The Gambler: The first photos from The Gambler reveal Mark Wahlberg in various stages of a dangerous addiction. The actor, who stars as a gambling-obsessed college professor, lost some 60 pounds for the role, but the high school dropout says the greater challenge was "being believable as a teacher." (Wahlberg completed school online and finally received a diploma last year.) Brie Larson and Jessica Lange also star; the movie opens in theaters on December 19. [USA Today]
Independence Day 2: Will Smith remains (evidently) indecisive about the opportunity to appear in the sequel Independence Day 2, but costar Jeff Goldblum is ready to return. He says that producer Dean Devlin and director Roland Emmerich told him they "have a part" for him "in what they hope will be a plan to make another one pretty soon." So everything remains quite vague, but at least Goldblum's nervous, anxious and very, very smart David Levison character is included at this point. [Time.com]
Carell Thriller Coming: Steve Carell, who stars in this week's family comedy Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (above), will return to adult-oriented material in an untitled psychological thriller to be directed by Gore Verbinski (The Ring, The Lone Ranger). Right after that, Verbinski has lined up two more projects to direct: horror film A Cure for Wellness and action-comedy Passengers. [Deadline]
Before I Go to Sleep Trailer: Nicole Kidman stars as a woman with severe amnesia in the upcoming thriller Before I Go to Sleep. As she works to regain her memory, she becomes torn between her husband (Colin Firth) and a psychiatrist (Mark Strong). Can she trust either one? The movie opens in theaters on October 31. [MovieClips]
