Welcome to Development Hell, the fiery pit into which we fling recent developments in casting, distribution, and everything else that’s new and mildly interesting in the Boschian phantasmagoria of the entertainment industry.
- Gal Gadot’s going to help John C. Reilly break the internet; Deadline reports that the Wonder Woman star has signed on for a voice role as “Shank” in the upcoming Wreck-It Ralph 2. The lead character in a gritty, Carmageddon-esque battle racing game called Slaughter Race, Shank runs into Ralph and Sarah Silverman’s Vanellope when they need to snag a replacement part from her game. (Don’t worry, though: Gadot promises that she’s really very “fun, wise and warm” under all the leather and death.)
- Because nostalgia is the one villain no hero can truly defeat, Variety reports that Disney Channel’s upcoming live-action Kim Possible movie will include a cameo from the original teenage super spy herself, voice actress Christy Carlson Romano. (Sadie Stanley, meanwhile, is playing the film’s primary Kim.) Patton Oswalt—who played recurring villain Professor Dementor on the long-running cartoon—will reprise the role for the movie, too. (No word yet on whether Will “Ron Stoppable” Friedle will be making a similar detour.) The film is expected to air on Disney Channel in 2019.
- Roland Emmerich’s Midway continues to line up warm bodies for him to hurl explosives and CGI warplanes at; Deadline reports that Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Tadanobu Asano, and Keean Johnson have all signed on for the film. Based on the World War II battle, the film is Emmerich’s first since the much-derided Independence Day: Resurgence in 2016.
- Hilary Swank’s going noir, with Deadline reporting that the two-time Oscar winner is set to star in Deon Taylor’s new film, Fatale. In case the name didn’t give it away, the movie is about a bad woman (Swank) manipulating a dumb man (as yet uncast) into a diabolical murder plot.
- Jessica Chastain’s new action-thriller Eve has hit a major setback, with Variety reporting that director Matthew Newton has stepped down from the film after its announcement causes online backlash related to allegations of assault and domestic violence against him. Per Variety: “Newton pleaded guilty in 2007 to physically assaulting his then-girlfriend, actress Brooke Satchwell. In 2010, Newton’s fiancee Rachael Taylor accused him of two “unprovoked assaults” and was granted a two-year domestic violence order against him.” He issued a statement about the news yesterday, discussing his struggles with mental illness and addiction, but also admitting, “I can never undo the harm that I’ve caused the people I’ve cared about and I carry that shame and responsibility with me every day.” It’s not clear what this means for the film, especially since Newton also penned the movie’s script.
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