Though he was expected to kick off filming on Savages this month, it appears Oliver Stone has shoved the actual start date back a week or so. But that isn’t stopping him from putting out the name of yet another new casting choice, with Mia Maestro signing on to play the dangerous wife of Benicio Del Toro’s drug gang enforcer.
Yes, it would appear that Stone really is looking to challenge Gary Ross and the Hunger Games team for Highest Number Of Casting Stories In One Year, with the word on Maestro coming just a few days after the news that Avatar**’s Joel David Moore was on board.
Savages, adapted from Don Winslow’s novel, finds Laguna Beach pot kingpins Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch thrown for a loop when the woman who loves them both (Blake Lively) is kidnapped by a Mexican cartel. It’s all part of a plan by the gang’s boss (Salma Hayek) to get the lads to join her organization. As part of her intimidation tactics, she also sends feared thug Lado (Del Toro) to cause some trouble.
Maestro, as mentioned, will be Lado's equally tough other half, a woman who, on the surface, seems to be a settled soccer mom, but is hiding a violent gang past. She'll next be seen as one of the vampires in Breaking Dawn.
With Emile Hirsch, John Travolta and Uma Thurman also in the cast, Savages will be out on September 28, 2012 in the States and hopefully not long after that over here.