Casting Catch Up – Colin Firth, Christian Bale, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw & Paul Greengrass

Written on August 28, 2011 by Paul

A few stories and rumors from the casting world always slip through our net. So we figured come the end of the week we start bringing you a little catch up of any of the news flying around the web we may have missed. In our first catch up we have some news and rumors involving British actors Colin Firth, Jim Sturgess, Christian Bale and Ben Whishaw, plus details of British director Paul Greengrass’ latest project.

It’s just a rumor, but an exciting one! Apparently Colin Firth has expressed a desire to star opposite (the already cast) Carey Mulligan in the upcoming adaptation of My Fair Lady. John Madden (Shakespeare In Love) will direct and Emma Thompson has written the remake of the 1964 musical.
If the rumor mill is correct then Firth will play Henry Higgins in a role made famous by Rex Harrison.

Christian Bale is currently busy filming the next Batman movie but already looks set to be ready to put pen to paper on a couple of new contracts.
If the rumors are true he will be starring in the Spike Lee directed remake of the Asian cult classic, Oldboy and the Clint Eastwood directed remake of A Star is Born alongside Beyonce.

Jim Sturgess is currently in theaters in One Day and last week he signed up for his next project. He will begin filming within the next couple of weeks on the Wachowski brothers’ new movie, Cloud Atlas.
Sturgess completes the all-star line up of Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Ben Whishaw, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon and Jim Broadbent in this ambitious adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel that follows six separate characters through multiple time frames.

Currently wowing audiences on BBC America in The Hour, rumor has it that Ben Whishaw may have already landed a role in the untitled Bond 23 directed by Sam Mendes. If true it won’t be the first time he has starred with Daniel Craig having already appeared alongside the latest Bond in Layer Cake.
The next 007 movie is set for release in November 2012 and Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes are also being considered for two unnamed leads.

Finally British director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum) has signed up for his next project. This story is hopefully true as it was announced by the author of the book the film is to be based on!
According to author Robert Harris, Greengrass is attached to direct an adaptation of his forthcoming book, The Fear Index, a thriller about an impending meltdown in the financial markets.