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Leading Ladies: Dunst in Melancholia, Farmiga in a Western

by Alex Billington
April 16, 2010

Two casting stories for two great actresses. First up, Deadline reports that Kirsten Dunst has landed the lead role in Lars von Trier's new film Melancholia. Dunst got the role when Penelope Cruz (first rumored in February) backed out to do Pirates of the Caribbean 4 instead. This is described as a "sci-fi disaster film" about a planet named Melancholia that "looms threateningly close to Earth." It will shoot July to September in Sweden. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander & Stellan Skarsgaard and Udo Kier are all in the cast. I'm quite excited to see a sci-fi film from the very controversial von Trier. More casting below!

In completely unrelated news, Variety reports that the lovely Oscar nominated Vera Farmiga (last seen in Up in the Air) is set to star in indie western called A Thousand Guns. The film has less than a $10 million budget and is about a preacher's wife and her journey of revenge. Spanish filmmaker Daniel Calparsoro will direct from a script written by Russell Friedenberg. Farmiga plays a missionary turned powerful gunslinger in this rogue western that's set "in a world where the dead command the living" and features a demon gun called El Rojo. This sounds pretty damn cool, so we'll keep our eye on it as it moves towards production.

Explore tags: Casting, Movie News, Opinions

DiR3cT

Jesus anyone but Farmiga.
denial

Really? the gun is called "El Rojo" "The Red" doesnt sound like a demon gun "El Muerte" "The Death" might be better name for a demon gun.
my name is...

since when was kirsten dunst a great actress?...lol
1-7

Why any woman would want to work with that misogynist Trier is beyond me. Best to put him in a straight jacket and be done with him.
Cineprog

Von Trier is a bit like the 70s version of Ken Russell, he like to shock the audience with something you don't expect.
Xerxex

#3 since "Interview With The Vampire" next to Natalie Portman from "Leon" but as of recent Dunst hasn't really been in anything to brag about, maybe this will fix her slump? I'm excited to see Vera Farmiga in A Thousand Guns, we really don't have enough Westerns today, I mean after "Unforgiven" they seemed to just flutter away, "3:10 To Yuma" at least brought some life back into the Western genre, and Farmiga as a vengeful missionary just sounds pretty damn exciting.