Casting Net: Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen team up; Plus, Lance Reddick

• Hopefully Rooney Mara (Side Effects) and Martin Sheen (The Departed) will get a chance to trade Terrence Malick stories when they begin filming Trash in Rio De Janeiro next month. The two actors have signed on to star in the adaptation of Andy Mulligan’s 2010 young adult novel about three homeless boys living in an intentionally ambiguous “third world” country in the near future who discover something in a trash heap worth protecting. Mara will play an NGO worker and Sheen is set for the part of Father Julliard. Rickson Teves, Eduardo Luis, and Gabriel Weinstein will make their film debuts as the three boys. Stephen Daldry (The Hours) is set to direct the project, which was adapted for the screen by Richard Curtis (War Horse). [Deadline]

• Fringe and Lost-alum Lance Reddick is set to join Adam Wingard’s thriller The Guest, starring Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey). Reddick appeared most recently in White House Down, and can be seen next in Spike Lee’s Oldboy and Danny DeVito’s St. Sebastian. [The Wrap]

• Michael K. Williams, who starred alongside Reddick in The Wire, is in talks to join Kill the Messenger to play the part of Rick Ross. In the film the character of Ross will be awaiting trial for dealing drugs when he comes in contact with journalist Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner). Williams has a number of projects coming up including RoboCop (scheduled for a Feb. 7 release) and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave. [The Wrap]

• Stellan Skarsgard (Thor) is in talks to join Kenneth Branagh’s live action take on Cinderella. He’d play the part of one of the King’s advisers. He’s also, probably, a bad guy. Skarsgard can be seen next in Thor: The Dark World and Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. [THR]

• Jerry Ferrara, best known for his role as Turtle on Entourage, has joined the independent project The Life about a guy trying to get into the world of club promoting in New York while also taking care of his sick father. It actually kind of sounds like something that could have happened to a Vince Chase-less Turtle. Jessica Szohr (Gossip Girl), Robert Davi (The Iceman), and Danny A. Abeckaser (Holy Rollers) also star. [Variety]

• True Blood’s Sam Trammell has joined the independent film The Aftermath, where he’ll play an addict who develops a Smiegel-like obsession with a pendant that he thinks is the key to saving his marriage. [The Wrap]