What is Casting Couch? An attempt at keeping you in the loop regarding all of your favorite actors’ careers. Today we’ve got new jobs for lovely ladies Emilia Clarke and Alison Brie as well as lovable lads Daniel Radcliffe and Logan Lerman. The pre-production history of the film adaptation of author Seth Grahame Smith’s “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is a long and troubled one. To the point where you basically wish Regina George could tell Hollywood to stop trying to make the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies thing happen. But, alas, it looks like the movie has emerged from development hell into development purgatory once again. Variety is reporting that this time around they’ve attached Lily Collins to star as the Elizabeth Bennet character, with Charlie St. Cloud helmer Burr Steers apparently on board to direct. Here we go again…

What is Casting Couch? It’s a compiling of all the day’s most notable casting news. Today we’ve got updates on what big book adaptations the Harry Potter kids are moving on to next, among many other things. You better sit down for this one. Ever since genre fans got that glimpse of a post-apocalyptic world where robots were in charge and humans lived in little pockets of resistance cells in James Cameron’s The Terminator, they’ve been clamoring to get a proper robot war movie. Well, that may never happen, but Matt Reeves’ upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes sequel might give them the next best thing: a proper ape war. Coming Soon has word that Dawn is mostly going to be about one of these pockets of human rebels fighting against a world that’s now controlled by the apes, and perhaps most excitingly, they’ve learned that Gary Oldman has signed on to play the leader of this human resistance. This is fitting, because Oldman is so awesome he probably really would be the best guy to put in charge if super-intelligent apes tried to take over the world. He could make them back down with just the authority in his voice.

In Kill Your Darlings, Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe) is an aspiring writer but one that is trapped under the weight of his successful poet father (portrayed with a reserved performance from the usually comedic David Cross) and his mentally unstable mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh). When Allen gets into Columbia, his father encourages him to go and become the writer he has always longed to be. But in his first poetry class, Allen rubs his professor the wrong way when he questions why poems have to rhyme and follow a certain structure. In doing so, he also catches the eye of one of his fellow students, Lucien “Lu” Carr (Dane DeHaan). Allen makes his way down to his room one night and the two share a drink and begin talking about poetry and writing. It is the first time we see Allen truly light up inside, talking about something he is so passionate about with someone who understands him. Lu takes him downtown to a party at the house of his friend David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), and as Allen enters he proclaims, “Allen in Wonderland.” And it is true, as we watch him suddenly enter a word full of people who think like him but also act on it, writing, drinking, and creating.

The speculative, non-committal casting news rolls along through the end of the week. According to The Wrap, Daniel Radcliffe, whose lightning bolt scar is just now fading, is interested in taking a lead role in the new Fox version of Frankenstein. One might naturally think that the lead role would be Victor Frankenstein (or even the monster), but apparently the update will spend more time with the beloved hunchbacked assistant. Based on a Max Landis (Chronicle) script, the movie will be directed by Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin) and will be among many, many new adaptations of Mary Shelley‘s classic (which happens to be in the public domain). Not only is it great to see Radcliffe continue the genre work, it’s also great to see him take on what has to be a strange role. Plus, I bet everyone is looking forward to the month in 2014 when 5 “Frankenstein” adaptations hit theaters. Can’t wait. It’ll be like Armageddon/Deep Impact but with a powerful message about the natural limitations of mankind’s curiosity.

Alexandre Aja‘s upcoming adaptation of Joe Hill‘s best selling novel Horns already has a solid and exciting lead actor in Daniel Radcliffe, but it looks like the cast may be about get even more interesting. Per The Wrap, three more actors are set to join the former boy wizard (and the previously-announced Max Minghella who plays the best friend and probable killer) in this dark tale of revenge and morality. Joe Anderson, Kelli Garner, and Juno Temple are all in negotiations for supporting roles. Radcliffe will play the lead, a young man who awakens one morning with devilish horns growing out of his head. Even odder, the horns make it impossible for people to lie to his face. When his girlfriend is found raped and murdered he sets out to find her killer using the power of the horns. But his search for the truth will uncover things he might not want to find.

It’s no secret that recent hockey comedy Goon is an FSR favorite, so it’s been with great anticipation that we’ve been waiting for word about director, Michael Dowse’s next project. Fortunately for everyone, that wait is over. Variety is reporting that the director is currently at work putting together a romantic comedy called The F Word, that comes from a 2008 Black List script by Elan Mastai. The story, which is based off of a play by T.J. Dawe and Michael Rinaldi called “Toothpaste and Cigars,” sounds simple enough. It’s about a duo of twentysomethings who meet at a party and hit it off instantly, but are faced with the task of being “just friends” because the girl is already tied up with a beau. Again, simple enough, but the intrigue comes from the casting that’s already been done. In order to fill the roles of the two lovestruck young people, Dowse has called upon the talents of Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan. Radcliffe, of course, is best known for headlining the Harry Potter franchise. His first foray outside of that mystical world was his starring role in The Woman in Black, where he somewhat ridiculously played a widowed lawyer with muttonchops. Perhaps this role as a young lover will be a better fit for the actor, and the easy transition he needs to get the public to stop thinking of him as a boy wizard.

