Already announced as a producer on the project, it looks like Tom Hanks will reunite on screen—briefly—with Meg Ryan. The actor is set to make a cameo appearance in "Ithaca," which follows 14-year-old Homer Macauley, who is determined to be the best and fastest bicycle telegraph messenger anyone has ever seen. His older brother has gone to war leaving Homer to look after his widowed mother, his older sister and his 4-year-old brother, Ulysses. And so it is that as spring turns to summer, 1942, Homer Macauley delivers messages of love, hope, pain and death to the good people of Ithaca. And Homer Macauley will grapple with one message that will change him forever – from a boy into a man. Hanks will play Homer’s father. Ryan is directing too, and production is slated to start this summer. [THR]
"What Richard Did" breakout star Jack Reynor—who will also be seen this weekend in "Transformers: Age Of Extinction"—will take the lead role in the Casey Affleck-penned and -directed biopic of baseball slugger Josh Hamilton. The movie will tell the inspiration tale of how Hamilton overcame drug addiction and became a slugging superstar. [Deadline]
Jason Sudeikis is joining Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig in the comedy project formerly known as "Loomis Fargo," that has "Napoleon Dynamite" helmer Jared Hess behind the camera. Based on a true story, it follows "David (Galifianakis), a disgruntled armored car driver who teams up with a pretty co-worker (Wiig) and a group of inexperienced criminals to steal nearly $20 million from a bank vault. The thieves leave a glaring trail of evidence in their wake as they go on excessive spending sprees and buy mansions, sports cars and boats. To make matters worse, the driver’s accomplices double-cross him and leave him alone on the run in Mexico while they live the good life off the loot back in the States. Now on the lam and in over his head, David must dodge the authorities and try to turn the tables on the ones he trusted most." Sudeikis will play a hit man and filming begins next month. [The Wrap]
Will Poulter—last seen getting a spiderbite on his junk in "We’re The Millers"—is going the dramatic route, landing a role in "The Revenant" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. Alejandro González Iñárritu will direct this one about "a 1820s frontiersman on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling." Production starts in the fall. [Variety]
Current hot young thing Ansel Elgort is lining up yet another project: "Van Cliburn." He’ll play the piano playing talent from America who wowed Russian judges at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition during the heigh of the Cold War. Andrew Stern ("Disconnect") will write the script. No word yet on who will direct. [Deadline]
Maria Bello, Olympia Dukakis, Joan Jett, and Will Harris will star in a Lifetime adaptation of Stephen King‘s "Big Driver." The movie will center on "Tess Thorne (Bello), a mystery and thriller writer who gets stranded while driving at night in New England and then repeatedly assaulted by the man who rescues her. Thorne, left for dead with the bodies of her rescuer’s murder victims, manages to get home safely, but finds herself obsessed with exacting revenge." Things are moving fast because the finished product will air this fall. [CNN]
And lastly, Dermot Mulroney has joined "Insidious: Chapter 3" with filming to kick off next month, and a release date already set for April 3, 2015.
Meg Ryan, wow, there is a blast from the past. I loved her in the 90s but have not thought about her once since then. I imagine the Russell Crowe thing kind of destroyed her "girl next door" image. Plus we don't like our actresses older than 40, except if your name is Meryl Streep.
All this being said, maybe Meg has a talent for directing. It would be nice to see her become at least a little more relevant.