Samantha Barks Cast as Eponine in LES MISERABLES; Piper Perabo Joins RED MACHINE

When last we reported on the female lead casting of director Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, we told you that Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!) had been offered the role of Cosette and Taylor Swift (Valentine’s Day) had been asked to play Eponine.  While Seyfried has accepted, Deadline is reporting that stage performer Samantha Barks has bested Swift for the role of Eponine. She previously performed the role in 2010’s London production of Les Miserables as well as the 25^th anniversary concert last year. Barks will join Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit and Seyfried for the December 7^th release. Click here to see all of our previous coverage on Les Miserables. Hit the jump for more casting news concerning Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) joining the David Hackl (Saw II) thriller, Red Machine.

Deadline also reported on Perabo’s casting addition to Red Machine opposite James Marsden (X-Men), Thomas Jane (The Punisher) and Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa). Perabo will star as a deaf photographer who is engaged to Beckett (Jane), while Marsden plays Beckett’s brother. The story follows the two brothers and their girlfriends (one is yet to be cast) into the Alaskan wilderness where they venture on a camping trip. While there, they are stalked by a horrifying and relentless grizzly bear – the Red Machine. Thornton is expected to play a legendary bear expert and hunter. Hackl has remarked that he plans to capture “the thrill of very real fear.” Shooting is scheduled to begin this month in Vancouver.