Whoa, friends and neighbors. There’s some hot stuff going down on the Paramount lot, and I don’t mean rays from the sun. Nor do I mean a casting couch situation. Nope, just the “news” that Michael Bay is auditioning a batch of hot young actors and actresses for the two remaining lead roles in TRANSFORMERS 4 alongside the one being played by Mark Wahlberg.
The sequel “has a story that centers on Wahlberg’s character and his daughter. In addition, the daughter’s boyfriend, a race car driver, is the third lead in the film.” Currently testing for the daughter role are: Isabelle Cornish (LIMITLESS, sister of Abbie Cornish), Nicola Peltz (THE LAST AIRBENDER, “Bates Motel”), Gabriella Wilde (THE THREE MUSKATEERS, CARRIE), and newcomer Margaret Qualley. Meanwhile, on the male side of things, said race car driver may well end up being one of these five actors: Luke Grimes (TAKEN 2, “Brothers & Sisters”), Landon Liboiron (“Terra Nova”, “Hemlock Grove”), Brenton Thwaites (BLUE LAGOON: THE AWAKENING), Hunter Parish (“Weeds”), and relative newcomer Jack Reynor.
Word is that Paramount intends to sign whatever female and male leads it eventually settles on to “strict three-picture deals,” which is really not all that surprising. Bay’s franchise is here to stay, and by the end of this decade we’re going to have a grand total of six TRANSFORMER movies. Which is at least a little bit crazy.
Meanwhile, Neil Burger’s adaptation of Young Adult novel DIVERGENT and DreamWorks’ adaptation of NEED FOR SPEED are also casting hot young actors, the former in search of a male co-star for Shailene Woodley and the latter in search of other racers to go up against Aaron Paul’s lead character.
More casting details as we hear them. All three of these movies will be releasing in 2014 -TRANSFORMERS 4 arrives June 27th, DIVERGENT hits March 21st, and NEED FOR SPEED crosses the finish line on February 7th.