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It's the swoon heard 'round the world: Alexander Skarsgard will be again playing a Viking, but this time on the big screen.

The "True Blood" stud first donned the horned helm during the third season of the HBO show when his character's Norse roots were shown in a flashback sequence, but now Skarsgard has been tapped by Warner Bros to play a Viking in their upcoming flick "The Vanguard." Variety managed to learn that he will be one of two Viking brothers exiled to America and then begin a quest to make it back to Sweden.

Check out the rest of today's casting news after the jump!

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Tags Alexander Skarsgard, American Reunion, joaquin phoenix, Natasha Lyonne, nick frost, Ruth Wilson, Snow White and The Huntsman, spike jonze, the lone ranger, The Vanguard

Down with the Capitol, and up with the casting of Katniss Everdeen!

Word on the street is that "Winter's Bone" lead and Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence is leading the race for the starring role in the upcoming "Hunger Games" adaptation, though a source confirmed to MTV's Hollywood Crush that no offers have yet been made.

Meanwhile, Josh Hutcherson admitted at South by Southwest that he would love to play Peeta, one of the two love interests in the flick. We're expecting that the casting of Peeta will wait until Katniss is in the bag, but it's worth noting that Hutcherson has thrown his hat into the ring.

But "Hunger Games" isn't the only news in the arena. The first "Conan the Barbarian" trailer has hit the web, Baz Luhrmann has a "Great Gatsby" update. and more after the jump!

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Tags baz luhrmann, brad pitt, Conan the Barbarian, David Lynch, jennifer lawrence, Jessica Chastain, John Hutcherson, michelle rodriguez, sean penn, spike jonze, the great gatsby, The Hunger Games, Tree of Life

-- "Pirates of the Caibbean: On Stranger Tides" is bringing back a familiar boat — the glorious Black Pearl. In casting news, British actor Stephen Graham will play Scram, and actors Max Irons and Sam Claflin are in the running for a new Orlando Bloom type of role. [AICN, Production Weekly, E! Online]

-- After the success of utilizing relatively unknown actors in "The Hangover," Todd Phillips and Joel Silver are taking things a step further by hiring completely unknown actors for their new comedy, "Project X." [Deadline]

-- Chris Pine's upcoming Jack Ryan movie has a working title and a destination — both of them are "Moscow." According to sources, a move to cripple the U.S. economy is pinned on Ryan, who is forced to clear his name and save his wife from the clutches of an evil billionaire. [Pajiba] Read more...

Tags arcade fire, chris pine, Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking, Dead Man Stalking, ewan mcGregor, I Love You Phillip Morris, inception, Jack Ryan, jim carrey, joel silver, Max Irons, Moscow, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Project X, Riddick, Sam Clafin, spike jonze, Stephen Graham, Todd Phillips

by Cristina Ramos

With his adaptation of "Where The Wild Things Are" set for DVD release on Tuesday, March 2, Spike Jonze took a night to chat about the intimate documentary about the witty and wise author Maurice Sendak, along with co-director Lance Bangs. "Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak" takes you through enchanting, funny, and sometimes sad moments of the "Wild Things" creator's life as he recounts his childhood, the controversy surrounding his recently adapted book, his late partner of fifty years, Eugene Glynn, and his obsession with death. The 40-minute film exposes life as Sendak views it, quirks and all. Read more...

Tags Lance Bangs, Maurice Sendak, spike jonze

FROM MTV.COM: It has been seven years since filmmaker Spike Jonze released a feature, but now he's suddenly flooding the market with content. In addition to the recently released "Where the Wild Things Are," Jonze also just premiered "We Were Once a Fairytale," a short film starring Kanye West and featuring the 808s & Heartbreak track "See You in My Nightmares." The film, which surfaced online on West's official blog last week (only to be taken down), casts the rapper as a troubled, chemical-addled star who goes to the bathroom at a club to exorcise his demons, only to literally pull a small beast out of his chest. It's a graphic, surreal, dreamlike production — one that fits both director and star perfectly.

"We rehearsed the night before we shot, and talked about trying to get to that raw place, that sad, pathetic, drunken, lost place," Jonze told The New York Times. "I told him the more shameless it is, the more pathetic it is, the better. He just went for it."

