More 'Bourne' Is on Its Way
Today in show business news: The Bourne franchise continues without Jason Bourne, Billy Bob Thornton moves to Fargo, and American Horror Story recasts another alum.
.This doesn't come as a surprise exactly, but we're now getting official word that Universal is moving ahead with a fifth film in the Bourne series. Don't get your hopes up for a Matt Damon return, though. This is going to be an outing for Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross, whom we met last summer in the very exciting Bourne Legacy. Damon says he won't come back to the series without Paul Greengrass (that must hurt Doug Liman's feelings, don't you think?), and this is more than likely going to be another Tony Gilroy picture. So, that's too bad about Damon, but this is still good news, right? Somehow the Bourne movies have remained solid after four installments, so why would a fifth be bad? OK, OK, yes, you could say, "Well, A Good Day to Die Hard was the fifth in that otherwise solid series and it stank to the high heavens," and you would be right, but this is not that. We're dealing with an entirely different thing here. This will be good. As long as the right people are involved, we have no reason to worry. If we hear the names "Brett Ratner" or "Zack Snyder" we'll go running, but until then, we're fine. [Deadline]
Billy Bob Thornton has been cast as one of the leads in FX's upcoming, Coen Brothers-approved and produced, miniseries Fargo. He's not going to be playing the Steve Buscemi character, because this is a different story, but he'll be playing something like that character, a "rootless, manipulative man who meets a small-town insurance salesman and sets him on a path of destruction." Thornton is the first actor cast, but he's probably a good indicator of things to come, right? He's kinda weird and Real Person-looking, the way the people on this show should be. I'm still holding out hope that they'll cast Edie Falco to play Marge Gunderson, like she did on the original Fargo TV show based on the movie, but I doubt that's going to happen. But you never know! There's always hope. Who else should be cast on this hopefully-not-a-terrible-idea thing? [The Hollywood Reporter]
If you missed the sexy maid from season one of American Horror Story, fear not, she will be back for season three of Ryan Murphy's gunky, grimy grotesquerie. It's not be announced who actress Alexandra Breckenridge will be playing, but she'll be there. I can't imagine she'll be a terribly big part though, considering how big the cast is. So far we've got her, Kathy Bates, Denis O'Hare, Emma Roberts, Angela Bassett, Patti LuPone, Gabourey Sidibe, Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy and Lily Rabe. That's a lotta people! So while Sexy Maid will be back in some capacity, I wouldn't expect too much screen time. I mean this season is just going to be Evan Peters dancing around shirtless for 12 episodes, right? Ryan Murphy got our letters, I'm sure. He must have. And he listened. Maybe Sexy Maid plays the shirt he takes off in the beginning? I guess we'll have to wait and see. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Go tell your YA-obsessed Anglophile friend (why do you have this friend?) the good news: Plans are in place for the sequel to the Inbetweeners movie, the raunchy lads comedy based on the surprisingly winning E4 series that ran from 2008-2010. The film was a big hit in the UK, so they've gone and decided to make another one. No word yet on what it will be about, but it will undoubtedly be full of sex talk that somehow doesn't seem quite as revolting because it's said in British accents, and then some nice, sweet stuff will come along to temper all that. It will be cute but not nearly as good as the series. Anyway, that friend of yours will be happy to hear this. So happy, in fact, that might be an opportune time to tell them you don't think you can be friends anymore. I mean, all they talk about is YA and British television. You can't be friends with someone like that. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Speaking of Billy Bob Thornton, here's a trailer for a movie he directed called Jayne Manfield's Car. It has a very strange cast (Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, Tippi Hedren) and I have no idea what the title refers to or what the movie is about, but maybe you can figure it out. I don't know. It's Friday.