Cancelled Starz Series 'Magic City' is Now a Movie with Bruce Willis and Bill Murray

Starz gave their Miami mobster drama Magic City a couple of seasons before giving it the ax, the series never really getting off the ground despite a talented cast. The show starred Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olga Kurylenko, Kelly Lynch, and a hammy Danny Huston in the Mitch Glazer-created series set in the late 1950s at a glamorous hotel post-Cuban Revolution. And apparently somebody thinks the premise is just too good to let die because Magic City is now to become a feature film, with some pretty big names coming aboard to make it happen.

According to Deadline, Bruce Willis (!), and Bill Murray (!!) are joining the Magic City film, which Glazer will write and direct with Brett Ratner on board to produce. Wha?!? The first thought in your mind is probably "Oh, I can't get a Deadwood movie or The Wire but Magic City!?!?!?". I feel your pain. Anyway, the story takes place in 1962 when Morgan's powerful hotel owner contends with gangsters, spies, socialites, slimy politicians, Cuban freedom fighters armed by the CIA, and a possible plot to assassinate Castro. Good lord this sounds like a mess. Willis will sign on to anything so his involvement isn't a big deal, but what about the notoriously picky Murray? He and Glazer are buds having worked on Scrooged, the atrocious Passion Play, and the upcoming Middle Eastern rock music comedy (!!!!) Rock the Kasbah, which also features Willis.

So there ya go. The original cast is expected to return whenever production gears up.

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Dave Bautista and Gina Carano Join Robert De Niro in 'Bus 657'

One was a professional wrestler who dominated the WWE and tried his hand at MMA. The other was one of MMA's top stars. Dave Bautista and Gina Carano have come pretty far since their days grappling in the ring and squared circle; he's one of the breakout stars in Guardians of the Galaxy while she was recently in Fast & Furious 6. Now they'll get to work with screen legend Robert De Niro in Bus 657, which frankly sounds like the kind of crap we hoped De Niro was done with.

Bautista and Carano, along with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kate Bosworth, have come aboard the Scott Mann-directed film which "centers on a father (Morgan) without the means to pay for his daughter’s medical treatment. As a last resort, he partners with a greedy co-worker (Bautista) to rob a casino and the two hijack a bus full of hostages and things go awry. De Niro is casino owner Frank "The Pope", Carano is a police officer chasing down the bus, and Bosworth is Frank's estranged daughter. Oi.

There had been rumblings of Bautista returning to the WWE soon but with filming on Bus 657 taking place next month that doesn't seem likely. [Deadline]

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Is Jeffrey Dean Morgan Playing Thomas Wayne in 'Batman v Superman'?

One of the fun things about being there being so many damn superhero movies nowadays is that rumors are swirling all...of...the...time. Far more are out there than get posted on this site as we tend to pick the ones that are the most fun (John Cena as Batman!!!) or the most credible. One that emerged before Ben Affleck was chosen to play Batman had Zack Snyder talking to his Watchmen buddy Jeffrey Dean Morgan for the role. Obviously that didn't happen, but maybe Morgan was up for a different role entirely?

A set photo supposedly from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice shows men carrying a portrait that seems to be of Morgan, leading to speculation he's playing Bruce's father, Thomas Wayne.  It certainly does look like Morgan, but then again it's a painting and kind of resembles James Franco with a fake mustache.  A portrait like this would be a natural hanging up over Bruce Wayne's fireplace in Wayne Manor, wouldn't it?

So speculate away. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice now opens March 25th 2016 because they didn't want to get shield-slapped by Captain America.

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First Trailer for Revenge Thriller 'The Salvation' Starring Mads Mikkelsen and Eva Green

Mads Mikkelsen and Eva Green in the same movie? No, it's not a Casino Royale reunion or anything like that. The two have reunited for The Salvation, a thriller that will be making its way to Cannes to wow the Midnight audience, and now we have the rather impressive first trailer for it.

