SNL 1975 finds a Janis Ian, Ice Spice joins Spike Lee joint, and more casting news of the week

The next television season is starting to shape up with new pilot casting (Kat Dennings teaming up with Tim Allen! A murder comedy starring Melissa Fumero and AnnaSophia Robb!) in addition to plenty of buzzy movie news from the likes of Spike Lee, Edgar Wright, and Ryan Coogler. Here’s all the casting news you may have missed this week.

Well, there’s a new Smurfs movie with a stacked cast

Next year’s Valentine’s Day is about to be lit for you if, deep down, you’re still a Smurf-head: A new Smurfs movie is releasing in 2025 (per Deadline). At this year’s CinemaCon, Paramount unveiled the voice cast lineup, and at least that’s looking extremely promising. Joining the previously announced Rihanna are Natasha Lyonne, Nick Offerman, Billie Lourd, John Goodman, Kurt Russell, Xolo Maridueña, Amy Sedaris, Sandra Oh, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Octavia Spencer, Dan Levy, and JP Karliak. James Corden will also be present. Chris Miller and Matt Landon are co-directing this new Smurfs iteration. [Saloni Gajjar]

Ice Spice in Spike Lee’s High And Low

Ice Spice, the famous rapper, is going to appear in Spike Lee’s next joint, a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s High And Low, per Variety. The movie marks Munch’s film debut—though we all saw her act as the third to Lemon and Lime in a Starry Superbowl spot this past winter. High And Low is also the fifth collaboration between Lee and Denzel Washington, who previously made Malcolm X, Mo Better Blues, He Got Game, and Inside Man together. [Matt Schimkowitz]

Glen Powell’s taking over with The Running Man remake

Because it’s the era for dystopian movies to shine, the 1987 action drama The Running Man, based on Stephen King’s novel, is getting a fresh remake. As announced at CinemaCon this week, Edgar Wright is directing the film with Glen Powell taking over the role Arnold Schwarzenegger played in the original. The Running Man is set in a totalitarian regime where citizens are forced to participate in violent games. It looks like Powell is quickly affirming his leading man era with Anyone But You, the upcoming Hit Man and Twisters, and now this remake. Only the real ones—those who saw him play Chad Radwell in Scream Queens—knew this was coming. [Saloni Gajjar]

Marc Maron to play Owen Wilson’s BFF in a new comedy

Another week, another casting announcement from Apple TV+ for their upcoming golf comedy. The as-yet-untitled series already stars Owen Wilson and Peter Dager, with Marc Maron joining them as a series regular (per Variety). Wilson plays a former pro-golfer, Prcye Cahill, whose life goes to crap after financial trouble and a divorce. So he bets on a budding golf player and decides to train him. Maron plays Pryce’s BFF, Mitts. [Saloni Gajjar]

David Harbour, Michael Peña and more join David Ayer and Sylvester Stallone’s Levon’s Trade

Levon’s Trade—the Jason Statham-starring action flick from director David Ayer and script-writer Sylvester Stallone (yes, that Sylvester Stallone), just added even more star power to its roster. Statham will be joined by David Harbour (Stranger Things), Michael Peña (Narcos: Mexico), Jason Flemyng (Boiling Point) and Arianna Rivas (The Harvest), as well as Noemi Gonzalez, Emmett Scanlan, Eve Mauro, Maximilian Osinski, Kristina Poli, Andrej Kaminsky, and Isla Gie (via Deadline). Based on the novel by comic author Chuck Dixon, the film will follow Statham’s character, Levon, as he re-enters the world of black ops to help save his boss’ missing daughter. [Emma Keates]

Hailee Steinfeld, Jayme Lawson, and more join untitled Ryan Coogler thriller

Ryan Coogler’s still-untitled thriller starring Michael B. Jordan is only heating up. While plot details are being kept under wraps, the film has added Hailee Steinfeld (Dickinson), Jayme Lawson (The Batman), Wunmi Mosaku (Loki), Delroy Lindo (The Good Fight), and Jack O’Connell (Ferrari) to its cast (per Deadline). Nothing else about the film is official yet, but The Hollywood Reporter claims that, according to insiders, it’s set in the Jim Crow-era South and potentially involves vampires or some other Southern supernatural tradition. [Emma Keates]

