We’ve got a couple of casting stories to attend to this evening. First up, ScreenDaily reports that Felicity Jones, Anthony Hopkins, and Ben Kingsley have joined Nicholas Hoult in the action-thriller Autobahn as production is set to get underway on Monday. Directed by Eran Creevy (Welcome to the Punch), the story revolves around a young American couple who find themselves plunged into a game of cat-and-mouse across Germany when they become caught between two ruthless criminals. F. Scott Frazier (The Numbers Station) wrote the script and Joel Silver will produce.
Hit the jump for casting news concerning the nutty action comedy American Ultra.
Additionally, Lionsgate has announced that Friday Night Lights star Connie Britton has replaced Sharon Stone in director Nima Nourizadeh’s (Project X) comedic actioner American Ultra. Scripted by Max Landis (Chronicle), the film stars Jesse Eisenberg as an unmotivated stoner living in a small town with his girlfriend (Kristen Stewart), who suddenly becomes cognizant of the fact that he’s actually a lethal sleeper agent in a government program. Britton will play the woman who created the program. Read the full press release below.
Four-time Emmy-nominated Connie Britton will appear as Victoria Lasseter in Lionsgate’s action comedy film “American Ultra.” The film started production earlier this month.
Britton, who has received accolades for her work in television and film, earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress for her role as Rayna Jaymes on Lionsgate and ABC Studios’ critically-acclaimed drama “Nashville,” currently in its second season on ABC. After stand-out roles on series such as “Spin City,” “24” and “The West Wing,” she starred on the acclaimed series “Friday Night Lights,” created by Peter Berg, for which she received Emmy nominations in 2010 and 2011. She also starred in the film of the same name, opposite Billy Bob Thornton. Britton received a Best Actress Emmy nomination for her role as the female lead in “American Horror Story,” Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's Emmy-nominated miniseries. Britton’s other feature film credits include the upcoming release THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU opposite Jason Bateman, Tiny Fey and Adam Driver, and she was previously seen in THE TO DO LIST.
Directed by Nima Nourizadeh (“Project X”) and written by Max Landis (“Chronicle” and the upcoming “Frankenstein”), AMERICAN ULTRA stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Tony Hale, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman and Walton Goggins. A PalmStar/Likely Story/Circle of Confusion production, the film is produced by Anthony Bregman (“Begin Again” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”), Kevin Frakes, Raj Brinder Singh, David Alpert (“The Walking Dead”) and Britton Rizzio, with Ray Angelic as executive producer.
“American Ultra” is a fast-paced action comedy about Mike (Eisenberg), a seemingly hapless and unmotivated stoner whose small-town life with his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe (Stewart), is suddenly turned upside down. Unbeknownst to him, Mike is actually a highly trained, lethal sleeper agent in a government program created by Victoria Lasseter (Britton). In the blink of an eye, as his secret past comes back to haunt him, Mike is thrust into the middle of a deadly operation and is forced to summon his inner action-hero in order to survive.