Casting round-up with tidbits on Laurence Fishburne, Meryl Streep, Mila Kunis, Oprah Winfrey, and more

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

– Laurence Fishburne (MAN OF STEEL) and Kevin Zegers (“Gossip Girl”) are in final negotiations to join indie sci-fi thriller THE COLONY from director Jeff Renfroe (editor on ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL). The $16 million feature, “about a group of underground survivors after the next Ice Age fending off an invasion of feral cannibals,” starts shooting in Toronto next week.

– “Community” cutie Gillian Jacobs has been cast in the Steve Carell/Jim Carrey dueling magician comedy BURT WONDERSTONE. According to THR, Jacobs “will play a woman who meets Carell at one of his shows and hooks up with him.” Lucky you, Steve! Jacobs joins a cast that includes Brad Garrett, James Gandolfini, Olivia Wilde, and Steve Buscemi. BURT WONDERSTONE is due out next year.

– Meryl Streep (THE IRON LADY) and Julia Roberts (MIRROR MIRROR) will star as mother and daughter in the John Wells-directed AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by Tracy Letts. The original story “follows the women of a family whose lives have splintered in many directions until a crisis bring them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.” Uh huh. I smell another Streep Oscar Nomination. Production is expected to start this fall.

– Oprah Winfrey (THE COLOR PURPLE) is reportedly considering a return to full-performance acting (the last time was 1998’s BELOVED opposite Danny Glover) in director Lee Daniels’ THE BUTLER. The story, taken from Wil Haygood’s 2008 Washington Post story A Butler Well Served by This Election, follows the account of Eugene Allen, “a black man who worked as butler in the White House, serving eight presidents from 1952 to 1986.” Daniels is looking at RED TAILS’ David Oyelowo to play Allen, while Winfrey would portray his wife. John Cusack and Mila Kunis are also being looked at to play Richard Nixon and Jackie Kennedy respectively.

Mmm hmm…