One of the most highly anticipated pieces of casting news in Hollywood dropped this week, with Disney finally settling on the best person to try to fill the incredibly large shoes of Harrison Ford. The studio now has its young Han Solo and all eyes are on 2018, when the film will hand.
Elsewhere, the Universal Monsters universe continues to move forward, Marvel ponders rebranding the rather unwieldy Infinity War titles and Alicia Vikander continues her quite remarkable domination of cinema.
Here’s your weekly round-up of all of the movie news worth caring about.
Would that Han Solo were so simple
After a high-profile casting process, Disney has found its young Han Solo in the shape of Alden Ehrenreich. Best known for his show-stealing work in Hail, Caesar!, Ehrenreich is an actor on the rise and he will now line up as one of cinema’s most iconic characters in 2018 for Han Solo: A Star Wars Story. With irreverent directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller at the helm, this could be the most interesting film on the Star Wars slate.
Ehrenreich is a convincing choice, having shown real comedic chops for the Coens. There’s no doubt that it’s going to be incredibly tough for him to match up to what Harrison Ford did with the iconic smuggler, but all of the pieces are in the right place on the board for this to be a solid movie.
Infinity War no more?
Whilst on the publicity trail for Captain America: Civil War, the Russo Brothers have dropped an interesting bit of knowledge about their upcoming double bill Avengers: Infinity War. They told Uproxx that the two films are very much separate entities and will be retitled to reflect that. Anthony Russo said that it was “misleading” for both films to share a common title.
This makes sense as a business decision. It’s questionable whether people will spend their money at the box office to get what is clearly defined as being half a movie. It’s an issue that numerous young adult movies have faced over the last few years and it is understandable that Marvel would not want to take that risk. Every Marvel film is essentially just a single part of an ongoing story, so there’s no reason for these films not to be separated more clearly by their titles.
Alicia Vikander marches towards world domination
Last week, Alicia Vikander was cast in the Tomb Raider reboot, only a couple of months after picking up an Oscar for The Danish Girl. She has now taken her next step on the road to becoming the only person in Hollywood by launching her own production company – Vikarious Productions.
The company’s first film will be titled Euphoria and is the English language debut of Swedish filmmaker and former Vikander collaborator Lisa Langseth. Vikander will star in the film alongside Eva Green. The duo will play estranged sisters on a journey towards a mystery destination. It’s yet another great move for Vikander, who seemingly cannot put a foot wrong right now.
Mixed fortunes for Russell Crowe
It has been a somewhat turbulent seven days for Russell Crowe as he plans to hit the red carpet at Cannes for the premiere of The Nice Guys. First, Deadline broke the news that he is set to join Tom Cruise in The Mummy, forming part of the Universal Monsters franchise the studio is trying to assemble. Crowe will play a Jekyll-like character in the 2017 movie, which could open the door for appearances in other monster flicks.
A second Deadline report later in the week revealed that the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, in which Crowe was set to star alongside James Franco, has been scrapped. The news that the film was in the pipeline had only just broken, but rights issues soon scuppered the project, which is a big blow given the popularity of the story.
Slender Man creeps to the big screen
For many years, the internet meme Slender Man has seemed like ideal material to adapt into a major horror movie. As per The Hollywood Reporter, the project is now set to become a reality courtesy of a collaboration between Screen Gems and Mythology Entertainment, the latter of whom recently made underrated journalism drama Truth.
The Slender Man meme has taken on a life of its own since it was created on the Something Awful forum and has spawned plenty of creepy material. David Birke’s script is expected to be out with directors soon, with production set to start towards the end of this year. If handled correctly, this has the potential to be a very memorable horror flick.
Fassbender enters Hades for true crime thriller
Few actors in Hollywood are as versatile as Michael Fassbender, capable of playing everyone from Scottish kings to tech entrepreneurs and maniacal supervillains. He is now in talks to star as a serial killer in true crime tale Entering Hades, according to Variety.
Fassbender would play Austrian journalist Jack Unterweger, who led a double life of investigating murders by day and then committing them after dark. He killed eleven people spread across several continents. This sounds like a very interesting new tale in the darker, more sinister chapter of Fassbender’s career. It’s a role he will really be able to get his teeth into, at the height of his considerable acting powers.
Do you think Alden Ehrenreich will do a good job as Han Solo? Is Alicia Vikander doing too much? Let me know in the comments section and come back next Sunday for another news round-up.