Producer/actor Danny Abeckaser plays Dino Lapron, the best friend of real-life mob hitman Richard Kuklinski, in The Iceman, Israeli director Ariel Vromen’s fascinating portrait of the notorious contract killer of the 70’s and 80’s.  Abeckaser, who grew up in Brooklyn, got the acting bug at an early age, went on to become a New York nightclub promoter in the mid-90’s before returning to his first love playing small roles in friends’ movies, and then making his mark in Holy Rollers which he produced and acted in.

At the recent press day for The Iceman which opens this Friday, Abeckaser talked to us about the challenges of getting the film made, how he prepared for his role, why he liked how his character brought out the human side of Kuklinski, what it was like working with Michael Shannon and Winona Ryder, why he thinks audiences are attracted to mob movies, what he looks for in a role, and his experience rubbing elbows with a real mobster.  He also discussed his role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, his plans to shoot his own movie, The Life, directed by Fabrizio Conti, and how he’s hoping for a new Snickers commercial with Joe Pesci.

Universal has made some changes to its upcoming release slate, and Martin Scorsese‘s new film now has a firm date.

• Kick-Ass 2 – The Jeff Wadlow-helmed sequel has been pushed back a couple of months from June 28th to August 16th, where the actioner will now face off against the sequel Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and the comedy The To-Do List.  The film stars Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Jim Carrey.
• 2 Guns – Meanwhile, as a result of the Kick-Ass 2 date change, the Denzel Washington/Mark Wahlberg action thriller has been moved up from August 16th to August 2nd, where it will open against the sequels 300: Rise of an Empire and Red 2.
• R.I.P.D. – Universal has also announced that it will be releasing the Jeff Bridges/Ryan Reynolds action-adventure film in 3D when it opens on July 19th.  This will be a post-conversion.
• The Wolf of Wall Street – Finally, director Martin Scorsese’s memoir adaptation will open wide on November 15th, just in time for Thanksgiving and awards season.  The Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer will square off against Ridley Scott‘s The Counselor, the Robert De Niro/Sylvester Stallone boxing drama Grudge Match, and the WikiLeaks film The Fifth Estate.

Opening this weekend is Ric Roman Waugh’s new thriller Snitch, based on the true story of a man (Dwayne Johnson) whose son is wrongly accused of dealing drugs and is facing decades behind bars under the mandatory minimum sentencing laws.  Johnson strikes a deal- he will help lead to an arrest if his son can go free.  He convinces a worker, ex-con Jon Bernthal, to make an introduction, and soon the two find themselves caught up in a massive undercover mission that could lead to the arrest of a Mexican Cartel drug lord- but at a potentially deadly cost.  The film also stars Barry Pepper, Benjamin Bratt, Rafi Gavron, and Michael K. Williams.

At the film’s press day in New York, I was able to sit down with Jon Bernthal. He told me about how he got involved in the project, about the intense action scenes in the film and about some deleted scenes that didn’t make the final cut. He also filled me in on working with Martin Scorsese on the upcoming The Wolf of Wall Street, and collaborating with Frank Darabont (creator of The Walking Dead) again on the new pilot Lost Angels.

The documentary Angels in Exile, which recently screened at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), provides and intimate look into the lives of the street children of Durban, South Africa.  Narrated by Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, these children search for a better life, but find only a world of prostitution, HIV/AIDS, trafficking, drug addiction and extreme violence.

During this recent exclusive interview with Collider, producer Riza Aziz – founder, chairman and CEO of Red Granite Pictures – talked about how he got involved with Angels in Exile, why it’s such an important topic to make people aware of, and hoping it can really help to make a difference.  He also talked about Red Granite’s business model of producing three to four films a year (one of which will be a tentpole film with a big budget while the others are medium-sized films), why they wanted to sign on as producers for The Wolf of Wall Street (directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio), working with director Alexandre Aja on Horns (starring Daniel Radcliffe), when he expects to see cuts of each of those films, and how he’ll next be going into production on The Brigands of Rattleborge, a violent revenge western to be directed by Chan-wook Park.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.  

Paramount Pictures is looking to stay in the Martin Scorsese business, as the studio behind Shutter Island and Hugo has picked up the director’s latest film, The Wolf of Wall Street, for domestic distribution.  Based on the memoir of Jordan Belfort, the pic stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  The fantastic supporting cast includes Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler, Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, Margot Robbie, Joe Bernthal, and Rob Reiner.

Given the film’s pedigree, it’s no surprise that Deadline reports Paramount is planning a fourth-quarter 2013 release date.  That puts Wolf of Wall Street in prime awards season placement, so the film should be a significant player in the 2013 Oscar race.

A first look at Jonah Hill’s character in director Martin Scorsese’s financial drama The Wolf of Wall Street has landed online courtesy of some set photos. Hill plays the close friend and business partner of Jordan Beflort (Leonardo DiCaprio), a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  We’ve already seen a few set photos of DiCaprio in character, and these images of Hill reinforce the idea that Scorsese is going to great lengths to make the actors look like their real-life counterparts.  Hill appears to be wearing some Gary Busey-esque false teeth along with his wonderfully 90s attire, complete with large glasses and a yellow sweater tied around his shoulders.

Hit the jump to take a look at the Hill images along with a new look at DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey.  The film also stars Kyle Chandler, Margot Robbie, Jean Dujardin, Joe Bernthal and Rob Reiner.

