Are we really begging for another action movie franchise to be jump started? Apparently so. According to the Hollywood Reporter, looks like Brit Tom Hardy (memorable as Handsome Bob in Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla) is in negotiations to play the new and improved Mad Max in Fury Road. He’ll replace Mel Gibson, since, well, the actor is a little too long in the tooth to play him now. Charlize Theron is also in talks to take the female lead, while original Max writer-director George Miller has already come on board. There aren’t too many details about the plot, just that it takes place shortly after the end of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, as Max, after blowing up pig shite in Bartertown, watches the busload of kids ride off into the sunset. Can’t imagine what other mischief that wily Max could get into.
In other casting news: Reese Witherspoon is gonna help the ADD cause in her next flick, while Jessica Biel is going to have a lot of sex in her next one. According to the Reporter, Witherspoon will star in Rule #1 as a New York woman who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder, and Biel is attached to F***ing Engaged, a raunchy comedy about a couple who make a pact to have sex every day leading to their wedding so they don’t turn into their crusty old parents. Which one do YOU think sounds like more fun? Yeah, me too. ADD ROCKS!
On a more classical note, Gerald Butler is joining Ralph Fiennes in a contemporary version of Shakespeare’s political and family drama Coriolanus, playing Tullus Aufidius, commander of the Volscian army. Other cast members include, William Hurt, Eddie Marsan, Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave. Although this is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known history plays, I see some symmetry in Fiennes making this his directorial debut. Good luck, Ralph and may I suggest you talk to Kenneth Branagh?