Release dates for a couple of highly anticipated indies have been set.  Per Exhibitor Relations, Sony Pictures Classics will release director John Krokidas’ excellent drama Kill Your Darlings in limited release on October 18th, with a nationwide expansion to follow.  The film focuses on the origins of the Beat movement and follows the friendships of Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe), Jack Kerouac (Jack Huston), William S. Burroughs (Ben Foster), and Lucien Carr (Dane DeHaan).  I caught the pic at Sundance and it was one of my favorites of the festival; Radcliffe and DeHaan both give powerhouse performances and Krokidas announces himself as a serious talent to watch.  Read Matt’s review here and check out Steve’s interview with Krokidas here.

Additionally, Jean-Marc Vallee’s drama The Dallas Buyers Club has been given an awards season release date of December 6th by Focus Features.  Based on a true story, Matthew McConaughey plays a man who was given six months to live after a 1986 AIDS diagnosis, but instead survived six years on the medication he smuggled into the U.S. that he shared with other patients.  McConaughey will likely be gunning for an Oscar run, especially given that he looks like this in the film.

From producers Peter Farrelly and Charles Wessler, Movie 43 is a raunchy and outrageous anthology of short comedic movies, featuring a variety of different directors and writers, and starring some of the biggest names in Hollywood.  One of the intertwined stories is Veronica/CVS, directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Emma Stone and Kieran Culkin, about star-crossed lovers who must say farewell for the last time.

During this recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor/director Griffin Dunne talked about why his particular segment appealed to him, the attraction of doing something so raunchy but with such passion, how crazy it is to be a part of a movie with the biggest cast ever assembled, the advantages of a comedy made of shorts at a time when everyone has such short attention spans, what he enjoys most about directing, and what he looks for in future projects.  He also talked about his work as an actor in Dallas Buyers Club, what it was like to see Matthew McConaughey go through such extreme weight loss for the role (their scenes are when his character is at his weakest), and how it’s taken about 10 years to finally get the film made.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

We saw that Jared Leto lost a lot of weight to play a flamboyant cross-dresser with HIV in The Dallas Buyers Club in these set photos.  But there he was covered by a bulky fur coat.  To show off his dramatic transformation, Leto recruited photographer Terry Richardson for a shirtless shoot, and oh my goodness!  Leto has become the kind of skinny that is hard to look at.  I admire his commitment to the role, but I can’t imagine a scenario in which the verisimilitude is worth the health issues.

Matthew McConaughey has also drawn attention for his weight loss to play the lead role in Dallas Buyers Club, based on the true story of Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey).  Woodroof was given six months to live after a 1986 AIDS diagnosis, but instead survived six years on the medication he smuggled into the U.S. that he shared with other patients.  Jennifer Garner co-stars in the Jean-Marc Vallée-directed drama.  Check out the Leto photos after the jump.

Marvin Gaye is an obvious choice for a music biopic.  Cameron Crowe worked on a Gaye movie for years with Terrence Howard as the latest candidate for the lead role.  As Crowe’s project toils in development, Julien Temple may swoop in to make his own Gaye biopic, Midnight Love.  Many are picking up Deadline’s report tonight, but the Evening Standard reported earlier in the week that Lenny Kravitz is Temple’s choice to play the Prince of Soul.  Midnight Love starts in 1981 London and tracks the final years of Gaye’s life, particularly how music promoter Freddy Cousaert helped Gaye as he struggled with alcohol and tax problems. The singer found renewed success with the release of Midnight Love and Top 10 Hit “Sexual Healing,” capped off by two Grammy wins and a U.S. tour.  After the troubled tour, Gaye retreated to his parents’ house in Los Angeles, where his father shot him dead in April 1984.  More after the jump.

Some images from the set of a couple of upcoming films have surfaced online.  First up, though we just saw the first trailer for the film last week, Brad Pitt is back on set doing reshoots for director Marc Forster’s zombie apocalypse pic World War Z.  We know that the third act was reworked by Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard, so presumably these images are from the film’s finale – which explains why Pitt is so bloody.  World War Z opens on June 21, 2013.

Additionally, following a five-year break from acting Jared Leto is back in a big way on the set of the AIDS drama The Dallas Buyers Club.  Based on a true story, Matthew McConaughey plays a Texas electrician who, after being diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, began to smuggle alternative and illegal treatments into the US and into the hands of other patients.  We previously heard that Leto would be playing a flamboyant cross-dresser with HIV who helps McConaughey’s character, and these set photos prove that the actor isn’t doing this thing half-heartedly.  Hit the jump for the images from both films.

Today’s casting roundup runs the gamut from rainbow-colored fantasy to the stark reality of AIDS:

• Jennifer Garner is in talks to star opposite Matthew McConaughey in The Dallas Buyer’s Club.  McConaughey stars as a man with AIDS who survives by smuggling medication into the U.S. to for himself and other patients.
• Willow Shields, Karl Urban, and Leehom Wang are set to star in The Wonder 3D, which follows three kids who find the end of a rainbow… with unexpected consequences.

Details on both projects after the jump.