• Natalie Dormer is set to star in Lava Bear Films and Phantom Four’s The Forest, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed. Jason Zada is directing from a script rewritten by Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca that was based on an original idea by David S. Goyer. Set in the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mt. Fuji, the supernatural thriller tells the story of a young American woman who goes in pursuit of her missing twin sister. When she wanders off the path, she is met by the undead. Lava Bear is producing along with Goyer under his Phantom Four banner. Tory Metzger, President of Lava Bear, is overseeing the project. Focus Features acquired the North American distribution rights to the film and plans to release it on January 8, 2016.

• Patrick Stewart has been cast in Green Room, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed. The story follows a punk band who, after witnessing a violent crime by white power skinheads, is trapped in a venue by the perpetrators, attempting to eliminate all witnesses. The actor will play Darcy Banker, the leader of the white supremacist group. Jeremy Saulnier is directing from a script he wrote. The film also stars Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner, Mark Webber, Kai Lennox, Eric Edelstein, and Macon Blair. Broad Green Pictures is producing and financing the film. Its Victor Moyers along with Anish Savjani and Neil Kopp of filmscience will produce. Gabriel and Daniel Hammond of Broad Green Pictures and Vincent Savino of filmscience will executive produce. Principal photography began this month in and around Portland, OR. Broad Green Pictures plans to release Green Room in 2015.

• Kim Basinger is re-teaming with L.A. Confidential co-star Russell Crowe for Warner Bros.’ The Nice Guys. With Shane Black at the helm, the film also stars Ryan Gosling, Matt Bomer, Beau Knapp, and Keith David. Set in 1970s Los Angeles, the film tells the story of a private eye (Gosling) and hired leg breaker (Crowe) who pair to solve the case of a missing girl and the death of a porn star. Basinger will play a chief justice with questionable interests. Joel Silver is producing under his Silver Pictures banner along with Waypoint Entertainment’s Ken Kao. Hal Sadoff and Michael Malone are executive producing. [THR]

• Maggie Siff (Sons of Anarchy) and Talitha Bateman (Hart of Dixie) have joined the cast of The 5th Wave, Sony’s adaptation of Rick Yancey‘s YA novel. The film stars Chloe Grace Moretz as Cassie, a survivor of four alien attacks on Earth, who must rescue her younger brother while an eminent fifth attack is on the way. Siff will play Cassie and Sammy’s mother, Lisa, who suffers from a plague released in the third wave. Bateman will take the role of Teacup, a young girl who is in the child army where Sammy is being held. J Blakeston is directing from a script by Susannah Grant. The film also stars Nick Robinson, Alex Roe, Maika Monroe, Liev Schereiber, and Ron Livingston. Tobey Maguire, Graham King, Lynn Harris, and Matthew Plouffe are producing. Denis O’Sullivan and Richard Middleton are executive producing. Andrea Giannetti and Hannah Minghella will oversee for Sony. [THR]

• Michael Conlin (Bones) has joined Relativity’s The Disappointments Room. DJ Caruso is directing the psychological thriller, written by Wentworth Miller. The  ghost story follows Dana (Kate Beckinsale) and her five-year-old son as they move into a new home, and accidentally unlock horrors in the attic. Conlin will play Jules, one half of a privileged Manhattan couple who doesn’t understand what is happening to Dana. The Disappointments Room is currently filming in North Carolina. [Deadline]