Two bits of geek casting news have popped up today. Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) has been cast in I’ll Follow You Down, according to Deadline. Richie Mehta (Amal) wrote and directed the film, which follows "a scientist who mysteriously disappears after a business trip, only to have his son Erol (Osment), make an eerie discovery about his whereabouts, several years later."
Mehta was nominated for 6 Genie Awards for Amal in 2009, including Best Film, Direction, and Screenplay. The sci-fi film will be produced by Lee Kim under his Resolute Films and Entertainment banner, with filming slated for May in Toronto, Canada. The screenplay was developed with financial support from Telefilm Canada and the Harold Greenberg Fund. Here is what Kim had to say about the project:
Richie has penned a script that tells an emotionally charged, thrilling story while staying true to the sci-fi genre. Our main challenge was to find the right actor to play the lead role of Erol – one that requires the perfect balance of innocence, honesty and intelligence; Haley provides just that.
Rome's James Purefoy is set to star opposite Kevin Bacon in the upcoming Fox TV pilot from Kevin Williamson. Deadline reports that Purefoy has joined the untitled project from Warner Bros TV and Williamson’s Outerbanks Entertainment. The pilot is described "as an edge-of-the-seat thriller about Joe Carroll (Purefoy) a diabolical serial killer who uses technology to create a cult of serial killers, and a retired FBI profiler (Bacon) who finds himself in the middle of it."
Marcos Siega is directing the pilot, which was written and executive produced by Williamson (Dawson’s Creek, Scream, and Vampire Diaries). There will only be 15 episodes a season instead of the standard 22 if it is picked up for series. Purefoy will next be seen in Disney's John Carter.
I have not seen Rome but heard Purefoy is great in it. Osment has grown up a lot from when he saw dead people. I am interested in seeing him on screen again. What are your thoughts on this geek casting news?
Follow me on Twitter @Jim_Napier and Tumblr