Update 2/2: Horrible news. Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment today. More info here.
You’ll have to jog your memory a bit, but way back in the fall of 2012, it was announced that Philip Seymour Hoffman would be following his feature directorial debut “Jack Goes Boating” with “Ezekiel Moss,” a period-set ghost story. And then nothing much was heard from it. But today the project got a kick in the pants with the addition of two big stars.
Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal have joined the film, which has Black List-approved script by Keith Bunin (HBO‘s “In Treatment,” “Horns“), and tells the story of “Iris (Adams) who, emotionally fragile by the recent loss of her husband, manages to scrape by to provide for her spirited son by running a boarding house in a small town overrun by religious fervor. Their lives are forever changed when she begins to fall in love with Ezekiel Moss (Gyllenhaal), a mysterious drifter who has the divine ability to channel and physically inhabit the spirits of the dead.” Sounds intriguing, and frankly, we’d watch anything involving Hoffman, Adams (with the pair working for a fourth time following “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Doubt” and “The Master“) and Gyllenhaal. No word yet on when it will lens, but hopefully we won’t be waiting too long. [Deadline]
In other casting news: With a recent filmography that includes work with J.J. Abrams, Ben Affleck and Martin Scorsese, Kyle Chandler is continuing to seek out work with great storytellers. And so he’s joined the cast of Todd Haynes‘ “Carol,” where he’ll feature alongside Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Sarah Paulson in the story set in 1950s New York, which follows a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life and falls for an older, married woman. Production starts in March. [Deadline]
Nikki Reed (“Thirteen,” “Twilight“) will star in the horror film, “Email.” Yes, that’s what it’s called. The actress will play “a young journalist who travels to Singapore to investigate the mysterious circumstances of her sister’s death and discovers a string of bizarre killings involving a cursed email. Along the way she meets Ted, an ex-pat technology reporter, and together they face the supernatural forces and unravel a mysterious conspiracy far bigger than they expected.” Kelvin Tong directs and filming will begin in May. [THR]
Alfre Woodard has taken a role in the “The Conjuring” spinoff, “Annabelle.” No word yet on the plot of the movie—which is presumably centered around the haunted doll from the horror hit—but she joins Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton in the flick, with “The Conjuring” cinematographer John Leonetti directing. Production is now underway. [Variety]