Casting Round-Up with Gary Oldman, Dakota Johnson, and Rachel Weisz

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It's ladies night when it comes to this casting round-up but good ol' Gary Oldman still manages to make an appearance, I doubt anyone will complain. The legend has taken time out of doing his endless Eric Clapton impression and has lined up a role opposite Kevin Costner in the upcoming sci-fi thriller CRIMINAL, the great news is that he will be playing the villain.

CRIMINAL is being directed by Ariel Vroman (THE ICEMAN) and stars Costner as a prison inmate who is implanted with the memories of a dead CIA operative in order to prevent a large-scale catastrophe. Will Oldman be playing an over-the-top baddy like Stansfield from THE PROFESSIONAL? That’s the question I ask myself every time he’s cast in a movie. I think that’s where they missed a trick with Commissioner Gordon; he should have been batshit.

Dakota Johnson, who you may recognize from a few minor rolls over the years (THE SOCIAL NETWORK, 21 JUMP STREET), is about to have the eyes of a lot of men and women when she stars in FIFTY SHADES OF GREY early next year. She also wrapped work on BLACK MASS opposite Johnny Depp. She's likely using that future spotlight to line up some other roles as well including headlining the upcoming big screen adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid's debut novel FOREVER, INTERRUPTED.

FOREVER, INTERRUPTED tells the story of Elise (Johnson), a young woman who elopes after a whirlwind romance and then must face the sudden death of her adoring husband. She must come to terms with his loss while forming an unlikely relationship with his mother – who didn’t know she existed.

The last romantic drama that I watched was GHOST. I could have watched THE VOW but I chose the movie that’s almost 25 years old and that I have seen many times. This might say something about the state of current romantic movies, or my Monday nights.

And finally, the lovable Rachel Weisz is in talks to Join Michael Fassbender in an adaptation of the M.L. Stedman's novel THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS. The drama will be directed by the great Derek Cianfrance, who last directed the Ryan Gosling in the highly underrated THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES.

Set on an island off the coast of Western Australia after World War I, the book tells of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who find a 2-month-old girl and a dead body in a rowboat and decide to raise the baby as their own. But what seems like a blessing soon turns tragic, as morality and love are tested.

Well that sounds dark and interesting, if it weren't for the cast and director I may have written this one off, but I am intrigued. Did they keep the boat!?