Casting Bits: Penn Badgley Is Jeff Buckley, Andrea Riseborough Joins ‘Welcome To The Punch’, Sarah Shahi To Play Sylvester Stallone’s Daughter In Walter Hill Project
Gossip GirlactorPenn Badgleyhas been tapped to star asJeff Buckleyin a new biopic about the singer-songwriter. No, notthat one— the other one. In true Hollywood fashion, there are currently two Buckley-based projects in the works: the one Jake Scott’s making with Buckley’s mother Mary Guibert as executive producer, and this one, directed byDaniel Algrant(Naked in New York). Scott’s film will be look at Buckley’s (tragically brief) life and career arc, whereas Algrant’s will focus on Buckley’s breakthrough performance at a 1991 tribute concert for his father, the late Tim Buckley. According toThe Playlist, Algrant’s will also include a romance between Buckley and a working at the concert.
I really only know Badgley fromEasy Aand the handful ofGossip Girlepisodes I’ve seen, and I can’t say he’s ever left a strong impression on me. (Well — I hated hisGossip Girlcharacter, but that’s probably less his fault than the writers'.) So I can’t say whether this will be a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, there’s a chance he’ll be going up against fellow teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson, who’s still rumored to be circling the corresponding role in Scott’s movie. [24 Frames]
After the jump, rising star Andrea Riseborough wins the female lead inWelcome to the Punch, andFairly Legal’s Sarah Shahi signs on for Walter Hill’s next project.
Sarah Shahi, best known as the star of USA’sFairly Legal, has just been cast to playSylvester Stallone’s daughter in that untitledWalter Hillaction thrillerformerly known asHeadshot. Adapted fromMatzandColin Wilson’s graphic novelBullet to the Head, the film follows a New Orleans hitman (Stallone) and an NYPD detective who come together after their respective partners are murdered to launch “a high-stakes investigation that leads from the dingy back alleys of New Orleans all the way to the power corridors of Washington, D.C.” (Criminals forming alliances with detectives is the theme of today’s Casting Bits, apparently.)Thomas Janewas announced earlier this spring for the part of the cop, but his name was left out of that last Warner Bros. press release, and isn’t mentioned in thisVarietyarticle, either.Fast FivestarSung Kangremains on board, though his role has not been announced. Production on the project is scheduled to begin this month in Louisiana. [Variety]
