Here’s today’s casting news:

• Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) is set to star in The Zookeeper’s Wife, based on the Diana Ackerman novel about the true story of Warsaw zoo owners Jan and Antonina Zabinski’s rescue of hundreds of Jewish refugees during the Nazi invasion of World War II.
• Brad Pitt was courted to play the world’s greatest assassin in The Gray Man a number of years ago, but it looks like the veteran has departed this particular picture.
• Gael Garcia Bernal (No) and Alice Braga (I Am Legend) are set to star in El Ardor, pitched as a modern-day Western, a tale of survival and revenge set in in the Amazon jungle.

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement.

Gael Garcia Bernal stars in NO, an epic David and Goliath story penned by Pedro Peirano about a brash young Chilean adman, René Saavedra, who spearheads a campaign to defeat dictator Augusto Pinochet and set Chile free during the country’s 1988 referendum.  The film is the final part of a trilogy which director Pablo Larraín began with Tony Manero in 2008 and followed with Post Mortem in 2010.  NO has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and opens in theaters on February 15^th. 

At the film’s recent press day, Larraín and Bernal talked about their smart and engaging political thriller inspired by actual events, how the film reflects their own social conscience and political sensibilities, why it resonates with other political events occurring throughout the world today, how they came up with a distinct lo-fi concept for the film’s unique visual style, how the film has been received in Chile, their reaction to the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and Larraín’s next project which might just be a futuristic film.  Hit the jump to read more:

The first trailer is now available for director Pablo Larrain’s No, a drama centering on the marketing campaign to defeat Chile’s army general and dictator Augusto Pinochet from retaining power in the country’s 1988 referendum. The simple yet strong title comes from the referendum’s choice: “Yes” to retain Pinochet, “No” to boot him out in favor of democracy. Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries) plays the advertising executive Rene Saavedra, who used commercial marketing techniques to effectively communicate a political message and provide voters with a counterpoint to official campaign for Pinochet’s retention.

No opens on February 15, 2013. Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.

Jared Leto is making a return to acting.  After taking a five-year break from films to focus on his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, Leto is now set to join Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner in the AIDS drama The Dallas Buyers Club.  Directed by Jean Marc Vallee (The Young Victoria), the film is based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986.  Given only a few months to live, Woodroof began to smuggle alternative and illegal treatments into the US and into the hands of other AIDS patients.  The pic has been a passion project for McConaughey, who recently lost an alarming amount of weight in order to portray Woodroof onscreen.

Per THR, Leto will play “a flamboyant cross-dresser with HIV who helps Woodruff.”  Gael Garcia Bernal previously circled the role but never closed a deal.  Filming begins next week in New Orleans.

Let’s take a look at some recent casting news, shall we?

• It looks like Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries) will be joining Matthew McConaughey (Magic Mike) in The Dallas Buyer’s Club, a drama about the AIDS epidemic directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.).
• Ron Perlman (Hellboy) will join Savage Mutts, a criminal action thriller written and directed by Nika Agiashvili (Tbilisi, My City).
• Word has it that Jack Black and director Richard Linklater, who previously collaborated on School of Rock and the 2012 indie Bernie, will reunite for a bowling movie that may have been inspired by colorful PBA champion, Pete Weber.
• Finally, the ensemble cast of August: Osage County has added Julianne Nicholson (Kinsey) as well.  The film currently stars Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Ewan McGregor and Dermot Mulroney.

Hit the jump for more on each casting note.

There are few performers as consistently funny and interesting as Will Ferrell. Sure, he’ll take a gig in a studio paycheck film, but often those are often weird and interesting too (say what you will about Land of the Lost, that’s not a boring choice), and so it’s no surprise that Ferrell would appear in a movie in which he spends the entire movie speaking Spanish. He stars in Casa de mi Padre as a rancher stuck in the middle of a drug war. He’s between his brother (Diego Luna) and the town’s vicious drug lord (Gael Garcia Bernal), and all three have interest in his brother’s fiancée (Genesis Rodriguez). Our review of the Blu-ray of Casa de mi Padre follows after the jump.

The new trailer for Russian-born, Colorado-raised writer/director Julia Loktev‘s eerie travel tale The Loneliest Planet has just been released.  The film, which was well-received at festivals last year, stars art-house veteran Gael Garcia Bernal as well as Hani Furstenberg as an engaged couple who spend a summer backpacking in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia.  Of course, the couple’s idyllic trip is marred by “an incident” that threatens to change the course of their relationship and much of what they know (it’s probably not intestinal in nature, but I think we’ve all been there).

The film covers surprisingly well-worn ground: loosely inspired by Ernest Hemingway‘s 1936 short story The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, (going on level deeper, Inception-style: the short-story was inspired by an actual incident in pre-World War II Africa), the tale is a framework for Loktev’s film along with another short-story based on the same material by Tim Bissell called Expensive Trips Nowhere. (Hemingway’s story was also turned into a 1947 film starring Gregory Peck, The Macomber Affair). Hit the jump for more on this new take on the material as well as the trailer.

