The long national nightmare is finally over. Sort of. After other people like Nicholas Hoult and Garrett Hedlund passed on the part, Jai Courtney has landed the role of Kyle Reese in the “Terminator” reboot aka “Terminator 5” aka “Terminator: Genesis.” Hooray. He’ll join the returning Ah-nuld, Jason Clarke and Emilia Clarke in the Alan Taylor (“Game of Thrones,” “Thor: The Dark World“) directed movie, about which details are being kept under wraps for now.
The actor, who broke out in “Spartacus: Blood & Sand,” is threatening to become another Sam Worthington — frequently cast, but rarely memorable. Despite appearances in “Jack Reacher,” “A Good Day To Die Hard,” and “I Frankenstein” he’s failed to move the needle much (but in fairness, they aren’t good movies to begin with), though kudos to his agent for continuing to get him into the right meetings. Perhaps we’ll see him fulfill the industry hype when he appears in Angelina Jolie‘s “Unbroken” later this year. But anyway, he’ll give franchises another shot with this one.
In other news: Meryl Streep has joined Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne-Marie Duff in “Suffragette.” That’s some pretty decent star power right there. Sarah Gavron (“Brick Lane“) will direct the Abi Morgan (“Shame,””The Iron Lady“) penned tale centered on the early feminist movement, and the women who became radicalized. Streep’s part is small but is said to feature “a tour de force speech on women’s rights during a political rally.” So yeah, save an Oscar slot for Streep once again.
Lastly, Anton Corbijn‘s “Life” starring Robert Pattinson and Dane DeHaan has started filming in Toronto and has added Alessandra Mastronardi and Ben Kingsley to the cast. The film will track the friendship between Magnum photographer Dennis Stock (Pattinson) and actor James Dean (DeHaan) when Stock was commissioned to photograph the actor for Life magazine in 1955. The assignment, which took the pair on a photographic journey across the US, from LA to New York and on to Indiana would change Stock’s life and provide the world with some of the most iconic images of the age. [Variety/ScreenDaily]