A couple of quick casting announcements:

• Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) will produce and star in the horror picture, Cooties, from screenwriter Leigh Whannell (Saw).
• Josh Duhamel (Transformers) is in negotiations to join You’re Not You, starring Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry) and Emmy Rossum (The Day After Tomorrow), directed by Georce C. Wolfe (Nights in Rodanthe).

Hit the jump for more on both pictures. 

We previously reported that Tommy Lee Jones would be writing, directing, producing and starring in The Homesman; now it looks as if Meryl Streep and Hilary Swank will join the picture.  (For those of you playing along at home, that would make six Oscars among the three actors.)  The Homesman is a pioneer period piece which follows a claim-jumping rascal (Jones) and a frontierwoman as they escort three insane women from Nebraska to Iowa and battle the harsh elemental conditions of the prairie.  Swank will play the frontierwoman, but The Wrap reports that it’s not yet clear which part Streep will take on (insane woman perhaps?).  This will mark a reunion of Jones and Streep, who starred together in Great Hope Springs this summer.  The Homesman will mark the first time Swank has worked with either actor.

Director George C. Wolfe (Nights in Rodanthe) is reportedly set to direct Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) in You’re Not You.  The film centers on a woman (Swank) suffering from a fatal illness and her relationship with a young caregiver.  We previously reported that Jeremy Renner was the top choice to star opposite Swank, but there has been no update on that front.  The drama is based on the first novel by Michelle Wildgen, which was first adapted by Shana Feste (Country Strong) and then by Jordan Roberts, who worked on Dolphin Tale.  Hit the jump for more on You’re Not You.

Emboldened by the success of Valentine’s Day, Garry Marshall took another crack at the holiday-based all-star anthology in 2011, with similarly repulsive results. This time, though, movie-goers commendably ignored him (and hopefully quashed plans for Columbus Day or whatever the hell was coming next). Of course, it’s never a good idea to interpret the commercial failure of a terrible movie as anything more than an aberration. But in this case, there was an encouraging sense that the world had finally revolted against a sub-genre populated by cynical, bald-faced cash-grabs.

And indeed, New Year’s Eve is the romantic comedy distilled to its basest form; a film that trots out a dizzying array of A-listers and expects applause, while abandoning time-consuming chores like character, story and dialogue. Hit the jump for the full review.

In Garry Marshall’s ensemble romantic comedy New Year’s Eve, an all-star cast celebrates love, hope, forgiveness and second chances, on a night in New York City that many see as the most magical of the year. While only some of the characters actually cross paths with each other, each individual seems to ultimately be searching for the connections that make their lives memorable and meaningful.

At a press conference to promote the film’s December 9^th theatrical release, co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Hilary Swank, Josh Duhamel and Lea Michele talked about what attracted them to their roles, not putting so much pressure on that one day out of the year, their own New Year’s Eve plans, and what they drew on from their own lives, in bringing their characters to life. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

We’ve been provided with 12 clips from Garry Marshall’s upcoming romantic comedy New Year’s Eve to share with our readers. The film features a ginormous ensemble and tells a number of intertwining stories that all take place on New Year’s Eve in New York City. The cast includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino.

Hit the jump to watch the clips. New Year’s Eve opens December 9th.

New posters have been released for The Rum Diary and New Year’s Eve.  The former is kind of cute and almost makes the film look like a light comic spin on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is appropriate considering that Hunter S. Thompson was the author of both novels.  As for the New Year’s Eve poster, it perfectly encapsulates the cynical, greedy reason for the movie’s existence.  The point isn’t to convey a plot, but to jam as many stars into the film as possible in the hopes that you’ll like one or two of them enough to see the movie.  However, the stars you like will most likely be in the film for probably less than ten minutes total.  If you think watching a star you like play a poorly defined character is worth a dollar a minute, then you like wasting money.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The Rum Diary opens October 28th.  New Year’s Eve opens December 9th.

A new trailer for Garry Marshall’s star-studded New Year’s Eve has been released. This trailer isn’t much different from the first one in that it’s basically a montage of all the pretty celebrities and their separate stories set to pop music, though this new look does include inappropriate Abigail Breslin flashing. If you enjoyed Marshall’s Valentine’s Day, then you probably don’t need to be sold on the pseudo-sequel, and if the February-centered first film wasn’t your thing then this New Year’s Eve trailer is probably more than a little cringe-worthy. It looks like Seth Meyers may be the only saving grace for the brave boyfriends who are forced to soldier through this one.

The cast includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino. New Year’s Eve opens on December 9^th. Hit the jump to watch the trailer.

The first trailer for Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve has been released. The follow-up to Valentine’s Day stars every actor ever in the history of acting, whom I can only assume will appear for five minutes of screen time each. The trailer is basically a montage of all the actors making their New Year’s preparations and yearning for somebody to love. Nothing groundbreaking, but if you were a fan of Valentine’s Day it’s a safe bet that this movie is probably your kind of thing.