Casa De Mi Padre is at its best when it’s at its silliest.  Before the movie even begins, it’s built on a novelty since Will Ferrell spends the entire film speaking Spanish.  Ferrell’s comic talent means he doesn’t simply coast on “Yo soy habla Español!”  He knows how to play the melodrama, the faux-dramatic pauses, and other comic skills we’ve come to expect from a pro like Ferrell.  Director Matt Piedmont and writer Andrew Steele want to milk the cheesy 70s mexsploitation/peliculanovela for every ounce of comedy, but the biggest laughs come not from the concept but from the goofy little moments scattered throughout the movie.

Earlier today we posted 14 clips that gave us a look at Will Ferrell’s foreign language comedy, Casa de mi Padre. When I first heard about the project being done completely in Spanish, I thought to myself, “How the hell are they going to do that?” Well, my questions have been answered by this new 15-minute “making of” featurette. Yes, you read that right: 15 minutes! Normally these things are two or three minutes, but perhaps this is the new norm (considering this making of The Raid: Redemption we recently posted). If the full movie is as funny as this featurette, then it’s destined to be another big hit for Ferrell. Casa de mi Padre, which opens March 16th, also stars Genesis Rodriguez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna and Nick Offerman, who all shine in the featurette. Hit the jump to check out the video, which features wolves, horses and bandanas (or lobos, caballos y bandanas).

Will Ferrell is set to make his Spanish-language debut with the upcoming comedy Casa de mi Padre, and today we’ve got 14 clips from the film to share with our readers.  The story centers on a Mexican rancher (Ferrell) who must save his family’s farm while defeating a notorious drug lord and winning the hand of the lovely Sonia.  All the previous trailers we’ve seen have been absolutely ridiculous in a very, very good way, and these clips are no different.  Ferrell is surrounded by a fantastic supporting cast (Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, and Nick Offerman), and I can’t wait to see the full film.

Hit the jump to watch the clips (which is almost nine minutes of footage!). The film also stars Genesis Rodriguez and Efren Ramirez. Casa de mi Padre opens March 16th.

20th Century Fox has finally settled on its lead in their upcoming Zorro reboot Zorro Reborn. Variety reports that Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries) is attached to play the Spanish swordsman. The film is a fresh take on material that was most recently mined in Martin Campbell’s The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro. As we previously reported, Zorro Reborn will not take place in the classic Western setting of Mexico or California, but will instead be set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Moreover, Zorro will be less of a hero this time around, as the story paints the character as “a masked vigilante bent on revenge.”

Bernal is an excellent actor and, I think, a nice choice to play Zorro. I’m not necessarily thrilled with the “futuristic” take on the story as I think Bernal would be swell in a classic swashbuckling flick, but Fox apparently has other plans. Sony is developing its own reboot of the character with an origin story based on the 2005 novel Zorro. The script for Zorro Reborn was written by Glenn Gers (Mad Money), and Harker scribes Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy. Producers are currently seeking out a director for the project. Bernal will next be seen alongside Will Ferrell in the Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre.

Following a number of short, mini-teaser trailers for Casa de Mi padre, the first full-length trailer has finally arrived. The movie, entirely in Spanish, stars Will Ferrell as a Mexican rancher who must save his family’s farm while defeating a notorious drug lord and winning the hand of the lovely Sonia. This trailer is absolutely ridiculous, and that’s a very, very good thing. Ferrell is at his most goofy here, and the film looks to be a laugh riot. The supporting cast is surprisingly fantastic (Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna) and a swell appearance by Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman as the American in the film put a big smile on my face.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Casa de Mi Padre opens March 16th.

After releasing a teaser trailer in addition to some teaser posters for Casa de mi Padre, two new official posters have popped up for the Spanish comedy starring Will Ferrell. The plot revolves around a Mexican rancher (Ferrell) who must save his family’s farm while defeating a notorious drug lord and winning the hand of the lovely Sonia. Casa de mi Padre also stars Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries) and Genesis Rodriguez (Man on a Ledge). Hit the jump to check out the posters.

A new teaser trailer for the Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre has gone online. The pic tells the story of Armando (Will Ferrell) and the misadventures je encounters while simultaneously attempting to save his father’s farm/fend off feared Mexican drug lord Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal). As expected, it looks absolutely ridiculous in the best way possible. It’s a very short teaser, but gets the lunacy of the film across just as well. Ferrell speaks Spanish for the duration of the movie, and I’m extremely looking forward to checking this thing out once it hits theaters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film also stars Diego Luna, Efren Ramirez, Genesis Rodriguez, and Nick Offerman. Casa de mi Padre opens March 16th.

The Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre/House of My Father, starring Will Ferrell will be landing stateside on March 16, 2012. If features Ferrell as Armando Alvarez, a Mexican rancher who must save his family’s farm while simultaneously fending off the drug lord, Onza, played by Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries) and winning the hand of the lovely Sonia, played by Genesis Rodriguez (Man on a Ledge). To sum it up in just a few words: passion, adventure, intrigue, betrayal, sex, danger, romance, guns, cigarettes, special effects and slaps. Hit the jump for more on Casa de mi Padre.