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Casting Tidbits: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jamie Bell, Colin Firth

by Ethan Anderton
February 12, 2010

Casting Tidbits phone home! First up, THR reports Jeffrey Dean Morgan has signed on to star in the Michael Bassett directed psychological thriller The Unblinking Eye. The script (which was also written by Bassett) has homicide detective John Callisto (Morgan), now a retired recluse after being nearly murdered by a serial killer, being tracked down by a relentless journalist. As the two confront each other, dark secrets from both their pasts come to light. Maybe the journalist is the serial killer, or son of the serial killer, or he's been dead the whole time! Or he's planning to reboot the same movie within the movie itself. Read on!

Second, THR reports Cary Fukunaga's adaptation of the classic piece of literature Jane Eyre is assembling quite an impressive cast. Joining the already cast Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender will be Jamie Bell (Jumper, King Kong), Judi Dench (Nine, Quantum of Solace), Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) and Imogen Poots (Me and Orson Welles, 28 Weeks Later). Bell will play St. John, a clergyman who turns out to be Eyre's cousin while Dench will play Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper of Thornfield Manor, who disapproves of Eyre's engagement with Rochester. Hawkins is Mrs. Reed, Eyre's aunt, who adopts her but abuses and neglects her until death and there's no word on what role Poots will be taking on. I'm hoping it's a surprise zombie to mix things up a bit and beat Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to the punch.

Finally, THR also reports that Colin Firth (A Single Man, Love Actually) and Michael Macfayden (Frost/Nixon, Death at a Funeral) will join Jim Sturgess in in Michael Winterbottom's The Promised Land. Don't be fooled, though, this isn't the same Promised Land that was once in line to be directed by John Hillcoat before production was shut down. Winterbottom's film, written by Laurence Coriat, is a political crime thriller set in British-ruled Palestine at the end of World War II. You know what? I'm hoping Imogen Poots makes an appearance as a surprise zombie in this one, too.

That's all for this edition of Casting Tidbits! Be sure to stay tuned for more casting updates on the way!

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