Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, and More Join Catholic Church Scandal Film 'Spotlight'

It's been a good little while since we've heard anything on the Catholic Church scandal  movie being developed by Win Win and The Station Agent director Tom McCarthy. About a year ago Matt Damon was circling the lead role and while that would have been a major coup landing the actor it didn't happen, but now McCarthy has made up for it with some big names and a new title: Spotlight.

Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, Aaron Eckhart, Liev Schreiber, and Michael Keaton have all come aboard Spotlight,  which McCarthy co-wrote with The West Wing's Josh Singer. And just as that show hit on a number of hot-button topics so will this film as it centers on the Boston Globe journalists who exposed Archbishop Bernard Law who was protecting priests accused of sexual assault. He did this by moving them to different parishes where they inevitably committed the same atrocities.

This one's got definite momentum now as production is gearing up for a fall start. [Deadline/TheWrap]

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'London Has Fallen' Set for October 2015; Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart Returning

Last year saw the release of two movies that had the same "terrorists invade the White House" storyline released within weeks of one another. There was White House Down, which was directed by Roland Emmerich with Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx starring. Before that was Olympus Has Fallen, which had the less-impressive duo of director Antoine Fuqua and star Gerard Butler. Maybe because it was the first to hit theaters Olympus Has Fallen wiped the floor with Tatum's flick domestically, and so a few months ago a sequel was ordered up with the laughable title, London Has Fallen.

The unfortunate title has stuck, and now the film has a release date of October 2nd 2015, joining what is shaping up to be the busiest blockbuster year in history. Gerard Butler is back in the lead role of agent Mike Banning, who will be attempting to save an entire country or something, rather than just some stupid old building. Here's the synopsis:

The sequel begins in London, where the British Prime Minister has passed away under mysterious circumstances. His funeral is a must-attend event for leaders of the Western world. But what starts out as the most protected event on earth, turns into a deadly plot to kill the world's most powerful leaders and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. Only three people have any hope of stopping it: the President of the United States, his formidable secret service head (Butler), and an English MI-6 agent who rightly trusts no one. 

Aaron Eckhart is also returning, presumably still as the POTUS, but maybe there will be a twist and he'll be on the side of evil this time? Eh, probably not. No word on who will play this skeptical MI-6 agent but I have a feeling it will be a woman because skeptical English chicks with guns are hot and this is hardly the brainiest of franchises. Yep, this is starting to look like a franchise, isn't it?

No word on when filming will begin but we can expect it to be soon, assuming a director can be found in short order.

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Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart Step in the Ring for Vinny Pazienza Biopic, 'Bleed for This'

The physicality of Miles Teller's drumming performance in Sundance hit, Whiplash, was one of the film's most impressive aspects, and my in my review I compared it to that of a professional boxer. Someone else must have been thinking the same thing, because Teller has just signed on to play boxer Vinny Pazienza in Bleed for This, a biopic that will co-star Aaron Eckhart.

It was a couple of years ago we learned that Ben Younger would be directing the film on the charismatic Pazienza, who earned the nickname the "Pazmanian Devil" due to his charismatic personality and ferocious fighting style. The film will chronicle Pazienza's rise to fame, which really took off in 1991 after defeating middleweight champ Gilbert Dele. Eckhart will play trainer Kevin Rooney, who helped Pazienza recover and return to the ring after a near-fatal car accident that many said would prevent him from walking again. Against doctors orders he came back to the ring and defeated the current champion, Luis Santana.

This is really looking like it could be Teller's big year, and this is exactly the sort of film that can help catapult him to the next level. It doesn't hurt that Martin Scorsese is lending his muscle to the film as an exec-producer.

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Olga Kurylenko is 'Mara'; Sienna Miller Does the 'Mississippi Grind'; Aaron Eckhart to 'Fade Out'

* Ex-Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko will star in the supernatural thriller, Mara, a film that explores the real-life phenomena of sleep paralysis. Directed by Clive Tonge from a Jonathan Frank script, the story follows criminal psychologist Kate Fuller who is assigned to the murder of a man who has seemingly been strangled in his sleep by his wife and the only witness is their eight-year-old daughter, Sophie. As Kate digs into the mystery of an ancient demon which kills people in their sleep, she experiences the same petrifying symptoms as all previous victims and spirals through a chilling nightmare to save herself and Sophie before she dares fall asleep again." Ok, sounds creepy.

