Here's a look at the day's latest casting news:

  • Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor in talks to star in an adaptation of the non-fiction book Marching Powder, recently acquired by New Regency.
  • Zac Efron is in negotiations to star in Max Joseph's Untitled DJ Project, a Working Title production.
  • Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal is in talk to star in Demolition, the new picture from Dallas Buyers Club-director Jean-Marc Vallée.

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement.

marching-powder-book-cover

First up from Deadline is the news that Ejiofor is in talks to star in Marching Powder, based on the Rusty Young and Thomas McFadden book "Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America’s Strangest Jail."  He would play McFadden, "a convicted English drug trafficker who ran tours inside Bolivia’s notorious San Pedro prison."  Young heard about McFadden while backpacking in South America, and bribed his way into the prison in order to chronicle its way of life, in which the inmates were essentially in charge.  Like a miniature city, the prison had its own shops and restaurants, with high-profile criminals living in luxury apartments purchased from real estate agents.  Let's hope this juicy piece of source material leads to more awards recognition for Ejiofor.

The Wrap reports that Efron is negotiating to star in the Untitled DJ Project, a coming-of-age tale written by Joseph and Meaghan Oppenheimer.  Joseph's directorial debut would center on a young DJ who hopes that his new track will be a hit.  He's currently auditioning other young actors and actresses for lead roles and plans to shoot in Los Angeles this July.

Finally, Deadline reports that Gyllenhaal is in early talks for Demolition, a Black List script from Bryan Sipe.  "The story centers on a young investment banker struggling to understand his emotional disconnect after the tragic death of his wife. He begins to tear apart his life in a distraught effort to see where he went wrong, but is ultimately rescued by a woman he meets in a chance encounter."  Here's what Vallée had to say about the project:

“Demolition is such a powerful and touching story, written with a strong and sincere desire to try to understand the human psyche, what makes us so unique, so special, what makes us love. This is a script of a rare quality, of a beautiful humanity.”

Gyllenhaal next appears in David O. Russell's rom-com, Nailed.