Directed by Kristian Levring (The Intended), the 1870s-set film stars Mikkelsen as a peaceful settler in America who kills the men who murdered his family, causing a gang leader (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to come looking for revenge. When the townspeople refuse to help, Mikkelsen's character has to take on the gang alone.  Levring's Danish sensibilities don't seem to be meshing well with the dusty old West, but Mikkelsen looks as rugged and charismatic as ever.

The last time Mikkelsen was at Cannes he won Best Actor for The Hunt (which Levring produced), and while The Salvation is out of competition it should draw a lot of attention.

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan Joins 'Desierto'; Rebel Wilson Says 'He's F---ing Perfect'; Greta Gerwig in 'Maggie's Plan'

* Fresh off co-writing Gravity with his dad Alfonso Cuaron, and directing the tie-in short 'Aningaaq', Jonas Cuaron is moving on to a big screen feature, the thriller Desierto. Already set to star Gael Garcia Bernal, the latest to come aboard is Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) as the film's villain.The story “centers on a group of illegal immigrants who try to cross the border but run afoul of a man who has taken up border patrol duties in his own racist hands.”[THR]

* After a relatively quiet 2013 on the big screen, Rebel Wilson is looking to keep herself busy this year. She recently signed on for Night at the Museum 3, and has now joined Amanda Seyfried in He's F---ing Perfect, a comedy from producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Directed by Jane Szymanski, the film has Seyfried as a girl so pessimistic about love she uses social media to vet all of her friends' boyfriends. When one starts dating the perfect guy, she forces their break-up, then uses her web skills to mold herself into his ideal match. Wilson will play Seyfried's "carefree best friend and roommate who tries to make her understand that finding out everything about a boy before meeting them isn’t always a good thing." [TheWrap]

* We may be talking about Greta Gerwig as a Golden Globes award-winner after tomorrow night, but whether she walks away victorious for Frances Ha or not, she still had one heck of a year. Next up for her is Maggie's Plan, which director Rebecca Miller (The Ballad of Jack and Rose) describes to Deadline as "the story of a young woman and the joys and pitfalls of trying to make your own way in New York City." So......Frances Ha? Here's hoping Gerwig isn't letting herself get pigeonholed into playing aimless wanderers.

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Rumor: Zack Snyder Meeting with 'Watchmen' Star Jeffrey Dean Morgan for Batman Role

Whenever a major superhero role like Batman is up for grabs, it's reasonable to expect a flurry of names thrown around for it. But along with that it's expected that many news sites will put a few of those names out there themselves, because superhero casting stories are a great way to drive up traffic. There's probably been a good deal of that going on as the contenders for Bruce Wayne in Zack Snyder's Superman vs. Batman (or Batman vs. Superman or whatever it's called) continue to pile up.

So far the list of possibilities includes Josh Brolin as the supposed frontrunner, with Ryan Gosling, Joe Manganiello, Matthew Goode, and a handful of others also in the mix. Latino Review would later throw their sketchy two cents into the mix by including Gerard Butler, who is almost certainly not on Warner Bros.' radar for the part. But Think McFly Think have an interesting story that says Snyder is setting up a meeting with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who was fantastic as The Comedian in Snyder's Watchmen adaptation.  Morgan, who will soon be wrapping up a brilliant run on Starz' Magic City, is 47 years old and fits the "older" Batman Snyder is said to be looking for. He also starred in Warner Bros.' The Losers, based on the DC/Vertigo comic, so again this is the studio keeping their search "in the family".

Morgan may not be a household name, but neither was Henry Cavill and that seems to have worked out like gangbusters. Certainly it's not as far-fetched as this classic Batman rumor involving WWE poster boy John Cena.

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Sure Shots: Tim Miller; Jeffrey Dean Morgan; Jake Johnson

* You probably don't recognize the name Tim Miller, but the VFX wiz has been attached to a number of major projects of late. Miller not only did the awesome opening sequence for David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, he's also set to direct the Deadpool feature film if it ever gets off the ground. That's not all, as he's got an adaptation of the comic book series, Gravel, and co-directing Fincher's CG-animated The Goon. Now he's added one more film to his busy slate, signing on to direct Artemis, an action thriller set in outer space. The script is written by Andrew Nobel (Tunnels), but no further details are known at this point.  [Variety]

* Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Magic City) has joined Anthony Hopkins and Colin Farrell in Solace, the long-developing thriller directed by Afonso Poyart. He'll play an FBI agent in the film about a doctor (Hopkins) with psychic abilities drawn into a serial killer case where the murderer (Farrell) is equally gifted. Filming begins in May, with Peter Morgan (The Queen) writing the latest draft of the script. [THR]

* I've never seen a single moment of Fox sitcom, New Girl, but I know that Jake Johnson is probably too good for it. He was great in last summer's sci-fi/romance Safety Not Guaranteed, and now he's headed back to the big screen in the buddy comedy, Let's Be Cops. He'll re-team with Damon Wayans Jr., who was in the New Girl pilot before leaving to star in ABC's Happy Endings. Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door) co-wrote the script with Nick Thomas and will direct the film about two best friends who pretend to be cops, only to get mixed up with a real life gangster.

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Trailer Time: 'Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding', starring Jane Fonda and Elizabeth Olsen

By far the biggest draw for the indie comedy, Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding are the women at the front of it. Jane Fonda, who has made only a handful of movies(mostly forgettable ones) over the last twenty years; the ever reliable indie stalwart, Catherine Keener; and rising star Elizabeth Olsen. In a way, it almost feels like a passing the torch sort of film, with the two veteran ladies stepping aside for the red hot Olsen. Then again, some people said much the same thing about Fonda passing the torch to Lindsay Lohan in Georgia Rule, and that didn't quite work out.

I'll be checking out Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding later tonight ahead of its release this weekend. In preparation for the roll out, a brand new trailer has been released, and judging by the look of it, this is totally Fonda's show. The story revolves around a stick in the mud lawyer(Keener), in the midst of a divorce, who takes her two kids(Elizabeth Olsen & Nat Wolff),to visit their charismatic, hippie grandmother(Fonda) still living in Woodstock on a farmhouse where the animals are as much a resident as the people.

Fonda is the real stand out here as the feisty old activist, howling at the moon and doing things the way she's done them all her life. Mainly this is a story about personal relationships and familial bonds, as she tries to impart some tie-dyed life lessons on her family about love. There will be budding romances, with Chace Crawford popping up as a meat eating love interest for Olsen's vegen character. There will also be old grudges renewed and secrets revealed in what turns out to be one adventurous summer. Bruce Beresford(Driving Miss Daisy) is behind the camera for what is his first crowd pleaser in years. Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding opens on June 8th. Check out the trailer below...

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Trailer Time: 'The Possession', starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgewick

The Possession might seem like just another supernatural horror involving evil spirits and haunted houses, but the film has quite an interesting origin. Formerly titled Dibbuk Box, a "dybbuk" is an evil spirit from Jewish folklore. The title comes from a wine cabinet that has been haunted by the spirit of a dead immigrant, and was sold recently on Ebay. Every person who has own the box has experienced strange things and horrifying nightmares. It's story was chronicled an LA Times article titled 'Jinx in a Box'.

So now we have a film based on that story, with Sam Raimi on board as a producer and Ole Borndeal(Nightwatch) directing. Jeffrey Dean Morgan(Watchmen) plays the father of a young girl who buys a dybbuk box at a yard sale, only to awaken some sort of ancient evil. Doesn't sound all that novel, I know, but the actual trailer is pretty damn creepy, especially when they try to figure out what's going on with the girl through traditional means. The X-ray bit is something I've never seen before, and the last shot of the trailer might make this film worth checking out all by itself. The script comes from Stiles White and Juliet Snowden, who wrote the smart Nicolas Cage thriller(contradiction??), Knowing. 

The Possession opens on August 31st.....

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