Úna Hennessy brings you the latest in silver screen news.
Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson on for Lego Movie. The somewhat strange combination of Will Ferrell and Liam Neeson has been announced to join the voice-acting ranks of the upcoming Lego movie. The already confirmed cast includes the dulcet-toned Morgan Freeman, Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie and Nick Offerman, the film to be entitled The Piece of Resistance. Ferrell will voice the role of ‘President Business’, the world-dominating despot, with Neeson as his powerful henchman known as ‘Bad Cop’.The story follows Pratt (Moneyball), an ordinary lego minifigure who, in a case of mistaken identity, is recruited into a fellowship of strangers on a quest to save the world from the tyranny of President Business, who has hatched an evil plan to glue (yes, glue) their world together. This is a truly sweet cast, and with writer/directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller of 21 Jump Street fame at the helm, this has great written all over it. Warner Bros has slated the movie for a February 2014 release. Anne Hathaway joins Spielberg’s Robopocalypse. If there’s one thing that cinema giant Steven Spielberg does well, it’s epic, sci-fi, action-packed adventure movies. The next project he has lined up after his current Lincoln promotional duties end is Robopocalypse, based on Daniel H. Wilson’s best-selling 2011 novel, and Anne Hathaway has just been confirmed to star. She tells Empire magazine, "Whenever I’m taking time off, I always joke to my team that I’m on vacation unless Steven Spielberg calls. And I was on vacation and Spielberg called. So I was like, ‘OK, put my money where my mouth is’".Still in the early casting process, the film is thought to deviate significantly from Wilson’s original novel, with the script penned by Drew Goddard (Cloverfield). Like the title suggests, malevolent robots known as ‘Archos’, artificial intelligence developed by the U.S. government, have gone rogue and are set to annihilate the human race. Hathaway is joined by Ben Whishaw (Skyfall, Cloud Atlas) who plays a hacker known as ‘Lurker’. Chris Hemsworth from Avengers fame is also rumoured to be cast. The film is due for release in April 2014. Mark Wahlberg to take the reins in Transformers 4. Hollywood badboy Michael Bay has confirmed that Mark Wahlberg is to step into Shia LaBeouf’s shoes as the lead in the next Transformers sequel. Wahlberg, 41, had previously worked with Bay in bodybuilding action comedy Pain and Gain, to be released April 2013. Bay says, “Mark is awesome. We had a blast working on Pain And Gain and I’m so fired up to be back working with him. An actor of his calibre is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers’ legacy,”No word on the plot yet except that it will take place four years after the events of the last movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Wahlberg will reportedly not play an older version of LaBeouf’s character, therefore introducing a new character and a new dynamic to the franchise. With Steven Spielberg producing, the Transformers movies have grossed $2.6 billion worldwide to date. The 4th installment will hit screens in June 2014.
