Neil Gaiman fans finally have a reason to be joyous – casting news is in regarding John Cameron Mitchell’s adaptation of the Gaiman short story How to Talk to Girls at Parties, and it’s good: Elle Fanning is attached to star. The period sci-fi drama centers around a bunch of English teens who meet some interplanetary foreign exchange students.
House of Cards’ Kate Lyn Sheil and Pretty Little Liars’ Aurora Perrineau are both set to join the cast of Equals, a sci-fi drama about another dystopia where people’s emotions have been outlawed until a disease begins to re-activate them. Her costars include Kristen Stewart, Nicholas Hoult and Guy Pearce.
Relative newcomers Crystal Clarke and Pip Anderson are about to become household names, thanks to their selection as the latest additions to J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII after an open casting call held across the US and UK last fall.
Lastly, The Jungle Book has found its live action Mowgli. After a worldwide search from New York to New Zealand, 10-year-old newcomer Neel Sethi (from The Big Apple) wowed director Jon Favreau and casting directors. He will be the only actual actor onscreen, surrounded by animated animal characters.
IN DEVELOPMENT
Pixels director Chris Columbus has signed on to produce the remake of Gremlins, the 1984 gem which he himself wrote. Talk of this remake has been circulating for decades, but with Hollywood heavyweights like David Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg attached, it looks like it will soon see the light of day. But Gremlins isn’t the only beloved 80s project that Columbus and Spielberg are returning to. They are also on board for The Goonies 2, the sequel to the 1985 film which Columbus also wrote.
For dance fans, it’s time to get excited for Center Stage 3. Details have yet to be released, but with a director and producers attached, here’s hoping it fares better than the TV movie second sequel.
In a round of Disney updates, both The Little Mermaid and Dumbo are being resuscitated, but in different ways. The former story is being adapted into the foreign film Little from the Fish Shop, based directly on the Han Christian Andersen fairytale. The latter is being retooled by Disney itself, with an aim for a live action adaptation.
In other animal movie development news, there is When We Were Animals, about a group of teenagers who turn feral on every full moon for a year.
The movie version of YA author Colleen Hoover’s novel Slammed is moving ahead into production, telling the story of a teenage girl who moves to a new city and falls in love with the man who lives next door–only to discover that he is the young new teacher at her school. How very Pretty Little Liars of her.
Embattled X-Men director Bryan Singer is developing the action fantasy film Age of Heroes, based on the 90s comic series (also the source material for the recent novel by James Hudnall). The series follows a group of rebels in a fantastical land overruled by gods. When their leaders disappear, the group must protect their home against the monsters and ancient evil that now roam loose.
Lastly, the screenwriters responsible for X-Men: First Class, Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz, are officially on board to bring life to The Power Rangers reboot. The ’90s TV show makes perfect sense as a reenvisioned large scale movie, since it’s on target with current superhero trends. Additionally, Roberto Orci, one of the screenwriters behind The Transformers and new Star Trek series, is attached as an exec producer. Here’s hoping all these incredible credits will help infuse the reimagined Rangers with some contemporary cool.