Johnny Depp Joins Kevin Smith's 'Yoga Hosers'

Remember when Ben Affleck was a regular face in most of Kevin Smith's early movies? Yeah, those days are long gone (they're still buds), but it looks like Smith has found a new celebrity pal in Johnny Depp. Depp makes a cameo in Smith's horror, Tusk, and now he's officially come aboard his next film, Yoga Hosers.

Described by Smith as a comic book movie, although it's not based on one, the film will also star Smith and Depp's daughters Lily-Rose Depp and Harley Quinn Smith. The rest of the cast is made up of pretty much everybody who is in Tusk:, Michael Parks, Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez, Ralph Garman, Jennifer Schwalbach and Harley Morenstein, along with new additions Tony Hale, Natasha Lyonne, Austin Butler, Adam Brody, Tyler Posey and Jason Mewes. Of course Mewes is in this.

The story centers on  "15-year-old yoga nuts Colleen Collette (Lily-Rose) and Colleen McKenzie (Harley Quinn) who have an after-school job at a Manitoba convenience store called Eh-2-Zed. When an ancient evil rises from beneath Canada’s crust and threatens their big invitation to a Grade 12 party, the Colleens join forces with a legendary man-hunter from Montreal named Guy Lapointe (Johnny Depp) to fight for their lives." Depp is playing the same character as in Tusk and Smith is building this as a new franchise, similar to his original View Askew movies that spawned Jay & Silent Bob.

This sounds totally weird, but it will be cool to see Smith working in the action-adventure field, and with Depp riding shotgun this could be his biggest film in awhile.

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Sure Shots: Tony Hale; Radha Mitchell; James Woods

* Tony Hale and Paul Feig(Bridesmaids) know one another pretty well at this point. They worked together on Arrested Development, and also in Feig's directorial debut, Unaccompanied Minors. Which was awful, by the way. Now they're set to team up again as part of Feig's buddy cop comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock. The still untitled film(some say it's titled 'The Heat') doesn't have much in the way of plot at this point, and is currently getting a rewrite. But does it really matter? It's Bullock and McCarthy. Should be friggin' hilarious. Hale will reportedly play a guy who gets arrested for soliciting a prostitute. [Variety]

* Swoon! I've loved Radha Mitchell ever since she starred with Ally Sheedy in the sexy indie, High Art, but it seems like she only gets put in horror or action movies now. Unfortunately, she's set for another one as she's joined the painfully generic sounding thriller, Olympus Has Fallen. In a role that's clearly beneath her, Mitchell will play the wife of Gerard Butler's character, an ex-Secret Service agent who comes to the rescue when the White House is attacked by terrorists. Aaron Eckhart will play the President, with Angela Bassett also on board. Filming begins next week for release next year. [Deadline]

* Want to see how much a great cast can make a rather mediocre premise sound better than it actually is? Veteran actor James Woods is the latest to join the cast of White House Down. The action film stars Channing Tatum as a Secret Service agent who comes to the rescue when the White House is attacked by terrorists. Jamie Foxx will play the President, with Maggie Gyllenhaal as a fellow agent. Wha? You say that's the exact same plot as Olympus Has Fallen? Yes. Yes it is, but White House Down sounds so much better, doesn't it? The only drawback is Roland Emmerich as director, but at least we know he can blow shit up real good. Woods will play the head of the Presidential detail. Filming begins in August for release on November 1st 2013. [Variety]

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