ALICIA KEYS IN TALKS TO BE AN ASSASSIN
Alicia Keys, known for songs of love, strength and womanhood, may end up as a cold-blooded assassin in the new film “Smokin’ Aces.” MTV reports that the multi-platinum artist is in talks to make her acting debut in the film opposite Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, and Ben Affleck. Keys would play a hit-woman hired by the mob to hunt down a standup comic (Piven) planning to testify against organized crime. Trying to keep the comic alive is an FBI agent (Reynolds) who’s having trouble keeping the man off stage and out of sight.
ALL STARS LINE UP FOR REEVE’S ‘YANKEE’S
“Yankee Irving,” a computer-animated feature Christopher Reeve was directing from his home at the time of his death in October 2004, has added a deep bench of voice talent to the cast. Rob Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Brian Dennehy, William H. Macy, Mandy Patinkin, Dana Reeve, Robert Wagner, Richard Kind, Raven Symone and New York Yankees manager Joe Torre have joined the voice cast of IDT Entertainment’s first independently produced CG-animated feature film. Jake Syzmanski, star of the upcoming Nick Jr. series “Go, Diego Go,” voices the title character. “Yankee Irving” is an animated adventure about a boy who travels across the country on a mission to return Babe Ruth’s bat before the deciding game of the 1932 World Series.
HALLE BERRY A ‘PERFECT STRANGER’
Bruce Willis will star opposite Halle Berry in the psychological thriller “Perfect Stranger,” directed by James Foley. Berry will play a woman who goes undercover to investigate a friend’s murder. Willis will play one of her chief suspects in a movie about secrets, lies and Internet chatter where suspects and villains often change roles.
RAPPER DAVID BANNER LANDS MOVIE ROLE
Mississippi rapper David Banner, who reportedly took time off last year to study acting, has booked his first film role in director Craig Brewer’s “Black Snake Moan.” Banner joins stars Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci and Justin Timberlake in the drama produced by John Singleton and Stephanie Allain – the team behind “Hustle and Flow.”
TYRESE IN ‘WAIST DEEP’
Rogue Pictures says hip-hop star the Game and actors Meagan Good and Larenz Tate will join Tyrese Gibson in the urban action thriller “Waist Deep,” written and directed by Vondie Curtis Hall. “Waist Deep” follows an ex-con, O2 (Gibson), who while trying to go straight for the sake of his young son Junior is forced to go back outside the law when Junior is kidnapped in a carjacking. In his acting debut, the Game will star as a vicious criminal leader, Good (“The Cookout”) will play a street-smart hustler, and Tate (“Crash”) will be featured as O2’s shady cousin.
