Castium Revelio: New Year, More Projects!

by · January 5, 2018

Welcome back to another week of Casting News! It’s hard to believe that it’s 2018 already, but that means that we’re even closer to getting to see some of our alumni’s upcoming projects!

First, composer John Williams, who scored the first three Harry Potter films, is composing a theme for the new Han Solo film, Solo: A Star Wars Story. Although John Powell is composing the film’s score, Williams shared his plan for the theme with Variety.

The present plan is that I’m writing a theme for Han Solo, and John Powell is going to write the score, which he’ll do brilliantly. His assignment is something I’m very happy about. What I will do is offer this to John, and to [director] Ron Howard, and if all parties are happy with it, then I will be happy. … John [Powell] will complete the score. He will write all the rest of the themes and all of the other material, which I’m going to be very anxious to hear.

As Variety notes, Williams is hardly new to the Star Wars franchise.

Williams has written the complete scores for all eight of the main ‘Star Wars’ films, winning an Oscar for the 1977 original and nominations for three of the other seven. The earlier ‘Star Wars’ standalone, 2016’s ‘Rogue One’, was scored by Michael Giacchino.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is set to be released on May 25 of this year.

Colleen Atwood, the costume designer for both Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, will reportedly serve as the costume designer for the new live-action version of The Little Mermaid. Screen Rant reported the news.

Following up on reports that Rob Marshall is the top pick to direct ‘Little Mermaid’, Omega Underground is reporting that the film’s production crew is a big indicator for Marshall’s inclusion. It’s a pretty good guess, considering the Oscar-winning hands that have been brought on deck have all worked with Marshall in the past. Colleen Atwood has come on as the costume designer, after having worked with Marshall on ‘Chicago’ and ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’. (She’s also known for her work on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and the upcoming ‘Dumbo’.)

As Screen Rant notes, the film is still in pre-production, so there’s no word on a release date yet.

Last week, we reported on Dawn French (Fat Lady, Prisoner of Azkaban) and her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders’s Christmas special on BBC One, 300 Years of French and Saunders. BBC One has posted another clip from the special, in which French and Saunders parody the Kardashians.

 

 

The channel also posted a link to the special itself, which viewers in the UK can watch here.

Jack Thorne, the playwright of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, is set to dramatize the Grenfell Tower disaster. The Daily Mirror reports that Thorne will be turning the tragedy, in which 71 were killed when the block of public housing flats went up in flames, into a television drama in partnership with Channel 4. Thorne spoke to the Daily Star about the project.

Grenfell is something we should be working out his to dramatise. I still can’t believe it happened in our country. I can’t believe we inflicted that on people in a country that is supposed to have money. And I can’t believe that they were screaming out for help and no-one listened. I think we’re all responsible and we’ve got to work out a way to come to terms with it.

Cursed Child director John Tiffany is currently directing a production of Pinocchio, which is being performed at the National Theatre until April 10. The Daily Mail reviewed the production, which is an adaptation of the Disney film of the same name.

For more information about Pinocchio at the National Theatre, you can visit its website here.

We now have a first look at Dame Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley) in Mary Poppins Returns. The actress can be seen in a still that was tweeted by the Disney social media account Oh My Disney. Entertainment Weekly describes the image.

Shown in the image, which first debuted on ‘USA Today’, are the little ones John (Nathanael Saleh), Annabel (Pixie Davies), and Georgie (Joel Dawson) — the children of Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), who’s now all grown up and living in the house on Cherry Tree Lane. Michael’s sister, Jane (Emily Mortimer), and housekeeper, Ellen (Julie Walters), look on as Mary and Jack take the tykes on a wild ride.

 

 

Rob Marshall, the film’s director, discussed the film with Entertainment Weekly, placing an emphasis on its message of hope.

It’s a theme that runs through the books — that as adults get older, they forget, and it’s very easy to become cynical and jaded and not believe in things. And one of the beautiful things about P.L. Travers’ work is that she takes an everyday chore and turns it into something magical, and I think that’s an important lesson for adults. In this particular climate, I was so anxious to live in a place of optimism and joy and this discovery of lost wonder. I wanted to live in that world.

Mary Poppins Returns is slated for release on December 25, 2018.

Also featuring Walters is Paddington 2, which has yet to be released in the US. The film also features a number of other Potter alumni, including Sir Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge), Jim Broadbent (Horace Slughorn), and Brendan Gleeson (Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody). A new trailer for the US release of the film has now dropped, and you can watch it below!

 

 

Paddington 2 hits theaters in the US on January 12.

Sir Kenneth Branagh (Gilderoy Lockhart) has revealed that he would love to play a James Bond villain! He told the Daily Mirror that he is “a connoisseur of those Bond villains,” in fact.

I think as an actor that is always delicious to play … I am a connoisseur of those Bond villains. But is a hard one to do. I loved Javier Bardem in ‘Skyfall’.

Will we see a very familiar Bond villain soon? Only time will tell, as the next film in the franchise is set to be released in late 2019.

Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory) is taking on the role of “an assertive, fearless character” in the upcoming thriller Good Time, and he seems to be very excited about it! He discussed the role with the Hollywood Reporter during their Live Roundtable.

There was no role when I first signed up to it, no script or anything. I just really like the trailer to the directors’ previous movie.

Pattinson also discussed how his role in Good Time is a departure from some of his previous roles.

I’ve played a lot of parts that are quite reactive, and quite passive. I just wanted to play a part which was really on the front foot, and also didn’t have any shame, or any fear. I think it’s just my own insecurities, or whatever, I want to find someone [to direct] who doesn’t have them, and be like, okay, if I just hold onto the train, the train will go through the wall, and everything will be fine.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Live Roundtable airs on SundanceTV on March 4.

Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) is featured in the upcoming film Hotel Mumbai, about the 2008 terror attacks on the Indian city. The film’s director, Anthony Maras, was interviewed by Scroll.in, which also provided some background on the attacks.

The four-day siege by Pakistani terrorists that started in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, and claimed over 160 lives, ranks as one of the deadliest such incidents in the world. The incident inspired Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘The Attacks of 26/11′ (2013) and Nicolas Saada’s French-language ‘Taj Mahal’ (2015). ‘Hotel Mumbai’ stars Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Jason Isaacs and Suhail Nayyar, and appears to be set largely at the Taj Mahal hotel, which was one of the deadliest sites of the attack.

Scroll.in also notes that the film first premiered at the Berlin Film Festival this past year and that it will be released more widely sometime this year.

Verne Troyer, who played Griphook in the first Harry Potter film, recently shared a video of himself unboxing and testing out a Tesla Model S for Kids, made by Radio Flyer. Troyer, who has a form of dwarfism called cartilage–hair hypoplasia, showed off the electric vehicle’s features and then took it for a spin. Tesla enthusiast site Teslarati discussed Troyer’s video, including its popularity on the internet.

Overall, Troyer’s recent YouTube video has been a huge hit, gaining thousands of likes and hundreds of positive comments soon after it was uploaded. In the r/TeslaMotors subreddit alone, hundreds of Tesla enthusiasts thanked the Hollywood star for his light-hearted, feel-good YouTube video. Some even encouraged Troyer to put several modifications to his miniature car, such as rubber wheels and an upgraded electric motor.

You can watch Troyer’s full video below.

 

 

That’s it for this week’s Casting News! What do you think of Verne Troyer’s new ride? Do you think that Sir Kenneth Branagh would make a good Bond villain? What are you most excited to see in 2018? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!