Here's today's latest casting news:
- Rodrigo Santoro (300) will join Will Smith in Glenn Ficara and John Requa's heist movie, Focus.
- Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire) is set to join Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz and Rose Byrne in Will Gluck's Annie.
- Patton Oswalt (Justified), Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad) and Ian Roberts (Arrested Development) board Robbie Pickering's genre mash-up, Kitchen Sink.
Hit the jump for more on each film.
First up from THR is news that Santoro will play a "powerful owner of an international car-racing team" in Focus. The picture centers on a con man (Smith) who kindles a relationship with a novice (Margot Robbie), who unexpectedly shows up when he’s prepping an elaborate con in Buenos Aires. As the antagonist, Santoro's character hires Smith to give his racing team the competitive edge, but also wants to call Robbie his own.
Deadline reports that Cannavale will star in Annie as "a bulldog political advisor to Foxx’s character as he makes a mayoral run in New York." The film, which aims for a Christmas Day release in 2014, is based on the Harold Gray comic strip, Little Orphan Annie and the long-running stage musical it inspired. Gluck is also reported as currently revising the script drafted by Emma Thompson and rewritten by Aline Brosh McKenna.
Finally, Deadline reports that Oswalt, Odenkirk and Roberts will join Kitchen Sink, a movie that sees vampires atop the social ladder, followed by humans, with zombies bringing up the bottom rung. Producer Matt Tolmach said:
“Kitchen Sink has all the chaos and carnage of a classic genre movie, but at its heart it’s a comedy about three kids just trying to survive the pain and awkwardness of high school, where every day feels apocalyptic.”
Nicholas Braun, Mackenzie Davis, newcomer Josh Fadem, Joan Cusack Keegan-Michael Key, Ed Westwick, Vanessa Hudgens and Denis Leary also star.