Octavia Spencer Joins Leslie Mann in LAS MADRES

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Octavia Spencer Joins Leslie Mann in LAS MADRES; Patrick Wilson and Jessica Biel Lead Highsmith Adaptation; Frank Langella Joins DRIFTLESS AREA

By Adam Chitwood

Published May 9, 2014

Octavia Spencer will co-star with Leslie Mann in the comedy Las Madres, and Patrick Wilson and Jessica Biel will star in an adaptation of The Blunderer.

We’ve got a few pieces of casting to attend to this evening. Briefly:

Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer will join Leslie Mann in the DreamWorks comedy Las Madres.
Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Toby Jones (Captain America), and Imogen Poots (That Awkward Moment) have joined the cast of the untitled adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Blunderer.
Frank Langella will star opposite Anton Yelchin and Zooey Deschanel in the unconventional romance The Driftless Area.

Hit the jump for more on the aforementioned films.

Per Variety, Octavia Spencer will star alongside Leslie Mann in the comedy Las Madres. The DreamWorks film follows three unemployed friends “who decide their only chance at economic opportunity in today’s climate is to go after a criminal with a reward for his capture.” Though one could easily imagine a studio filling out that premise with three male comedians, it’s encouraging to see that this is (hopefully) shaping up to be a female-driven comedy. Pam Brady (South Park, Hot Rod) is currently rewriting the script, which was initially penned by Lona Williams. At this point a director is not yet attached.

Additionally, it was announced that Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Imogen Poots, and Toby Jones will fill out the cast of the untitled Patricia Highsmith project, which is an adaptation of the author’s 1954 novel The Blunderer. Andy Goddard (Downton Abbey) is directing the psychological thriller, which takes place in early 1960s New York and revolves around a successful architect whose fascination with an unsolved murder leads him into a spiral of chaos. Wilson will play the architect, Biel will play his wife, Jones will be play the serial killer, and Poots will play a woman who becomes the object of Wilson’s lust. Production is slated to begin later this year.

Finally, Unified Pictures and Bron Studios have announced that Frank Langella has joined the cast of director Zachary Sluser’s romance The Driftless Area, based on the novel of the same name by Tom Drury. The film is described as an unconventional romance with elements of crime and the supernatural and revolves around the young love between a bartender and a mysterious woman, which is further complicated when they come across a bag of stolen cash. Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel, John Hawkes, Ciaran Hinds (Game of Thrones), and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) star. Filming begins May 14th in Vancouver.