The oil rig disaster film Deepwater Horizon has found its leading man.  All Is Lost helmer J.C. Chandor signed on to direct the pic last month, and now Deadline reports that Mark Wahlberg is in talks to take on the lead role.  The film is based on the Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster of April 2010 and focuses on the rig workers that were on site during the explosion that killed 11 people and injured 16 others.  Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura previously likened the the pic to A Perfect Storm, so nabbing Wahlberg for the lead role feels like a swell fit.  The actor will play the Number 2 manager onboard, with Chandor eyeing a spring or early summer 2015 production start date.

Hit the jump for casting news concerning Sigourney Weaver, including the status of her involvement with the female Expendables movie.

Additionally, Heat Vision reports that Sigourney Weaver has joined the cast of The Impossible director Juan Antonio Bayona’s adaptation of the Patrick Ness children’s fantasy novel A Monster Calls.  The story revolves around a 13-year-old kid named Conor who, in an effort to relieve stress brought on by bullying and his mother’s terminal illness, escapes to a fantastical world thanks to a tree monster.  Felicity Jones is already set to play the mother, Liam Neeson is playing the monster, and now Weaver will play the boy’s grandmother.  The film will hit theaters on October 14, 2016.

Also embedded in Heat Vision’s report is the news that Weaver recently passed on starring in the “female Expendables” movie The Expendabelles.  Though I’d love to see a female-led Expendables film, this one that’s currently in development goes about the central conceit all wrong.  To be directed by Robert Luketic, the story revolves around a group of female operatives who must pose as “high-class call-girls” in order to save the day.  The film mistakes empowerment for “sexy and kick-ass”, so it’s not hard to see why Weaver passed.  Maybe try getting, I don’t know, a female writer and/or director to craft the “female Expendables” movie, then you’ll have something worthwhile.

Weaver will be seen later this year in the Biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings and also stars in Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi film Chappie, opening next year.  She’s also poised to start shooting Avatar 2, 3, and 4 early next year.