Here's today's latest casting news:

  • Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games) will star in the action picture Aurora Rising, which follows a test pilot storyline based on a screenplay by Christian Gudegast (A Man Apart).
  • Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) has joined the mobster biopic Gotti for director Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger).
  • Kate Hudson (Almost Famous) joins Zach Braff's Wish I Was Here, funded partially from crowd-sourced money via Kickstarter.

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement.

First up from THR is news that Hemsworth will lead Aurora Rising.  The story centers on "a Southern California surfer who becomes a fighter pilot and after a messy combat mission, is recruited to be part of an elite team to test a new generation of aircraft just as an international conflict begins."  Relativity Media will distribute.  Hemsworth will also be seen in Relativity's Paranoia, due out August 16th, and then in The Hunger Games sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on November 22nd.

Variety has word out of Cannes that Hopkins will join the Gotti picture.  Based on an original idea by the mobster's son, John A. Gotti, Gotti follows the man's "career as a gangster boss and his son, who decides to leave the crime world in order to redeem himself."  John Travolta and Kelly Preston star; production is expected to begin in New York this September.

Finally, from THR, Hudson is the latest addition to Braff's Wish I Was Here.  The story, written by Braff and his brother Adam Braff, follows "a struggling actor in his thirties who's looking for a purpose in life."  Zach Braff will play the lead with Hudson starring as his wife. Josh GadMandy Patinkin and Jim Parsons also star.