Casting extravaganza

Two cool casting notes for you this morning.

Firstly, something that I'm going assume most of you already saw. at the end of last week it was FINALLY revealed that Shia LaBeouf has in fact been officially cast in Indiana Jones IV. This is despite the fact that everyone officially involved in the film (including Shia himself) was adamantly denying it until right before the announcement. While some in the media are speculating that LaBeouf will be playing Indy's son, alongside Cate Blanchett as Indy's love interest, with a project that is wrapped this highly in secrecy its hard to tell whats real and whats not. For what its worth Shia himself has suggested that he will be playing a sidekick role and protegee to Harrison Ford's Jones, going as far as to say that his role will definitely "not be Short Round all grown up". It's actually pretty interesting reading up on this guy. Since the press for Disturbia and Transformers has started circulating I've been seeing some really great and very candid interviews with Shia. I'd really encourage you to see what he's all about, 'cause its not at all what I expected. I can understand how Spielberg must have seen something he liked in him. Even though I haven't seen much of his work, he's a pretty likable actor and I'm looking forward to seeing him rock the bots later this summer. Check these interviews here, here and here for some insight from the man himself. And as for Indiana Jones IV, the final big casting question remains, will Sean Connery return? For my money I'll say yes, he probably will. You just know that they'll throw money at him to get his participation. Anyhow, lets just keep our eyes on places like TheRaider.net and wait to see what news will come.

The other excellent if surprising casting news from today concerned old big, green, and ugly The Incredible Hulk. Despite a very solid performance in my opinion by Eric Bana in the first Hulk film, with Marvel "rebooting" the series or whatever they want to call it you knew that they wouldn't go with the same thing as before. And its really truly official today, as Marvel announced that none other than Ed Norton will be starring as puny Dr. Bruce Banner. Is this a surprise? Yes definitely. But it's really a pleasant one once you think about it. Norton is a really solid actor, who I think we can all agree has the chops to take on pretty much any role he could care to try. So the fact that he's signed on as The Hulk encourages me to think that Marvel and director Louis LeTerrier, are really going to make a smart and great movie. I am not a original Hulk film hater, nor am I an apologist. But I do think, no matter how much I love the guy, Ang Lee was a poor choice of director for the first film. That's not to say that the man behind The Transporter films is necessarily a great choice either, but I have some faith that Marvel realizes the missteps they made last time. And casting Norton is a good step towards a great new film. I'm definitely looking forward to more on the Hulk front.

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