The cast includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Til Schweiger, Seth Meyers, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, and Carla Gugino. New Year’s Eve opens on December 9^th. Hit the jump to watch the trailer.

Hilary Swank is attached to produce and star in Shrapnel, an adaptation of the Radical comic of the same name.  Variety hears Swank has long sought a “strong action vehicle,” and finally found it in this story of a former military officer who leads a revolt on Venus in the year 2250.  (Sidebar: never get involved in a land war on Venus.)  Radical Pictures has signed Toby Wagstaff to adapt the graphic novel trilogy written by Nick Sagan and M. Zachary Sherman.  The property was recently turned into an iPhone game, and will soon be a multiplayer game courtesy of Zombie Studios.  Several “top directors” are reportedly circling the film adaptation, though Variety mentions no names.

Hit the jump for quotes from the producers (including Swank) and the official comic synopsis.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories for you this afternoon. First up, Hilary Swank is set to join Matthew McConaughey in The Dallas Buyer’s Club. Directed by Jean Marc Vallee (The Young Victoria), the film s based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, a heterosexual man who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986.  Given only a few months to live, Woodroof began to smuggle alternative and illegal treatments into the US and into the hands of other AIDS patients. THR’s report on the matter doesn’t specify what role Swank will be playing. The film is currently being shopped to buyers at Cannes.

Additionally, director Baz Lurhmann continues to fill out his cast for The Great Gatsby as Deadline reports that Australian newcomer Elizabeth Debicki is set to play Jordan Baker in the adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel. Leonardo DiCaprio will take on the role of Gatsby, Tobey Maguire is set as narrator Nick Carraway, Carey Mulligan will portray Daisy and Isla Fischer is in talks to play Myrtle Wilson. Ben Affleck was offered the role of Tom Buchanan, but was forced to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts. The film, which may or may not be shot in 3D, is set to start filming later this year in Australia. Hit the jump for a synopsis of The Great Gatsby.

When I first spoke to Hilary Swank, it was at the premiere of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, in 1992. I spoke to her again in 1999, at the press day for Boys Don’t Cry, for which she went on to win her first Academy Award. A few press junkets and another Oscar later, I got to sit down with her and her producing partner, Molly Mickler Smith, on behalf of Something Borrowed, the first production under their company 2S Films, and was happy to learn that she was as friendly, genuine and gracious as she has always been.

During an exclusive interview with Collider at the film’s press day, Hilary Swank and Molly Mickler Smith, who have known each other for 13 years, talked about why they chose Something Borrowed for their first 2S Films production, the agonizing process of coming up with the perfect name for your company, assembling the right ensemble of actors to bring these characters to life, and showing how friendship can be complex and messy. They also talked about their current slate of projects in development. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

While he’s working on filling out the rest of his cast for Oz, the Great and Powerful, director Sam Raimi is having a little trouble getting Disney on the same page. James Franco is currently set to star as the Wizard in this prequel to 1939′s The Wizard of Oz, with Mila Kunis attached to play Theodora (the Wicked Witch of the West). Raimi wants Hilary Swank to join the cast as one of the elder witches in the film, but apparently Disney is none too keen on that casting choice. Vulture reports that the Mouse House is pushing Raimi to cast Michelle Williams in the role instead, but Raimi doesn’t seem eager to budge.

The report points out that the director ran into a similar problem on the first Spider-Man flick, when Sony wanted him to cast American Beauty star Wes Bentley as Peter Parker. Obviously Raimi won out on that film, but can he convince Disney otherwise this time? Hit the jump for more.

When a movie is based on a true story, it goes one of two ways, dipping into the realm of over-sentimentality or actually portraying the events in a real and human way.  Luckily Conviction is the latter.  The film is based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters and her 18-year struggle to free her brother, Kenny Waters, after he is wrongfully imprisoned for murdering an elderly neighbor.  This film is confident that the story itself is powerful enough and doesn’t try to sprinkle too much extra on top.  After watching this movie, it reminds me again how Sam Rockwell is one of the most overlooked actors by Awards season every year.  Hit the jump for my review of the Blu-ray of Conviction.

Josh Duhamel (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) has been added to the mega-ensemble cast that makes up director Garry Marshall’s forthcoming rom-com New Year’s Eve.  News of Duhamel’s casting came last night, courtesy of TheWrap, although no details were divulged about his role.  Considering the sheer number of actors already present in the film, it’s possible that Duhamel is just an extra and that literally every person in front of Marshall’s camera at any given moment will be a name actor of some caliber.  It’s not likely, but the other possibility is that the film will be a ten-hour epic only matched in scale by Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I’ll let you decide which you think is more plausible.

To date, the New Year’s Eve cast includes Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Halle Berry, Jessical Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hilary Swank, Zac Efron, Sienna Miller, Lea Michelle, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Germany’s own Til Schweiger, Seth Meyes, Jon Bon Jovi, and…Josh Duhamel.  The film opens later this year on December 9th.