Sam Rockwell is in negotiations with Occupant Films to star in the black comedy/thriller Better Living Through Chemistry. Jeremy Renner, who was previously slated for the role, has jumped ship to maintain a slightly more manageable schedule (he is currently on board Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, The Avengers, and The Bourne Legacy, just to name a few). Starring opposite Jennifer Garner and Michelle Monaghan, Variety reports that Rockwell will play a small town pharmacist whose unhappy marriage (to Monaghan) leaves him vulnerable to the alluring wiles of a sexy trophy wife (Garner) and the highs of prescription drugs. Chaos breaks loose when their affair escalates and the unfaithful couple hatches a plot to murder her husband. The film will be a debut feature from writer-directors Geoff Moore and David Posamentier. Judi Dench is on board to narrate the pic. Hit the jump for more on Rockwell and Better Living Through Chemistry.

Judi Dench and Michelle Monaghan will join Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Garner in the indie thriller Better Living Through Chemistry.  The script from David Posamentier and Geoff Moore ranked 17th on the 2010 Black List of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplay, which provides this logline: “A straight-laced pharmacist’s (Renner) uneventful life spirals out of control when he starts an affair with a trophy wife (Garner) customer who takes him on a joyride involving sex, drugs and possibly murder.”  I really like this cast together, and I’m eager to see the ever-innocent Garner play against type.

Hit the jump for a look at the odd role that Dench will assume in the production (possible spoilers).

We have three quick bites of casting news for you today.  Production Weekly is tweeting that Robert De Niro may re-team with his We’re No Angels co-star Sean Penn for Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be the Place.  PW is also reporting that Paul Rudd is circling the dramedy Better Living Through Chemistry and the dark comedy Horrible Bosses.  Finally, Pajiba reports that Matt Damon and Keira Knightley have been offered the leads in the adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night.

Hit the jump for more on all of these projects.