Saoirse Ronan is talking about her audition for J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII. In an interview with Empire, Ronan stressed that she was just one of many to read for the role and did not see the script, but revealed that the character uses a lightsaber.
Ronan said:
Everyone has auditioned for it. So many people I know have gone in for the part I’ve gone in for, and guys who’ve gone in for a particular part, so I’d imagine J.J. is probably just scanning the earth to find the people that he needs. Nobody has a clue what it’s about, and nobody’s read the script.
So I’ve gone in and read for it, but I have to say, I think it’s the only time I’ve ever thought, ‘You know what? Even if I don’t get it, I had so much fun auditioning, pretending to take out a lightsaber – out of a bag, kind of inspect it and not know what it is. That was… that was great. A lightsaber! Star Wars!
Ronan is best known for playing an abducted teen in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones and for her role as a teen assassin in Joe Wright’s Hanna. She’s also starred alongside Gemma Arterton in Neil Jordan’s vampire thriller Byzantium and toplined Andrew Niccol’s adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host.
Star Wars: Episode VII starts production in the U.K. on January 2014 with Abrams (”LOST”) directing from a script by Michael Arndt (Oblivion). A casting call for the film’s leads was leaked in June and can be seen here.
Lionsgate has released a trailer for Lakeshore Entertainment’s I, Frankenstein, a futuristic re-imagining of Mary Shelly’s classic novel adapted from Kevin Grevioux’s (“Underworld”) graphic comic. The Stuart Beattie-directed film stars Aaron Eckhart (Olympus Has Fallen) and Yvonne Strahovski (“Dexter”).
A sequel of sorts, I, Frankenstein reveals that Victor Frankenstein’s monster (Aaron Eckhart) did not commit suicide, but is instead living in a Gothic metropolis where two immortal clans have been feuding for centuries. The film is slated for release Jan. 24, 2014.
Image Entertainment has acquired all U.S. rights to All Cheerleaders Die, a remake of the 2001 Lucky McKee (The Woman) slasher written and directed by McKee and Chris Sivertson (I Know Who Killed Me). The film is slated for release in spring 2014.
All Cheerleaders Die stars Caitlin Stasey (I, Frankenstein) as a rebellious teen who joins her high school cheerleading squad after a tragic event, pissing off the popular cheerleaders and her loner, black magic practicing ex-girlfriend, played by Sianoa Smit-McPhee (“Hung”).
Co-stars include sexy newcomers Brooke Butler, Amanda Grace Cooper, Felisha Cooper, Sidney Allison, Nadia Boceski and Reanin Johannink (I Survived a Zombie Holocaust).
Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second chapter in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. Set to arrive in theaters on Dec. 13, the film follows Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf and the thirteen Dwarves on their quest to reclaim the Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor.
The new trailer features a little more of the dragon Smaug and a lot more of elf hero Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and sexy woodland elf Tauriel (Evangeline Lily). There’s also shots of dwarves in barrels floating down a raging river, a giant spider, beautiful landscapes and lots of walking.
“Nip/Tuck” star Joely Richardson will star alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin (The Call) in the zombie drama Maggie. Director Henry Hobson makes his feature film debut with a Black List script by John Scott 3.
Breslin plays Maggie, a 16-year-old girl infected with a zombie virus. Schwarzenegger and Richardson are her parents. According to The Wrap, the film is currently shooting in New Orleans.
Richardson, best known for playing icy, midget-loving, bi-curious matriarch Julia McNamara on the F/X series “Nip/Tuck,” has starred in Rodrigo Cortes’ Red Lights, David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon. She’ll next be seen in The Weinstein Company’s Vampire Academy.
Sweet news for horror fans. The Food Network is kicking off season three of “Halloween Wars” on Sunday, Oct. 6. The food challenge show pits five teams—made up of cake decorators, candy makers, and pumpkin carvers—against each other to create the most jaw dropping Halloween treat ever.
Hosted by Justice Willman (“Cupcake Wars”), the series features a panel of judges tasked with eliminating one team per episode until a $50,000 winner is announced. Each week, a celebrity arbiter from the horror world joins in on the judging.
Scream queen Danielle Harris (Halloween) will guest judge on the show’s premiere episode. Tony Todd (Candyman) will pop up in Episode 2. Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels on which HBO’s “True Blood” is based on, in Episode 3. Derek Mears, who played Jason in 2009’s Friday the 13th reboot, will guest judge on the final episode.
Archstone Distribution has released a new trailer for Cassadaga, a supernatural-slasher hybrid from director Anthony DiBlasi (Dread), starring “Mindy Project” recurring Kelen Coleman (pictured). The film arrives in selected theaters and on VOD on Oct. 11.
Cassadaga tells the story of a young and deaf art teacher who moves to a spiritual community in Florida after the tragic loss of her sister. Her healing is disrupted, however, by an angry spirit and a serial killer nicknamed Geppetto for his tendency to make living marionettes out of his victims.
Natalie Martinez (“Under the Dome”) is set to join Disney star Bella Thorne (“Shake It Up”) in Voltage Pictures’ Home Invasion. The microbudget film is helmed by commercials director Sean Carter and penned by newcomer Joseph Dembner. It goes into production this fall.
Home Invasion centers on a family taken captive in their own home by intruders looking the play a game of life and death based on a set of rules the family will learn as they go along. According to THR, Martinez will play Thorne’s stepmother, a woman determined to save her loved ones.
Martinez is coming off stupidly dull CBS summer series “Under the Dome.” Notable creds include Allen Hughes’ corruption drama Broken City, David Ayer’s cop-thriller End of Watch, and Paul W.S. Anderson’s Death Race reboot. She’ll next be seen opposite Ryan Reynolds in the sci-fi thriller Selfless.
“Game of Thrones” alumna Roxanne McKee is set to star in Syfy’s “Dominion,” a new day-of-reckoning series based on Screen Gems 2010 Paul Bettany vehicle Legion. The show picks up 25-years after the battle between man and angels began.
McKee will play a princess-like character living in one of mankind’s last surviving cities, Vega. Co-stars include Anthony Stewart Head (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) as president of the Senate of Vega, Luke Allen-Gale (Captain America) as a rival, and Shivani Ghai (“Eastenders”) as a foreign diplomat.
McKee is coming off the 2012 slasher Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines. She is best known for her portrayal of Doreah, handmaid to Dothraki queen Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”The sexy canuckhas also starred in the British lesbian drama “Lip Service” and the long-running teen soap “Hollyoaks.”
Rosario Dawson is set to star alongside Aaron Eckhart in Incarnate, a microbudget thriller from director Brad Peyton (Journey 2: Mysterious Island) and screenwriter Ronnie Christensen (Dark Tide) for Blumhouse Productions, producers of the Paranormal Activity, Purge, and Insidious franchises.
Incarnate tells the story of a rogue exorcist (Eckhart) with the ability to reach the subconscious mind of the demonically possessed. All hell breaks loose when he meets a nine-year-old boy consumed by a demon from his past. According to THR, production is slated for November in Los Angeles.
Dawson is coming off a fully nude turn in Danny Boyle’s crime thriller Trance. Her notable genre creds include Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City, Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, Men in Black II and Percy Jackson & the Lightening Thief.
