Alden plays Solo in ‘Star Wars’ spinoff – Crowe in talks to star in Franco-directed ‘Blood Meridian’

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LOS ANGELES, May 6, (RTRS): Disney and LucasFilm have found their new Han Solo. “Hail, Caesar!” thesp Alden Ehrenreich has been tapped to star in the “Star Wars”-universe standalone movie revolving around Han Solo, sources tell Variety. Deadline Hollywood first reported that Ehrenreich was the frontrunner to land the role, and sources have now confirmed that he’s set to play the rebel smuggler, originally portrayed by Harrison Ford.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are directing with Kathleen Kennedy producing.

No plot details have been revealed, other than that the film will be set prior to “Star Wars: A New Hope” like the other standalone pic “Rogue One.” Production is not expected to begin until January. Sources told Variety earlier this year that the reason for the January start may be so that the character may cameo in “Rogue One” giving the production time to shoot the scene that introduces the new Han Solo.

The film will bow on May 25, 2018. The latest movie in the blockbuster franchise, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opened in December.

While “Hail, Caesar!” was underwhelming at the box office, Ehrenreich was applauded by critics for his breakout performance. He is repped by CAA.

Russell Crowe is in talks to star in an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” with James Franco writing and directing.

Franco will also act in the film with Tye Sheridan and Vincent D’Onofrio also coming on board.

Scott Rudin, Cassian Elwes and Franco’s producing partner Vince Jolivette is producing. The film will be brought to Cannes with IM Global handling international rights and CAA handling domestic.

In McCarthy’s book, the story is based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s and traces the journey of the Kid, a 14-year-old Tennessean who stumbles into a nightmarish world when he joins a ruthless gang of scalphunters that includes the mysterious and menacing Judge Holden.

The news comes only a day after it was announced that Crowe was in early talks to play a Dr Jekyll-type role in Universal’s “The Mummy” reboot starring Tom Cruise.

 Anne Hathaway is adapting a movie version of George Brant’s celebrated play “Grounded,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The Oscar-winning actress will star in and produce the picture. In 2015, she appeared in a New York production of the single-actor drama (directed by Julie Taymor) at the Public Theater. At the time, Hathaway was so enthusiastic about the material that she locked up the film rights before her first performance.

“Grounded” tells the story of a conflicted American Air Force pilot tasked with operating an unmanned drone. Brant is adapting his script for the screen. The stage portrayal earned Hathaway a nomination for a Critics Circle Award.

Hathaway is producing “Grounded” with Entertainment 360’s Suzan Bymel and Ben Forkner; and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, which is financing the movie. The company’s president of production Carla Hacken has previously worked with Hathaway on 20th Century Fox’s “The Devil Wears Prada”, “Bride Wars” and “Love and Other Drugs.”

Dakota Fanning will star in Janusz Kaminski’s upcoming thriller “The Postcard Killings” with Good Films producing and financing.

“The Postcard Killings” is based on James Patterson and Liza Marklund’s book. The screenplay was written by Marklund and Andrew Stern.

Good Universe is handling worldwide sales on the project and will introduce to buyers next week in Cannes.

“The Postcard Killings” centers on a New Yorker as his life is thrown into turmoil when he learns that his newly married daughter has been brutally murdered. As he digs into the case, similar crimes are reported across Europe with each killing accompanied by a postcard sent to a local journalist.

CBS Films and Lionsgate have tapped “Supergirl” star Melissa Benoist, Khandi Alexander and Jake Picking to join Mark Wahlberg’s “Patriots Day”.

The Boston Marathon bombing saga includes John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon, Jimmy O. Yang, Vincent Curatola, Alex Wolff, James Colby and Rachel Brosnahan in its cast.

The film is directed by Peter Berg and produced by Scott Stuber, Mark Wahlberg, Hutch Parker, Dylan Clark, Stephen Levinson, Dorothy Aufiero and Michael Radutzky.

Benoist is playing Katherine Russell, widow of deceased Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Alexander is playing a law enforcement interrogator and Picking is playing MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, who was slain during a late-night confrontation with Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, four days after the bombing.

“Patriots Day” is currently shooting in Boston.

The film is being co-financed by CBS Films and Lionsgate with the former handling production and marketing and the latter handling distribution. “Patriots Day” will open Dec 21 in Boston, Los Angeles and New York.

Tom Hooper will direct and produce a movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cats” for Universal and Working Title. Producers are Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner for Working Title along with Debra Hayward and Hooper.

Hooper teamed with Universal and Working Title for the 2012 movie adaptation of “Les Miserables,” starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried. The film was a box office success with $440 million worldwide and critical triumph with three Academy Awards, including Hathaway for best supporting actress.

The musical “Cats” is based on T.S. Eliot’s poetry collection “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” and centers on a tribe of cats called the Jellicles who must decide nightly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life.

Lionsgate is developing a movie adaptation of the 2007 BBC One series “Jekyll” with Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman producing through their A Very Good Production banner.

The writing team of Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry have written a script with the project now out to directors.

“Jekyll” was a six-episode serial produced by Hartswood Films and Stagescreen Productions. Steven Moffat wrote all six episodes, described by its creators as a sequel to the Robert Louis Stevenson novella “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.”

James Nesbitt starred as a modern-day descendant of Dr Jekyll, who has recently begun transforming into a version of Mr Hyde.

Michelle Ryan and Gina Bellman also starred.

Bagarozzi and Mondry collaborated on Shane Black’s upcoming action comedy “The Nice Guys” starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, and on “Doc Savage” at Sony and the “Death Note” remake.

DeGeneres announced Thursday that she has signed social-media star Tyler Oakley to a content-development pact, as part of the talk-show host and comedian’s new plan to grow her digital empire. The deal with Oakley comes with the launch of the Ellen Digital Network.

Bagarozzi and Mondry are repped by GreenLit Creative. News about the duo working on the script was first reported by the Tracking Board.

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