Like many foreign directors before him, Alexandre Aja followed the traditional path for hot filmmakers abroad who find themselves wooed by the bright lights and big money of Hollywood. He made a big, bloody splash on the genre scene with 2003′s High Tension and then pretty much tanked. He waited three years before making his American debut…with a capable but uninteresting remake of The Hills Have Eyes. Followed by Mirrors. Followed by Piranha. All three contain pockets of entertainment, but none of them had the intensity or interesting narrative of his French psycho thriller. But just because his American efforts have failed to live up to his initial hype so far doesn’t mean that he’s packing it in and heading home a la John Woo. Per Variety (and @joe_hill‘s Twitter feed), Aja will begin filming an adaptation of Hill’s novel “Horns” this fall. Shia LaBeouf was originally attached to star, but thankfully for those of us who prefer actual actors in our movies Daniel Radcliffe has signed on instead.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr heads out to the drab English countryside to settle a woman’s estate only to find the place haunted. Fortunately, Kevin had already crawled down a mysterious hole and gained super powers, so he’s able to fend off the evil spirits. For a fleeting moment, he considers using his new powers for good, like to save a family of gray whales trapped under the ice in Barrow, Alaska. However, his fear of the 30 Days of Night vampires keep him at home. He then decides to use his new powers to read the subtitles of The Hidden Face so he can enjoy the copious amounts of pretty Colombian breasts.

People love a good scary story and some of the oldest tales on record are stories of ghosts, spirits, and specters cursed to walk the earth haunting the living and wreaking havoc as revenge for some terrible wrong they suffered while alive. Told well, these stories can make spine-tingling and terrifying films. The Woman in Black is a classic ghost story made with style and filled with tense atmosphere and chilling imagery. Daniel Radcliffe stars as Arthur Kipps, a down-on-his-luck young barrister who has been devastated by the death of his wife during the birth of his son. His work has continued to suffer and his law firm gives him what is essentially his last shot, wrapping up the legal affairs of an elderly widow who has recently died in a small town out in the countryside. Kipps takes the job, having no other options, and travels to Crythin to settle the affairs of one Alice Drablow, who just so happened to live in a huge old mansion called Eel Marsh House, located on a small island accessible from only one road and only when the tide is low enough to cross it. Kipps is immediately struck by the severe xenophobia of the townspeople. They are clearly living in fear, but of what Arthur won’t know until he spends a night in Eel Marsh and first encounters the Woman in Black.

Both last month and this month are shaping up to prove that this time of the year doesn’t only serve as a dumping ground for Mark Wahlberg action movies and another indistinguishable Katherine Heigl horror movie. So far we’re off to a great start for 2012, and I sure hope it continues that way. With another Heigl rom-com nowhere in sight, I believe we’re all clear for now. Honorable Mentions: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (got terrible buzz out of Butt-numb-a-thon, but it’s still got Ciarán Hinds, one of the best actors around, playing the devil) and Chronicle (apparently it’s better than it looks).

The upcoming movie Kill Your Darlings will look at the relationship between beat authors Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, and the man who introduced them, Lucien Carr. It was a relationship that reportedly began with murder, as soon after the three became friends Carr was implicated in the killing of another man named David Kammerer, and the famous authors found themselves caught in the middle of all the drama. Sounds like a saucy little story, especially with the “based on true events” factor that it has working for it. But perhaps even more exciting than the murder aspects of this story is the cast that it is now being assembled to bring it to life. The first casting announcement was that Daniel Radcliffe would be shrugging off his wizarding robe and branching out in another direction to portray Ginsberg. The idea of watching Radcliffe do something so different could have been enough to sell people on this movie alone, but some new casting details have surfaced that add to the anticipation. According to a report from Variety, not only has the Kerouac role been filled by Boardwalk Empire’s Jack Huston, and the Carr role filled by In Treatment’s Dane DeHaan, but Martha Marcy May Marlene’s breakout star Elizabeth Olsen has signed on as well. She’ll be playing Edie Parker, who was an art student and a girlfriend of Kerouac’s.

James Franco isn’t just known as the greatest Oscars host of all-time, he’s also an actor. An actor who up until now was the most recent man to portray legendary beat poet Allen Ginsberg on screen. Franco played Ginsberg in the movie Howl, which didn’t shy away from the perceived obscenity of Ginsberg’s works, the fact that there was a lot of drug use going on in the man’s life, or the fact that he was pretty openly homosexual. You have to be comfortable dealing with some pretty risqué stuff if you’re going to accurately portray Ginsberg on film, so it makes sense that an actor as concerned with being artsy and progressive as James Franco would take the poet on. But what’s a little more shocking is the newest actor who is going to be stepping into Ginsberg’s shoes. In the upcoming film Kill Your Darlings the poet is going to be played by none other than… Harry Potter?!

