The Scorecard Review news
News: Matt Smith, famous for being the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor on “Doctor Who,” is joining How to Catch a Monster. Variety calls the role the “male lead” in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut. Gosling’s girlfriend, Eva Mendes, has also joined the cast. Source: Variety, Bloody Disgusting
Thoughts by TSR: Matt Smith’s Doctor recently lost a pair of companions – farewell Amy and Rory! – but it isn’t taking him long to get back on his feet. According to Variety, he’s been cast as the male lead in Ryan Gosling’s How to Catch a Monster. I love Smith on “Doctor Who,” so it’s very exciting to see him starring in the directorial debut of one of my favorite actors. This will be Smith’s first American film, and I hope he comes out the other side with plenty of opportunities. It’s not entirely clear what the “male lead” of the film will be, though. Variety says the film is “set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city and centered on a single mother of two being swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town.” That certainly sounds intriguing, but I can’t imagine the 30-year-old Smith playing a teenager. Perhaps he’s the monster of the title. Now that would be interesting.
Eva Mendes has also joined the cast. Bloody Disgusting has that story and says she’ll play “’Cat,’ a prominent figure of the Big Bad Wolf Club.” That sounds just fine to me. They also mention that Rob Zabrecky will play a cab driver. Smith and Mendes join the previously cast Christina Hendricks (playing the single mother) and Ben Mendelsohn (who will be seen in The Place Beyond the Pines with Gosling and Mendes later this year). With these four names attached, How to Catch a Monster is one film I’ll definitely be following closely once production begins this spring.