Jennifer Connelly is getting off the ark and onto dry land. The "Noah" actress is joining Ewan McGregor for a film adaptation of Philip Roth‘s "American Pastoral." Directed by Phillip Noyce, the movie will follows Seymour “Swede” Levov, a legendary high school athlete, who grows up to marry a former beauty queen and inherits his father’s business. Swede’s seemingly perfect life shatters when his daughter rebels by becoming a revolutionary and committing a deadly act of political terrorism during the Vietnam War. Dakota Fanning has nabbed role of the daughter. Production on the drama will kick off next spring. [Deadline]
Elijah Wood is exercising his love of genre movies once again, joining Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Michael Caine as well as the recently added Olafur Darri Olafsson in "The Last Witch Hunter." The Breck Eisner directed movie will follow "an immortal witch hunter who teams up with his natural enemy, a witch, to save NYC from a coven-conjured plague." Filming will get underway this month. [Deadline/The Wrap]
Viggo Mortensen‘s "Captain Fantastic" is getting some new recruits. Steve Zahn, Kathryn Hahn, Missi Pyle and Erin Moriarty have been cast for a movie about "a father who is so devoted to teaching his six children how to live, be free, and survive in the world that he has moved them deep into the forests of the Pacific Northwest. He spends his days teaching them combat skills, training them like professional athletes, homeschooling them in a rigorous classical education, and introducing them to the natural world. But when he is forced to leave and confront the real world, the resulting journey challenges his unorthodox parenting." Matt Ross directs, and filming is already underway. [Screen Daily]
Jean-Claude Van Damme‘s "Kickboxer" is getting a redo —in 3D no less— and it certainly won’t be lacking in guys who know how to throw down. "Ong Bak" star Tony Jaa and Scott Adkins have joined Dave Bautista, UFC fighter George St. Pierre and Alain Moussi in the movie. Stephen Fung ("Tai Chi Zero," "Tai Chi Hero") will direct the movie following Kurt Sloan (Moussi), a talented martial artist who travels to Thailand where he must learn kickboxing secret so that we will avenge his brother’s death at the hands of Tong Po (Bautista). No word yet on when lensing will begin.