We’ve got a few casting announcements to attend to.  Briefly:

  • Oscar Isaac will replace Javier Bardem in director J.C. Chandor’s (All Is Lost) new film A Most Violent Year opposite Jessica Chastain.
  • Zach Galifianakis is in negotiations to star opposite Owen Wilson in the heist comedy formerly titled Loomis Fargo.
  • Oscar-winner Marcia Gay Harden and recording artist Rita Ora have been added to the cast of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Hit the jump for more on the aforementioned casting.

While director J.C. Chandor is currently fielding plenty of Oscar buzz for his Robert Redford-fronted film All Is Lost, the filmmaker is also gearing up to begin production early next year on A Most Violent Year.  Javier Bardem had been poised to star as a Hispanic man who “arrives in America with dreams of making it and ends up as a very successful businessman,” but THR reports that disagreements with Chandor over the direction of the script have led to the actor dropping out of the film.  Subsequently, Inside Llewyn Davis star Oscar Isaac is now set to take over the role, no doubt helped by the fact that Chastain pushed Chandor to cast her former Julliard classmate once Bardem dropped out.  The pic takes place in 1981, one of the most violent years on record in America, and filming will begin in New York at the end of January.

Additionally, The Wrap reports that Zach Galifianakis is in final talks to reunite with Owen Wilson in Relativity’s untitled heist comedy.  Previously referred to as Loomis Fargo, the pic is inspired by true events and tells the story of a disgruntled bank employee who teams up with his work crush and a group of inexperienced criminals to conspire to rob Loomis Fargo.  Jim Carrey was long attached to star but subsequently fell off the project due to scheduling issues.  Napoleon Dynamite helmer Jared Hess is set to direct with filming getting underway in North Carolina next summer.  Galifianakis and Wilson previously teamed up for Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner’s feature debut You Are Here, which is awaiting domestic distribution.

Finally, two more actors have been added to the much-anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey adaptation, which began filming this past weekend in Vancouver.  THR reports that Marcia Gay Harden will play the adoptive mother of the dominating Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), while musician Rita Ora will be playing Grey’s younger adopted sister.  The film opens on February 13, 2015.

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