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A few pieces of casting to report:

  • Henry Cavill will star in the action-thriller Stratton, adapted from the book series by Duncan Falconer about British spy John Stratton.
  • Nicole Kidman is in negotiations to replace Gwyneth Paltrow in The Secret in Their Eyes.  Julia Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor co-star in the remake, directed by Billy Ray (Breach).
  • Lili Taylor and Barry Pepper join the cast of The Maze Runner Chapter II: The Scorch Trials.  Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Patricia Clarkson are set to reprise their roles in the sequel directed by Wes Ball.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

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Per Variety, Cavill will also produce Stratton with his brother Charlie Cavill.  Filming is scheduled to begin in the spring.  Here's the synopsis for The Hostage, the first book in the John Stratton series:

When an undercover operation monitoring the Real IRA goes horrifically wrong, British Intelligence turn to the one man who can get their agent out: Stratton, SBS operative with a lethal reputation. It's a dangerous race against time: if the Real IRA get to the Republic before Stratton gets to the Real IRA, his colleague is as good as dead.

But the battle in the Northern Ireland borders is just the beginning. For there can only be one way the Real IRA knew about the British agent: someone within MI5 is tipping them off. A surveillance mission is mounted in Paris to identify the mole but ends in disaster: Hank Munro, US Navy SEAL on secondment, is captured. [Amazon]

THR reported the Kidman negotiations.  Here is the synopsis for the original Secret in Their Eyes movie:

The Secret in Their Eyes stars Ricardo Darín as Benjamin, a policeman who gets pulled into investigating a decades-old crime, and becomes drawn in, almost against his will, as layers of information about the missing (murdered?) girl slowly come to light.  As Benjamin investigates, he runs into a woman for whom he has long carried a torch, Irene (Soledad Villamil), an ambitious judge who had also at one point been involved in adjudicating the old crime.  The chemistry between Benjamin and Irene is part of the “secret in their eyes,” as the pull between the old colleagues becomes palpable.

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According to Heat Vision,Taylor will play Mary Cooper, "a doctor who started a colony of survivors in the hopes of making a last stand."  Pepper will play Vince, "a survivalist who is one of the last remaining soldiers of a legendary unit called the Right Arm."  Filming begins later this month for a September 18, 2015 release.  Here's the book synopsis:

Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end.

Thomas was sure that escape from the Maze would mean freedom for him and the Gladers. But WICKED isn’t done yet. Phase Two has just begun. The Scorch.

There are no rules. There is no help. You either make it or you die.

The Gladers have two weeks to cross through the Scorch—the most burned-out section of the world. And WICKED has made sure to adjust the variables and stack the odds against them.

Friendships will be tested. Loyalties will be broken. All bets are off.

There are others now. Their survival depends on the Gladers’ destruction—and they’re determined to survive. [Amazon]