Here's today's latest casting news:

  • Chris Pine (Star Trek) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) are in discussions to join Into the Woods, the Rob Marshall-adaptation of the Broadway musical that stars Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep.
  • Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) has joined Stephen Gaghan's The Candy Store, which stars Robert De Niro, Jason Clake and Omar Sy.
  • RZA (The Man with the Iron Fists) and Catalina Denis (Sleepless Night) will join Paul Walker in Brick Mansions, the Camille Delamarre-directed remake of Luc Besson's District B13.

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement.

First up with news of Pine and Gyllenhaal circling the musical Into the Woods, Heat Vision reports that no offers have been made yet but each actor has met with and sang for Marshall.  If deals are made, both Pine and Gyllenhaal would book their first on-screen singing roles.  This darkly comic mash-up of classic fairy tales revolves around a childless baker and his wife, who journey into the woods to confront the witch that put the spell on them in order to lift a family curse, while encountering a group of characters including Rapunzel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, along the way.

Streep will play the juicy role of the vain and silver-tongued Witch and Depp will play a sexed-up version of a hungry fairy tale wolf.  Gyllenhaal and Pine are expected to play two princes - Cinderella’s and Rapunzel’s - brothers who are pompous and self-absorbed.  Production is planned to start this fall, but the picture is expected to attract more big names in the near future

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Here's the press release for Waltz and The Candy Store:

CHRISTOPH WALTZ JOINS ROBERT DE NIRO AND JASON CLARKE IN STEPHEN GAGHAN’S ‘THE CANDY STORE’ FOR GOOD UNIVERSE AND LIONSGATE

Los Angeles (May 14, 2013) – Two-time Academy Award®-winner Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds) is joining two-time Academy Award®-winner Robert De Niro (the upcoming Last Vegas, Silver Linings Playbook, Raging Bull, The Godfather: Part II), Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and Omar Sy (The Intouchables, the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past) in Good Universe’s and Lionsgate’s THE CANDY STORE, a character-driven action thriller by Academy Award®-winning writer and director Stephen Gaghan (Traffic, Syriana).

Lionsgate will distribute in North America. Good Universe is handling international sales and presenting the film as part of their slate in Cannes.

THE CANDY STORE interweaves several storylines set against a dynamic criminal underworld in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.  A former covert operative (Jason Clarke) discovers the organization he was dedicated to fighting is now operating in his new backyard. When he teams up with a disgraced local cop (Robert De Niro), their investigation leads them to an international sex trade entrepreneur (Omar Sy), a Cold War consigliere posing as a typical American suburbanite (Christoph Waltz), and a beautiful girl wrapped up in an elaborate threat against Manhattan.

Gaghan will direct and produce from a script he co-wrote with Shannon Burke.  Allison Shearmur (the upcoming Cinderella) will produce alongside Gaghan.  Good Universe’s Joe Drake, Nathan Kahane and Nicole Brown will executive produce alongside Flashlight Films’ Allyn Stewart and Kipp Nelson. Good Universe’s Matt Leonetti will co-produce along with Suzanne Joskow.

Finally, Heat Vision also reports that RZA will join Brick Mansions while news of the film's female lead in Denis comes via The Wrap.  The picture centers on "an undercover cop (Walker) who is tasked with going into a tenement named Brick Mansions in order to disarm a neutron bomb that is ticking down."  RZA will play the antagonist, a dangerous drug warlord who possesses the bomb.  David Belle, who starred in the original film, also stars with Walker; Denis will play Belle's love interest.  The film - which sounds like a crazy mash-up of The Raid, Dredd and ... I don't know, Die Hard with a Vengeance, maybe - is currently filming in Montreal.