Here's today's latest casting news:
- Meryl Streep (Hope Springs) has joined Phil Noyce's adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver, also starring Jeff Bridges and Brenton Thwaites. [Update: Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) and Cameron Monaghan (Shameless) are also in talks to join.]
- Marisa Tomei (Parental Guidance) will join John Lithgow and Alfred Molina in Ira Sachs' drama, Love Is Strange.
Hit the jump for more on both films.
Deadline reports that Streep will join The Giver as "the chief elder, the authoritarian charged with keeping order in a society that seems utopian." Bridges stars in the title role as both a mentor and a deliverer of memories to the chosen recipient, Jonas, played by Thwaites. The memories in question come from a time before the "sameness" movement forged a conformist population and numbed individuals to extreme emotions, and may just be the key to inciting a revolution. Shooting is set to begin in South Africa in eight weeks time and the cast is quickly filling out.
[Update: The Wrap reports that Skarsgard is in talks to play "Thwaites' father, while Monaghan will play Jonas' best friend Asher."]
In other casting news, Tomei will join Love Is Strange, a New York City-based drama that centers on a long-time gay couple preparing for their wedding day. Lithgow replaces Michael Gambon as Ben, with Molina playing George, who have been together for 38 years before finally being allowed to legally marry. When they lose their apartment, they're forced to temporarily live separately with friends and family. Tomei will play Kate, the novelist wife of Ben's nephew, who hosts the older man in the midst of a crisis. Love Is Strange is set to begin filming this month in New York City.