I was in the middle of finishing this post when I saw Castor’s Weekly News, there are even more movie news over on his blog, but I’m highlighting these three as they made me jump for joy… whilst the last one did the opposite. Here goes:

• Latino Review reported last week that Aussie actor Sam Worthington was apparently too busy to star in McG’s action rom-com This Means War. Seriously, for a relative ‘newbie’ in Hollywood to have more than a half dozen projects lined up for him is quite impressive! But I’m excited to hear that Inception‘s scene-stealer Tom Hardy has signed up to take his place. He’s joining Chris Pine who will play best friends who ends up waging a battle against each other when they fall for the same woman, played by lucky girl Reese Witherspoon. Filming probably starts when she wraps filming Water for Elephants with Christoph Waltz and Robert Pattinson. I’m so glad to see Hardy nabs another Hollywood role, this marks the second time Hardy gets the role that Worthington was supposedly involved. The Avatar star was rumored to be involved in the 4th Mad Max sequel Fury Road last year, but Hardy’s been officially cast opposite Charlize Theron.
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• Now, I’m REALLY hoping that the success of Inception will garner attention to the actors who deserve ’em most. Leo doesn’t need any more help, but Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy, now I’d LOVE to see more of those two on Hollywood movies. I’m not saying they should give up independent flicks, no sireee I’m not suggesting that at all, but hey it’s also nice to be able to see their movies in the theaters instead of waiting to see them available on Netflix.
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  Well, talk about wish come true. Cillian has just been cast in a British thriller called Retreat with the beautiful Thandie Newton, a role vacated by Jason Isaac. Here’s the plot according to Deadline: Murphy and Newton will play a husband and wife who rent a remote island cottage while trying to repair their marriage. One day they find a biohazard-suited soldier washed up on the beach, who warns them that everybody on the mainland has been killed by an airborne virus. That’s when the psychological fun-and-games begin… It sounds very 28 Days Later-ish, not sure if this is another zombie flick?? I’m not exactly fond of that genre, but as long as Cillian is in this, I’m more than willing to give it a look!
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• Ok, now this is the non-casting news I’m REALLY thrilled about. As I said back in June, I was excited to see the cast lined up for X-Men: First Class, which includes the likes of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Nicholas Hoult. But then, out of nowhere a teen werewolf threatened to wreak havoc in the classy mutant school. Who else but Taylor Lautner, eeek!! Latino Review actually said producer Bryan Singer was the one considering it: “I wanted Taylor [Lautner] to do it, I really did,” Singer said in an exclusive interview. “He’s doing a movie in Pittsburgh called Abduction, and then he’s got the next Twilight movie. We talked about it a lot–he is a friend–and I really wanted to make it work. It just doesn’t look like it’s possible to do it.” Phew! I’m glad that didn’t happen. I wonder if director Matthew Vaughn put the kibosh on the whole idea? Doesn’t matter now, what matters is that the teen beefcake boy is NOT joining the cast. YAY!
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• Unfortunately, I hit a snag as I was jumping for joy, and it’s involving Twilight, again! Lee Pace, one talented actor I’m hoping will catch his big break soon, is rumored to be joining the teen vampire’s latest installment Breaking Dawn. Talk about major eeek factor! Cinematical shed a light as to the role he’s supposedly in the running for called Garrett, [he’s] one of the vampiric nomads… an adventurous nomad — a tall, rangy vampire with eager ruby eyes and long sandy hair he kept tied back with a leather thong. Ok, so the tall, hunky 31-year-old fits that description (hence his inclusion in this top ten list), but please, you’re too good for this, Lee! The Oklahoma native first caught my attention in Tarsem Singh’s The Fall, a surreal, fantastical visual feast spawned from an injured stunt-man’s imagination. If you haven’t seen this one, I highly recommend it. In any case, I’m hoping this story is just a rumor, at least one source has already disputed it, so there is still hope!

Well folks, any particular casting news lately tickle your fancy lately?