Here's the latest casting news out of the Berlin International Film Festival:

  • Vera Farmiga will star in writer-director Evan Greenburg's ballet-themed relationship comedy, Prima.
  • Clea DuVall (Argo), Sheryl Lee (Winter's Bone), Emily Alyn Lind (J. Edgar), and Ryan Bingham (Crazy Heart) join writer-director Ami Canaan Mann's drama, Your Right Mind, starring Katherine Heigl and Ben Barnes.
  • Jeremy Sumpter (Friday Night Lights), Phoebe Tonkin (The Originals) and Sebastian Koch (A Good Day to Die Hard) are in talks for Jim Gillespie's young-adult thriller, Take Down.

Hit the jump for more.

Check out the full details on each film via the following press releases with synopses in bold:

Prima

VERA FARMIGA TO STAR IN THE ALLEGIANCE THEATER’S BALLET COMEDY “PRIMA”

Highland Film Group (HFG) to Handle Worldwide Sales at EFM in Berlin

Los Angeles, Calif., Feb. 6, 2014 – The Allegiance Theater and MediaBiz International announced that Vera Farmiga (UP IN THE AIR, THE CONJURING, BATES MOTEL) has signed on to star in the relationship comedy PRIMA.  The film is written and will be directed by Evan Greenberg .  The Allegiance Theater’s Academy Award®–nominated producer Daniel Dubiecki (UP IN THE AIR, JUNO) and Lara Alameddine are producing along with Canadian Screen Awards winning producer Karine Martin (MOTH DIARIES, MAÏNA) under her Mediamax banner. Highland Film Group (HFG) will be representing the worldwide sales rights at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin.

PRIMA (previously known as Dance of the Mirlitons) is an original story that blends the heart of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and BILLY ELLIOTT with the crass comedy of MEAN GIRLS. The film is prepping for a March 2014 start date and centers around twelve-year-old Jesse Urchin who shocks everyone when she is accepted into the prestigious Battleboro School for Dancers. While Jesse learns that to get to the top, she must kill or be killed, her mother Corinne struggles to acclimate to her posh stomping grounds. 

Renn Hawkey will serve as executive producer, along with The Allegiance Theater’s Tim Crane, and Carly Norris will serve as a Co-Producer. Farmiga is represented by CAA, Jon Rubinstein of Authentic Talent and Literary Management, and Jodi Peikoff of  Peikoff Mahan Law Office.

HFG’s EFM slate also includes: Kelvin Tong’s suspenseful new horror film EMAIL starring Nikki Reed; Kevin Connolly’s THE WRIGHT GIRLS starring Jessica Alba and SANCTUARY from director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, both from Atlas Independent, the affiliate company of Charles Roven’s Atlas Entertainment.

clea-duvall-argo

Your Right Mind

CLEA DUVALL, SHERYL LEE, EMILY ALYN LIND AND RYAN BINGHAM JOIN AMI CANAAN MANN’S “YOUR RIGHT MIND” STARRING KATHERINE HEIGL AND BEN BARNES

Highland Film Group to Handle Worldwide Sales in Berlin with Principal Photography Underway

LOS ANGELES, February 6, 2014 – Clea DuVall (ARGO), Sheryl Lee (WINTER’S BONE), Emily Alyn Lind (J. EDGAR), and Academy Award Winning musician/actor Ryan Bingham have joined the cast of the contemporary romance YOUR RIGHT MIND, starring Golden Globe nominee Katherine Heigl (KNOCKED UP) and Ben Barnes (THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA).  Ami Canaan Mann (TEXAS KILLING FIELDS) is directing her script with principal photography currently underway in Utah.  Molly Hassell is producing with Ami Canaan Mann and John Jencks. Emmy award nominee Jon Avnet (BLACK SWAN), Rodrigo Garcia (‘In Treatment’), Highland Film Group’s (HFG) Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, and Main Street Films’ Craig Chang are serving as executive producers. HFG represents the worldwide rights and will continue to shop it to buyers at EFM in Berlin.

YOUR RIGHT MIND follows Ryan (Barnes), a modern-day traveling folk singer with only a backpack and banjo to his name.  Ryan puts his dreams of becoming a successful musician on hold when he meets Jackie, (Heigl) a former country singer fighting for custody of her daughter.  Together, with their passion for music, and soon, each other, they form an unlikely relationship. 

Bingham won both a Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Achievement in Music in 2010, which he shared with T-Bone Burnett for the original song "The Weary Kind" from CRAZY HEART.

DuVall is represented by The Gersh Agency, Lee by Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Alyn Lyn by Coast to Coast Talent Group and Bingham by CAA.

The HFG slate includes Kevin Connolly’s THE WRIGHT GIRLS starring Jessica Alba and SANCTUARY from director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, both from Atlas Independent, the affiliate company of Charles Roven’s Atlas Entertainment.  In addition to Kelvin Tong’s EMAIL starring Nikki Reed.

phoebe tonkin

Take Down

JEREMY SUMPTER, PHOEBE TONKIN AND SEBASTIAN KOCH GATHER FOR JIM GILLESPIE’S YOUNG ADULT THRILLER “TAKE DOWN”

RADIANT FILMS INTERNATIONAL TO CONTINUE INTERNATIONAL SALES AT EFM IN BERLIN

Berlin – February 6, 2014 – Jeremy Sumpter (‘Peter Pan’, ‘Soul Surfer’, and upcoming ‘Into the Storm’), Phoebe Tonkin (CW’s ‘The Vampire Diaries’, ‘The Originals’, and upcoming ‘The Ever After’) and Sebastian Koch (‘A Good Day to Die Hard’, ‘The Lives of Others’) are in talks to star in director Jim Gillespie’s (‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’) young adult thriller TAKE DOWN, which is based on a script by Alexander Ignon (‘Ransom’).

Slated for an April 2014 start date, the film’s producing team is headed up by Ed Elbert, Sarah Ryan Black and Stefan Brunner.

The film is being packaged and produced by Pinewood Pictures, the off-shoot of UK studio group Pinewood Shepperton Plc., whose Steve Christian will executive produce. Mimi Steinbauer’s Radiant Films International is handling foreign sales on the project.

Showcasing a young and sexy ensemble cast, TAKE DOWN follows the spoiled offspring of international billionaires, sent to a tough-love school in the remote wilderness by their parents in the hope of shaping them up. When they are taken hostage and held for a billion dollar ransom by a group of clever and well-armed kidnappers, the kids are forced to try to save themselves.

Director Jim Gillespie added: "The qualities every director searches for in their actors are talent, charisma and commitment. I've been lucky enough to find all three in Jeremy and Phoebe. Mark my words, these are the stars of tomorrow."

Sumpter is represented by Innovative Artists, Tonkin is repped by ICM Partners as well as Management 360, Koch by Travistock Wood Management and Die Agenten.