Casting Net: James Franco to direct, star in Steinbeck adapation 'In Dubious Battle'

James Franco will be starring in his adaptation of John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle. The film, which tells the story of a man who tried to organize a fruit picker strike in Southern California, will star Selena Gomez, Vincent D’Onofrio, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Bryan Cranston, and Danny McBride. Principal photography begins in March. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) have signed on to star in the indie drama Two Lovers and a Bear. The film is set in a small town near the North Pole where the roads lead to nowhere, where Roman (DeHaan) and Lucy (Maslany) “come together to make a leap for life and inner peace.” Production is scheduled to begin in mid-March. [TheWrap]
Jamie Foxx and Michelle Monaghan will be starring in the Open Roads action thriller Sleepless Night. The film revolves around Vincent Downs (Foxx), a seemingly corrupt Las Vegas cop, whose son is kidnapped by gangsters as ransom for a shipment of cocaine he has stolen. Monaghan plays officer Jennifer Bryant, an Interal Affairs agent investigating Downs.

Directors Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul are planning to adapt the Wired magazine article “Finding a Vegas Poker Bug Made These Guys Rich—Then Vegas Made Them Pay.” Jonah Hill is executive producing the film about two hackers who found a glitch in video poker machines which they used to win almost $1 million. [Variety]
Frances McDormand, Logan Lerman, Brit Marling, Christian Slater, and Jonathan Pryce have all joined the cast of The Wife, starring Glenn Close. Close plays a flawlessly gracious wife who gives up her writing ambitions for her husband, aphilandering literary giant (Pryce). A startling secret at the heart of their relationship is presented in a “poignant, funny, and emotional journey about the conflicts of love and ambition.” [Variety]
Elijah Wood and Nicolas Cage will be teaming up for the cop thriller The Trust. Cage and Wood play crooked cops who discover a hidden safe while working in evidence in the police department. When they try to leave with the contents, “They are faced with even more corruption that leaves them fighting for their lives and questioning their every move.” Production has just begun in Las Vegas. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Elle Fanning and Diego Luna will join the cast of the sci-fi film IO. The film, developed at the Sundance Insitute’s Writers Lab, is slated to begin production sometime this year. Fanning will play a teen survivor of a post-cataclyscmic Earth, who is looking to find a cure for her poisoned world before the last shuttle leaving the planet leaves her stranded. Luna will play a complicated refugee on his way to the shuttle launch who makes her question Earth’s fate. [Deadline]
Nick Cannon will direct the independent romantic comedy, Three Little Words. The film, currently in pre-production, is the story of a group dealing with various romances as they try to say the words “I love you.” [Variety]
Zoe Graham (Boyhood) has joined the remake of the Argentine thriller The Secret In Their Eyes. She will play the daughter of Julia Roberts’ character, in a story that centers around a retired criminal investigator who writes a mystery novel in order to deal with one of his unsolved cases. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Katie Holmes and Evan Rachel Wood will join Zosia Mamet for Taxonomy, the upcoming comedy which will see the three play sisters living together in an enormous New York apartment. Alan Rickman is set to direct and production will begin this spring. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Related Articles