Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood Enter 'Westworld'

About a year ago we learned J.J. Abrams would be teaming up with Jonathan Nolan, writer on The Dark Knight and Interstellar, to bring back Michael Crichton's 1973 sci-fi film Westworld as an HBO series. Little was learned about it since but now we know a top notch cast will be leading the future-set show.

First reported at Filmdivider, Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood have come aboard Westworld, with James Marsden eying a role, as well. The story takes place in an amusement park populated by androids in famous historical settings. When the robots become self aware, their interactions with the human visitors becomes deadly.

Hopkins would be taking on the role of Dr. Robert Ford, the Dr. Moreau-esque man who runs the park. Wood has taken the part of Dolores Abernathy, an android that doesn't realize her farm girl life is all part of the system's programming. Marsden would play cowboy hero, Teddy Flood.

Abrams will be producing through his Bad Robot banner, with Nolan co-writing and directing the pilot, which HBO has already committed to.

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Joe Berlinger to Direct Vera Farmiga and Evan Rachel Wood in 'Facing the Wind'

Joe Berlinger spent years following the 20-year saga of the West Memphis Three with his three amazing Paradise Lost documentaries, and now he's tackling another true crime story in Facing the Wind.

Vera Farmiga, Alessandro Nivola, Evan Rachel Wood, Rita Wilson, and Jennifer Beals are set to star in the film which chronicles the true story of Bob Rowe, a seemingly perfect husband who murdered his entire family, and the hallmark 1978 trial that followed in which he was among the first to successfully mount an insanity defense. The story will also follows his quest for redemption. Nivola will play Rowe, with Farmiga as his murdered first wife and Wood as his second spouse.  Richard Stratton wrote the script, choosing to tell most of the story through flashback.

Berlinger is known primarily for his documentary work and has largely stayed away from narrative features, but he directed Blair Witch 2 back in 2000 and helmed episodes of Homicide: Life On the Street. [TheWrap]

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Emily Browning replaces Evan Rachel Wood in Catherine Hardwicke's 'Plush'

Catherine Hardwicke has been pretty good at shepherding the careers of young, up 'n coming actresses. Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed both have her to thank for much of their early success after the intense 2003 drama, Thirteen. And while I think Kristen Stewart would have ended up a star on her own easily enough, it was Hardwicke behind the camera for the first Twilight film. We know how that turned out. Granted, that was also the point where Hardwicke seemed to veer wildly off course. Attaching her name to a number of potential films, possibly in hopes that we'd forget about Red Riding Hood, Hardwicke had been hoping to reteam with Wood on an erotic thriller titled Plush.


Turns out that's not going to happen for whatever reason, as Variety reports that Emily Browning(The Uninvited) has stepped into the lead. The story follows a psychic psychologist who digs into the memories of his patients in order to help them unleash past demons. That is until Browning shows up and is more than a match for him as she shares the same power. Hardwicke will not only direct, but produce and co-write the script with Artie Nelson.

Browning is a solid actress who I think was beat up a little unfairly after Sucker Punch. She was pretty good in the recent festival indie, Sleeping Beauty, and Hardwicke seems like the perfect director for her. As for Hardwicke, she's got a ton on her plate right now so it's unclear when this would roll. She's got adaptations of The Maze Runner and The Bitch Posse on the way at some point, along with a boxing drama featuring Noomi Rapace.

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Sure Shots: Evan Rachel Wood; Tom Hiddleston; Russell Crowe

* After being stalled for the last year with Zac Efron in the lead, production on The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman has ramped up with Shia Labeouf having taken his place just a couple of weeks ago. Evan Rachel Wood and Danish super stud Mads Mikkelsen(Casino Royale) are the latest to join the Frederick Bond-directed film, about an American who sustains one crazy beatdown after another to protect and woo a troubled Hungarian woman from her abusive ex-husband. Mikkelsen will of course play the heavy, although I long for him to get a shot at playing the romantic lead in an American film the way he did in After the Wedding. But I'll jump at the chance to watch him beat the snot out of Labeouf for a couple of hours. [Variety]

