We’ve got a few casting stories to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• Jon Hamm will be lending his voice to one of the lead roles opposite Sandra Bullock in Illumination Entertainment’s spinoff Minions.
• Fresh off her turn in Oblivion, actress Olga Kurylenko has joined the cast of director Mark Waters’ (Mean Girls) YA adaptation Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters.
• Andy Garcia and Ray Romano are joining the cast of the crime drama Rob the Mob.

Hit the jump for more details.

Director Mike Cahill has assembled the cast for his follow-up to his 2011 Sundance hit Another Earth.  Deadline reports that Michael Pitt (Boardwalk Empire), Brit Marling (Sound of My Voice), Astrid Berges-Frisbey (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead), and Emmy-winner Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) will star in I Origins.  Cahill wrote the screenplay, which centers on a molecular biologist and his brilliant lab partner who uncover “startling evidence that may fundamentally change society as we know it.”

Pitt will star as the biologist, and the premise sounds like it will tread territory similar to Another Earth, which was a grounded, character-centric story that was told within the confines of a sci-fi premise.  Marling co-wrote Another Earth with Cahill, but this one appears to be written solely by Cahill.  The actress will next be seen in the thriller The East, which she co-wrote with her Sound of My Voice co-writer/director Zal Batmanglij.

Along with True Blood and Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire stands as HBO’s current marquee series, which means they pull out all the stops when it comes to their Blu-ray releases. With the third season fast approaching, the beautiful second season set hits shelves to help the uninitiated catch up. There’s no better way to enjoy what has become one of the best shows currently on television. Hit the jump for the full review.

The other night, The Academy of Television and Science hosted an exclusive panel with the cast and creator of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk recounts the rise of the duplicitous Nucky Thompson torn between the political upheaval and criminal birth of the Prohibition.  His rise is cast against the downfall of his surrogate son, Jimmy Darmondy, a War Veteran scarred by his time over there.  It is the tense interplay between the two characters that gave Boardwalk Empire much of its dramatic heft during its first two remarkable seasons – which is probably what made Season Two’s conclusion so… surprising.

During the panel, Steve Buscemi and Michael Pitt discussed the controversial finale, costar Michael Shannon lamented always playing “the crazy person”, and creator Terence Winter previewed Season Three, among many other topics of conversation.  For highlights from the panel (which also included costars Kelly Macdonald, Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Kenneth Williams, Vincent Piazza and Gretchen Mol) hit the jump.

Boardwalk Empire star Michael Pitt is gearing up to pull triple duty on a feature film adaptation of Jack Black’s 1926 autobiographical novel You Can’t Win.  Variety reports that Robinson Devor (Zoo) will direct the pic from a script he co-wrote with Pitt, who will also produce.  The best-selling novel takes place in the hobo underworld and follows Black’s experiences around the Wild West and Canada, covering topics like crime, addiction, criminal justice, and human folly.  Pitt hasn’t appeared on the big screen since 2008’s Funny Games, but it looks as if he’s planning a big return.  No word on how soon production might begin.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis for the book.

Studios have been trying to get the most bang for their buck when it comes to their blockbusters.  The Lone Ranger had to wrangle for a lower budget, and Paradise Lost, and The Dark Tower have been put into limbo as studios try to figure out how to bring down costs.  THR reports that Warner Bros. has put their adaptation of the manga/anime Akira on hold as they try to figure out how to re-work the script to lower the budget.  Producers Jennifer Kiloran Davisson and Andrew Lazar, and director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown) are trying to make the necessary changes, and Steve Kloves (Harry Potter) may be brought back to do another re-write after already having done one a year ago.

Hit the jump for more including a few updates.

HBO’s Boardwalk Empire follows in a long line of prestige series produced by the cable network, which actually works against it a little bit. It’s hard to get excited about yet another must-see series from them, especially after the infamous letdown of The Sopranos finale and the way the network botched other great shows like Deadwood and Carnivale.  One hopes, however, that those harsh lessons have been well-learned, and with Boardwalk Empire now a bona fide hit, HBO has a chance to capitalize on the very high standard that the first season sets. The new Blu-ray collection does the show justice, and makes an exquisite New Year’s present for faithful fans. Hit the jump for my full review of the first season of Boardwalk Empire on Blu-ray.

