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Casting Tidbits: Nic Cage, Lauren Graham & Leonardo DiCaprio

by Ethan Anderton
June 17, 2010

Let's say this Casting Tidbit represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's sample, it would be a Casting Tidbit thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds. First up, Variety reports Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage will star in Trespass, another Joel Schumacher project as he continues trying to make up for the mistakes of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. The story centers on a husband and wife taken hostage by four brutal perpetrators seeking some easy cash but complications arise amid the unexpected discovery of betrayal and deception.

Second, THR reports that Simon Baker ("The Mentalist") and Paul Bettany (Legion, A Beautiful Mind) will join the cast of 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 2008 financial crisis as the characters struggle to position themselves ahead of the coming storm. The cast already includes Kevin Spacey, Zachary Quinto, Carla Gugino and Stanley Tucci. The film will mark the feature directorial debut of J.C. Chandor who also wrote the script. Baker will portray a ruthless, high-powered securities broker who oversees the characters played by Spacey, Tucci and Quinto and drives his colleagues to win by any means necessary. Bettany will play a top-tier trader, unabashedly unafraid of who he is even as the crisis deepens.

Also, Ghouls on Film reported that Lauren Graham has snagged a role in Wes Craven's slasher sequel Scream 4 and the actress confirmed the news when she appeared on "The Tonight Show." Graham will play Kate Kessler, mother of Emma Roberts' character Jill Kessler. She joins a cast of plenty of new potential victims including Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, and Lake Bell. In addition to these new young stars, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette will reprise their roles from the first three movies in the Ghostface Killer franchise.

In addition, after hearing that he was in early talks for the role, Deadline has confirmed that Leonardo DiCaprio has officially signed on to play J. Edgar Hoover in a biopic to be directed by Clint Eastwood from a script by writer Dustin Lance Black (Milk). Brian Grazer and Imagine Entertainment had originally tried to get the project set up at Universal, but that studio is avoiding high profile films geared towards older demographics like the plague, so the project is now Warner Bros to make. Hoover is quite an interesting man for a biopic having been the man who founded the FBI in 1935 and is responsible for putting together an elite organization tasked with investigating and preventing the most dangerous, heinous and notorious crimes.

Next, Deadline reports Jason Isaacs (Green Zone), Maria Bello (The Cooler), Denzel Whitaker (The Great Debaters) and Michael Nyqvist have joined the cast of Abduction, the action thriller about a young man (Taylor Lautner) who realizes he was kidnapped as a child, and is forced to run for his life after he reaches out to find his real parents. Isaacs and Bello will play Lautner's parents with Whitaker taking on the role of his best friend. Meanwhile, Nyqvist plays the villain in the story. The actors round out a cast that previously added Sigourney Weaver and Alfred Molina into the mix as well.

Finally, Deadline reports Douglas Booth has snagged the role of the leading man alongside Miley Cyrus in LOL, the Lisa Azuelos directed remake of the 2009 French film Laughing Out Loud (obviously). The story follows a mother, Anne, and daughter, Lola who begin bonding after Lola's mom "accidentally" reads her teenage daughter's racy journal, and realizes just how wide their communication gap has grown. There will be plenty of heartfelt moments and touching scenes to make mothers and daughters everywhere embrace.

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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