* It's been a few months since we've heard anything about Mississippi Grind, the latest film from Half Nelson duo Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. Fortunately it's still moving right with Sienna Miller joining Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn in the cast. The southern road trip flick centers on a hard-luck gambler who teams up with a young gambling addict in hopes of turning their fortunes around. [Deadline]

* A movie about a screenwriter who can't tell fiction from reality? How novel! Aaron Eckhart will play the disturbed author in Fade Out, a psychological thriller directed by well-known producer Robert Salerno. Penned by Michael Cristofer (The Witches of Eastwick), the film has Eckhart as Jim Connelly, a writer recovering from a nervous breakdown who begins penning a new screenplay about a jealous husband who murders his cheating wife. When paranoia and hallucination cause reality to blur and the events of his novel seem to really occur, Jim becomes a suspect in his real wife's disappearance, and must elude the cops while figuring out what really happened.

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Aaron Eckhart Goes Underworld In First 'I, Frankenstein' Trailer

Depending on your perspective, it's either a great or awful time to be a fan of classic movie monsters. Hollywood has been intent on remaking the most popular ones for potential franchises, and we saw the first attempt fail miserably with The Wolfman a couple of years ago. But there are many more attempts on the horizon with Universals remake of The Mummy, Dracula Untold starring Luke Evans, and perhaps the oddest of them all, I, Frankenstein.

The first trailer has arrived and immediately it's clear this is not your daddy's bolt-necked version of Frankenstein. Aaron Eckhart is Adam Frankenstein, who has lived for hundreds of years and now finds himself in the present day caught in the middle of a supernatural war between immortal clans. Stuart Beattie (Tomorrow, When the War Began) is directing and perhaps it's unfair to say the film looks like an Underworld spinoff because so many from the vampire series are involved, from the producers to Bill Nighy as the demonic villain. Kevin Grevioux, who co-starred in and wrote a few of the Underworld movies, penned the graphic novel from which I, Frankenstein was based. If it turns out to be half as successful then Lionsgate will have another successful, relatively inexpensive monster franchise to lean on. It's undeniably cool to see a twin-bladed Frankenstein destroying demons and gargoyles, so hopefully this can be a silly and enjoyable diversion.

Starring Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, and Jai Courtney, I, Frankenstein comes alive January 24th 2014.

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Theo James lands male lead in 'Divergent'; Aaron Eckhardt, Ray Stevenson, and Miles Teller may join

Neil Burger is firming up the cast of his adaptation of YA novel Divergent, adding Jai Courtney, Zoe Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, and Maggie Q all in the last week. But the male lead has remained out of reach, with big names like Alex Pettyfer, Jeremy Irvine, and Lucas Till circling the coveted role. In the end, producers must have found that star Shailene Woodley had tighter chemistry with an unknown, as Theo James has just landed the most prominent part of his young career.

While nowhere close to being a household name, James has been making inroads with a regular gig on CBS series Golden Boy, along with small parts in Underworld: Awakening and Downton Abbey. He'll play Tobias "Four" Eaton, the love interest and instructor of Beatrice "Tris" Prior, a teenaged girl in a dystopian version of Chicago where human society is divided up into five ideological factions. As a "divergent", Tris doesn't fit into any group, and discovers an evil plan to destroy others like her.

Kate Winslet is the veteran presence in the cast at this point, but THR says that Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking), Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now), and Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone) are in the process of joining her in unspecified roles.  Details should be revealed soon as a deal appears to be imminent. Divergent begins filming in April for release on March 21st 2014.

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Aaron Eckhart joins White House-set action flick, 'Olympus Has Fallen'

So right now there are two movies with pretty much the exact same plot racing to be the first out of the gate. Roland Emmerich has White House Down, which has Channing Tatum, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and possibly Jamie Foxx(as the President, 'natch) in a story that has terrorists invading the Presidential residence, only for a Secret Service agent to come to the rescue. But there's also Olympus Has Fallen, which sports the less than thrilling pair of Antoine Fuqua behind the camera, and Gerard Butler as the hero.

Variety reports that Fuqua has found the guy to lead the free world in his flick, and while it's not as inspired a choice as Foxx, it's still pretty great. Aaron Eckhart will play the President, and I imagine he'll bring much the same gravitas as when he was D.A. Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight. Personally, I think Eckhart would be better as the ex-agent who saves the day, and jettisoning Butler out of the movie completely.

Originally set to begin production in September, the film has now been moved up to compete with White House Down, which already has a release date aimed for November 1st 2013. So you can we'll see Olympus Has Fallen stake its ground a couple of months earlier. You saw how well a rushed production and early release worked out for Mirror Mirror, right?

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