Casting Notes: Cheadle And Gleeson, Witherspoon Is #1, And Djimon Hounsou Works With Ong Bak Director
Here’s your blast of casting bites for the end of the week. First up,Don CheadleandBrendan Gleesonwill team as unlikely cop partners inThe Guard. Film follows the confrontational small-town Sgt. Gerry Boyle (Gleeson), who likes hookers and isn’t interested in drug runners, and FBI Agent Everett (Cheadle) in a tale of international coke smuggling. Sounds on the surface like an Irish reversal ofBeverly Hills Cop, where the small-town local guy is the irreverent jokester while the outsider is terribly straightlaced.John Michael McDonaghwrites and directs. If it weren’t for the cast, and the fact that it takes place in Ireland (not even sure why that’s a draw) I’d be brushing this one off already. [ComingSoon]
After the break,Reese Witherspoondemonstrates the first rule andDjimon Hounsoukicks some ass.
Reese Witherspoon will produce and star inRule #1, a tidy little dramedy about “a New York woman who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder.” Script is byTerrel Seltzer, who wroteHow I Got Into Collegeand co-wrote the George Clooney movie that almost everyone has forgotten,One Fine Day. Get excited for this one. No? OK, I can see that. [THR]
Finally, and I wish we knew a lot more about this one,Djimon Hounsouwill be working withOng BakandChocolatedirectorPrachya Pinkaewon the filmWhite Elephant. Hounsou will be an assassin hired to avenge the murder of a businessman’s daughter at the hands of white slave traders. The film will shoot in Bangkok in March. Prachya Pinkaew andOng Bakchoreographer Panna Rittikrai also have the english-language filmCity of Angelsin development. That one was just announced a week or so ago, so we’ll see which of the two goes into production first. [Variety]
