Michael Pena joins Gangster Squad; 1st look at Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom

* One of the things that pissed me off most this year was the pathetically small role Michael Pena had in Battle: Los Angeles. I wasn't fond of what he was given to work with in The Lincoln Lawyer, either. Pena is a personal favorite of mine and a fantastic actor. It's not often that anybody out acts Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams, but he did just that in The Lucky Ones back in 2006, and was pretty damn good in Crash. There's still time for Pena to become the leading man he deserves to be, and according to director Ruben Fleischer he could be in for his best chance yet.

Fleischer, while talking with MTV about his upcoming comedy 30 Minutes or Less, revealed that Pena had joined the cast of Gangster Squad in an unspecified role. Based on a series of articles by LA Times writer Paul Lieberman, the story is set in the 1940s and covers a special LAPD unit designed to counter the growing influence of east coast mobsters. Pena joins a phenomenal cast, including Sean Penn as famous Jewish mobster Mickey Cohen. Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin are two of the cops set to bring Cohen down. There's reportedly a role for Anthony Mackie, as well. Shooting is set to begin this fall.


*  Filming on Wes Anderson's star heavy film, Moonrise Kingdom, is already underway and still we don't know a heck of a lot about it. We know the gist of the story, set in New England sometime in the 1960s, where a young boy and girl run away from home and drive the townsfolk crazy trying to find them. Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Jascon Schwartzman, Jared Gilman, and Kara Hayward are set to star. Now we're also learning that Harvey Keitel, who had been rumored before, has joined in on the fun. We also got some photos from the set, including these of Ed Norton in his scout leader gear and Bill Murray hangin' out.Thanks to TheFilmStage for these.