A few casting updates for you so let’s dive right in … We just spoke with Alec Baldwin at the Savannah Film Festival, and while we didn’t have time to get into what his next project would be, we didn’t have to wait long to find out. He’ll be reteaming with his “The Cooler” director Wayne Kramer for “Caught Stealing.” Penned by David Hayter (“X-Men”) and based on the novel by Charlie Huston, the film will find Patrick Wilson playing “a hotshot high school basketball player turned unlucky, going-nowhere bartender who mistakenly gets caught up in a bloody treasure hunt through New York City” with Baldwin as “a sadistic cop.” The Huston book is the first in a trilogy so … franchise? [Variety]
“London Fields,” the long-gestating noir crime thriller based on Martin Amis‘ novel has been in the works for ages. It’s finally coming to the big screen with Amber Heard, Billy Bob Thornton and Jim Sturgess. First-time feature-length filmmaker Mathew Cullen is behind the director’s chair and he’s in a bit of luck. He’s scored a huge name for a little cameo: Johnny Depp. Maybe, Heard, Depp’s alleged girlfriend, has something to do with it? [THR].
Xavier Dolan is keeping busy. Not only is he in production on his next directorial effort “Mommy,” he’s now booked an acting gig as well. He’ll star alongside Bruce Greenwood, Carrie-Anne Moss and Catherine Keener in “The Elephant Song.” An adaptation of the play by Nicolas Billon, “the drama follows a psychiatrist investigating the disappearance of his colleague who questions a disturbed patient (Dolan) and finds himself caught in a complex mind game.” Production will start soon in Montreal with Charles Binamé (“Maurice Richard“) at the helm. [Global News]
Michael Winterbottom’s Amanda Knox-ish movie “The Face of an Angel” continues to cast up, and joining Kate Beckinsale and Daniel Brühl will be model Cara Delevingne. The film is said to be a fictionalized adaptation of Barbie Latza Nadeau’s non-fiction book “Angel Face: Sex, Murder and the Inside Story of Amanda Knox,” and it takes a unique approach, telling “the story of a documentary maker (Brühl) who goes to Italy to research a film about a (fictional) murder trial. But he’s going through a mid-life crisis, plus he’s missing his daughter, and he realises he doesn’t want to be involved in a story about violence.” The trial will only be background for this drama. Production begins in November. [Daily Mail]
Lastly, Katherine Heigl, Tom Wilkinson, Linda Emond and Grace Gummer are set to star in “Jenny’s Wedding.” From writer/director Mary Agnes Donoghue, the movie revolves around Jenny (Heigl), who causes a massive sea-change in the lives of her closely knit, highly conventional family when she finally decides to marry. A pretty and engaging woman, everyone is baffled by Jenny’s lack of a love-life, and her parents (Wilkinson, Emond) particularly have been anxious for her to settle down, but when the announcement comes that she is finally going to wed, her choice of partner tears the family apart. Gee, we wonder what that choice will be? Production is underway.