Ready Player One, Nest, Race, 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.
I Kill Giants
Zoe Saldana has signed on to star alongside up-and-coming young actress Madison Wolfe in director Anders Walter’s “I Kill Giants,” the film adaptation of Joe Kelly’s critically acclaimed graphic novel, it was announced Friday.
“I Kill Giants” tells the story of a young misfit girl named Barbara (Wolfe) battling both real and imaginary monsters in her life. Saldana will play school psychologist Mrs. Mollé, who plays a key role by helping Barbara face both internal and external threats, forming an inspiring bond with her in the process.
Kelly…has also written the screenplay adaptation.
Ready Player One
Olivia Cooke has emerged as director Steven Spielberg‘s favorite for the female lead in “Ready Player One.”
Cooke is in early talks for the coveted part, an individual familiar with the negotiations said.
The casting would take her out of the running to join Disney’s “Star Wars: Episode VIII,” for which she was also being considered.
Red Sparrow
Jennifer Lawrence is orbiting Red Sparrow, an adaptation of the Jason Matthews espionage novel at Fox. The hope is for her to re-team on the project with Francis Lawrence, her director on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay–Parts 1 and the upcoming 2.
Justin Haythe is being hired to rewrite a script by American Hustle scribe Eric Warren.
The book is set in contemporary Russia, and state intelligence officer Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) struggles to survive in the cast-iron bureaucracy of post-Soviet intelligence. Drafted against her will to become a “Sparrow,” a trained seductress in the service, Dominika is assigned to operate against Nathaniel Nash, a first-tour CIA officer who handles the agency’s most sensitive penetration of Russian intelligence. The two young intelligence officers collide in a charged atmosphere of trade craft, deception, and inevitably, a sexual attraction that threatens their careers and the security of America’s valuable mole in Moscow.
Dominika winds up seeking revenge against her soulless masters, and living a fatal double life after she is recruited by the CIA to ferret out a high-level traitor in Washington. She also hunts down a Russian illegal buried deep in the U.S. military and, against all odds, to return to Moscow as the new-generation penetration of Vladimir Putin’s intelligence service.
Breakout
RZA [will] direct the upcoming feature Breakout, from a script by Richard D’Ovidio a story by Richard & Nicole D’Ovidio.
Breakout is about a young photographer who is falsely arrested in Bangladesh for drug trafficking. His prominent father turns to two old friends to help break his son out of prison and uncover the truth.
Our Souls At Night
Our Souls At Night…will be a starring vehicle for Robert Redford and Jane Fonda…the script is going to be written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they’ve known each other for decades and were friends with their late spouses. Their children live far away and they are all alone in their big houses. She seeks to establish a romantic connection, and make the most of the rest of the time they have.
Race
Stephan James (“Selma”) will be the first actor out of the starting blocks to star as legendary track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens when Focus Features’ “Race”
(Joe Boyega was set to play Owens, but pulled out when he was cast in “Star Wars: Episode VII.”)
“Race” is directed by Stephan Hopkins and written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse. It also stars Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt and Carice van Houten.
Nest
Li Bingbing…is to star in “Nest,” an English-language sci-fi actioner being directed by Kimble Rendall.
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