Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch loses a couple more actors but gets Chung and Malone

Jamie Chung (Dragonball Evolution) and Jena Malone (Donnie Darko, Into the Wild, The Ruins) are set to topline Sucker Punch, Zack Snyder's all-female action fantasy for Warner Bros.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chung and Malone join Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens and Abbie Cornish in the film, which Snyder is directing and producing with his Cruel & Unusual Films partner, wife Deborah Snyder.

Set in the 1950s, Sucker Punch centers on a girl confined to a mental institution by her evil stepfather, who intends to have her lobotomized in five days. While there, she imagines an alternate reality to hide from the pain and in that world begins planning her escape, needing to steal five objects to help get her out.

Several actors have been in talks and negotiations to star in the movie, including Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia), Evan Rachel Wood and Emma Stone, but have fallen away because of scheduling conflicts (surely their schedules were known when they first said they could do it?)

Chung, replacing Stone, plays Amber, a country girl with a big heart. Malone, taking Wood's part, plays Cornish's younger sister. Both characters are inmates.

All seems a bit strange having people who had been confirmed to take part dropping out like this. One I could understand, but now three of the original line-up have changed. I wonder if it is anything to do with Watchmen's underperformance at the box office? I wouldn't be surprised if Vanessa Hudgens is the next to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

I'm still looking forward to this film though as I have enjoyed Snyder's comic book adaptions and it will be interesting to see him do something a bit more original.

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Sucker Punch - Mamma Mia! The cast for Zack Snyder's next film has been announced

With Watchmen bowing Friday, director Zack Snyder is already busy prepping his next endeavor, the 1960s-based action fantasy Sucker Punch, based on his own script. Snyder is still putting together his all-female cast, but sources say Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia) is in negotiations to play the lead role of Baby Doll, a young woman who has been committed to an insane asylum and fantasizes about escaping with the help of her fellow inmates, who take on fantastical roles in her mind. Offers are out to a slew of young actresses to fill out those roles, including Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical), Abbie Cornish (Stop-Loss), Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler), and Emma Stone (Emma Stone). The $100 million budgeted film for Warner Bros. is scheduled to begin production in the Fall. Says Snyder, who is also producing the film with his wife Deborah Snyder, "I already did the all-male cast with 300, so I'm doing the opposite end of the spectrum." - Entertainment Weekly

Snyder has called the film “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns”, blending such elements as dragons, B-52 bombers and brothels in an R-Rated $100 million budgeted 1950’s-period action movie. It tells the story of a girl named Baby Doll (Seyfried) who is confined to a mental institution by her evil stepfather, who intends to have her lobotomized in five days. While imprisoned, she imagines an alternative reality to hide her from the pain. In this fantasy world, where she needs to steal five objects to help her out before she is deflowered by a vile man. Hudgens (”Blondie”), Cornish (”Sweet Pea”), Wood (”Rocket”), and Stone would play Seyfried’s fellow inmates who also travel into the alternate reality.

All sounds kind of cool Return to Oz, Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors kind of way or that Dreamscape film starring Dennis Quaid (I'd forgotten about that film until just now. I think it had a snake guy invading the President's dreams or something). Can't wait to see some concept art for Snyder's vision of this. I predict slow motion kick ass fights.

What are your thoughts on this film? Could it work or will it be a great big honking mess? Does it remind you of any other films?

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Watchmen running out of time, but the DVD will be lengthy

MTV have news on the running time for the Watchmen movie and some news about what other cuts and extras will be on the DVD.

The final length of the theatrical version of “Watchmen” isn’t quite finalized, but director Zack Snyder and producer Deborah Snyder are getting close, the husband-and-wife team recently told SciFi Wire. Further, while the director’s cut of the film has been finalized (around a hefty 3 hours, 10 minutes), there are plans for a “hardcore” version of “Watchmen” that will integrate the “Tales of the Black Freighter” animated comic with the live-action film, according to the duo.

“We’re getting really close,” said Deborah. “We’re at two hours and 35 minutes [for the theatrical cut].”

Along with sharing some details on their progress cutting the film down to theater length (Snyder’s previous directorial project, “300,” came in just under 2 hours), the director shared some details about his plans for integrating the “Black Freighter” animated feature with the live-action “Watchmen” film.

In the “Watchmen” graphic novel, “Black Freighter” is a comic-within-a-comic tale of a shipwrecked seaman who is desperate to get home before a pirate ship arrives on his family’s shores, and is read by one of the characters throughout the story. It provides a constant comparative element to the goings-on in the overarching superhero story, and Zack Snyder previously announced he’d be filming an animated version of “Black Freighter” to be released as a companion DVD to the film.

“The ‘Black Freighter’ version of the movie that we’re working on–which has the ins and outs of the Black Freighter comic book woven through it, with an animated version of the Black Freighter–will be about three hours and 40 minutes,” explained Zack. “So there’s a huge epic version of ‘Watchmen,’ which will probably come out after the movie’s theatrical release, for hardcore [fans].”

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