Paul Bettany joins Will Sharpe in Mozart bio-series, Amadeus

The biopic trend isn’t just coming for modern musicians like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen; it’s also hitting classic composers like Mozart and his rival, Italian composer Antonio Salieri. According to Variety, Paul Bettany has just signed on to play Salieri in the aforementioned limited series, Amadeus, which previously announced that The White Lotus’ Will Sharpe would be taking on the titular role. Produced by Sky Studios and created by Joe Barton and Julian Farino, the series will “will expand and interrogate the mythic rivalry of the two composers.” [Emma Keates]

NBC pilot casts Melissa Fumero, AnnaSophia Robb, Ben Rappaport

Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn 99), AnnaSophia Robb (Dr. Death), and Ben Rappaport (For The People) have all been cast in a new NBC pilot, titled Grosse Pointe Garden Society. According to Deadline, they’ll play three out of four members of a suburban garden club “who get caught up in murder and mischief as they struggle to make their conventional lives bloom” (per Deadline). We’ll see if this one goes more in a Big Little Lies or Santa Clarita Diet direction. [Emma Keates]

Julianne Moore to star opposite James McAvoy in Control

Maybe this time she’ll be recognized by the Academy! Julianne Moore is set to star opposite James McAvoy in Control, a thriller based on the award-winning “feature length audio movie” podcast, Shipworm. McAvoy will play Dr. Conway, who wakes up one morning hearing a voice in his head that goes on to make escalating demands, which he must follow or face horrific consequences. Specifics about Moore’s character haven’t been released yet, but according to Deadline she plays “a pivotal character with which the doctor must contend.” [Emma Keates]

Colin Farrell set to lead Netflix film, The Ballad Of A Small Player

His Apple TV+ series, Sugar, just premiered, and he still has The Penguin yet to come, but Colin Farrell isn’t slowing down any time soon. According to Deadline, the actor just signed on to lead Netflix’s The Ballad Of A Small Player, directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) and written by Rowan Joffe (Before I Go to Sleep). According to a synopsis, The Ballad Of A Small Player, “centers on a high-stakes gambler who is dealing with debts and his questionable past while trying to keep a low profile in Macau when he meets a kindred spirit.” [Emma Keates]

Only Murders In The Building adds even more people

Just when you thought Only Murders In The Building couldn’t top its season three Meryl Streep addition, those crazy kids went out and got essentially all of Hollywood involved in season four. Per Deadline, the show announced that Richard Kind, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Catherine Cohen, and Jin Ha would all be joining the cast this week, in addition to previously-announced newcomers, Molly Shannon, Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, Desmin Borges, Siena Werber and Lilian Rebelo. Meryl Streep will, thankfully, also be back. While no character descriptions have been released yet, the season will focus on the murder of Charles’ stunt double Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), which happened at the end of season three. [Emma Keates]

Kat Dennings joins Tim Allen in ABC pilot

Kat Dennings is returning back to the world of multi-cam sitcoms in a new ABC pilot, titled Shifting Gears, where she will star alongside Tim Allen. Dennings is set to play Allen’s character’s daughter Riley, who moves back home with her two kids after a divorce. According to the show’s official logline (via Variety), “Matt (Allen) is the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. When Matt’s estranged daughter (Dennings) and her teenage kids move into his house, the real restoration begins.” [Emma Keates]

Diego Luna and Tonatiuh star in J.Lo’s next flick

Diego Luna (Andor) and Tonatiuh (Vida) are will both join Jennifer Lopez in Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, an adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical based on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel of the same name (per Deadline). Luna and Tonatiuh will play Valentin Arregui and Luis Molina, respectively. Previously adapted by Héctor Babenco in 1985, the musical is set in an Argentinian prison, where an incarcerated window dresser (Tonatiuh) passes the days by dreaming of a movie starring Ingrid Luna (Lopez). Everything changes when Valentin (Luna), a Marxist revolutionary, is forced to share his cell. [Emma Keates]

Ernie Hudson joins Oswald Down The Rabbit Hole

Ernie Hudson has joined the cast of horror film Oswald Down The Rabbit Hole, in which he’ll play the titular Oswald—an animator cast away to a terrifying, magical prison. This one sounds like a mix of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Donnie Darko. The official synopsis (via Deadline) reads: “After over 100 years of being trapped there, Oswald’s come-to-life cartoon rabbit is menacing, gruesome and out for blood.” Other previously announced cast members include Topher Hall and Yasha Rayzberg, who play Oswald’s grandchildren, Art and Evan. [Emma Keates]

Anthony Hopkins stars in the biblical thriller, Mary

Immaculate and The First Omen aren’t the only Catholic horror films in the conversation right now. Production has also begun on Mary, a biblical thriller starring Anthony Hopkins and Noa Cohen. According to a summary from Deadline, “In coming-of-age story Mary, the title character is shunned following the otherworldly conception of her child and forced into hiding. King Herod’s relentless drive to maintain power at any cost ignites the murderous pursuit of the newborn child that he believes is a threat to his reign on the throne. The film sees the young Mary and Joseph on the run and having to hide their baby, Jesus, at all costs.” “At this time of my life, I’m drawn to the challenge of complex scripts,” Hopkins said of the film. “As well, the level of the detail given to this production with extraordinary sets, props and costumes—makes me proud to be a part of this.” [Emma Keates]

The Accountant 2 rounds out cast

Just in time for tax day, The Accountant 2—director Gavin O’Connor’s follow up to his original 2016 thriller—has added four new members to its already stacked cast (per Deadline). Daniella Pineda, Allison Robertson, Robert Morgan and Grant Harvey will join Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, J.K. Simmons and Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who are reprising their roles in the action franchise. In the sequel, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina (Addai-Robinson) is forced to work with Christian Wolff (Affleck) and Brax (Bernthal) after her boss is murdered by unknown assassins. [Emma Keates]

Randall Park joins the thriller Eenie Meanie

Samara Weaving’s upcoming heist thriller Eenie Meanie is finally expanding its roster. Randall Park and Kyanna Simone (Chambers) have joined the Shawn Simmons film. It centers on Weaving’s Edie, who is lured back into her criminal past when she is forced to save the life of her “chronically unreliable boyfriend,” played by Karl Glusman. The movie is expected to release on Hulu, according to Deadline. [Saloni Gajjar]

Noah Centineo, Michael Gandolfini, and more joined stacked Warfare ensemble

Warfare is shaping up to be the new Oppenheimer with how it’s casting every dude in Hollywood. According to Deadline, Noah Centineo, Taylor John Smith, Adain Bradley, Michael Gandolfini, Henrique Zaga and Evan Holtzman have signed on to serve in the new film co-directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, who also co-wrote the script. Previously announced cast include Charles Melton, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis, Will Poulter and Finn Bennett. Warfare will allegedly be Garland’s final directorial effort. [Mary Kate Carr]

MUNA’s Naomi McPherson is SNL 1975's Janis Ian

At this point, the cast of Jason Reitman’s SNL 1975 could start their own groundbreaking variety show. The latest addition to the extremely stacked band of repertory players is MUNA’s Naomi McPherson, who will make their acting debut as SNL’s first-ever musical guest, Janis Ian. MUNA is best known for songs like “Silk Chiffon” (with Phoebe Bridgers) and “One That Got Away.” McPherson joins Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Dylan O’Brien, Lamorne Morris, Cory Michael Smith, and more in the upcoming film, which will document Saturday Night Live’s premiere on October 11, 1975. [Emma Keates]