We’ve got a few casting stories to share today. Briefly:
- Michael Caine and Jennifer Garner have boarded the aging rock star film Imagine, joining Al Pacino, Annette Bening, and Bobby Cannavale in the cast.
- Samuel L. Jackson will play the President of the United States in the actioner Big Game.
- Jennifer Jason Leigh (Weeds), David Thewlis (Harry Potter), and Tom Noonan (Heat) will reprise their roles from the stage play version of Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa in the animated feature film adaptation, which Kaufman is co-directing.
Hit the jump for more on each of these projects.
Per Deadline, Jennifer Garner and Michael Caine have signed on to star opposite Al Pacino in the drama Imagine. Pacino stars as an an aging 1970s rocker who discovers an undelivered letter written to him when he has 19 by John Lennon that spurs him to straighten his life out and connect with the son he’s never known. Crazy, Stupid, Love. scribe Dan Fogelman is making his directorial debut on the project based on his own script, and production is set to begin in late June/early July in LA.
Additionally, THR reports that Samuel L. Jackson has been set to play the U.S. President in director Jalmari Helander’s English-language debut, Big Game. The actioner “tells the story of a shy, nervous 13-year-old boy who, like his forefathers, takes a test of manhood by spending one day and night alone in the wilderness of a vast local forest.” While camping alone in the woods, the young boy discovers the escape pod from a downed Air Force One containing the President, and the two must team up to combat a group of terrorists who are closing in. Alex Garland (Dredd) will executive produce.
Finally, the voice cast for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s first animated film is firming up. Screen Daily reports that Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan, and David Thewlis will lend their voices to Anomalisa, reprising their roles from the original stage iteration of the film. Kaufman is co-directing the pic with Duke Johnson, and he also wrote the script. Production is already underway with Community alums Dan Harmon, Dino Stamatopoulos, and Joe Russo acting as executive producers. A fair amount of the film’s financing was raised through Kickstarter, and Carter Burwell has committed to composing the score.
