Casting news-rumors

[sf2la]

From Collider....

Unfortunately Daniel Craig is not listed as part of the cast in the official press release, so it appears that he may have dropped out of the film. Hit the jump for more, including the full press release.

http://collider.com/george-clooney-monu ... ng-begins/

Damn... It has Oscar written all over it. I could see not signing up, but to pull out? Oh well. I wonder how the play will mesh with the timing of Bond 24 planning and shooting? He takes on such a producer's role for Bond. As a side note, I found it interesting that he and Barbara told Judy that her character was being killed off. It's like he is a member of 'The Family.' If he needs to be free in September, he needs to start filming Bond no later than April, right? Not happening, is it?

If Rachel isn't filming, we'll get zippo from her. He's starting to like his time off too much .

[Germangirl]

Puhh, what a bummer.

[Germangirl]

I remember an interview with Matt Damon around the 20th of february, where he is naming the cast but no Daniel. I thought, he was a *** back then, but he probably knew, he wasn't in. Who knows, for how long.

This is really sad. There was certainly space for a film until the play. What will he do now? We will hear more in the next days. Its not like him to cause trouble just because he feels like it. There must be a good reason. The best would be another - more interesting project for him. But this was a good one. Dunno what to think of it.

[caramel]

I remember an interview with Matt Damon around the 20th of february, where he is naming the cast but no Daniel. I thought, he was a *** back then, but he probably knew, he wasn't in. Who knows, for how long.

This is really sad. There was certainly space for a film until the play. What will he do now? We will hear more in the next days. Its not like him to cause trouble just because he feels like it. There must be a good reason. The best would be another - more interesting project for him. But this was a good one. Dunno what to think of it.

I am thinking that when Daniel dropped out Matt came on board, we just didn't know.
I am really disappointed that this had to happen. It has so much buzz already.

Rant Alert -

Is it because of the stupid Bond franchise? I am so sick of it already!!
Each movie takes up more than 1 year of his life. A few months of pre-prod where he is hands on in various levels. 6 or 7 months of intense shooting and at least a month of promotions....
I wish he would stop after the next Bond. It seems to curtail him from pursuing other interesting roles... I mean he can't even fcking change his appearance in between movies ffs.

I thought he would be done shooting this by June and then will have couple months to prepare for the play in the fall... and still have time to prepare for Bond 24 after that.
I am so angry right now. He wont be having any movie released this year and we will have to wait for next Nov 2014. I wish he would mix the stupid Bond movies with other stuff....

[sf2la]

One answer, IMO - $$,$$$,$$$

[caramel]

One answer, IMO - $$,$$$,$$$

I don't know about that, sf. He is getting a good amount of money from Bond.
I would like to think he would jump at the chance to do a movie with an interesting script no matter how much it pays.. He needs to mix it up.
This Broadway play is not accessible to everyone.
I wish he would announce another movie and magically make it happen in lieu of TMM.

Maybe his role wasn't juicy enough, with not enough depth? But then you know that already when you signed on.

[CockHargreaves]

All we can do is speculate, isn't it?
Perhaps he wants to slow the pace a bit, improve the work-life balance and all that. He's been pretty busy since he got married, perhaps he wants to focus on other things a little more. What's the point in earning all that money if you haven't time to enjoy it?
I don't suppose he gives a damn that the play won't be accessible to everyone. He will be more concerned about doing it well and proving himself on Broadway with his wife at his side. We fans will just have to wait, unless he has other things lined up that we are not aware of. (eg producing or more voice-over work?)
We can't get enough of him, but the wider public can get easily bored of people who are over-exposed. Maybe he feels that keeping us dangling will heighten the anticipation for the next Bond movie.
Who knows... I will miss him, that's for sure. Thank goodness for DVDs and this forum to keep me topped up with my Daniel fix!

[tampa]

I've been gone a long time, tough family time last year. I've been reading stuff, but not posting.

I will jump back in with my usual "contrarian" views on stuff cause I actually hope he pulled out of MM. Clooney will have a big hero role and I was ticked when he hired Matt D. who has been a total s.... in many interviews over the last 5-6 years trashing Bond and showing Daniel disrespect in his comments. It was petty and I think motivated by jealousy. I think DC's screen time and role would have been limited as I'd bet Clooney and Damon will get the juicy roles. I also agree with sf, as I bet he would be making next to nothing unless the film was a big $$ hit, which I kind of doubt. I think he would have done it for sure if it were a great role so he must have had good reasons to withdraw. (Maybe he is still doing it as a small cameo with no credit.)DC is way over due for a great non Bond major role and I don't think it's MM or another Tattoo where he is mostly playing second fiddle to Mara. I hope something else is in the works other than the play and another Bond. tampa

[CockHargreaves]

I've been gone a long time, tough family time last year. I've been reading stuff, but not posting.

