With "Young Adult" barely out of our minds, lensing is excitingly already underway on Jason Reitman's next directorial effort, an adaptation of Joyce Maynard's coming-of-age story "Labor Day." The project has now added a trio of talent with Alexie Gilmore ("World's Greatest Dad"), Lucas Hedges ("Moonrise Kingdom") and Brooke Smith ("Grey's Anatomy") all joining in unnamed supporting roles. The story centers on an escaped convict (Josh Brolin) who is taken in by a depressed single mother (Kate Winslet) and her teen son (Gattlin Griffith) over a Labor Day weekend with Clark Gregg, Tom Lipinski, Maika Monroe, Brighid Fleming and James Van Der Beek also co-starring. [Variety]
Jena Malone's career has kinda been all over the place with the actress most recently finding herself with a starring role in the History Channel's "Hatfield & McCoys." She'll now lead the L.A. noir thriller "The Go Getters" playing an actress who gets caught up in a heist planned by two underworld brothers. The project will mark the directorial debut of Michael C. Martin, who wrote Antoine Fuqua's "Brooklyn's Finest." [Deadline]
"The Office" star Creed Bratton has been added to the Lifetime original movie "Liz & Dick," which is the story of Elizabeth Taylor that's currently shooting with Lindsay Lohan in the starring role. Spanning three decades, the story follows the actress' love affair with Richard Burton (Grant Bowler). Bratton will play studio chief Darryl F. Zannuck who ran 20th Century Fox around the time "Cleopatra" was released and when the Taylor-Burton relationship was blossoming. The script was written by Christopher Monger ("Temple Grandin"). [Variety]
Youngster Brittany Curran will lead "Conan" director Marcus Nispel's return to the horror scene with the Kirsten Elms-scripted "Backmask." The film is backed by Steven Schneider ("Insidious") and centers on a group of a teenagers that accidentally releases an evil spirit that starts to possess them one by one. [THR]
Having birthed "The Descendants" star Shailene Woodley and upcoming "Maleficent" actress India Eisley, "The Secret Life Of The American Teenager" is proving to be a bit of a breeding ground for talent. Now Kristopher Higgins, who featured in the aforementioned show's fifth season, is joining Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon for Atom Egoyan's "The Devil's Knot" — the West Memphis 3 story about three teens who were convicted in Arkansas of murdering three 8-year olds despite no physical evidence. Higgins will play one of the trio, Jessie Misskelley, with Egoyan teaming with Paul Boardman to rewrite Scott Derrickson's script. [Deadline]
