The Cannes Film Festival, like most major film festivals, is where studios deal behind the scenes to acquire films, although Cannes has the added touch of also packaging movies (which is why we’ve seen so many casting stories) and selling existing properties to foreign buyers. Lionsgate managed to sell nine of their movies, and their press release contains brief synopses for each of the films.  Some confirm what we already know, some provide new information, and some are Step Up 5 (“Fifth installment of Summit Entertainment’s successful STEP UP franchise”).

Hit the jump for the synopses as well as the cast and above-the-line crew.

We’ve got a few casting stories for you this afternoon.  Briefly:

• Sam Elliott has joined Ivan Reitman‘s dramedy Draft Day starring Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Ellen Burstyn, and Terry Crews.

• Michael Pena will co-star in David Ayer‘s WWII thriller Fury starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, and Logan Lerman.

• Speaking of LaBeouf, he’s set to lead Villain, a psychological thriller from director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later).

Hit the jump for more on all these films.

Summit Entertainment and OddLot Entertainment announced today that production has begun on director Ivan Reitman’s sports dramedy Draft Day.  The film takes place within the span of one day, the day of the NFL Draft, as Kevin Costner plays a general manger who has the opportunity to save football in Cleveland when he trades for the number one pick.  As the day’s events unfold, “he must quickly decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in pursuit of perfection as the lines between his personal and professional life become blurred on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with dreams of playing in the NFL.”

Filming is underway in New York, where the production will shoot some scenes at the actual 2013 NFL Draft.  Once that is complete, filming will move to Cleveland.  The ensemble includes Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Ellen Burstyn, Frank Langella, Josh Pence, Rosanna Arquette, Timothy Simons and 42 star Chadwick Boseman, and the start-of-production press release notes that Terry Crews and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs have also joined the cast.  Hit the jump to read the full press release, which includes the entire cast listing.

Here’s the latest casting news:

• Jason Sudeikis (Horrible Bosses) and Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids) are set to star in indie romantic comedy Tumbledown.
• 42 star Chadwick Boseman is closing in on a key supporting role in Ivan Reitman’s football-oriented drama Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner.

Hit the jump for more on both projects.

From a football drama to an indie comedy and a futuristic thriller, here is your casting news of the day:

• Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream) and Josh Pence (The Social Network) have joined Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner in the sports drama Draft Day.
• Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) is set to star in the indie comedy Barely Lethal.
• Dylan O’Brien (The First Time) makes his break from Teen Wolf to take the leading role in the dyspotian thriller The Maze Runner.

Hit the jump for more details on each casting.

We’ve got some new casting news covering a few different film genres:

• Stanley Tucci, Anne Heche, and Cedric the Entertainer have joined Jason Statham’s upcoming action flick Heat, about a gambling addict and ex-mercenary named Nick (played by Statham) working for hire in Las Vegas. 
• Abbie Cornish (Sucker Punch) has reportedly landed the role of the leading lady in Afonso Poyart’s upcoming film Solace, which will also star Colin Farrell and Anthony Hopkins.
• Veep star Timothy Simons has joined Ivan Reitman’s NFL comedy Draft Day, where he will play Marx, a Cleveland Browns scout with a big personality.

Hit the jump for more information on each casting bit, folks.

An American, a Canadian and a German each found work in the movies today. Here’s who was cast in what:

• Denis Leary has been added to the ensemble of football drama Draft Day.
• Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) has signed up for Pompeii, Paul W.S. Anderson’s latest 3D actioner.
• Antje Traue (Man of Steel) will get her Ancient Greek on as the latest recruit for Brett Ratner’s Hercules: The Thracian Wars.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

Here are today’s latest casting announcements:

• Jennifer Garner (Alias) is in negotiations to join Kevin Costner in Draft Day, a sports dramedy directed by Ivan Reitman.
• Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) is in talks to star opposite Charlize Theron in Dark Places, an adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel from writer/director Gilles Paquet-Brenner. 

Hit the jump for more on both casting stories.

Back in October, Paramount Pictures decided to put Ivan Reitman‘s Draft Day into turnaround.  The film was set to star Kevin Costner as Buffalo Bills General Manager Sonny Weaver, who has the chance to save his team when he trades for the number one pick in the draft.  However, he’s forced to decide what he’s willing to sacrifice both personally and professionally in order to achieve success.  From the premise, it sounds like Moneyball meets football, which seems like an easy sell since you have a critically acclaimed drama crossed with the most popular sport in America.

The project looked like it was destined for production hell, but then it landed on top of The Black List, and now Lionsgate is after Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman‘s spec script.  According to Vulture, Lionsgate is currently in negotiations with Reitman and Costner to get the film going again.  I dig the premise, so hopefully Lionsgate can get the project off the ground.

The 2012 Black List has been released.  For those unfamiliar with the Black List, it’s usually described as a list of the most-liked unproduced screenplays circling Hollywood even though A) the list is promoted by people who have a vested interest in making sure the script gets into development so this is more of a sales technique than a serious evaluation; B) some of these scripts are in production.  In the case of the latter, Transcendence is in pre-production with Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pifster directing and Johnny Depp attached to star.  The highest-ranked film, Draft Day, is currently in turnaround with Kevin Costner set to star and Ivan Reitman on board to direct.

Noteworthy inclusions on the list are biopics of Hillary Clinton and Dr. Seuss as well as screenplays from Jeremy Slater (Fantastic Four reboot), Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber ((500) Days of Summer), Eric Heisserer (Final Destination 5), Zack Whedon (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog), and more.  Hit the jump for the full list.

Just a day after reporting that Tom Cruise was circling the T.S. Nowlin sci-fi spec script, Our Name is Adam, Paramount appears to be in exclusive negotiations for the property.  Sure to fetch a high price tag, the project could likely be another win for the studio and Cruise, who currently collaborate on the Mission: Impossible franchise and the upcoming film, Jack Reacher.  Another recent winner for Paramount was the acquisition of Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  The studio plans to release the film in late 2013 to qualify for the awards season.  But where there are winners, there must be losers.  Hit the jump to read up on the status of Paramount’s Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner and directed by Ivan Reitman. 

Paramount Pictures has acquired a comedy spec script called Draft Day with Ivan Reitman attached to direct.  Per Deadline, the script by Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman “revolves around the general manager of the Buffalo Bills as he spends the day of the National Football League draft frantically trying to get the number one pick for his struggling team.”  I’m not exactly sure how this plot is sustained for a feature-length film (it sounds more like a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode), but Paramount must see some promise.  Joseph is a Pulitzer finalist and currently writes for the Showtime series Nurse Jackie, while Rothman recently sold the script Frat Boy to Warner Bros. for David Dobkin to produce.

Reitman’s resume is hit and miss, with stellar stuff like Ghostbusters and Stripes early in his career while his recent output includes My Super Ex-Girlfriend and No Strings Attached.  Reitman was recently circling journalist Alan Paul’s memoir Big in China as a possible directing vehicle, but we haven’t heard anything about that film in quite some time.  With five years between Ex-Girlfriend and No Strings Attached, who knows when/if Draft Day will come to fruition.