1.) RoboCop has added another name to its already solid list of performers (Gary Oldman, Hugh Laurie, Samuel L. Jackson and Abbie Cornish), with Jackie Earle Haley reaching a deal to join the cast. He’ll play Maddox, the man who dispenses the military training to Robocop. Jay Baruchel is also in negotiations for one of the final key roles. Of course, Joel Kinnaman (“The Killing”) stars as the title character for director Jose Padilha. [Deadline]
2.) The Watch producer Shawn Levy (Real Steel, Date Night) is looking to reunite stars Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill for the Hawaii-set comedy Aloha, only Levy is also attached to direct this time around. The trio fleshed out the idea on the set of The Watch and Nicholas Stoller (Get Him to the Greek) is in negotiations to pen the script. Plot details are under wraps, but here’s hoping it’s more Forgetting Sarah Marshall than The Heartbreak Kid. [THR]
3.) Kevin Costner is in negotiations to star as a cross-country coach in McFarland. The pic comes from Disney and Mayhem Pictures, the company that brought us similar inspirational sports stories like Miracle, Invincible and Secretariat. It tells the true story of a high school coach who comes to a predominantly poor Latino town and builds a championship-level program. Niko Caro (Whale Rider) is attached to direct. Sure, Costner made golf exciting in Tin Cup, but cross-country seems like an even tougher challenge, right? [Variety]
4.) Kevin Durand (“Lost,” Resident Evil: Retribution), Marton Csokas (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) and Dakota Goyo (Hugh Jackman’s son in Real Steel) have all joined the cast of Darren Aronofsky‘s upcoming Biblical epic, Noah and it would appear their roles offer up a bit of a change to the Bible’s text.
Durand will play “one of the giants who helps Noah and his family” and Goyo will be playing Noah as a youngster (played by Russell Crowe for the film’s duration). Csokas’ role was not revealed. As Durand’s role clearly points to a diversion from the story of Noah as you may know it, in a past story at HitFix it was revealed the film also includes characters known as the Watchers, described as “eleven-foot-tall fallen angels with six arms and no wings.” The film hits theaters on March 28, 2014. Should be an interesting watch. [Variety, Variety and Deadline]
5.) Abigail Breslin and Juliette Lewis have joined the previously cast Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep in the dysfunctional family drama August: Osage County. The story brings three sisters back home to be with their their drug-addicted mother (Streep) after their alcoholic father disappears. Roberts and Lewis will play two of the sisters, while Breslin will play Roberts’ pot-smoking teen daughter. At one point, Chris Cooper was in negotiations to play Streep’s brother-in-law, but recent reports don’t mention his involvement. John Wells (The Company Men) will direct, while Tracy Letts (Bug, Killer Joe) adapts his own Pulitzer-prize winning play. George Clooney and Grant Heslov are among the producers, and with The Weinstein Co. financing and distributing, you can expect it to be at the center of many Oscar-related discussions when it comes out sometime next year. [Deadline]
BONUS: Mike Epps is in negotiations for The Hangover Part III, bringing back the Black Doug character from the original film. The movie is slated for a May 24, 2013 release date. [Variety]
