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Casting Tidbits: Daniel Day-Lewis, Andy Garcia & Ray Liotta

by Ethan Anderton
May 25, 2010

None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with Casting Tidbits! First up, The Observer is reporting that Daniel Day-Lewis is the favorite to play Charles Dickens in Out the Window, a film from director Armando Iannucci (In the Loop) based on Claire Tomalin's biography The Invisible Woman. The story follows a passionate secret love between Dickens and a young actress called Nelly Ternan, all while the popular author touted family values in his bestselling works. Nothing is finalized yet though as Ben Whishaw (Bright Star, Perfume) is also being considered for the role as well. Read on!

Next, Variety reports Ray Liotta will joined Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in Mario Van Peebles' indie drama Things Fall Apart. The film's story focuses on a star football running back, played by Jackson, who faces a personal tragedy as well as his own mortality while in his senior year in college. Jackson seems a little too old to be playing someone in college, but interestingly the script is also co-written by Jackson along with Brian Miller, so I guess it's easy to land the lead role in a film you've wrote and are also producing. Liotta will play a doctor who has some sort of integral part in Jackson's character's life.

Next, THR reports that Andy Garcia, Mario Van Peebles, Luke Goss and Aidan Quinn will all be starring in The Exodus of Charlie Wright, an indie crime drama written, produced and directed by R. Ellis Frazier. The story centers on Charlie (Quinn), a Los Angeles billionaire financial whiz who goes into self-imposed exile in Tijuana after his empire is revealed to have been a Ponzi scheme. While looking for the woman he abandoned there 25 years before, Charlie is pursued by a Mexican gangster (Garcia), a federal agent (Van Peebles) and thugs sent by a former client (Goss) looking to retrieve his money.

Also, MTV reports Jake Abel (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) has taken a role in D.J. Caruso's big sci-fi adaptation I Am Number Four. The story follows nine aliens who survive destruction of their homeworld at the hands of a rival race and decide to hide out on Earth under the guise of humans. Abel will play one of the social rivals at the high school where the titular Number Four (Alex Pettyfer) attends in disguise. Abel says his character, Mark, "is a football player at the school and he's skeptical of [Number Four] because he's trying to move in on his ex-girlfriend. He's the high school jock who's just loaded with insecurities. He masks them with his bravado and intimidation, but he's threatened because this new kid is coming to school and there's a lot of attention on him." But his character won't be involved in any of the sci-fi action.

Finally, THR reports "True Blood" star Grant Bowler has picked up a couple of new roles in two different projects. First, he has signed on to star alongside Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro in The Killer Elite, the story about the real-life efforts of a private British vigilante group to eliminate a band of contract killers. Bowler will play Captain James Cregg, an SAS officer and war hero who is one of the targets. In addition he has also signed on to star in The City of Gardens, an indie drama which centers on a young California surfer in 1980 who is framed and thrown in a Peruvian jail for political prisoners before escaping. Bowler will play a schizophrenic named Jesus Christ who is stuck in solitary confinement with the surfer.

Well, 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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