Following up Sasquatch Sunset, it was announced the Zellner Brothers would embark on the alien invasion comedy Alpha Gang led by Cate Blanchett. They’ve now amassed quite an ensemble, with Dave Bautista, Steven Yeun, Zoë Kravitz, Léa Seydoux, Riley Keough, and Channing Tatum all coming aboard the project, Deadline reports. Here’s the synopsis: Alpha Gang centers on a group of alien invaders sent to conquer Earth. Disguised in human form as a 1950s leather-clad biker gang, dubbed the Alpha Gang. They are ruthless in their mission, until they succumb to the most toxic and contagious human condition of all: emotions.”
Al Pacino has some new cast members for his next feature. Jessica Chastain, Brendan Fraser, and Bryan Cranston have joined Barry Levinson’s mystery thriller Assassination, scripted by David Mamet. Deadline reports the film explores a new angle on the JFK conspiracy, “centering around Kilgallen (Chastain), one of the most famous voices in media at the time. When she suspects that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone, she uses her fame and influence to find President John F. Kennedy’s real killer. Part murder mystery, part film noir, Kilgallen’s journey will put her up against the CIA, mafia bosses and the FBI, all who would love nothing more than to make her and this story disappear.”
Margaret Qualley is reteaming with Sanctuary director Zachary Wigon for the psychological horror thriller film Victorian Psycho. Ahead of production beginning this March, here’s the synopsis: “In 1858, a young, eccentric governess named Winifred Notty (Margaret Qualley) arrives at the remote gothic manor known as Ensor House. Winifred’s responsibilities include teaching the children table manners and educating them about their family’s history, all whilst hiding her psychopathic tendencies. As Winifred assimilates into life at Ensor House, staff members begin to inexplicably disappear, and the owners of the estate begin to wonder if there is something amiss about their new governess.”
After his accomplished 2021 debut A New Old Play, Qiu Jiongjiong has begun production on his next feature Fuxi, starring Lee Kang-sheng, Lee Hong-chi, Annie Chen, Darran Wang, and Fan Kuang-yao. Variety reports the film uses “food as a through-line to explore a narrative that blends myths, legends, literature and folk tales.” They add, “The narrative is told in four chapters, through four festivities and tells a tale that involves the living, the dying, the dead, and the very long dead,” with the four parts being: “a funeral feast some 4,000 years ago where a grandmother severs her tail and gifts it to her descendants; a spring festival 3,000 years ago where a former king returns as a bird and suffers at a banquet; A mid-autumn banquet in the 1990s where spirits gather to honor a millennium-old epicurean poet; and a birthday repast at which a waif meets underworld deities.” See the first look below.
Dead Pigs and Bird of Prey director Cathy Yan has found her next film with The Gallerist. Set to star Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega, Deadline reports the film “follows a desperate gallerist who conspires to sell a dead guy at Art Basel Miami.”
Gregg Araki has wrapped production on his next feature I Want Your Sex, starring Olivia Wilde, Cooper Hoffman, and Charli XCX. Deadline now reveals Daveed Diggs, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Johnny Knoxville, and Margaret Cho round out the cast. The film follows a renowned artist who taps a younger man to become her sexual muse.
Speaking of Olivia Wilde, she’s teamed with Gael García Bernal to star in Monkey Hill, helmed by Sarah Adina Smith (The Drop, Buster’s Mal Heart). Here’s the synopsis from Deadline: “In Monkey Hill, an heiress accused of a white-collar crime hides away with her husband at a luxury resort in an Indian holy city. In deep denial of the growing scandal, they distract themselves with sexual escapades and spiritual dalliances. Meanwhile, the hotel staff who pamper them by the pool return each night to a village plagued by civil unrest and a deadly water crisis. When the couple ventures past the hotel gates that protect them, they awaken the sleeping giant of fate.”
Alicia Vikander, Victoria Pedretti, and Wagner Moura have wrapped Rachel Rose’s debut The Last Day, Variety reports. The film, backed by Killer Films and David Kaplan, follows “a writer and mother who confronts her lack of creative purpose and embarks on a journey of rediscovering herself after encountering figures from her past.”
Armie Hammer has set his acting return with the western Frontier Crucible, Deadline reports. Directed by Travis Mills (The Pendragon Cycle) and backed by Bone Tomahawk and Dragged Across Concrete producer Dallas Sonnier, the film is set in the Arizona Territory of the 1870s, following a former soldier (Myles Clohessy) with a tragic past who is thrown into an uneasy alliance with three outlaws (Thomas Jane, Armier Hammer and Jonah Kagen), a beautiful woman (Mary Stickley), and her wounded husband (Eli Brown), in an attempt to survive the elements and hostiles of the western frontier.
Skinamarink director Kyle Edward Ball has set his next film with The Land of Nod, set up at A24, Variety reports. While no plot details have been unveiled, it packs quite a production team: Ronald Bronstein, Eli Bush and Josh Safdie under their new production banner Central Pictures; SpectreVision’s Lawrence Inglee, Daniel Noah and Elijah Wood; as well as Tatiana Bears and Bruno Vernaschi Berman. Theo Vieljeux will executive produce.
Lastly, in another small but exciting update, Denzel Washington revealed he’s developing projects with Steve McQueen and Ryan Coogler in an interview with The Root.
The post Léa Seydoux, Lee Kang-sheng, Margaret Qualley, Steven Yeun, Natalie Portman, Armie Hammer & More Set Next Roles first appeared on The Film Stage.
