Some interesting casting has shaped up for debut director S. Craig Zahler’s horror Western, Bone Tomahawk.  It looks like Kurt Russell (The Thing), Peter Sarsgaard (Green Lantern), Richard Jenkins (The Cabin in the Woods) and Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) are all on board.  Bone Tomahawk “follows a sheriff (Russell), a gunslinger, a befuddled oldster (Jenkins) and a cowboy (Sarsgaard) as they attempt to rescue a group of captives (including Carpenter) from a band of cannibalistic troglodytes.”  If you ask me, there just aren’t enough movies with troglodytes these days.  Hit the jump for more.

Having recently completed his English-language directorial debut with the horror thriller Stoker (due out in March), Chan-wook Park is now looking to take the helm on a highly coveted script.  Variety reports that Park is in talks to direct the Western The Brigands of Rattleborge.  The script by S. Craig Zahler landed at the top of the 2006 Black List, but it’s been slow to come to fruition because of the story’s violent nature.  Now the project has Park in negotiations with Red Granite Pictures onboard to fully finance and co-produce the film with Mythology Entertainment.

The pic centers on a sheriff and a doctor who are out for revenge against a group of bandits who, under the cover of a torrential thunderstorm, robbed and terrorized the occupants of a small town.  Park’s South Korean revenge tale Oldboy is a new classic, and everyone’s itching to get a look at the Nicole Kidman-fronted Stoker.  The intense violence of Rattleborge will likely necessitate the casting of a major star, but that shouldn’t be a problem given Park’s clout.  Hopefully things come together quickly so we can see Park’s take on the Western genre sooner rather than later.

Michael Mann has added another project to his development pile. Deadline reports that Mann is now in talks to direct the cop thriller The Big Stone Grid for Sony Pictures. The script, by S. Craig Zahler, is described as “a hard-edged thriller in the vein of Seven and Marathon Man,” and centers on two detectives who uncover an extortion ring operating within the secret underbelly of New York City. Michael De Luca (Moneyball) is onboard as producer, and the plan now is for Mann to do a pass on the script with Zahler. Deadline hints that Mann might relocate the action to Los Angeles, as his past crime sagas have all taken place in LA.

Mann is currently serving as executive producer on HBO’s Luck and will likely next direct the sports car drama Go Like Hell. The film chronicles the 1960s battle between Ford and Ferrari when an American car won the Le Mans race for the first time in history. No word on how soon production may begin. Mann is also developing an adaptation of Agincourt which centers on the 15th century battle of Agincourt, and the contemporary adventure film Gold.