The Casting Couch: Sep. 8, 2006

Big names make deals

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Friday, September 8th 2006 at 8:12 AM

Not a ton of new casting bits, but what we have includes some rather large names and all of the news is coming straight out of Variety.

First off Warner Bros. is set to finance and distribute The Bucket List as Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman sign deals to star for director Rob Reiner. Nicholson and Freeman will play two men who break out of a ward for terminal cancer patients and embark on a road trip, knocking items off a list of things they want to do before kicking the bucket. The film is set to begin production in October. [Variety] NOTE: This news was first reported back in June.

Next up, Oscar-nominee David Strathairn is set to star in Hereafter, a drama set amid aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. Michael Patwin will direct from his own script, which is centered on an American clothing designer who must search for his wife and children after the tsunami separates the family in a remote area of Thailand, where they've been visiting the factory in which his garments are produced. The pic is set to be shot in Thailand early next year and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to benefit children forced into child labor since being orphaned by the tsunami. [Variety]

The last story finds Dennis Quaid, Rachel Weisz and Thomas Haden Church starring in Smart People for director Noam Murro. Mark Poirier wrote the script which finds Quaid playing a professor whose wife's death has turned him into a bitter eccentric. He learns to reconnect with people after falling for a former student. The film will go into production on November 6 in Pittsburgh. [Variety]