Kong: Skull Island, The Circle, The Girl On The Train, and other films have made recent film casting, screenwriting, and director news. These films come from movie studios primarily based in the United States. The castings, screenwriters, and directors are subject to change.
Aretha Franklin Biopic
Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson is in discussions to play Aretha Franklin in a biopic
Hudson has not been officially cast as there is no deal in place, but a representative for the “Dreamgirls” star has acknowledged that conversations have taken place.
The Untitled Aretha Franklin Project, which has been in the works for several years, will chronicle the “Respect” singer’s rise to fame in the ’60s and ’70s and delve into her relationship with her abusive ex-husband Ted White.
The Girl On The Train
Rebecca Ferguson is negotiating to star in The Girl On The Train, the Tate Taylor-directed adaptation of the Paula Hawkins novel. Ferguson will play the role of Anna.
[Rebecca Ferguson] was on a very short list — with 007 Spectre star Lea Seydoux and Mad Max: Fury Road‘s Abbey Lee — to test for the female lead opposite Channing Tatum in Fox’s X-Men spinoff Gambit. Ferguson has taken herself out of the running on that film to instead take this plum role in a film that has been likened to Gone Girl for its thriller elements and that it is an adaptation of a publishing phenomenon. Erin Cressida Wilson wrote the script
The Circle
John Boyega…has been tapped to star opposite Tom Hanks and Emma Watson in the James Ponsoldt-directed and scripted adaptation of Dave Eggers’ book The Circle.
In The Circle, Boyega will play Ty, the iconized boy-wonder visionary of the Circle, an Internet monopoly which links users’ personal emails, social media, banking and purchasing with their universal operating system. The result is one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. He and an employee (Watson) develop a relationship as the perils of life in a digital age inevitably arise.
Holding Patterns
Freddie Highmore, Odeya Rush and Haley Joel Osment have been tapped to topline Jake Goldberger’s coming-of-age dramedy Holding Patterns…The pic centers on a man (Highmore) in his mid-20s and still living at home with his mother and stepfather who puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl (Rush) who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As the become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.
Rita Volk, Jake Abel and Taylor John Smith co-star.
Gifted
Marc Webb has locked as his next film Gifted at Fox Searchlight. Chris Evans has been set to star in the Tom Flynn-scripted drama, which focuses on a man who sues for custody of his gifted niece.
The Only Living Boy in New York
there is also movement on The Only Living Boy In New York, the Allan Loeb-scripted film…to which Miles Teller was already attached, is moving from Fox Searchlight to Fox 2000, and discussions are underway with Jeff Bridges and Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike to round out an unusual romantic triangle for a film that would shoot next year. Teller is attached to play a recent college grad who learns that his overbearing father is having an affair. The son tries to stop it, only to become involved with the woman as well. With advice from a questionable quirky neighbor, the young man learns about love.
Jack Goes Home
Rory Culkin and Lin Shaye (Insidious franchise) have been set to star in Jack Goes Home…directed by Thomas Dekker. They join Britt Robertson, Nikki Reed and Daveigh Chase in the film
Written and to be helmed by Dekker, the pic centers on Jack (Culkin), an educated and well versed magazine editor living in LA. He is hit hard by the news of his father’s death in a violent and horrific car crash, which his mother (Shaye) has survived. He returns to his hometown of Denver to nurse his mother through her physical and emotional injuries. There he uncovers long buried secrets and lies within his family history, his parents, his friends and his very identity, fueled by madness, sexuality, hauntings and violence.
Robertson will co-star as Jack’s pregnant fiancé, Chase plays Jack’s best friend, and Reed is her girlfriend. Louis Hunter also co-stars.
Kursk
Martin Zandvliet [will] direct Kursk, a fact-based drama scripted by…scribe Robert Rodat based on the true story of a multi-national rescue attempt of the sunken K-141 Kursk. Kursk was a Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine that experienced a series of sudden explosions. Rodat is writing the script
Sully
Laura Linney is making a deal to star with Tom Hanks in Sully…The drama is about Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who became an instant American hero in 2009 when he engineered a miraculous emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after a flock of geese hit the plane just after it took off from La Guardia Airport. His courage under fire saved the lives of all 155 people aboard the plane, who famously crowded the wings waiting rescue.
Linney will play the pilot’s wife…Aaron Eckhardt will play the co-pilot.
Bastards
Ving Rhames…is joining Ed Helms, Owen Wilson, JK Simmons and Terry Bradshaw in the comedy Bastards. The film, which marks the directorial debut of cinematographer Lawrence Sher, is about two brothers whose eccentric mother has fabricated the story that their father had died when they were young. When they find out the story is false, they make it their mission to find their real father.
Rhames will play Rod Hamilton, the ex-teammate of football great Bradshaw (who plays himself in the picture). Of course, the mother points the finger to Bradshaw as the possible father of one of of of the boys (Helms); Rhames’ character helps Bradshaw figure out whether or not he’s the kid’s father.
The comedy [is] scripted by Justin Malen
Fear, Inc.
Eric Lange (“Lost”), Mark Moses (“Mad Men”) and Emmy winner Leslie Jordan (“Will & Grace”) have joined the cast of the horror-comedy “Fear, Inc.”
Kong: Skull Island
Derek Connolly…has been brought on to work on Kong: Skull Island
The scribe is doing some late minute work as the movie is deep in the casting stages and heading for a late October start in Hawaii.
Max Borenstein (Godzilla), John Gatins (Flight) and Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) are among those that previously worked on the script.
The Shee
Ciaran Foy has come on board Blumouse’s “The Shee”
The story centers on a troubled young woman who has to deal with her tragic past on a remote island.
“Shee” is an Irish term for a supernatural race in Irish mythology that lives underground or in an invisible world.
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