The Reluctant Fundamentalist is director Mira Nair’s latest meditation of her distinctive subject matter: the exploration of East-West interactions and relations.  The movie is based on Mohsin Hamid’s book of the same title and follows the story of Changez (Riz Ahmed), a young Pakistani Columbia grad pursuing his professional goals in the corporate scene of New York and living the American dream until terrorism strikes the United States on 9/11 and he is turned into the enemy.  Kiefer Sutherland stars as Jim Cross — the managing director of a high-end boutique Wall Street hedge fund company who hires Changez and becomes somewhat of a father figure to him. However, their relationship dissolves when a cultural divide forces Changez to choose between two vastly different worlds.

In this exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Kiefer Sutherland talked about the complexity of his character and why he wanted to do the film.  He also gave an update on the status of the 24 movie and the Paul W.S. Anderson historical thriller Pompeii, in which he plays the villain.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

FilmDistrict has acquired U.S. distribution rights for director Paul W.S. Anderson’s (Resident Evil, The Three Musketeers) upcoming disaster film Pompeii.  The story “follows an enslaved Celtic gladiator who falls in love with a noblewoman on the eve of a massive volcanic eruption that destroys Pompeii, an event that also brings him face-to-face with the man who slaughtered his family years earlier.”  Kit Harington stars as the gladiator, while the rest of the cast is filled out by Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Jared Harris, Kiefer Sutherland, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost), Jessica Lucas (Evil Dead), and recent addition Carrie-Anne Moss.

The script was written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, and production is currently underway in Toronto.  FilmDistrict has set Pompeii for release on February 28, 2014.  Hit the jump to read the full press release.

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.

Check out the latest casting news below:

• Sally Hawkins (Submarine) has joined the cast of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla reboot, featuring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Olsen.
• Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje (The Bourne Identity) has boarded Paul W.S. Anderson’s Pompeii, starring Kit Harington, Emily Browning and Kiefer Sutherland.

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement.

We’ve got a couple of casting stories to share this afternoon.  Briefly:

• Kiefer Sutherland is in talks to play the villain opposite Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) in Paul W.S. Anderson’s disaster epic Pompeii.
• Mark Duplass is joining Melissa McCarthy and Shirley MacLaine in the roadtrip comedy Tammy, which McCarthy will co-direct.
• Michael Angarano (Red State) is set to costar in the remake of Heat with Jason Statham.

Hit the jump for more details.

Check out the latest casting announcements below:

• Jared Harris (Mad Men) will join Pompeii, the 3D action-adventure picture from Paul W.S. Anderson that stars Kit Harington and Emily Browning.
• Dimitri Leonidas (Animals) is the latest addition to writer/director George Clooney’s The Monuments Men, which stars Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman and Jean Dujardin.
• Leslie Mann (This Is 40) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Mama) are in negotiations to join the Fox comedy The Other Woman, starring Cameron Diaz.

Hit the jump for more on each picture.

As he wraps up filming the third season of HBO’s wildly popular fantasy series Game of Thrones, Jon Snow himself Kit Harington is lining up a high profile feature film to shoot during his upcoming hiatus.  Variety reports that Harington is in talks to star in director Paul W.S. Anderson’s period pic Pompeii.  For those unfamiliar, the city of Pompeii was destroyed and buried during a catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in the year AD 70.  Anderson’s film uses this disaster as the backdrop for the story of a shipping tycoon’s slave named Milo.  Hit the jump for more details.

Straight from AFM, we’ve got the first synopsis and promo image for Paul W.S. Anderson’s (Resident Evil) disaster film Pompeii. While Anderson is best known for sci-fi action pics like the Resident Evil films and Alien vs. Predator, the director took a bit of a departure recently for The Three Musketeers, and he’s set to take on another period flick with Pompeii. The film takes place in ancient Rome and centers on a young slave who races to save the woman he loves and his best friend from the violent eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which threatens to destroy the entire city.

Anderson is directing from a script by Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler (Batman Forever), and Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park). If you missed Steve’s interview with Anderson where he spoke about his plans for the film, click here. Hit the jump for the first full synopsis and promo image for the film.

With Paul W. S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers opening this weekend, I recently got to speak with the busy director during the London press junket.  While I already posted what he said about Resident Evil 5 (Resident Evil: Retribution), I was also able to get an update on his disaster film, Pompeii.  As we reported in May, Anderson has signed on to direct the film and he’s planning on making it after RE5.  For those that don’t know their history, “Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in the year AD 79. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1749.”  Via Wikipedia.

During the interview, Anderson told me that Pompeii is in pre-production and Julian Fellowes (Downtown Abbey, The Young Victoria) is rewriting the script.  He also said his team is scouting for locations for where they can shoot and unlike his R-rated Resident Evil movies, Pompeii will be PG-13.  In addition, he talked about the similarities to James Cameron’s Titanic since both movies are based on historical events that end in disaster.  He hopes to achieve what Cameron did, engaging the audience in the story enough so they briefly forget about the impending doom.  Hit the jump for more.

Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil: Afterlife) has signed on to direct Pompeii, an disaster film set in ancient Rome as Mt. Vesuvius erupts and destroys the titular city.  The vaguely Romanic Constantin Filmwill finance a reportedly large budget as scripted by Lee Batchler and Janet Scott Batchler (Batman Forever). Summit will distribute the film in America with plans to auction off Pompeii to foreign buyers at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.  Pompeii reunites Summit, Constantin, and Anderson after The Three Musketeers.  Anderson is in post-production on Musketeers preparing for release on October 14.  Sources suggest Pompeii will shoot in spring 2012.

Hit the jump more details on the plot.