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Casting: Oscar Isaac joins Dune; Rosario Dawson in Zombieland 2; Gabriel Byrne battles aliens; more
Poe Dameron joins the Dune remake; Rosario Dawson joins the Zombieland sequel; a Hereditary patriarch and a Downton Abbey matriarch lead a group of post-apocalyptic survivors after an alien attack; and the star of Sorry to Bother You will be the hero of the new Candyman movie in this casting roundup.
First, the cast of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune continues to grow. Variety is reporting that Star Wars alum Oscar Isaac is in talks to join Legendary Pictures’ adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic 1965 sci-fi novel as Duke Leto Atreides, father of Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet).
Isaac will join a cast that includes Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, and Charlotte Rampling.
Dune is an epic story about noble families fighting for control of “the spice,” the most precious resource in the universe, which can only be found on one planet — the desert planet Arrakis. (It's actually a massively complex story, so much so that Villeneuve is planning to make two films out of the novel.)
Up next, Deadline is reporting that Rosario Dawson will co-star in Zombieland 2 alongside original Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. No details on Dawson's role have been announced.
We still don't know much about what Zombieland 2 is about, apart from the zombie slayers having to battle new kinds of zombies that have evolved since the first film, as well as some new human survivors.
The bulk of the cast and creative team from the original are returning for the sequel, with Ruben Fleischer (Venom) returning to direct and original Zombieland scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese back to write part two.
In addition to Dawson, Zoey Deutch is also a newcomer to the sequel (who's apparently playing Madison, according to her IMDb page).
Filming is set to begin this week, with Zombieland 2 scheduled to hit theaters October 11.
Meanwhile, Deadline is reporting that Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern will lead an ensemble cast in an eight-episode hourlong TV series adapting The War of the Worlds.
Léa Drucker, Natasha Little, Daisy Edgar Jones, Stéphane Caillard, Adel Bencherif, and Guillaume Gouix will also star.
Set in contemporary Europe, the series will follow what’s left of humanity following an apocalyptic extraterrestrial attack. Misfits creator Howard Overman has written this reimagined version of H.G. Wells’ classic alien invasion story.
Production is currently underway in the U.K. and France. The series is set to debut later this year.
And last but not least, Lakeith Stanfield of Get Out and Sorry to Bother You fame is in talks to star in Jordan Peele’s Candyman remake (or “spiritual sequel,” as it’s currently being described). Though, according to Collider, no, Stanfield will not be playing the eponymous role originated by Tony Todd, but instead a character named Anthony, a young man researching the urban legend of Candyman.
So, essentially, a version of Virginia Madsen’s role from the 1992 original. Namely, the actual hero of the film.
Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) will direct the film, written by Peele and Win Rosenfeld.
Production is on track to begin this spring, with a scheduled release date of June 12, 2020.
(Via Collider)
