There was five years between There Will Be Blood and The Master, but Paul Thomas Anderson is keen to ensure we don’t have to wait as long for his next movie. Indeed, there are already plans to start shooting Inherent Vice in the next couple of months. Now a couple of new cast member have signed up – Benicio Del Toro and Kevin J. O’Connor.

This noir film, set in 1969 Los Angeles, is based on Thomas Pynchon’s 2009 novel about a weed-smoking private detective, Doc Sportello, who’s on a kidnapping case involving a missing girlfriend. Joaquin Phoenix is set to star in the lead role (taking over from Robert Downey Jr. who was attached when the movie was first mooted). Del Toro will play the small but crucial role of Sportello’s lawyer friend.

It isn’t known who Kevin J. O’Connor will play, although as he’s worked by Anderson on both There Will Be Blood and The Master, hopefully the writer/director has saved a juicy role for him. (Source: The Wrap)

He’s only 20, but for a couple of years it seemed Josh Hutcherson transition from child to adult actor had stalled. He was always in the running for roles in major movies, such as Spider-man, but only got roles in the likes of Cirque Du Freak, which weren’t exactly career-helpers. However thanks to The Kids Are All Right and Hunger Games, he’s now taken seriously as an actor and as a box office draw.

He’s also a major LGBT-ally through his organisation Straight But Not Narrow, which aims to end bully of gay teens in schools and help give them support networks.

He’s now scores a role opposite Benicio Del Toro in the drug-centred drama Paradise Lost (not to be confused with the stalled John Milton adaptation or the West Memphis 3 documentary of the same name). Hutcherson is set to play Nick, a water sports enthusiast who, whilst visiting his brother, falls head over heels for a young woman. However what he doesn’t initially know with that she’s the niece of Colombia’s largest exporter of cocaine, Pablo Escobar.

This based on a true story biopic will mark the directorial debut of Andrea Di Stefano, who recently wrote the screenplay for Life of Pi. Production begins next March in Panama. (Source: Deadline)

I apologise to anyone who thought the above headline meant Alex Proyas’ awesome sounding take on John Milton’s Paradise Lost had been resurrected (that film still quite dead), as this is a very different movie, all about drug dealing.

Variety reports Benicio Del Toro is in final negotiations to play Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in the true story drama Paradise Lost. This movie is about Nick, a young surfer who is visiting his brother in Colombia. He falls in love with a local girl named Maria, with all the elements in place for a classic romance. However, things take a dangerous turn when he finds out that Maria is the niece of notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Italian actor Andrea Di Stefano (Life of Pi) wrote the screenplay and will make his directorial debut, with Dimitri Rassam set to produce. Production will begin next March in Panama.

It appears there are no decent Native American actors in the whole of the US (or far more likely, none whose name is well known enough to sell a movie, and none anyone fancies giving a big break to), as Mexican actor Benicio Del Toro has signed on to play a Plains Indian in Jimmy Picard, according to Deadline.

The movie is based on Georges Devereux’s non-fiction book, Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian. The book is about a Plains Indian member who uses the alias Jimmy Picard. He returns from his tour in World War II and starts suffering from various mysterious medical symptoms that cannot be explained physiologically. The soldier travels to the famous Winter Hospital in Topeka, Kansas to consult with French psychoanalyst Georges Devereux (Mathieu Amalric), who is known for his understanding of Native Americans. They end up becoming friends through their many therapy sessions.

Arnaud Desplechin is directing, with production slated to begin in Michigan within the next few days.

Benicio Del Toro may not be the first name that comes to mind when it comes to action comedies, but he’s going for one and he and Cameron Diaz are both attached to star in Agent: Century 21. The film is written by Greg Brooker (Stuart Little) and will be directed by Adam Hashemi, who will make his feature film debut.

Crushed by her recent divorce, Mary Kay Curly (Diaz) cannot catch a break. Desperate to protect the two most important things in her life, her kids and her real estate agent job, Mary Kay agrees to take on an unpleasant task for her boss that accidentally gets her kidnapped and tossed into the centre of a Mexican drug war. Armed with little more than her maternal instincts and a streak of pure dumb luck, Mary Kay must overcome incredible odds and outsmart the FBI, various underground crime lords and an international terrorist organization- in time to make it home for dinner.

No prizes for guessing Del Toro will be involved in the Mexican drug war side of things. The movie is set to start shooting in September 2012. (Source: Variety)

The first image has appeared online from Oliver Stone’s upcoming movie Savages. While Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson are playing the main characters, the first pic shows Benicio Del Toro’s drug dealer menacing a rather battered looking Blake Lively.

Based on Don Winslow’s novel, Savages is about two California weed growers (Kitsch & Johnson), whose lives are turned upside down when their shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped by a Mexican cartel enforcer (Benicio Del Toro). The film is due in cinemas in September.

For the last couple of weeks it seemed that Benicio Del Toro would be playing the villain in Star Trek 2, and for much of that time, rumours have swirled that the character he’d play would be the legendary Trek bad guy, Khan. However over the weekend director JJ Abrams seemed to quash rumours of Khan’s involvement.

Things have somewhat changed now though, as Vulture reports that talks with Del Toro’s people broke down last week over financial issues, and that Abrams now has to look elsewhere for his villain.

This has led some to wonder whether Abrams ‘not true’ denial last weekend about Khan was a bit of smoke and mirrors and actually referred to the fact that Del Toro would not be playing Khan, not that no one would. Vulture says highly placed sources still say Khan’s the villain, and it would make sense. But with Abrams being as ridiculously secretive as always, we’ll have to wait for confirmation.

General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser

While JJ Abrams is still trying to keep things secret on the plot front for Star Trek 2, new cast members are gradually being announced, even if we don’t know who’ll they’ll be playing. The latest addition is Robocop himself, Peter Weller, who Variety reports has joined the movie.

There’s absolutely no clue who he’ll play though. He joins Alice Eve and Benicio Del Toro (although his deal is still to be closed) in mystery new roles in the sci-fi sequel. Rumours have been sweeping around that Del Toro would be playing Khan. While Abrams has said very little about the movie, he has however stepped out to publicly deny that Khan is in the movie.

Shooting is due to start on the movie in January, for release summer 2013.

General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser

It may have taken them quite a while to get Star Trek 2 sorted, but things finally seem to be moving forwards on the movie, with JJ Abrams once more at the helm. Now it appears Abrams has decided who he wants as the villain, as Variety reports he’s met Benicio Del Toro about the role.

A formal offer has not been made to the actor, but Abrams and Del Toro have had a meeting and it is believed Paramount will issue the offer very soon. Abrams, who’s well known for being secretive, is said to be being so cagey about the villainous part, he wouldn’t even tell Benicio what it was when they met.

Shooting is scheduled to start in early 2012, with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin all expected to return.

General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser