Two up-and-comers landed roles of note tonight:

  • Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) signed on to star in The Garden of Last Days.  James Franco will direct and co-star in the adaptation of the novel by Andre Dubus III that "explores family and sexual values over the course a night set in a Florida strip club."
  • Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) joins Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf in the World War II tank thriller Fury, written and directed by David Ayer (End of Watch).

Hit the jump for more on both projects.

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First of all, happy birthday, Ms. Clarke!  Congratulations on your first starring feature role in The Garden of Last Days.  According to THR, Clarke will play a stripper who brings her 3-year-old daughter to work.  Franco starts shooting the low-budget production in July in New York.  Here is the synopsis for Dubus' book:

In his stunning follow-up to the #1 best-selling House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus draws us into the lives of three deeply flawed, driven people whose paths intersect on a September night in Florida. April, a stripper, has brought her daughter to work at the Puma Club for Men. There she encounters Bassam, a foreign client both remote and too personal, and free with his money. Meanwhile, another man, AJ, has been thrown out of the club, and he’s drunk and angry and lonely. From these explosive elements comes a relentless, raw, and page-turning narrative that seizes the reader by the throat with psychological tension, depth, and realism.

Ayer's spec script, Fury, takes place in 1945 as "the Nazi regime collapses and the five-man crew of an American tank called Fury battles a desperate German army."  According to Deadline, Lerman will play the youngest member of the crew, an inexperienced Army typist thrust into the role of tank gunner.  Pitt is the sergeant, "Wardaddy"---LaBeouf is another member of the crew.  Fury is scheduled for release on November 14, 2014.