Matthew McConaughey continues his welcomed transformation to serious dramatic actor in Sea of Trees, playing a suicidal American who befriends a lost Japanese man (Ken Watanabe) in the forest near Mt. Fuji. This will mark the first time McConaughey works with director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting).
Emma Watson joins the cast of the Weinstein thriller Regression. The plot has not been revealed, but Watson will star along with Ethan Hawke, whose recent films include low-budget thrillers The Purge and Sinister.
In television, the world of miracles sets the stage for Universal TV’s series adaptation of Stephen King’s short story “Anaya.” There is no network currently attached to the series, but Variety reports “NBC is currently considering the project.” The adaptation is being written by Chris Sparling, who’s very popular today as he’s also the writer of the previously mentioned McConaughey film, Sea of Trees.
Finally, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice’s Broadway mega-hit Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat gets the animated feature film treatment courtesy of rock and roll legend Elton John and his Rocket Pictures. Dreamcoat is itself an adaptation of the Bible story of Joseph and his “coat of many colors,” found in the Book of Genesis.
