Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Kruger, and Emile Hirsch have signed on to star in 1940s drama Midnight Sun.  Written and directed by Chris Eigeman (Turn the River; he also starred in Whit Stillman‘s Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco), the film “follows two young post graduates recruited by the US Government to work on a top-secret project in New Mexico. Along with one of the students’ new wife, they drop their jazz-filled lives in New York and move to a secret community of scientists in the desert.”  As everyone knows, desert scientists hate jazz.

According to Screen Daily, shooting is set to begin this summer.  Hit the jump for a refresher on the stars’ other projects.

NBC has cast the lead in their drama/mystery pilot, Midnight Sun. Julia Stiles will play FBI cult specialist, Leah Kafka, as she leads an investigation into the disappearance of Midnight Sun, a cult-like, communal group living in Alaska. Stiles is joined by Emma Bell (Frozen) who plays Rory, the daughter of the cult’s leader (played by Titus Welliver of Lost). Daniella Pineda (Newlyweds) is also on board. From Deadline, the pilot, written by Lisa Zwerling (Awake), is the first series for Stiles, who has previously done a season-long guest starring arc on Showtime’s Dexter.

In other TV series news, star of Hawaii Five-O Alex O’Loughlin will be taking a short break from the CBS series reboot. Hit the jump to find out why.

NBC has brought Mena Suvari and Kyle Howard in to co-star in the untitled single-camera sitcom created by Hilary Winston (Community).  The story centers on “a shy, focused woman who, after being dumped by her fiance, leans on her co-workers to help her come out of her shell and plot her revenge.”  Suvari and Howard play two of the woman’s co-workers.  Suvari is described as a “hard partyer and unabashedly promiscuous.”  Howard is a former football player.

Hit the jump for more pilot casting news.