Vera Farmiga Joins THE JUDGE; Haley Joel Osment to Star in WORLD MADE STRAIGHT, BLANK NATION, and SEX ED

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Vera Farmiga Joins Robert Downey Jr. in THE JUDGE; Haley Joel Osment to Star in WORLD MADE STRAIGHT, BLANK NATION, and SEX ED

By Bryce Fallon

Published Mar 20, 2013

Vera Farmiga Joins THE JUDGE; Haley Joel Osment to Star in WORLD MADE STRAIGHT, BLANK NATION, and SEX ED. The Judge stars Robert Downey Jr.

Today’s casting news updates include:

Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), coming off of a great debut with Bates Motel, has been cast opposite Robert Downey Jr. in The Judge. Dave Dobkin (The Change-Up) is set to direct, with Robert Duvall and Vincent D’Onofrio rounding out the cast.

Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) is keeping himself busy, lining up three new projects: The World Made Straight with Jeremy Irvine (War Horse), Sex Ed with Glen Powell (Stuck in Love), and Blank Nation opposite Michelle Trachtenberg (Gossip Girl).

Hit the jump for much more about these projects.

Via THR, The Judge has set Downey to star as a successful attorney who comes home for his mother’s funeral, only to find out that his father (Duvall), the local judge, is the prime murder suspect. He starts to investigate the crime, growing closer to his estranged family in the process. Farmiga will play a waitress in the town, who has a past with Downey’s attorney character. Farmiga has been on the tipping point of becoming a rock solid leading actress since her great turn in Up in the Air, so hopefully this can help her push through to the next level. She does her best work with a good cast and simple premises, so I think this move could really work in her favor.

While absent from the entertainment industry for a couple years, Variety reports that Osment is looking to make a strong comeback. He already has the Alpha House pilot for Amazon with John Goodman under his belt, but he’s looking to expand with these three projects. Sex Ed seems to be a real passion project Osment has long been working on, which will see him teaching sex education to middle schoolers despite his own lack of experience. The World Made Straight, with David Burris (Survivor) as producer, focuses on a young man fighting against the violent past tied to his town from a Civil War massacre. Osment’s third project, Blank Nation, is based on the alternative music video website BlankTV.com, with Susan Dynner (Brick) signed on to produce. Osment definitely showed plenty of promise in his younger days, but this slate of new projects could really show whether or not his talent just lied with seeing dead people.