Casting Bits: Jason Sudeikis In 'Dog Fight', John Cusack In 'Numbers Station', Michelle Monaghan In 'Fort Bliss', Lily Collins In 'English Teacher'

2012 isn't shaping up to be quite the Year of Sudeikis that 2011 was, but the Saturday Night Live star seems to be looking forward to another busy year. In addition to his ongoing gigs on SNL and Fox's The Cleveland Show, Jason Sudeikis is also slated to guest star in the third season of HBO's Eastbound & Down, and he's now landed a role in Jay Roach's political satire Dog Fight.

Formerly titled Southern Rivals, the comedy centers around two politicians (Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis) running against each other in a congressional district race in South Carolina. Katherine LaNasa and Sarah Baker will also co-star, as Ferrell and Galifianakis' respective wives. Filming will begin next month in New Orleans for an August 2012 opening. [The Hollywood Reporter]

After the jump, John Cusack is a black-ops agent, Michelle Monaghan is a hardened war vet, and Lily Collins is that girl you hated in high school.

Among Cusack's other upcoming films are the Edgar Allan Poe thriller The Raven, the Lee Daniels adaptation The Paperboy, the serial killer drama The Frozen Ground, and a comedy with Johnny Knoxville titled Carnaval. [Variety]

Michelle Monaghan has boarded Fort Bliss, an indie drama written and directed by Claudia Myers (Kettle of Fish). Monaghan will star as a war veteran who's just completed a lengthy tour in Afghanistan. When she returns home, she struggles to recover from the experience and repair her relationship with her young son. Shooting on the $2 million picture is scheduled to begin in New Mexico June 2012.

Monaghan co-starred in Duncan Jones' Source Code earlier this year, and currently appears in Machine Gun Preacher opposite Gerard Butler. She has a few different projects coming up, including Penthouse North, in which she'll star opposite Michael Keaton, and Better Living Through Chemistry with Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde. [Showblitz]

Lily Collins has joined the cast of The English Teacher, an indie drama that marks the directorial debut of TV vet Craig Zisk. Written by Dan and Stacy Chariton, the script follows a beloved teacher (Julianne Moore) whose life is upended when one of her former students (Michael Angarano) returns to his hometown after failing to make a career as a playwright in New York. Rounding out the cast are Greg Kinnear, