House of the Devil star Jocelin Donahue is set to join Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson in FilmDistrict and Blumhouse Productions’ eagerly anticipated sequel Insidious: Chapter 2. James Wan will once again direct from a script by Leigh Whannell.
Insidious told the story of Renai (Byrne) and Josh Lambert (Wilson), the tormented parents of a comatose son possessed by demonic forces. Plot details for Insidious: Chapter 2 are scarce, but Variety reports that Donahue will play young Lorraine Lambert, mother of Josh. Barbara Hershey plays Lorraine in present day.
Donahue is best known for her starring role as babysitter and would-be human sacrifice Samantha Hughes in director Ti West’s critically acclaimed House of the Devil. The former Levi Jeans model also appeared in the western frightener The Burrowers.
Disney confirmed today that it will produce stand-alone films based on characters from the Star Wars universe. In an interview with CNBC, company CEO Bob Iger revealed thatscreenwriters Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back)andSimon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past)are “working on films derived from great Star Wars characters that are not part of the overall saga.”
Iger also told CNBC that the stand-alone films would be released during the same six-year time period set for the new Star Wars trilogy, slated to launch with J.J. Abrams’ Episode VII in 2015. He did not say which characters the spinoffs would showcase, though AICN.com claims the first will center on Yoda. Personally, I’d like to see more Ewoks… kidding! Don’t get your Jedi robes in a bunch. Bring on the Fett, I say!
In case you’ve been in a coma or are a Star Trek fan, Disney purchased Lucasfilm LTD in October for $4.05 billion in stocks and cash.
Irish stunner Victoria Smurfit has scored a role on NBC’s “Dracula,” a ten-episode miniseries built around the legendary vampire and his quest for blood. She joins a cast that includes Jessica De Gouw (“Arrow”), Katie McGrath (“Merlin”) and Jonathan Rhys Meyers (“Tudors”).
Set in 1890’s London, the show follows Dracula (Meyers) as he plots vengeance on the descendants of the people who ruined his life many centuries ago. Masquerading as an American entrepreneur, he wreaks havoc up until he meets Mina Murray (De Gouw), a dead-ringer for his deceased wife.
Smurfit, whose credits include Lakeshore Entertainment’s 2003 adaptation of Michael Avon Oeming’s comic book Bulletproof Monk, will play Lady Jayne, a “fashion-forward graceful and beautiful woman” who falls hard for Dracula, THR.com reports.
Vampires today sure have got it easy. Gone are the days of sucking on rat’s blood and messy first kills. Today’s bloodsuckers attend learning institutions where they are taught how to control their powers and live among people.
Such is the case in the “Vampire Academy” book series by Richelle Mead. Throughout its six bestselling volumes, the series follows the relationship between 17-year-old Rose Hathaway and her vampire BFF Lissa as they attend St. Vladimir’s Academy, a school for vamps who wish to retain their humanity.
Reliance Entertainment and IM Global are now set to adapt the novels for the big screen, beginning with Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters. Mean Girls director Mark Waters has been tapped to helm the project, written by his brother and Heathers scribe Daniel Waters.
Toplining the film as Rose and Lissa are 18-year-old Beautiful Creatures star Zoey Deutch (pictured above) and Aussie newcomer Lucy Fry, respectively. Executive producer Stuart Ford told Deadline that despite being based on a young-adult series, Vampire Academy will have bite.
Ford said:
Tonally this so different from all these movies that are so solemn and serious. This is as much Mean Girls as The Hunger Games.
It is snappy, irreverent, sexy and just a lot of fun. And we got the right director for that kind of movie.
Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters goes into production in summer.
Cody Horn is set to join Maria Bello (History of Violence) and Frank Grillo (Mother’s Day) in a new haunted house frightener by producer and writer James Wan (SAW, Insidious). The still untitled project will be directed by Will Cannon (Brotherhood) for Dimension Films.
The story finds a group of amateur ghost hunters brutally slaughtered while exploring an abandoned old house. The group’s one survivor is a suspect in the crime, but tells the investigating detective (Grillo) and police psychologist (Bello) that it’s the house that killed his friends.
According to THR.com, Horn will play one of the ghost hunters. The model-turned-actress first garnered buzz in a 10-episode arc on FX’s “Rescue Me.” In 2012, she scored gigs in the box office hit Magic Mike and the critically acclaimed End of Watch.
If you thought The Impossible with Naomi Watts was good, imagine how awesome a flood movie with sharks and Tara Reid (American Pie) would be? That’s what you get in director Anthony C. Ferrante’s Dark Skies (not to be confused with Blumhouse’s alien frightener of the same name).
Currently shooting in Los Angeles, the film follows a divorced Venice Beach bar owner as he searches for his estranged family after a flood drowns the city. Making the quest more difficult are the man-eating sharks hunting the flooded streets.
“Beverly Hills 90210” alum Ian Ziering stars as the bar owner, while stunner Cassie Scerbo, of the ABC Family series “Make It or Break It,” co-stars as the sexy bartender that helps him on his journey. Reid may or may not play Ziering’s ex-wife, but smart money says she’s one of the barflies at his establishment.
Gemma Arterton (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) star in Oscar winning director Neil Jordan’s (Interview with the Vampire) new vampire frightener Byzantium. Written by Jane Eyre scribe Moira Buffini, the film details the lives of a mother/daughter bloodsucking team.
An international trailer for the film has gone online and it does a great job of showing the scope of the characters’ story arc and the emotional weight of Arterton’s full, bouncy breasts. I bought my ticket the moment after Ronan says her mother “paid for my upkeep on her knees and on her back.” She was a mechanic, right?
MILF lovers will need a cold shower after viewing A&E’s newest teaser for its new drama “Bates Motel,” a prequel series to Hitchcock’s Psycho from Carlton Cuse (“LOST”) and Kerry Ehrin (”Friday Night Lights”). The show follows the twisted relationship between a high school-aged Norman Bates and his controlling mother.
The series stars Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) as Norman and Vera Farmiga (Source Code) as his mom, Norma Louise. Costars include Nicola Peltz as Norman’s love interest Bradley Martin, Olivia Cook as his nerdy friend Emma Decody, Keegan Connor Tracy as his teacher Miss Watson, Max Thieriot as Norman’s half-brother Dylan Massett and Nestor Carbonell as sheriff Royce Romero.
Magnolia Pictures has released a trailer for The Brass Teapot, a dark comedy that plays like The Box as if written by the Jackass crew. Juno Temple (Killer Joe) and Michael Angarano (Red State) star as a young married couple that discover a brass teapot that magically gives them money when they hurt themselves.
Co-stars include stunner Alexis Bledel (“Gilmore Girls”), Billy Magnussen (“As the World Turns”), Alia Shawkat (“Arrested Development”) and Bobby Moynihan (“Saturday Night Live”). Director Ramaa Mosley makes her feature film debut with the project, which pops into theaters on April 5.
