Philip Seymour Hoffman CHILD 44; Nick Robinson, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Dylan Minnette THE GIVER.

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Philip Seymour Hoffman Joins CHILD 44; Nick Robinson, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Dylan Minnette and Brenton Thwaites Test for THE GIVER

By Dave Trumbore

Published Jun 26, 2013

Philip Seymour Hoffman joins CHILD 44; Nick Robinson, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Dylan Minnette and Brenton Thwaites Test for THE GIVER.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) is in negotiations to join Daniel Espinosa's Child 44, an adaptation of Tom Rob Smith's Stalin-era thriller set in the Soviet Union. Hoffman would join Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman and Joel Kinnaman. Hardy stars as a Soviet military policeman who investigates a string of gruesome child murders, but soon finds that his own government is stonewalling his attempts. Deadline also reports that principal photography on the film is currently underway in Prague. Hoffman will next be seen in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and A Most Wanted Man.

Hit the jump for more on the actors testing opposite Jeff Bridges for the lead in The Giver.

The Wrap reports that a number of young actors have been invited to test for the role of Jonas in The Giver. The adaptation of Lois Lowry's award-winning story sees Jonas become the Community's new "Receiver of Memories" on his twelfth birthday. Spending his time with the man who holds the current position (Bridges), Jonas is granted all the memories from the distant past, before his people adopted the concept of "Sameness." Though many of these memories are happy ones, there are of course the realities of war, death and hypocrisy to deal with as well, and Jonas must decide whether he will shoulder these burdens himself or escape into the freedom of Elsewhere.

Testing for the role of Jonas were Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer), Tye Sheridan (Mud), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In), Dylan Minnette (Let Me In) and Brenton Thwaites (Blue Lagoon: The Awakening). Miles Heizer (Parenthood) and Dylan Sprayberry (Man of Steel) also received callbacks from earlier tests and read for the part again this past weekend. Smit-McPhee and Thwaites were unavailable due to prior commitments and it's unclear whether or not they'll test in the future. Though Robinson and Sheridan boast some of the most recent buzz-worthy roles, Minnette has the upcoming Jason Reitman film Labor Day and Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners alongside Hugh Jackman to shine a spotlight on him.