Dakota Fanning and Ryan Donowho (Bandslam) have signed on to lead the indie thriller Mississippi Wild.  Variety reports that Robert Duvall, Mickey Rourke, and Forest Whitaker are in negotiations to co-star.  The plot follows a teen (Donowho) “who has to go on the run with his girlfriend (Fanning) after stealing diamonds that belong to a local gangster.”  Rourke is being courted for the role of the gangster while Whitaker is in talks to play a gangster who’s after Rourke’s character.  There’s no word yet on who Duvall would play.  Production is scheduled to begin on March 21st in Atlanta.

Fanning recently signed on to star in Girls Night Out, but Variety says she’ll first be starring alongside Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff in The Motel Life.  Filming on Life is expected to begin this month.

In what will be his first leading role since making a turn as The Wachowski Brothers’ Speed Racer, Emile Hirsch has signed on to star in the film adaptation of The Motel Life.  Based on the Willy Vlautin novel of the same name, The Motel Life tells the story of two brothers who skip town (that town being Reno) after being involved in a fatal accident.  Hirsch is the first to join the project which currently lacks both a writer and/or director.  That in mind, with production on the film aiming to begin sometime this year, Variety reports that producers Alan and Gabe Polsky may still yet fill the aforementioned positions themselves.

For more on the project, hit the jump to read a synopsis for Vlautin’s novel.