* Tom Hiddleston(Thor) and Anna Paquin(25th Hour) have joined the cast of Black Wings Has My Angel, the long gestating project based on Elliott Chaze's revered crime novel. The film has been around for years, with Elijah Wood for an unspecified role and as a co-producer. Hiddleston will play hardened criminal Timothy Sunblade, who commits a daring armed car robbery. Paquin is Virginia, the call girl who helps in the crime and turns out to be the girl of Timothy's dreams and of his nightmares. Alfonso Pineda Ulloa co-wrote the script and will make his directorial debut.  [ScreenDaily]

* It's funny how things work. Just a few months ago, Jaume Collet-Serra was attached to Warner Brothers' live-action Akira remake, but production was basically shut down due to the budget and an inability to secure top notch stars. So with his schedule now free, Warner Brothers is keen to get the ball rolling on Harker, a reimagining of Bram Stoker's Dracula which has been in the works for over a year. To help kick things into high gear, the studio is reportedly in talks with Russell Crowe to star, playing a newer version of Jonathan Harker who works for Scotland Yard and is tracking the creature's string of grisly murders. [Vulture]

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Sure Shots: Justin Long; Chris O'Dowd; Annette Bening

*Hard to believe that guy who irritated me so much in Waiting and Accepted has now become an actor I like forward to seeing quite a bit. Justin Long, who was great in the underrated rom-com Going the Distance just a couple years ago, is stepping behind the camera as writer/producer of the indie flick, A Case of You. Directed by Kat Coiro, Long will star as a guy who exaggerates his online dating profile, only to have to live up to the hype when he falls for the woman he meets. Evan Rachel Wood and Peter Dinklage, Busy Phillips, and Keir O'Donnell were already attached, and now Sam Rockwell and Vince Vaughn have joined the cast. That's a pretty stacked line-up, proving it pays to have friends in high places. [Variety]

* Seems like the McDonagh brothers are everywhere lately. After just revealing a few images from Martin McDonagh's upcoming comedy, Seven Psychopaths, now comes an update on the next project from his brother, John Michael McDonagh, who showed the siblings have very similar comedic tastes. Titled Calvary, the film sees him reuniting with Brendan Gleeson in a dark comedy about a priest falsely accused of child abuse by his community. Deadline reports that Chris O'Dowd(Bridesmaids), Kelly Reilly(Sherlock Holmes), and Aidan Gillen(The Wire) are the latest to join the cast. Filming should begin as soon as this summer.

* Annette Bening will star in The Great, a comedy biopic based on the life of Catherine the Great, the longest ruling female leader in Russian history. Directed by Australian filmmaker, Gillian Armstrong(Charlotte Gray), the story will follow Catherine's idealistic beginnings in Austria to her marriage to the Russian emperor. Filming is set to begin this September. [ScreenDaily]

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Catherine Hardwicke and Evan Rachel Wood to re-team for erotic thriller, 'Plush'

Catherine Hardwicke and Evan Rachel Wood made their big Hollywood splash together with 2003's Thirteen, a gritty tale of teen excess which earned Wood a Golden Globe nomination. Since then, the two have gone in totally different directions. 2011 saw Wood doing some of the best work of her career in the HBO mini-series, Mildred Pierce, and in a supporting role in The Ides of March. Hardwicke's had it rougher, with many considering Red Riding Hood one of the worst movies of the year. Count me in that group. For months, Hardwicke has seemed to be trying to get back to the serious films she built her career on, and part of that includes reteaming with Wood on a Los Angeles set erotic thriller.

Titled Plush, details on the film are few at this point. All we know is that Hardwicke co-wrote the script with Artie Nelson, and that it will be set in the LA music scene.

The only question now is when the film will shoot. In the wake of Red Riding Hood, Hardwicke attached her name to a number of promising projects. One was an adaptation of The Bitch Posse, Martha O'Connor's tale of troubled teens turned adults. And then there was her plan to adapt sci-fi franchise The Maze Runner, plus a biopic on Swedish boxer "Bosse" Hogberg that would see her paired up with Noomi and Ola Rapace. [THR]

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