New images from the respective sets of Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street and Joshua Michael Stern‘s (Swing Vote) jOBS have found their way online. The Wolf images give us our first look at Leonardo DiCaprio in his turn as Jordan Belfort, a former financial rock star of sorts whose own memoir of the same name is the basis for the film. While we’ve already seen pics of Ashton Kutcher doing his best Steve Jobs impersonation while wearing a turtleneck and on LSD, today’s images give us a better idea of how well he can pull of the “button-up, cardigan, sweater vest” look.

Check out the images after the jump. The Wolf of Wall Street is aiming for a 2013 release and also stars Matthew McConaughey, Jon Favreau, and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead). jOBS co-stars Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Matthew Modine, Ahna O’Reilly, and Lukas Haas while also staring down an unspecified 2013 release.

Matthew McConaughey looks to be continuing his run of great roles, as he has now joined the cast of Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.  Leonardo DiCaprio is set as the lead in the adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s memoir, as the story follows the hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering, and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  Per Deadline, McConaughey will be playing Mark Hanna, the early boss and mentor of Belfort.

The stacked cast now includes Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Kyle Chandler, Joe Bernthal, Margot Robbie, and Rob Reiner.  Production begins this month in New York, and we previously learned that Scorsese will be shooting the pic in digital 2D.  McConaughey is coming off of fantastic roles in Magic Mike and Killer Joe, and he’s gearing up to shoot the AIDS drama The Dallas Buyer’s Club.

We’ve got a few big names for some big projects in casting news today, so let’s get to it:

• Jon Favreau is set to join director Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s memoir.
• Liev Schreiber is on board for Lee Daniels’ The Butler, the biopic of longtime White House staffer, Eugene Allen.  The picture already sports an impressive cast, featuring Forest Whitaker, David Oyelowo, and Oprah Winfrey as the three leads.
• We previously reported that Jay Baruchel was circling a role in the RoboCop reboot by Elite Squad director, Jose Padilha.  New details have now emerged for his possible character.

Hit the jump for more information on each casting assignment.

As the war over film vs. digital wages on, the former is looking to be on its last legs.  Despite campaigns, pleas, and surprise filmmaker summits hosted by Christopher Nolan, movie theaters are converting to digital at an alarming rate and the film format is nearing extinction.  Now it appears that yet another legendary filmmaker has finally conceded to the digital age, as Martin Scorsese’s longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker recently confirmed that the director’s next pic will be shot digitally:

“It would appear that we’ve lost the battle.  I think Marty just feels it’s unfortunately over, and there’s been no bigger champion of film than him.”

Though Scorsese was forced to shoot digitally on Hugo in order to capture the film (brilliantly, I might add) in 3D, his next pic is the financial drama The Wolf of Wall Street.  Most assumed he’d be back to good ol’ fashioned film, but it appears that’s not the case.  Hit the jump for more.

With production looming closer on director Martin Scorsese’s next project, The Wolf of Wall Street, he’s continuing to fill out an unsurprisingly impressive cast.  Leonardo DiCaprio is set as the lead in the adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s memoir, as the story follows the hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering, and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  The supporting cast already includes last year’s Best Actor winner Jean Dujardin, Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler and Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead), with Margot Robbie recently set as the film’s female lead.

Now THR reports that actor/director Rob Reiner is in talks to join the production as DiCaprio’s father.  The script was written by Terrence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire) and production begins this August in New York.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis of the book.

Two casting bits for you today.  Here they are in brief:

• Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) is set to join Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception).
• Miles Teller (Project X) will star alongside Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) in director James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now.

Hit the jump for more on both roles and more information on each film.

Tonight, casting agents found actors most of their supporting roles based on real-life people:

• Ashley Charles will play Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards in the Jimi Hendrix biopic All Is By My Side, led by Andre 3000 as Hendrix.
• Martin Scorsese cast Margot Robbie as the female lead opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, based on a memoir by Jordan Belfort.
• Seth Meriwether signed on to play one of the West Memphis Three in Devil’s Knot.
• Donal Logue will play the right hand man of CBGB owner Hilly Kristal (Alan Rickman) in CBGB.

Hit the jump for details on each project.

Here’s your latest fix for relevant casting news.  Check them out at a glance below:

• Cam Gigandet (Easy A) has joined Emily Browning in director Catherine Hardwicke’s Plush.
• James Corden (The History Boys) has boarded not one, but two projects: Can a Song Save Your Life? and One Chance.
• Cristin Milioti (Year of the Carnivore) is in talks to join the Martin Scorsese picture, The Wolf of Wall Street.
• David Lyons (The Cape) is the latest addition to Relativity’s romantic thriller, Safe Haven.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

Rather than go the route of most successful foreign actors and take on a villain role, Best Actor Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) will join another Oscar-winner’s film.  According to Variety, Dujardin is in talks to join Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese‘s adaptation of Jordan Belfort‘s memoir The Wolf of Wall Street.  The story follows Belfort (DiCaprio), a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering, and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.  Dujardin will play “Jean-Jacques Handali, a suave Swiss banker involved in laundering illicit funds for Belfort’s firm.”  Okay, so he’s kind of a villain.  The film also stars Jonah Hill as Belfort’s friend and business partner, and Kyle Chandler as the FBI agent who took down Belfort.

Filming on The Wolf of Wall Street is set to begin in August.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of the book.  Dujardin will next be seen in the comedy The Players and he’s set to co-star with Tim Roth in the spy thriller Mobius.