A few casting notices to report:

  • Bryan Cranston is attached to star in The Infiltrator, an adaptation of Robert Mazur’s autobiography directed by Brad Furman (The Lincoln Lawyer).
  • Luke Wilson is in negotiations to play NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in the untitled NFL concussion drama directed by Peter Landesman (Parkland).  Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, Gugu Mbatha Raw, and Paul Reiser also star.
  • Billy Crystal will write, produce, and star in Which Witch, an animated movie from the Jim Henson Company directed by Brian Henson.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

Variety reports Cranston is attached to play federal agent Robert Mazur (aka Bob Musella) in the adaptation of Mazur's autobiography The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel.  Here's the book synopsis:

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Federal Agent Robert Mazur spent five years undercover as a money launderer to the international underworld, gaining access to the zenith of a criminal hierarchy safeguarded by a circle of dirty bankers and businessmen who quietly shape power across the globe. These men and women control multibillion-dollar drug-trafficking empires, running their organizations like public companies. Accountants, attorneys, and financial advisors, their roots run deep in their communities, and they are laundering billions of dollars a year, manipulating complex international finance systems to serve drug lords, corrupt politicians, tax cheats, and terrorists. In 1987, Mazur began infiltrating BCCI, bankers behind the Medellín cartel. He meticulously gathered evidence for years until, during a fake wedding, federal agents arrested over 40 high-ranking criminals, who were all found guilty and sent to prison. Never before told, this is the incredible, true story of how he did it. [Amazon]

The untitled NFL concussion drama is based on the GQ article "Game Brain."  Per The Wrap, Smith is set to play the forensic neuropathologist who first discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy in an NFL player: "As he blows the whistle on player injuries, Omalu's quest humanizes the price paid by professional athletes in impact sports---and the political, cultural and corporate interests that fuel the business of pro sports."

Variety reports casting is underway for Which Witch.  Crystal co-wrote the script with Michael Feldman based on the book by Eva Ibbotson.  Here's the book synopsis:

When Arriman the Awful, the handsome wizard of the North, announces a contest to choose his bride, every witch in town is a flutter. The meanest, most powerful witch will wed the wizard. But little Belladonna is dismayed, because as hard as she tries, her spells conjure up begonias and baby birds, and not a single viper or bloodshot eyeball. She just has to do something seriously sinister in time for the contest… [Amazon]

 

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