The Hoeber Brothers script for Red must be downright brilliant because the movie now has nine talented actors on board.  In the beginning, there was Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman.  Then came Helen Mirren.  Then John C. Reilly and Mary Louise Parker joined the project.  Today comes the news that Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss, and Brian Cox all want a piece of the action as well.  This is an epic cast which may indicate a much larger film than the plot synopsis has led us to believe.  Hit the jump to try and figure out the appeal or if this is just a massive Communist operation hiding in plain sight.

A film we first reported on back in July, “Red” has seriously heated up.  Based on the three-issue comic series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer, “Red” is about a retired black-ops CIA agent (Willis) who must fight for his life when younger, prettier, and more high-tech assassins attempt to take him out.  Earlier in the week we reported that Mirren would play a former associate of Willis with a lethal set of skills.

Today we learn that John C. Reilly and Mary-Louise Parker want in on the fun.  Hit the jump to convince people this is a remake of the 1994 Krzysztof Kieslowski film.

In a recent report from ScreenDaily, Helen Mirren has joined the cast of Robert Schwentke’s (”Flightplan”) upcoming action-thriller “Red”, based off the comic series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer.  As we previously reported, “Red” is about “Paul Moses, a C.I.A. agent whose unique talent for killing took him around the world, from one hotspot to another, carrying out the deadly orders of his superiors. And when he retired, he wanted to put his bloody past behind him. But when a new administration takes over the White House, the powers that be decide that Moses knows too much, forcing him back into the game against the agency that trained him.  SD provides no details as to Mirren’s role but I doubt it will have a moment as fantastic as her charging in on a unicorn as she did in “Inkheart”. [UPDATE: HeatVisionBlog says Mirren will play "an old associate of Willis with a lethal set of skills."  No word if any of those skills involve unicorn riding.  Probably not.]

“Red” is scheduled to begin shooting on January 11^th, 2010 and due for a North American release on November 19^th, 2010.

If you’re a fan of Audrey Niffenegger’s novel “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, you’ve probably counting down the days till director Robert Schwentke’s adaptation hits theaters. I managed to see a screening and thought it was good. I’ll say the women in the audience were loving it, and the people I spoke with that had read the book told me they really enjoyed it. Most said they missed a few things (from the book), but isn’t that true about every movie made from a novel? Anyway, to help promote the film, I recently participated in a roundtable interview with director Robert Schwentke and it’s after the jump. During the interview he talked about why he wanted to make the film, casting Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, his next film “Red”, and a lot more:

A few days ago I attended the New York City press junket for “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”. While there, I got to speak with some of the cast, director Stephen Sommers and producer Lorenzo de Bonaventura. While I’ve already spoken to Lorenzo a lot about “G.I. Joe” and “Transformers“, you can never go wrong asking a few more questions as he producers a lot of other movies.

So after the first few questions on “G.I. Joe” and “Giant Robots That Like to Punch Each Other in the Face”, I asked him about some of his upcoming projects and he told me the status on Jack Ryan, “Red”, and also why he wanted to make an “Asteroids” movie. Take a look after the jump:

The Hollywood Reporter claims that “Flightplan” director Robert Scwentke is close to signing a deal to helm the adaptation of the DC/Wildstorm comic “Red”.  The film version of the three-issue 2003 comic stars Bruce Willis as a retired black ops agent and Morgan Freeman as the head of the spy ring that targets him for assassination.  “Red” is being developed by Summit Entertainment for a 2010 release while Scwentke’s most recent work, “The Time Travelers Wife”, can be seen in theatres this August 14^th.

In what is thankfully not an ill-advised sequel to “The Shawshank Redemption”, Variety is reporting that Morgan Freeman is in talks to co-star with Bruce Willis in the upcoming espionage-thriller “Red” based off the Wildstorm/DC comic by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer.  Hit the jump to read how Variety’s synopsis conflicts with the synopsis Wildstorm/DC provides for the miniseries.

Yesterday I posted the first part of my exclusive interview with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and after the jump is part two. In this part, Lorenzo and I discussed “G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra”, what’s up with “Beverly Hills Cop 4″ and Jack Ryan, and he told me all about a project called “Red” - which sounded like it’s getting ready to move forward.

The big news on “G.I. Joe” is the film is 1 hour and 47 minutes. He also said since the movie comes out so close to Comic-Con, don’t expect to see too much footage there. He also talked about why people should be excited to see it.

Regarding “Beverly Hills Cop 4″ and Jack Ryan, it’s all about the scripts…which aren’t ready to go yet.

Finally we talked about a project he has at Summit called “Red”. The film is based on the Warren Ellis graphic novel and it’s about an over the hill gang of CIA agents that have been put out to pasture and a situation occurs that brings back the gang. Lorenzo compares it to “Oceans 11″ and “Sneakers”.

For more on all the projects, you can watch the interview after the jump. Take a look: