We’ve got a few casting stories to attend to this afternoon. Briefly:
- Scarlett Johansson and Jonah Hill are in talks to join the cast of the Coen brothers’ next film Hail, Caesar!.
- Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett will play Dan Rather and Mary Mapes, respectively, in Truth.
- John Goodman is in talks to star in the low-budget thriller Valencia, from Bad Robot.
Hit the jump for more details on the aforementioned casting.
Firstly, Variety reports that Scarlett Johansson is in talks to join the stellar cast of Joel and Ethan Coen’s new film Hail Caesar!, while The Wrap throws Jonah Hill into the mix as well. The story takes place in 1950s Hollywood and revolves around a fixer who works to keep a studio’s stars in line. Johansson will play an actress who becomes pregnant as her film is about to go into production. George Clooney leads a cast that also includes Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, and Hill's Jump Street co-star Channing Tatum. Filming is set to get underway this fall, but Johansson’s role is not expected to take long to shoot.
Additionally, Deadline reports that Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett will lead the real-life drama Truth, which marks the directorial debut of Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt. Redford will play CBS newsman Dan Rather in the pic, which recounts a story that Rather reported on 60 Minutes II in which it was claimed that George W. Bush received preferential treatment that put him in the National Guard, thus avoiding the Vietnam War draft. Rather and his producer, Mary Mapes (Blanchett), were eviscerated by the conservative right, leading to Mapes’ firing and Rather’s reputation hurt. Vanderbilt is adapting Mapes’ 2005 memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, The President, And The Privilege of Power. Production is expected to begin this fall.
Finally, Variety reports that John Goodman is in talks to star in the thriller Valencia. The low-budget project from Paramount Insurge and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot takes place in an underground cellar that is home to a teenage giri and a caretaker. Per Variety, “the girl wakes up in the cellar after a car accident, at which point her eerie companion tells her a nuclear attack has devastated society.” Goodman would play the caretaker, and Dan Trachtenberg is onboard to direct.