After defending the president in Olympus Has Fallen, Gerard Butler will be crowned a god. According to THR, the actor will face off against Game of Thrones‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Gods of Egypt, which is shaping up to be the next film from Dark City director Alex Proyas. Set for production in Australia next year, Butler is looking to play god of the desert Set, who kills Osiris, father of Horus (Coster-Waldau). This sets the latter character on a path for revenge and action ensues, as expected.
In other casting news, Ed Zwick is lining up his next project, Pawn Sacrifice, a drama surrounding chess whiz Bobby Fischer, which is already set to be played by Tobey Maguire. THR now also reports that Peter Sarsgaard and Liev Schreiber have joined the ensemble of the Steven Knight-scripted film. Set in the Cold War, filming begins next month in Toronto, with Sarsgaard playing a priest who befriends Fischer and Schrieber is his nemesis, Boris Spassky.
Moving over to the world of Kevin Smith, the director is set to helm the $2 million Tusk before he embarks on Clerks III and today brings new casting. Speaking to EW he confirmed Michael Parks is leading the project as a Dr. Frankenstein-esque character who “turns another guy into a f–king human walrus.” The other guy will be played by Justin Long, taking a role originally intended for Quentin Tarantino. Production kicks off in October and Smith will be working fast, as he hopes to have it ready just a few months later, for Sundance 2014.
Meanwhile, over at Sony Pictures, they’ve bought a comedy pitch surrounding “a Canadian maple syrup heist” and already have their main creative team on board. According to Deadline, Jason Segel is set to star in the project, while Horrible Bosses and Identity Thief‘s Seth Gordon will direct and Chris Sheridan (Family Guy) is scripting. Considering it’s in the early stages, don’t expect this one for another few years.
Lastly, Liam Neeson has found yet another co-star for his third collaboration with Jaume Collet-Serra, following Unknown and next year’s Non-Stop. Alongside Joel Kinnaman and Ed Harris, THR reports that Common has joined the cast of Run All Night. The thriller will follow Neeson as an aging hitman (who else?) who must track down his old crime boss (Harris) to save the family of Kinnaman’s character. Common figures in as “Harris’ most trusted killer, a cool and calculated man who lets nothing get in his way.” Scripted by Brad Inglesby, expect production to kick off soon.
Which of the above projects are you most looking forward to?