When I purchased my ticket for the Thursday night midnight show of Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, I had no idea what I was in for; not because I hadn’t seen any of the previous Twilight films – I have, in fact, seen them all – but because I had never seen a Twilight film in a theater before, much less on opening night. The Twilight subculture befuddles me, as I’m sure it does any non-initiate of the series. Having seen all the films, I still feel like I’m viewing them from afar, like it’s some strange anthropological project of a phenomenon whose worth and value I will never fully understand. Twilight seems to encapsulate the drastic changes that have taken place in big-budget event filmmaking in the last thirty years. Rather than a film made with the intent of mass appeal (like franchises ranging from Indiana Jones to Jason Bourne), the Twilight films play almost exclusively to a specific – but dedicated – demographic. Of course, one could make this argument about many film franchises. Everything from Star Trek to The Dark Knight certainly have rabid fanbases at their core, but the audiences for these films seem to be “filled in” with a significant amount of casual fans. For example, I once viewed the Harry Potter films similarly to the way I now approach Twilight – not in terms of filmmaking quality, mind you, but in terms of being a cult phenomenon surrounding a fictional narrative that I

It’s been a while since we’ve seen an effective period horror movie with the last really good one being 2001′s The Others (and The Orphanage too if you consider it a period piece). That’s a shame because when done right the atmosphere is aided by the environment itself and automatically more frightening than a modern day equivalent. Especially when kids play a role in it… pale, English accented little kids with death on their minds. Well if the trailer below is any indication we won’t be waiting for another terrifying period horror thriller for much longer. The Woman In Black is a new film from director James Watkins (Eden Lake) and screenwriter Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass), and it stars Daniel Radcliffe as a young lawyer sent out to a remote village to assist a client. Things start going bump in the night (and the day) upon his arrival when he discovers the village has a local legend about a woman scorned and a vengeful curse. Check out the creepy as hell trailer below.

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr dances with joy because it’s the only time you can dress up in flowing robes and head to the cineplex to see a movie based on an alleged children’s book and not get arrested. After cinching his wizarding cloak around his waist with his Gryffindor scarf, he sails off to check out Winnie the Pooh. Then, from the dysfunctional head cases in the Hundred Acre Wood, Kevin sneaks into the screening room next door to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II only to discover he doesn’t have his 3D glasses. Curses!

There’s a special kind of challenge in ending a story. Talk to the right writer, and he or she will most likely tell you that typing the last bit of punctuation can be the hardest ink to stamp into the page because even though that’s the goal, it also means saying goodbye to characters you’ve fallen in love with. Characters you’ve fought for and alongside of. Characters that have reflected the best parts of you, shown you your weaknesses and made you all the better for it. We may use stories as escapism, but we have to return to the real world eventually. There’s a special kind of challenge in ending a story because a final chapter has to encapsulate everything that’s played out in the much larger space that’s come before it. It has to confront the audience and its characters with choices they’ve been avoiding, trials that have been kept at arm’s length, and the lessons of all of the smaller tasks has to be used sufficiently against the most dire of consequences in order to be satisfying. It’s been a long journey, but in all of those undertakings, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 succeeds with incredible resolve.

My family has been friends with a children’s bookstore owner for years, so when we got an advanced copy of something called “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” I read it to give my feedback. I thought it was poorly written and wouldn’t go anywhere. I was incorrect. The books became the phenomenon, and the movies have translated that worldwide shared experience into something else entirely, but all that comes to an end this summer before someone at Warners decides to reboot the whole thing. This featurette shows off the main three in their first screen test, and takes a look back at the cinematic journey that’s brought us to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is going to have to be a lot of things to a lot of people. It will need to be explosive but thoughtful, dramatic but lighthearted, focused and fearless. The movie has its work cut out for it, but as for the trailer, it does every single thing right. Check it out for yourself:

Update: Warners has confirmed that this trailer is not an official trailer. It’s fan made. No word yet on whether someone will hire whomever put it together though, because it looks great. Again, to make it clear, it’s not an official trailer for the movie. And now the original video has been taken down by the host site. Original post: Darkness. Foreboding. Wand fights. Explosions. Mobs of people running through the forest. Beachfront property. Dragons. Gingers kissing. Snape peeing himself. Yes, this teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has everything except Danny Glover complaining about being too old. It just looks so damned good. If the excitement wasn’t at its peak yet, it will be soon. I have a feeling we’ll see more and more incredible stuff from the production leading up to July 15th (a day that cannot come fast enough). Check out the teaser for yourself. You might even get to see a sweet anti-smoking ad from the source site!

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr puts on a wizard’s robe, wears a colorful scarf and dances around in the woods with his magic wand yelling, “Stupify!” And that’s just to celebrate the release of Fair Game in his home town. He also takes a look at this little independent film that few people have even heard of, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. Sadly, a bizarre mishap with his wizarding skills causes a boulder to fall on his hand and pin him for 93 minutes, which was actually quite fortunate because it gave him just enough time to watch 127 Hours.