Reese Witherspoon is quietly becoming a producing force. You have her to thank for David Fincher‘s "Gone Girl," and she also helped move along "Wild" as well. Now she’s putting her powers behind an adaptation of the upcoming, Tzemach Lemmon‘s "Ashley’s War." It will chronicle "the creation by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command of a pilot program that allowed elite women soldiers on the battlefield with Green Berets and Army Rangers in Afghanistan in 2010. The unit, CST-2, brought together a hand-picked group of women from the Army, and that included 1st Lieutenant Ashley White, who would become the first CST member killed in action." The 38 year-old Witherspoon will have the first opportunity to say yes or no to the lead role of the 24 year-old soldier, but don’t be surprised if she moves to the side to let a more suitable candidate step in. [Deadline]
On again, off again for a while now, it looks like all systems go for "The Great Wall" with Matt Damon. Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau, Jing Tian, Zhang Hanyu, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Lin Gengxin, Zheng Kai, Chen Xuedong, Huang Xuan, Wang Junkai, Yu Xintian and Liu Qiong have all taken roles in the Zhang Yimou directed movie "that’s set in 15th century China and revolves around an elite force of soldiers making a last stand for humanity against mythical creatures on the world’s most iconic structure." Production begins at the end of the month. [Variety]
Kate Mara and Anya Taylor-Joy will lead in Ridley Scott‘s son Luke Scott‘s directorial debut "Morgan." The sci-fi flick "centers on a corporate risk-management consultant who is summoned to a remote research lab to determine whether or not to terminate an at-risk artificial being." [THR]
Today, Will Ferrell is hitting spring training in Arizona for an HBO special from Funny Or Die. The actor will be at five different spring training ballparks to honor the historic feat of Bert Campaneris five decades ago by playing every position on the field, and maybe some off the field, for ten different teams in the same day. The special will show later this year on HBO and feature MLB players, managers, coaches, executives and fans.