Continue reading Kanye West 'Just Went For It' In 'We Were Once A Fairytale,' Spike Jonze Says

Tags kanye west, spike jonze, We Were Once a Fairytale, where the wild things are

FROM MTV.COM: Anyone wanting to turn Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" into a movie must face a steep challenge. The 1963 book — esteemed as a classic for ... I guess "kids of all ages" would be the term — is only 48 pages long, and consists largely of Sendak's cozy-strange illustrations; there's very little text. So to assist in plumping up this story for a 90-minute film, director Spike Jonze brought in writer Dave Eggers, who last lent his alt-lit touch to the languid "Away We Go." The result is a picture whose pleasures are almost entirely visual. The dialogue gets some energetic spin from the actors involved, but — no surprise — there's too much of it, and it wears you down.

The story, for those who may have forgotten, or never known, concerns a little boy named Max. In the movie as in the book, Max (played wonderfully well by newcomer Max Records) is a handful. He's raucous and needy in the usual little-boy manner, and is constantly being fobbed off to go play alone by his single mom (Catherine Keener), who's preoccupied with her job, and by his older sister (Pepita Emerichs), who's preoccupied with being a teenager. After pitching a fit in the kitchen one night, Max runs off into the nearby woods, where he wanders for a while before coming upon a small boat pulled up on a beach. Climbing aboard, he sails away in search of a more agreeable life.

Continue reading 'Where The Wild Things Are': Fretting Zoo, By Kurt Loder

Tags catherine keener, Dave Eggers, Maurice Sendak, Max records, spike jonze, where the wild things are

Entertainment, like life, can be pretty confusing. Marketing, whether it be televised commercials, print ads and posters, or viral campaigns, is so pervasive that a movie's basic premise and characters can be overwhelmingly familiar long before you even see the movie in question. Hell, one time I watched thirty minutes of "The Fisher King" thinking it was "Mrs. Doubtfire" before I realized that Robin Williams was playing a crazy drifter, not a cross-dressing divorcee. You can see how that would be an easy mistake to make, right?

This week, we're all excited. "Where the Wild Things Are", the Spike Jonze-directed live-action riff on the beloved children's book by Maurice Sendak, is finally hitting theaters. Finally! Let's not lose our heads though. Let's not let our excitement for "Where the Wild Things Are" lead us into watching other movies that we might easily confuse it with. For example, we must be especially wary of the late '90s mystery/thriller "Wild Things." Here's an easy guide to prevent media-induced dementia from directing you to the wrong movie. Read more...

Tags spike jonze, where the wild things are

In the "Where the Wild Things Are" clip below, young Max (Max Records) huddles himself into the depths of a Wild Things pile-on for a heart-to-heart with KW (Lauren Ambrose). He reveals that he's not much for eating people, but he's got a proclivity for biting. It might seem unusual, but this is the sort of absurd conversation topic that comes up in the land of the Wild Things.

"Where the Wild Things Are," directed by Spike Jonze, hits theaters tomorrow, October 16.

Tags Lauren Ambrose, Max records, spike jonze, where the wild things are

Today's eBay Prop-Watch pick is really freaking cool. It's prohibitively expensive too, but we'll get to that in a minute.

This Friday, audiences across the nation will finally get a chance to see what director Spike Jonze did with his adaptation of the classic Maurice Sendak children's book, "Where the Wild Things Are." It's one of those classics like "Goodnight Moon," a work that's enduring enough to leave multiple generations with a sense of nostalgia at the very mention of it.

Jonze is perhaps the perfect director to bring Sendak's imagination-fueled, dream-like vision to life. I personally think that audiences are going to divided in the final analysis, but the movie is something special nonetheless. Today's Prop-Watch pick doesn't actually tie to the movie, but it was created by Sendak's hand and is thus worth taking a look at. Read more...

Tags Maurice Sendak, spike jonze, where the wild things are

--Yesterday, news broke that Fox had picked up a pitch for a "300"-style retelling of Moses' rescue of the Hebrews from a life of slavery in Egypt. That got the folks over at Cinematical thinking about other ancient epics that are primed and ready for the "300" treatment. Of the five listed, I'd most like to see an "Epic of Gilgamesh" adaptation happen. An odd couple buddy pairing? A globe-trotting road trip? Bring on the green screen! (Cinematical)

--Vampires are so hot right now, and we have "Twilight" to thank for it. Sci Fi Wire has a list up of "16 hot movie and TV vampires who turn us into willing victims." I think you might find some of their choices a bit controversial. Maybe not the selections, but one absence in particular. I'm a little surprised at the exclusion of "Twilight"'s Edward Cullen, Mr. Robert Pattinson. Sure, the headline says "turn us into willing victims," but it's hard to deny the guy's appeal. That said, as a child of the '80s I was pleased to see Kiefer Sutherland's David, from "The Lost Boys," among those listed. Read more...

Tags robert pattinson, spike jonze, Twilight, where the wild things are