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Casting Tidbits: Carla Gugino, Jessica Biel and Dustin Hoffman

by Ethan Anderton
May 17, 2010

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very Casting Tidbits that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. First, THR reports Carla Gugino and Stanley Tucci will join Kevin Spacey and Zachary Quinto in Margin Call, a corporate thriller about eight people at a prominent investment bank in a tumultuous 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis as the characters struggle to position themselves ahead of the coming storm. The film will mark the feature directorial debut of J.C. Chandor, who also wrote the script. Read on!

Second, ScreenDaily reports Jessica Biel will star in The Tall Man, the English language debut from director Pascal Laugier. Biel plays a woman who must grapple with and track the mysterious figure of The Tall Man who has kidnapped her child. Apparently the film invokes the feeling of M. Night Shyamalan's early films like The Sixth Sense, and Laugier adds: "I like to think of The Tall Man as a sort of Panic Room… outside! It is a 'woman in jeopardy' movie with a lot of twists and a strong female character that you feel very connected to." Wouldn't Panic Room outside just be like every other movie with a woman in peril? I guess we'll find out whenever the film is released.

Next, news has come from THR and Deadline that Dustin Hoffman has joined a pair of new projects. The first project, an adaptation of Irwin Shaw's novel Nightwork, will see Hoffman as a man who stumbles across a fortune hidden in a hotel corpse. From then on, he and his conman partner flee across Europe, trying to stay one step ahead of the men whose money it is. William Davies, one of the writers on How to Train Your Dragon will write the screenplay. The second project, The Song of Names, pairs Hoffman with Anthony Hopkins in a drama from Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) based on Norman Lebrecht's novel of the same name about two Jewish boys, the Brit Martin and Dovidl, a Polish refugee and violin prodigy. Dovidl vanishes on the eve of his international debut but 40 years later, Martin gets his first clue about what happened to him and begins to unravel the mystery. Jeffrey Caine (The Constant Gardener) will adapt the novel and James Horner is already attached to write the score.

Also, THR reports that Adrien Brody has joined Woody Allen's next project, Midnight in Paris, which will begin shooting this summer. Allen's film follows a family traveling to the City of Lights for business including a young engaged couple who are forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better. It's unclear what specific role Brody will take on but apparently it's described as "flashy." The actor joins an already impressive cast which includes Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen and even the first last of France Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.

Finally, Variety reports Pierce Brosnan, Billy Bob Thornton, Maria Bello and Giovanni Ribisi will grace St. Vincent, the Walter Hill (The Warriors, 48 Hrs.) directed crime thriller, with their talents. The film follows a hitman (Brosnan) who goes undercover as a priest to get close to his target, a gangland traitor (Thornton). The hitman soon discovers that playing the good guy is more dangerous than being a mob killer. Written by Cameron Young, the film is set to start production in Detroit in July.

Well, that's all for this edition of Casting Tidbits. Be sure to stay tuned for more casting updates on the way.

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