“The Impossible” filmmaker J.A. Bayona is prepping his next project, and it’s a doozy, with an adaptation of Patrick Ness‘ fantasy novel “A Monster Calls,” and he’s now putting his cast together. And the first one on board is Felicity Jones, with the actress joining the Black List approved story that follows an adolescent boy with a terminally ill single mother begins having visions of a tree monster, who tells him the truths about life in the form of three stories, helping him to eventually cope with his emotions over his dying mom. Jones will play the mother, with Liam Neeson apparently being courted to play the monster, but we’ll see how that turns out. “A Monster Calls” arrives on October 14, 2016. [Deadline]
What’s better than one Tom Hardy? Two of them. Everyone’s favorite grumpy teddybear signed up a couple months back to play twin gangsters in Brian Helgeland‘s “Legends” (previously called “Legend,” though the trades are alternating between both), and now he’s got a co-star. Emily Browning is joining the film about Ronald and Reginald Kray, sibling toughs from the 1950s and 1960s who rubbed shoulders with celebrities while also taking part in murder, armed robbery, arson, racketeering, assault, and more. The actress will play “a young woman who tragically falls for Reggie and marries him, hoping he will change his gangster ways.” Production on the film will get underway this spring and summer. [THR]
Lastly, Zooey Deschanel, Anton Yelchin, John Hawkes, Ciaran Hinds and Alia Shawkat are the ensemble assembled for “Driftless Area.” Based on the novel by Tom Drury, the film will find the “New Girl” star playing “an enigmatic woman while Yelchin portrays a bartender who returns to his hometown after the death of his parents. When he falls in love with her, he is unwittingly pitted against a volatile criminal played by Hawkes.” Zachary Sluser will direct, making his feature length directorial debut, with production starting next month. [Variety]