• Meg Ryan and Kara Hayward are joining Kiernan Shipka in Fan Girl. The film follows a 15-year-old post-Millennial teenager who combines her passions—making movies and idolizing her favorite band—in a final film project. Paul Jarrett is making his directorial debut with the semi-autobiographical film. Gina O’Brien wrote the script. The film also stars Scott Adsit, Joshua Boone, and Bill Sage. All Time Low will lend their music to the soundtrack and will appear as themselves. Jarrett, Nick Huston, and Adam Spielberg in association with Rosetta Films, Filament Productions and Literally Films are producing. O’Brien and Jonathan Gray are executive producing. [Deadline]
• Jackie Weaver will star in director James Franco‘s Zeroville. The two-time Oscar nominee will play lead character Dotty, a film editor who is a friend and mentor to Franco’s character. The film is an adaptation of Steve Erikson‘s 2007 novel about a 24-year-old student who arrives in Hollywood in 1969, hoping to make it in the business. Caroline Aragon and Vince Jolivette are producing. [Deadline]
• Margot Robbie is in talks to join Tina Fey in The Taliban Shuffle. If it goes through, it will reteam her with with Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who directed her in Focus. The film is an adaptation of journalist Kim Barker‘s wartime memoir, which recounts her outsider status in Kabul, being a woman in wartime Iraq and Pakistan, among other things. Robbie is up for the role of a beautiful, blond on-air news anchor who befriends Baker (Fey) in Afghanistan who is described as willing to do anything to launch her career. Fey is producing the film with Lorne Michaels. [THR]
• Julie Delpy and Greta Gerwig are in talks to star in Todd Solondz‘ s Wiener-Dog, an ensemble indie tied together thematically by a dachschund. The film acts as a sort-of sequel to Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse: One story will center on Dawn Wiener from the 1995 cult hit. The nature of Delpy’s character is unknown, but if Gerwig signs on, she would play the adult Dawn Wiener in one storyline. Megan Ellison and her Annapurna production shingle will produce and finance with Christine Vachon and her Killer Films banner, which will produce as well. [THR]
• Bill Skarsgard, Claire van der Boom, and Paula Malcomson will star in Alison Eastwood‘s Battlecreek. The film tells a love story about reconciling your past and finding your future. Skarsgard will play a talented young painter who must live his life at night due to a rare skin disorder. He strikes a romance with a young woman (van der Boom), encouraging him to challenge his overbearing mother (Malcomson) and the lies that surround their relationship. Anthea Anka wrote the script. Connie Hoy is producing under her Maindiner Entertainment banner with Eastwood. Red River Studios is financing the film, and its Michael G. Wallace is executive producing. Production starts later this month in Mississippi. [The Wrap]
• Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones) has been cast in The Scorch Trials, the sequel to The Maze Runner. The film, which Wes Ball will return direct, previously added Aidan Gillen, Rosa Salazar, and Giancarlo Esposito to a cast with Dylan O’Brien and Will Poulter at its center. Emmanuel will play Harriet, the leader of a group of girls who have escaped from another maze and connect with O’Brien’s group. Harriet is involved in the third installment. The producers of The Maze Runner will return for its sequel. [THR]
• Jeremy Sisto (Suburgatory), Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty), Katherine La Nasa (Deception), Jenica Bergere (Trophy Wife), and Leonard Roberts (Drumline) have signed on for Love is All You Need?, a reverse gay-bullying drama starring Briana Evigan, Emily Osment, and Kyla Kennedy. The film, which Kim Rocco Shields is directing, is set in a world where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexual persons are bullied. Tyler Blackburn (Pretty Little Liars) also joins the cast as Ryan, a journalist who becomes romantically involved with Evignan’s star quarterback. Love is All You Need? is based on a controversial short film of the same name. It is currently filming in LA. [Deadline]
• Kea Ho has boarded Aaron Kaufman‘s debut film Urge. The thriller stars Pierce Brosnan, Danny Masterson, Ashley Green, Bar Paly, Alexis Knapp, Chris Geere, and Nick Thune. It follows a group of friends who test out a new designer drug while vacationing; the drug makes them unable to control their urges. Ho will play Xiomara, the central performer of Brosnan’s lair. Skip Williamson and Mark Neveldine are producing for their Blackmrkt Incorporated banner. Tim Smith, Alastair Burlingham, Lee Vandermolen, Yoram Barzilai, Frank Martinez, Anthony Gudas, Clay Pecorin, Russell Geyser, Gerald Fruchtman, and Peter Fruchtman are executive producing. [Deadline]
