Whew and hmmm with a little bit of arrrgh

Whew!
Got through Thanksgiving as well as 8 in-laws in our house for my wife's big birthday. Now things should start getting back to normal

Hmmm.
Via the Jonah Hex Corral, I found this tidbit on some casting calls (?) for Jonah Hex. Slashfilm states that there is some rewrite/additions going on.

Two weeks of reshoots and/or additional shooting will take place for Jonah Hex at the beginning of the year, and a set of casting call notes has gone out describing the characters involved. There are a few significant ones: Jeb Turnbull, son of John Malkovich’s primary villain, and Cassie. .... Casting these characters implies that a couple of sequences will be shot that are flashbacks to Hex’s past.

Cassie is mentioned but not seen in earlier drafts of the script. One draft I read had an extensive flashback featuring Jeb Turnbull, with a couple of big scenes, so the quick either/or supposition is that either that sequence wasn’t shot, or was extensively changed at the time and is now being reworked again. The former seems more likely. President Andrew Johnson is also being cast. That flashback was set in 1862, too early for him to be President (he took office in 1865) so there could be more than just the flashback to shoot. Also, I’m not sure how many drafts of Hex exist after the one I read, so don’t think any of this is set in stone.

Not sure how to take this news, could be good, could be bad. More backstory can be a good thing but it depends on what is in the history. I like the addition of Jeb, but I fear for the addition of Cassie, for a couple of reasons which brings me to...

Arrrgh

From SpoilerTV.

[CASSIE] - wife of 'Jonah Hex' (Josh Brolin). Native American. Pretty, young, sexy.

[TRAVIS] - age 9 (to play younger)... Must be a match to Josh Brolin and Native American 'Cassie'.

[JEB TURNBULL] - son of 'Quentin Turnbull' (John Malkovich). 30 - 35. Skinny, southern accent. Needs one or two days for prosthetics.

[PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON] - 50-60. Look alike, if possible.

[ADVISOR] - to President Johnson. Younger, 1870's version of a "West Wing" character.

[DEAD GUY] - late 20s/30s. Scary looking.. May need a day for prosthetics/possible make-up.

Yup, Cassie, a Native American (nope, don't think so), wife (Nope again). But it also raises more questions than it answers. For some time now, IMDB has listed Natacha Itzel as Jonah's wife and she is Hispanic. So is this casting call a replacement for Natacha? Does the story present Jonah with Cassie as a wife, sadly killed and then Natacha as another wife? Is Natacha going to play Tall Bird? And most importantly, which one of the two women are going to become a zombie version of Talluah that feasts on the rotting corpse of Mei Ling?

And let's not forget "Travis" who must be a match to Brolin & "Cassie". Sounds like a misnamed offspring.

Less than 200 days to go & I think I can hold on, if I tell myself that reporters have no idea what they are writing about.