So we can cover as many films as possible, we thought we’d give you these quick updates of some of the smaller film announcements…
True Blood star Sam Trammell has joined the cast of the indie Details. He’ll join Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks and Laura Linney in the movie, which is about couples arguing over how to deal with a racoon infestation. No, it really is about that, we weren’t kidding. The film is due to de directed by Jabos Estes (Mean Creek). (Source: Variety)
Sarah Polley, who looked like she was going to hit it big after Go but has since concentrated on starring in and directing indie projects, has signed on to play the lead role in the Canadian-Nordic co-production Queen Christina, which is being billed as an epic take on the story of the 17th Century Queen Of Sweden (famously played by Great Garbo in 1933), who was raised as a prince and abdicated the throne under the influence of the philosopher Rene Descartes. (Source: Screen International)
Judd Apatow alum Jay Baruchel has signed up to star in the Canadian dark comedy, Notre Dame de Grace. The script for the film was written by Jacob Tierney, based on the novel Dear Neighbour by Christine Brouillet. The story is set in Montreal, where a serial killer is on the loose, but the main action revolves around three tenants in an apartment block, who share a peculiar triangle of intrigue and romance. (Source: Screen International)
Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Shue and Abilgail Breslin have joined the cast of the indie drama Janie Jones, along with along with Frank Whaley, Brittany Snow, Peter Stormare and Joel David Moore. Breslin will play the title role, a girl who is abandoned by her druggie, former groupie mother (Shue) at a concert, only for her to annouce to the fading rock star on stage (Nivola) that she’s his daughter. Written and directed by David M. Rosenthal, he apparently based it on his own similar experience. (Source: THR)
Three production companies have teamed up to buy the supernatural thriller pitch, Mourning After by David Loughery, which is based on an idea by Charles Segers and Steve Ireland. Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, A Bigger Boat and Greenestreet Films have got together and have now set Loughery to write the script, about a man who falls in love with a beautiful woman with a timeless, deadly secret. (Source: Variety)
Lakeshore Entertainment has bought the rights to Paul Aster’s novel, Timbuktu, with Diane English (The Women) attached to write and direct. Auster’s 1999 book is about a brilliant but troubled homeless man from Brooklyn, who sets out with his trusty canine companion to find his beloved high school English teacher. (Source: Variety)
And just a short one, the proposed sequel to Point Break, which was tentatively title Point Break Indo, is apparently now dead in the water and won’t get made. Which I think most people will agree is probably for the best. (Source: Moviehole)