Toby Kebbell seems to have found his niche playing baddies. He was the crap-starter in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes earlier this year, and will play Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four. Now he's joining Timur Bekmambetov's Ben-Hur remake as chief backstabber, Messala. Jack Huston stars as the titular nobleman who is betrayed by his friend Messala and put into slavery where there will be chariot races, gladiator fights, and training by Morgan Freeman. Ben-Hur opens February 26th 2016. [Variety]
She played the apple of Michael Pitt's eye in I Origins, and now Astrid Berges-Frisbey will be the King Arthur's lady love Guinevere in Guy Ritchie's Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur. We all know that she eventually will leave him for the dashing Lancelot, but in this film, the first of a six-part franchise, her relationship with Arthur will be in the beginning stages. Idris Elba is also on board as Arthur's mentor, Bedivere. [THR]
John Carney (Once, Begin Again) has added Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age of Extinction), Aiden Gillen (Game of Thrones), and Maria Doyle Kennedy (The Tudors) to his latest musical, Sing Street, which features music by U2's Bono and The Edge. The story follows "a 14-year-old named Cosmo growing up in 1980’s recession-hit Dublin who must break free of a home strained by his parents’ relationship and money troubles, deal with his drop-out older brother’s antics, and survive a new public school where the kids are rough and the brothers are tougher."
