Check out the latest casting news below:

• Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) will star in his first French-language role in writer-director David Oelhoffen’s Loin des hommes (Far From Men). 
• Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) will star in Hop Frog, a revenge thriller based on the Edgar Allan Poe story that will be directed by Mark Palansky (Penelope).
• Carice van Houten (Game of Thrones) has landed the lead of Greta Garbo in a biopic for the Swedish screen legend.
• Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf) is reportedly in talks to lead Glimmer, a sci-fi thriller about a group of teens discovering a portal through time and directed by Ringan Ledwidge (Gone).

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement.

[This is a re-post of my review from the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.  On the Road opens today in limited release.]

Jack Kerouac‘s On the Road is a novel that inspired a generation of restless young men and women to break free from their comfort zones, broaden their horizons, and look to the majesty of America. Walter Salles‘ On the Road is a film adaptation that will inspire a generation of lazy high school kids to watch the movie instead of reading the book. Salles snaps up the words of Kerouac’s novel, but not their spirit. The movie shouldn’t simply regurgitate the book because adaptation should be a work of inspiration and not imitation. But there’s nothing inspired about Salles’ picture. It’s safe where it should be dangerous. It’s lugubrious when it should be explosive. It’s derivative when it should be daring. Despite glimmers of an emotionally moving story, On the Road rarely has the energy to get up and bravely venture forth beyond the plot constraints of a book that’s not driven by its plot.

On the eve of the release of the final installment in the Twilight franchise, we’ve got a Kristen Stewart news bit of a different sort to share: a new trailer for the Jack Kerouac adaptation On the Road.  Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Sam Riley star as the central characters Marylou, Dean, and Sal, respectively, and this impressive trailer takes a more character-centric approach to the story, attempting to relay at least a little of what the film’s about.  I’m interested to see how Kerouac’s Beat Generation portrait translates to film (read Matt’s review right here), but I continue to be impressed by the brief glimpses of Hedlund’s performance that we’ve seen in the trailers thus far.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, and Elizabeth Moss.  On the Road opens on December 21st.

A couple of new posters and related images to share with you today.  We’ve got the first poster and a new image from director John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis as John McClane alongside his estranged son (Jai Courtney) as they take on those evil Commies no-goodniks Russian bad guys.  A twist on McClane’s signature catch phrase lets us know what he thinks of their country.  If you missed the trailer, check it out here. A Good Day to Die Hard opens February 14th, 2013.

We’ve also got the US poster for Walter Salles’ On the Road, starring Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart and Sam Riley. An adaptation of the Jack Kerouac novel,  On the Road drives into theaters on December 21st.  Hit the jump to check out the new posters and images for each film. 

Production is underway on the international thriller The Two Faces of January.  The film marks the directorial debut of Drive and Snow White and the Huntsman screenwriter Hossein Amini and centers on an American con artist and his wife who strike up a relationship with a stranger in 1960s Athens.  Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst star as the couple, while Oscar Isaac is onboard as said stranger.  The first image and a full synopsis have been released, detailing a rather intriguing premise that’s a tad reminiscent of The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Hit the jump to check out the image and synopsis.  Filming on the StudioCanal production is taking place in Crete, Athens, Istanbul, and London.

Of the many cool things that Marvel did at Comic-Con, I was most intrigued by the Ant-Man test footage.  The basic premise of Ant-Man (a man who can shrink to the size of an ant fights crime) is not guaranteed to work on film.  But the word on the street says director Edgar Wright nailed out the big/small transition effects, and I want to see for myself.  Marvel executive Victoria Alonso implies that I will probably get my wish.  Alonso told our partners at Omelete (roughly translated):

“What we showed at Comic-Con was a work in progress.  We’re working on finishing it, and I think you might see it.  Not sure where, but we always listen to the fans.  And if the fans demand it we make sure they get it.  I don’t know if we are going to post it online, but I don’t have [any reason] to believe we may not.”

So please demand it.  For my sake.  Hit the jump for more from Alonso, including confirmation that Wright will direct and a comment on the Viggo Mortensen/Doctor Strange rumor.

Fans of Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings) will get a double dose of the actor in Everybody Has a Plan.  The Spanish-language film set in Argentina stars Mortensen in the role of identical twin brothers.  One brother, Agustin, assumes the identity of his deceased twin, Pedro, and returns to the boys’ childhood home.  What he finds there is not a fresh start, but rather a dangerous reawakening of the criminal element that was central to his brother’s life.  Hit the jump for the full synopsis and the first trailer for Everybody Has a Plan. 

It’s rumor time!  As Marvel Studios launches further into “Phase Two” of their film slate, we’re likely to be vetting quite a few rumors over the next few years.  While most of these turn out to be false (look over the long road to The Avengers), a few here and there are solid.  A rather tantalizing rumor has now surfaced with regards to director Alan Taylor’s (Game of Thrones) sequel Thor: The Dark World, and we figured it was worth sharing.

