slice_de_niro_penn_rudd_damon_knightley_01.jpg

We have three quick bites of casting news for you today.  Production Weekly is tweeting that Robert De Niro may re-team with his We're No Angels co-star Sean Penn for Paolo Sorrentino's This Must Be the Place.  PW is also reporting that Paul Rudd is circling the dramedy Better Living Through Chemistry and the dark comedy Horrible Bosses.  Finally, Pajiba reports that Matt Damon and Keira Knightley have been offered the leads in the adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night.

Hit the jump for more on all of these projects.

robert_de_niro_image__1_.jpg

If De Niro signs on to This Must Be the Place, he'll be joining Sean Penn and Francis McDormand in the next film from award-winning Il Divo writer-director Paolo Sorrentino.  The Playlist reports that the plot "follows a retired rock star who decides to track down and kill the ex-Nazi war criminal who executed his father."  De Niro would play the role of Mordecai Levi, although we don't know yet how that character fits into the plot.

Next up, Paul Rudd is considering both Better Living Through Chemistry and Horrible Bosses.  Written and directed by David Posamentier and Geoff Moore, here's how Vulture described the "character-driven dramedy" Chemistry back in February: "The story centers on a small-town pharmacist in a hopeless marriage, who finds new passion for life in an affair with a trophy wife who introduces him to prescription drugs. When they begin to plot her husband's murder, things begin to crumble."  For those wondering if Rudd can do drama, please see The Shape of Things and then return with a resounding "Yes."

Rudd is also considering the dark comedy Horrible Bosses which 24 Frames described says is, "about a trio that teams to murder the titular overlords after being railroaded by them one too many times. Think "Office Space" with murder instead of theft."  So the bosses took lots of staplers?

Finally, Matt Damon and Keira Knightley have been offered the lead roles in Tender is the Night.  The project is about, "the psychological disintegration of a young married American couple on the French Riviera in the 1920s. Damon would play Dick, a promising young doctor and a husband to Nicole (Knightley), whose wealth puts him in a lifestyle not his own, and whose growing strength highlight's Dick's traumatic demise."  Pajiba says it's in the vein of Atonement and Revolutionary Road, so that's the fastest way to make me lose interest in a project even though I think the roles could provide nice acting showcases for Damon and Knightley.

keira_knightley_01.jpg