A few casting notices to report:

  • Nicole Kidman will reportedly join the cast of Genius, which centers on the relationship between author Thomas Wolfe (Michael Fassbender) and his editor Max Perkins (Colin Firth).
  • Adrien Brody will star opposite Salma Hayek and Shoreh Aghdashl in the thriller The Septembers of Shiraz, set during the Islamic revolution in Iran.
  • Mark Rylance is in negotiations to play the Mad Hatter's father in the Alice in Wonderland sequel.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

colin firth nicole kidman genius

Kidman and Forth have joined forces for three 2014 releases: The Railway Man, Before I Go to Sleep, and Paddington.  The Daily News spoke to Firth and casually notes that Kidman is on board for Genius too.  Michael Grandage will direct Genius.  Here is the press release synopsis:

Based on the National Book Award winning biography Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, by A. Scott Berg, GENIUS centers on the real-life relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe (Fassbender) and renowned editor Max Perkins (Firth). Finding fame and critical success at a young age, Wolfe is a blazing talent with a larger-than-life personality to match.  Perkins is one of the most respected and well-known literary editors of all time, discovering such iconic novelists as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Wolfe and Perkins develop a tender, complex friendship. Transformative and irrepressible, this friendship will change the lives of these brilliant, but very different men forever.

The Septembers of Shiraz centers on a Jewish family caught in the Islamic revolution in 1981 Iran.  The adaptation of the Dalia Sofer novel follows “an imprisoned gem dealer, his despairing wife, their daughter---whose playmate’s father is in the charge of the prison---and their New York-based son as they try to come together and escape the deadly tyranny.”  Deadline reports shooting begins June 9 under director Wayne Blair (The Sapphires).

Mia Wasikowska and Helena Bonham Carter are set to reprise their roles as Alice and the Red Queen, respectively, in Alice in Wonderland 2. Sacha Baron Cohen will play a villain named Time.  The Wrap reports Rylance is in talks to play the Mad Hatter's father, Zanik Hightopp, who "cannot hide his bright-colored hair beneath a top hat."  James Bobin (Muppets Most Wanted) will direct the May 27, 2016 release.