Role Call: Prison Cells and Tea Parties!

In this week’s Role Call, Pettigrew is behind bars (finally!), Jason Isaacs dreams of more Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe is set to shoot in Japan, and Professor Trelawney adds to her tea pot collection! Take a look at this week’s casting news and find out all the latest on MuggleNet Live! 2015: Expo Patronum!

Timothy Spall is set to star in two new films. Away is set in Blackpool, following a widower who takes in an orphan hiding from a drug dealer. The film is slated to begin shooting on location in March. Spall will also take on a prison-based comedy called The Special One, due out this summer. According to Screen Daily,

Spall is to play an eccentric prisoner who is obsessed by the performance of the English football team in the World Cup. After tracking down a mysterious and powerful  fellow inmate, he is presented with a chance of escaping – and watching England in the final. But there is a sting in the tail.

Ralph Fiennes is talking about his Oscar snub for The Grand Budapest Hotel and his new play Man and Superman, which can be seen at the National Theatre in London until May 17 and will air in theaters around the world on May 14. In a new interview with the Guardian, Ralph reveals that he doesn’t take Oscar talk too seriously:

Having dipped my toe into the financing of a film, Oscar nominations and Oscar talk don’t actually make a great deal of difference. It doesn’t put you on to the A-list of actors who backers want.

Ralph also talks about the roles he has taken lately, focusing on the part itself rather than the genre of the production:

It worries me sometimes this division between comedy and non-comedy. I think great tragedies have elements of comedy and comedic roles can contain great pain and upset. I try to think of it as playing a part rather than ‘doing a comedy’.

Finally, he reveals some casting tidbits we weren’t aware of! As we reported previously, Ralph is returning to his role in the James Bond franchise, taking his place as the new M in SPECTRE this November. A behind the scenes video was released this week via Entertainment Weekly showing filming in the mountains of Austria. Take a look below!

Ralph will also begin working with Potter co-star Gary Oldman in Flying Horse as photography pioneer, Eadweard Muybridge. Oldman will wear multiple hats in the production, having written and directed the film as well as taking on the role of Dennis Spencer.

One of our favorite baddies is filming a book-to-film adaptation called London Fields. Jason Isaacs will appear later this year in a thriller that follows a clairvoyant who knows that one of her romantic entanglements will result in her death. Jason opened up about the film and his role in an interview with Collider, saying,

It’s phenomenal. I play Mark Asprey and most of the time I don’t meet anybody, and for fans of the book, if they remember the Martin Amis book, he’s on the answer phone throughout the film and then he arrives back at the end. I kind of sweep in at the end… but I don’t want to spoil the storyline.

In the nearly 16 minute video interview, Jason also touches on his new series for USA, Dig, states he wishes they were still making Harry Potter films, how much he loves the WB Studio Tour, and has a reaction to learning that J.K. Rowling was writing the script for Fantastic Beasts at about 14:16 in. Take a look!

Alan Rickman‘s film, A Little Chaos, will soon be seen in Australia and Glasgow! Alan will be appearing at the Glasgow Film Festival on February 21 to promote A Little Chaos in a gala screening. He is also excited to premiere his film at an event called Spectrum Now in Syndey at the Hayden Orpheum this March, telling the Syndey Morning Herald,

I can’t wait. Just to be in Sydney again will be wonderful. It has been way too long.

If you recall last week’s Casting News, you may remember the video of John Hurt speaking about his experiences with Shakespeare in the role of Romeo for the Muse of Fire documentary. This week, the documentary included a video of Alan recalling wanting to take on the bard and testing himself against great writing. See what Alan has to say in the video below:

Have you been wondering when or if we will ever get to see Daniel Radcliffe in Tokyo Vice? It seems like they are slowly moving forward, as word from Variety indicates that the film will go into production this summer on location in Japan after sales of the film hit the European Film Market.

A new trailer for Sir Kenneth Branagh‘s live-action Cinderella was released this week, showing another difference in the film from the animated version of the classic fairytale. It appears that Cinderella’s step-mother may be working with the Prince’s father in order to keep Cinderella and Prince Charming apart. Take a look!

Branagh must have enjoyed working with the actors who portray the soul-mates in his version of Cinderella, because it now appears that the two will appear as Romeo and Juliet in Branagh’s theater company in London’s West End. Branagh will also star in that same season in the play The Entertainer as Archie Rice, a vaudeville performer.

Also revealed in the Daily Mail article is the possibility that Emma Thompson will join Emma Watson in the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast! Thompson will reportedly play Mrs. Potts, if the rumors are to be believed. We’ll keep an eye on this rumor for sure!

Finally, if you haven’t heard about MuggleNet Live! 2015: Expo Patronum, you really should take a look at the special guest list! Tickets are still available to join us in London this April to meet some of Harry Potter‘s well-known cast, animal actors, and have an amazing fandom experience at the biggest Harry Potter Expo in the UK! Check out the latest news here and get your ticket today!