Here's the latest casting news for the following films:

  • Nicholas Hoult will star in the Iraqi war drama, Sand Castle, based on true-life events.
  • Maggie Grace will return for Olivier Megaton's Taken 3, starring Liam Neeson. Update: Famke Janssen has closed a deal to return as well.
  • Carla Gugino has landed the female lead opposite Dwayne Johnson in New Line's disaster picture, San Andreas.

Hit the jump for more on each project.

nicholas-hoult-sand-castle

First up from THR is news that Hoult is set to star in Sand Castle, a war drama that marks the feature directorial debut of commercials helmer, Seb Edwards.  Written by Chris Roessner and based on his two years and more than 200 missions as a machine gunner in Iraq's Sunni Triangle, Sand Castle made its way onto the 2012 Black List.  It tells the tale of "Matt Ocre (Hoult) and the leader of his platoon, Sergeant Baker, as they attempt to protect Baqubah, a dangerous farming village."

Deadline reports that Grace has become quite taken with the Taken series and will return for Taken 3, in which no one is taken.  She's the first returning cast member to seal a deal to reunite with Neeson when filming starts at the end of this month.  Forest Whitaker is also expected to join. [Update: Janssen will return opposite Neeson and Grace, hopefully with a little more to do this time around.]

Finally, from Variety, we have word that Gugino will complete the parental pairing in San Andreas.  The story finds Johnson playing a special ops firefighter who journeys with his ex-wife (Gugino) after "the Big One" hits California in order to rescue his daughter (Alexandra Daddario) in San Francisco.  For those of you playing the dating game, Gugino and Johnson's characters would have had Daddario when they were about 14 or 15, which perhaps led to their inevitable break-up.  San Andreas has been in development since 2011 and the script has passed through many hands.  Jeremy Passmore and Andre Fabrizio sold the original pitch based on an original idea by Beau Flynn, which was then drafted by Carlton Cuse, and most recently rewritten by Carey Hayes and Chad Hayes.