Casting Net: Benedict Cumberbatch, Emily VanCamp, Elizabeth McGover

• Sherlock fans, get excited: Benedict Cumberbatch is circling the role of Alan Turing in The Imitation Game – the well-regarded Black List script from Graham Moore. Alan Turing was a British logician and mathematician who made major contributions to the fields of computer science, artificial intelligence, and cryptology. His efforts and inventions proved especially useful in breaking Axis codes during WWII, but after the war, Turing faced criminal prosecution for being gay and later committed suicide. Leonardo DiCaprio was previously attached to the role, but backed out this past fall. [Deadline]

• Revenge’s Emily VanCamp is currently in talks to star opposite Chris Evans in Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. VanCamp has mostly been known for her work on television, including the aforementioned Revenge, Brothers & Sisters, and Everwood. Making the jump to the big screen in such a high-profile project could prove to be a turning point in her career. [Deadline]

• Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes will write a script based on Laura Moriarty‘s 2012 novel The Chaperone, for none other than the Countess of Grantham herself, Elizabeth McGovern. The story follows a 15-year-old Louise Brooks and her 36-year-old chaperone Cora Carlisle (McGovern) on a trip from Kansas to New York City, when Brooks gets accepted into a prestigious dance school. McGovern’s husband, Simon Curtis (My Week With Marilyn), will direct the project. [Deadline]

• Julia Stiles has signed on to join The First, a Mary Pickford bio-pic starring Lily Rabe (American Horror Story) and Michael Pitt. The Silver Linings Playbook actress will play Frances Marion – the journalist responsible for writing the screenplays for various Pickford films including The Poor Little Rich Girl and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. Marion was also the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Rabe, who will portray Pickford, has been attached to the project since the fall. [The Wrap]

• UPDATED: Lily Rabe has also been confirmed to play the titular character in the Geffen Playhouse production of Miss Julie. Jessica Chastain is starring in Liv Ullman’s film adaptation. [The Wrap]

Follow @ldbahr

Casting Net: Bradley Cooper in high demand; Plus Jessica Chastain, Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, and more

Casting Net: Eva Green to star in ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’; Plus David Cronenberg, Felicity Jones, Sean Penn