I will jump back in with my usual "contrarian" views on stuff cause I actually hope he pulled out of MM. Clooney will have a big hero role and I was ticked when he hired Matt D. who has been a total s.... in many interviews over the last 5-6 years trashing Bond and showing Daniel disrespect in his comments. It was petty and I think motivated by jealousy. I think DC's screen time and role would have been limited as I'd bet Clooney and Damon will get the juicy roles. I also agree with sf, as I bet he would be making next to nothing unless the film was a big $$ hit, which I kind of doubt. I think he would have done it for sure if it were a great role so he must have had good reasons to withdraw. (Maybe he is still doing it as a small cameo with no credit.)DC is way over due for a great non Bond major role and I don't think it's MM or another Tattoo where he is mostly playing second fiddle to Mara. I hope something else is in the works other than the play and another Bond. tampa

You could well be right about the goings-on behind the scenes. I would love to see him in a major role. Something to bag him an Oscar please!

[Sylvia's girl]

He's not in it. From fellow actor Bob Balaban who is in MM.

Bob Balaban ‏@BobBalaban
“@flover63: Is D Craig still attached to The Monuments Men? There's no mention of him in latest news.” DC isn't in MM Matt Damon is.

[caramel]

I was ticked when he hired Matt D. who has been a total s.... in many interviews over the last 5-6 years trashing Bond and showing Daniel disrespect in his comments. It was petty and I think motivated by jealousy . I think DC's screen time and role would have been limited as I'd bet Clooney and Damon will get the juicy roles. tampa

Well as usual I will disagree with you

Show me one link where MD has "trashed" Bond and disrespected Daniel for the past 5 to 6 years. No? Ok then.

I strongly believe Matt came on board AFTER Daniel dropped out. Reason why he didn't mention Daniel's name in that interview Gg was talking about.
Its not like GC and MD are 10 year old brats playing with flashier toys and unwilling to include Daniel in their games
George doesn't always end up taking the juiciest role in his movies. In Ides of March his role was much smaller compared to Ryan Gosling's.

I think Daniel dropped out to focus more on the play. Rachel too has her name removed from Maps to the Stars cast list which was scheduled to start in May/June time frame.

I don't know how a Broadway play works and how much rehearsal time they need before the performances start. Maybe 10 to 12 weeks?
I wonder if this play was offered to him (them) and he felt it would suit his needs better than TMM role and if it came to it that TMM would take time away from Betrayal rehearsals, he made the choice he wanted.
Its not about the money imo. I am sure Betrayal would pay him much less than TMM would.

I am just disappointed that I wont be able to see him in a different role before Bond 24. That's all.
I will get over it in a day.

Waiting to see Tboss's reaction to the news

[bumblebee]

Oh shit, how did I miss this? I tend to agree that this is a work/life balance thing, but why be associated quite so publicly with something and then change your mind? I;m sure it happens all the time, perhaps the success of SF moved Bond up. Play, schnay. Most of us mere mortals won't get a chance to see it. I guess it works for him though - time in NY, keeping it in the family, and why not.

Poo poo poo. Mind you his post-QoS choices (excluding Tattoo) were dismal, perhaps he'd rather wait than make the same mistake twice. Perplexed and pooed off.

[Sylvia's girl]

I don't think he's been attached to this for months. Maybe it never was a done deal. His name was branded about at the beginning but was certainly left out of certain articles when the other names were mentioned.

[Vanquish]

I think it's become clear that Damon has clearly taken the role that was originally meant for Daniel. A straight swap, Bourne for Bond. Whatever the role was it was clearly the second lead to Clooneys leading character. It's a shame, but there must have been a good reason

[tampa]

I was ticked when he hired Matt D. who has been a total s.... in many interviews over the last 5-6 years trashing Bond and showing Daniel disrespect in his comments. It was petty and I think motivated by jealousy . I think DC's screen time and role would have been limited as I'd bet Clooney and Damon will get the juicy roles. tampa

Well as usual I will disagree with you

Show me one link where MD has "trashed" Bond and disrespected Daniel for the past 5 to 6 years. No? Ok then.


If you google MD and JB, you will get lots of refs to Damon's bitching about Bond.

Damon: ''They could never make a James Bond movie like any of the Bourne films,'' Damon says scornfully. "Because Bond is an imperialist, misogynist sociopath who goes around bedding women and swilling martinis and killing people. He's repulsive." link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/2 ... 61036.html

"Where James Bond and Daniel Craig (right) are concerned, Matt Damon has moved passed "chip on his shoulder" status and streaked right to "bug up his backside" alert. Damon continues to brand Bond "repulsive" in multiple published reports..." from link: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/02/matt-damon-stil/

More...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -says.html

What I find so unprofessional about Damon's bitching, is that he is being unprofessional towards DC in the bargain, and most importantly, he is describing a pre-DC Bond but he is not making that distinction These are all Damon interviews years after DC took over. What some writers noted was they are like both fictional characters so his attacks are dumb and I kind of think due to jealousy due to DC's great critical reception for Bond. Damon must be just thrilled with our billion dollar Bond given his last film totally tanked.

I kind of wonder if DC withdrew because he didn't want to put with Damon's crap. And I kind of don't think Damon replaced DC because DC was likely playing an Engish character and Damon is playing an Amercan. But I have no clue on that. But I have read multiple Damon interviews with his nasty Bond comments. Turned me off him big time. t.