1. Woody Allen’s love affair with Europe (and continental funding) doesn’t look to be ending anytime soon. Colin Firth and Emma Stone are set to star in the director’s next film, which will be his eighth shot in Europe, and second in France. The movie will start filming this summer. Allen’s most recent film, “Blue Jasmine,” starring Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin, hits theaters this July. [AP via HP]
2. The producers of “Downton Abbey” announced that Gary Carr will join the cast of the wildly successful period drama for its fourth season. Carr will play the series’ first black character, Jack Ross, a young jazz singer who’s been described as “charming and charismatic.” Also joining the show’s cast are Kiri Te Kanawa, Tom Cullen, Julian Ovenden, Nigel Harman, Joanna David, and Harriet Walter. [Deadline]
3. The next season of concerts at the Metropolitan Museum will feature an interesting twist. Rather than all concerts and recitals solely taking place Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, some performances will occur in the galleries themselves. The “gallery hopping,” as it’s being called, will start this September with “This Grand Tour,” a performance “celebrating completion of the museum’s new European Paintings Galleries, 1250-1800, with four early-music performances, successively featuring the ensembles Tenet, Dark Horse, and Quicksilver and the harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, each in a different gallery.” [Arts Beat/NYT]
4. Director J.J. Abrams told the gathered media at a press event for “Star Trek Into the Darkness” that he wants composer John Williams to score “Star Wars: Episode VII.” “Again, for ‘Star Wars,’ it’s very early days, but I believe that, going forward, John Williams will be doing that film because he was there long before I was,” the filmmaker told reporters. Considering that Disney shelled out $4.05 billion for Lucasfilm last year, we’re guessing that money will not be an issue in making this happen. [THR]
5. Ian Rubbish and the Bizarros, the fake punk band headed by Fred Armieson who appeared in a surprisingly funny “SNL” sketch a few weeks ago, have gone and released a free EP. Download the tracks, and watch the sketch below, now. [Pop Candy]
Previously: Neutral Milk Hotel, James Ponsoldt, “The Spoils of Babylon,” Sarah Silverman, Boards of Canada
Image: Woody Allen/Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
