple tailcoat. Watch the trailer below, but please be aware, there is some mature content in one small scene.
Also headed for an extended hotel stay are Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall) and Bill Nighy (Rufus Scrimgeour), as they reprise their roles for the sequel to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Filming for the sequel is set to begin in India next year according to a Radio Times article posted today. While many details are still unknown, we do know that the second film will be written by previous scriptwriter Ol Parker. We will continue to keep you updated as more details emerge.
Finally, though we reported earlier on Jason Isaac’s (Lucius Malfoy) murderous role in Sweetwater, we now bring you the official trailer for the film and excerpts from his exclusive interview with Crave Online.
Jason talks about his cancelled television series Awake, how conversations with fans about the series are so enjoyable, and what it’s like to create depth for his villainous characters. So how was Awake supposed to end? He’s not telling!
“Actually, to be honest, we shot the entire season before it went on air, and that was never an ending. So people who think that that last episode was written as an ending because we knew we weren’t coming back are completely wrong. It was written so the opposite from it being an ending.”
What’s next for Isaacs? A thriller called John Wick, according to Digital Spy. No word on which character he will play, however; the current synopsis of the film, also starring Keanu Reeves, indicates that it will be an interesting one: “A former hit man is pursued by an old friend who was contracted to kill him.” Since Isaacs plays a baddie so well, we’re sure that this is another character he can create some depth for!
That concludes today’s “Casting Corner.” Which film or project are you most interested in seeing? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