We’ve already gotten a taste of the forthcoming second season of Boardwalk Empire, and while this new trailer released by HBO doesn’t show us any new footage, it certainly gives us a taste of what’s to come. All eyes seems to be on Nucky Thompson and everyone seems to be after a piece of the puzzle in some form or another as they beckon to him and call out his name. But who is that whispering his name there at the end? You’ll see what I mean after you check out this cool new trailer after the jump. Season two of Boardwalk Empire premieres on September 25th.

We’re still months away from seeing the premiere, but HBO has unveiled the first trailer for the anticipated second season of Boardwalk Empire, and damn does it look intense. Sounds like there’s going to be plenty of sneaky liquor trafficking, Jimmy stepping up his business in organized crime and even some action with the Ku Klux Klan. Hopefully this season keeps up a steady pace throughout its entirety as I found the first season to slow down quite a bit, sometimes frustratingly, towards the end of the first season. Of course, the drama is still leaps and bounds better than plenty of other series on television, so you can bet I’ll be giving my attention to the second season this fall. See the trailer after the jump.

The second episode of the best new series on television didn’t have all that much action or violence, but plenty still happened in the wake of Jimmy Darmody’s (Michael Pitt) scheme to steal Nucky Thompson’s (Steve Buscemi) shipment of liquor to Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg) as well as the murder of Big Jim Colosimo in Chicago. This episode specifically functions as a small move in the big game of chess that is the story of Boardwalk Empire. In the big picture, the episode is one big setup for an impending storm in the crime world. That’s not to say this episode is uneventful, but it’s certainly the beginning of something bigger. Hit the jump for details.

Don’t shoot the messenger, but when the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards come around next year, Mad Men fans are going to be sorely disappointed when Boardwalk Empire stops a fourth win for Outstanding Drama. While charming and commanding Don Draper is the king of advertising in the 60′s, entrepreneurial and motivated Nucky Thompson (played effortlessly by Steve Buscemi) is God over Atlantic City in the 20′s. In Martin Scorsese’s period drama series on HBO, the world of underground crime, prohibition of alcohol, racism, and the origins of several of history’s most prominent criminals are explored in a way never before seen on the big or small screen. Find out why it would be a capital crime to miss this amazing new series below!

Combining the creative forces of Emmy Award-winning writer Terence Winter with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese, along with veteran HBO producers Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson, the new original drama Boardwalk Empire was born.

Taking place in Atlantic City in the 1920s, and starting on the eve of Prohibition, it tells the story of the people who make up the political and criminal machinery that is behind the glitz and glamor of what was referred to as the world’s playground. Along with the talent behind the camera, the stellar cast of actors includes Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly MacDonald, Michael Shannon, Dabney Coleman, Gretchen Mol and many others.

Check out what show creator/executive producer Terence Winter and executive producer/director Martin Scorsese had to say about this epic 12-episode drama after the jump:

If you liked yesterday’s trailer for David Simon’s Treme, you’re gonna love the teaser trailer HBO just premiered for their upcoming prohibition-era crime drama Boardwalk Empire.  The trailer only features two lines of dialogue (and I won’t spoil them because they’re great), and the rest is set to some slick music.  The visuals look great, the cast is strong, and I can’t wait to check this show out.  The wait will be somewhat excruciating as the show won’t premiere until this fall.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and read the full synopsis for Boardwalk Empire.

HBO makes great television. We all know that. Every year the cable channel produces series and mini-series that go on to win Emmys and create intense conversations about the latest episodes. And right now, the network is hard at work producing what’s sure to be a massive television event, “Boardwalk Empire”.

If you haven’t yet heard of the show, don’t panic. The network only shot the pilot a few months ago and the full series begins shooting next month. But the reason you should care is one name: Martin Scorsese. Yes, one of the greatest directors in Hollywood directed the pilot and he’s producing the show along with a few people that made “The Sopranos”. The show is a look at the origins of Atlantic City’s boardwalk and is based on the book “Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City” by Nelson Johnson. I recently got to speak to one of the stars of the show, Michael Stuhlbarg, and after the jump you can read what he had to say:

HBO has picked up the Scorsese-produced “Boardwalk Empire” for 11 episodes.  The series will be set in 1920 at the dawn of prohibition and chronicles the life and times of Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), the undisputed ruler of Atlantic City, who was equal parts politician and gangster. If this news doesn’t make you say “fuck yes!”, especially after reading that little plot synopsis, then you really,really suck. You can get the full details after the jump.