A bit more casting to pass on before the night ends:

  • Margot Robbie is nearly set to sign on for the female lead in Focus opposite Will Smith.  They plan con artists in Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's follow-up to Crazy, Stupid, Love.
  • David Cronenberg cast Emilia McCarthy, Jayne Heitmeyer, and Justin Kelly in his next feature, Maps to the Stars.  Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack, Olivia Williams and Sarah Gadon also star.

HIt the jump for more on both projects.

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Focus has cycled through an impressive roster.  The initial intent was to reunite Ficarra and Requa with their Crazy, Stupid, Love stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, but the busy actors couldn't work out the scheduling.  Next up were Ben Affleck and Kristen Stewart---Affleck left to prep his adaptation of Live by Night, and Stewart followed him out the door shortly after.  Smith signed on in the spring to play the seasoned con man, at which point Warner Bros. tested the likes of Michelle Williams, Jessica Biel, and Rose Byrne to play the inexperienced con artist who teams up with Smith.  Sources tell Variety that it came down to Robbie and Olivia Munn before Robbie won the part.  (Variety is careful to note that the official offer has yet to come in.)  Keep your eye on Robbie.  She was charming in Pan Am and she is poised for a breakout under the eye of Martin Scorsese as the female lead in The Wolf of Wall Street, opening November 15.

Bruce Wagner's script for Maps to the Stars is said to explore obsession with celebrity culture.  Cusack is a psychotherapist and life coach who made a fortune with hopeful self-help books---Williams plays his assertive wife.  Wasikowska plays the estranged daughter who was just released from a psychiactric hospital---she befriends an limo driver/aspiring actor played by Pattinson.  Moore will play an actress with "an unusual new assistant" played by Gadon.  I am eager to see how the generally dark Cronenberg will play with this material.  Based on the sprawling ensemble and subject matter, it sounds more like a Robert Altman movie.  According to THR, the independent production is currently shooting in Toronto and Los Angeles.