We’ve got a couple of casting stories regarding three very promising projects to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• Anton Yelchin has been cast in director Jim Jarmusch’s vampire film Only Lovers Left Alive.
• Alfre Woodard joins the impressive ensemble cast for Twelve Years a Slave.
• Alessandro Nivola has scored a pivotal role in the West Mempis Three film Devil’s Knot opposite Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon.

Hit the jump for more on each actor’s casting.

Tom Hiddleston had an awesome 2011 with roles in The Avengers, Midnight in Paris, The Deep Blue Sea, and War Horse.  Now he’s replacing the only guy who had a better 2011, Michael Fassbender, in Jim Jarmusch‘s Only Lovers Left Alive.  Jarmusch said back in May that the film is a “‘crypto-vampire love story’, set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers.”  THR adds that the horror drama is “described as an unusual love story between two vampires who have been in love for centuries.”  With Jarmusch at the helm, you may as well toss out any expectations or pre-conceived notions you have regarding a vampire movie.

Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, and John Hurt are still on board to co-star.  Only Lovers Left Alive will shoot in Germany later this year.  Hiddleston will next be seen reprising his role as Loki in The Avengers, which opens in 3D on May 4th.

Last August, we reported that director Jim Jarmusch had lined up talented actors Tilda Swinton, Michael Fassbender, and Mia Wasikowksa for his next film.  Today, we finally have some details on the project and it sounds like a doozy.  Jarmusch tells ScreenDaily that the film is a “‘crypto-vampire love story’, set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers.”  Swinton, Fassbender, and Wasikowska will all play vampires with John Hurt in a featured role.

While I’ve grown more than tired with the glut of vampire flicks we’ve seen over the past several years, Jarmusch is obviously going to craft a vampire flick unlike any other.  Granted, I’m not the biggest fan of his work, but I can appreciate that he’s uncompromising and original in his vision and I’m glad filmmakers like him can still get their movies made.

The hipster is in me is a huge fan of writer/director Jim Jarmusch, so I’m glad to see that he still has a knack for assembling fantastic casts.  In an interview with Pitchfork, Jarmusch talked about his next film:

“I have a new film project that’s really foremost for me that I hope to shoot early next year with Tilda Swinton and Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska, who was Alice in Wonderland in Tim Burton’s film. I don’t have that quite financed yet, so I’m working on that.”

If Jarmusch can secure financing, this would be his third film in a row with a role set aside for Swinton, following Broken Flowers and The Limits of Control.  Fassbender and Wasikowska, however, are new to the Jarmusch fold.  Few careers are budding as nicely as theirs at the moment, so hopefully this one makes it to theaters.  (Get it done, Focus Features.)  Hit the jump for details on the other projects Jarmusch has his eye on.

Jim Jarmusch will always be cool. Though his films may no longer have the cultural prominence – as he is no longer one of preeminent voices in independent cinema – Jarmusch was the guy who brought hip to indie cinema. With Stranger than Paradise and Down by Law, there was a sense of affectation, deadpan droll, dissociation, and self-aware irony that came to define his style, but was without question outsider art that had the creative power to pose with a swagger. Mystery Train was his third feature film, and it tells three stories of people in Memphis, the first about two Japanese tourists (Masatoshi Nagase and Youki Kudoh) who gawk at the home of Elvis, the second about an Italian woman on layover (Nicoletti Braschi), and the third about a newly single man (Joe Strummer) and his friends (Steve Buscemi, Rick Aviles) all spending a night on a bender. All three groups end up at a hotel (run by Screaming Jay Hawkins, and Cinque Lee) where their stories slightly converge. My review of Criterion’s edition of Mystery Train on Blu-ray after the jump.

There are films that are enjoyed for their entertainment, and those that provoke the mind. But on the latter end of the spectrum, there are features that don’t quite work as films, but still manage to provoke thought and discussion. That is where Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control falls.  Hit the jump for the review: