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Casting Tidbits: Patrick Dempsey, Sigourney Weaver & More

by Ethan Anderton
November 4, 2009

Patrick Dempsey, Sigourney Weaver, Alia Shawkat

Holy Casting Tidbits! First up, Variety reports Helen Mirren is joining Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis in Red, the espionage thriller based on the WildStorm/DC comic book of the same name. As we've reported previously, Robert Schwentke will be directing the Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber penned screenplay which follows a former black-ops CIA agent who lives a quiet life in retirement until the day a high-tech assassin shows up intent on killing him. Sounds like just another Wednesday in my life. No word on exactly what role Mirren will be taking on, but I can pretty much guarantee she'll be playing a woman. Keep reading!

Next up, the new Ed Helms driven comedy Cedar Rapids (which recently gained a female lead with Anne Heche) is adding three more cast members as Variety reports sci-fi queen Sigourney Weaver, young up-and-comer Alia Shawkat (Whip It), and curly-haired funnyman John C. Reilly are joining the cast. While the story follows a sad-sack insurance agent who goes to an industry convention to try and save the jobs of his colleagues, Weaver will be playing Helms' former seventh grade teacher, but Reilly and Shawkat's roles are unspecified. But with this film set in Iowa, I would at least expect lots and lots of corn.

Finally, television heart-throb Patrick Dempsey has joined an Untitled Heist Comedy from Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the same writing duo behind this summer's smash hit The Hangover. Directed by Paul McGuigan (Push), the story will center on a man caught in the middle of two different robberies at the same bank who tries to protect a bank teller with whom he's secretly in love. If this guy is going to stand up to two different groups of thieves, then this girl better be a scantily clad Scarlett Johansson.

That's all the Casting Tidbits we've got for now. Stay tuned for more casting updates to come!

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CJ

That's a picture of Sigourny Weaver, not Helen Mirren
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

Yea, we referenced Sigourney Weaver later on in the post as she is joining the cast of Cedar Rapids.
http://www.firstshowing.net Ethan Anderton

Thanks, CJ! That's why Sigourney Weaver is mentioned in the headline and not the whole story. You'll find Sigourney Weaver's casting news in the second paragraph. Thanks for READING.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

I don't know exactly how it all works and how titles work... I think if you get the producers (or the studio) from the other film with the same name to agree that your new film has the same name, it's fine. I'm not sure how the legalities of all that work?
http://www.firstshowing.net Ethan Anderton

Thanks, Bollywood for at least pointing out a legitimate mistake. It's been corrected. And I also agree that the title copyright nonsense is a bit crazy. I also noticed that the font for Cameron's Avatar title is very similar to the font used for "The Last Airbender" sub-title from the previous animated Avatar works. Very strange indeed.
Bollywood

While we're at correcting mistakes, "sci-fi queen Sigourney Weaver, young up-and-comer Alia Shawkat (Whip It), and curly-haired funnyman John C. Reilly" add up to 3, not 2
Bollywood

Btw, do you guys know how copyrighting movie names work? M. Night Shyamalan couldn't use Avatar as his movie's name because it was already registered/copyrighted by James Cameron, while there are so many other movies with the same names. For example, Bruce Willis' Red as mentioned above and there's a 2008 movie called Red too. I've so many others too. So what is going on? Is Cameron's copyright written in stone while others' on sand?
Bollywood

Thanks guys. I don't know how you manage to reply to so many comments beside frequently posting well-written news articles. This name copyright issue is kinda bothering me all the time, since I come across it so often. The saying "out of sight, out of mind" is so true. It's such an insignificant matter but since it's always at back of my mind, it's so annoying ... and you're welcome, Ethan