Production on that film is currently underway in London and we already know that Christopher Eccleston is onboard as villain Malekith the Accursed, but now murmurs are making their way around the interwebs that Thor: The Dark World could also see an appearance from another major Marvel character: Dr. Strange.  Hit the jump for more.

We’ve already seen a number of trailers for director Walter Salles’ (The Motorcycle Diaries) adaptation of the Jack Kerouac novel On the Road, but the first official U.S. trailer has just now made its debut.  Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Sam Riley star as the central characters Marylou, Dean, and Sal, respectively, and this trailer is much more frenetic than what we’ve seen before.  It’s billed as a teaser trailer and thus is light on dialogue and heavy on fast cuts.  The film premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival where it received mixed reviews (read a round-up of the reactions right here), but Salles has apparently re-cut the film for its theatrical release.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, and Elizabeth Moss.  On the Road will screen at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival and opens in U.S. theaters on December 21st.

As recently as June, we posted that David Cronenberg was returning to direct Eastern Promises 2, starring Viggo Mortensen and possibly Vincent Cassel.  While things looked to be moving ahead in a positive direction only a short while ago, the production has taken a turn for the worse (or better if you weren’t looking forward to the sequel).  Apparently, the decision has come down from the Focus Features studio to scrap the project, even though production was scheduled to begin in October.  Hit the jump to hear the explanation on the about face from Cronenberg himself. 

A new trailer for director Walter Salles’ (The Motorcycle Diaries) adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road has landed online.  This trailer starts off pretty fast and loose, but then slows down a bit to give us a better sense of the characters and story.  It also features critic quotes from the film’s Cannes premiere and a peek at the scene where Kristen Stewart’s character, um, “services” Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley’s characters in the car.  I’m really impressed by what we’ve seen of Hedlund as Dean thus far, and this more character-driven trailer gives me hope that Salles found a way of translating Kerouac’s seminal novel for the big screen.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, and Elizabeth Moss.  A U.S. release date has yet to be announced.

Earlier today, the Toronto International Film Festival released their spectacular line-up for this year, and the festival has now released new images and synopses to from the movies playing at the fest.  Among the films with new images and synopses are:

• Dormant Beauty (Directed by Marco Bellocchio) Starring Isabelle Huppert, Toni Servillo, Alba Rohrwacher, Michele Riondino, Maya Sansa, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Brenno Placido, Fabrizio Falco, Gian Marco Tognazzi, and Roberto Herlitzka
• Dreams for Sale (Directed by Nishikawa Miwa) Starring Matsu Takako, Abe Sadavo, and Tanaka Lena
• English Vinglish (Directed by Gauri Shinde) Starring Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Mehdi Nebbou, and Priya Anand
• Everybody Has a Plan (Directed by Ana Piterbarg) Starring Viggo Mortensen

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.  The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 – 16th.

Here are some recent casting additions at a glance:

• Justin Long (Live Free or Die Hard) is in talks to star in the adaptation of Stephen King’s short story, The Ten O’Clock People.
• Dylan McDermott (American Horror Story) is the latest addition to the White House thriller Olympus Has Fallen, starring Aaron Eckhart and Gerard Butler.
• Oscar Isaac (Drive) is in negotiations to star opposite Viggo Mortensen in Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces of January.

Hit the jump for more on each picture.

The Dracula-themed The Last Voyage of the Demeter has been lingering in development for nearly a decade, but it finally looks like things are picking up.  The film is based on a portion of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula in which the titular vampire was transported on a ship from Transylvania to London.  The film takes place during the voyage and centers on its affect on the ship’s crew (ie. Dracula goes a-hunting at sea). David Slade was originally going to direct with Noomi Rapace and Ben Kingsley set to star, but that iteration of the project never moved forward.

New life was breathed into the film when The Descent helmer Neil Marshall signed on to direct this past May, and now producers are zeroing in on the film’s lead.  Hit the jump for more, including an update on the status of Rapace and Kingsley’s involvement.

It appears that the Eastern Promises sequel that’s been brewing for the last few years is finally happening.  Director David Cronenberg’s 2007 crime drama was extremely well received upon release, and talk then turned to a possible sequel with star Viggo Mortensen returning.  As early as last November Cronenberg was talking about the positive chances of a sequel happening, and now it appears that things are moving full-speed ahead.  However, Cronenberg apparently won’t be returning as director this time.  Vulture reports that not only is co-star Vincent Cassel in negotiations to return for the follow-up, but screenwriter Steven Knight will be taking over the director’s chair.  Hit the jump for more.

[Update: Vulture has corrected their report to say that Cronenberg will indeed direct the sequel, not Knight]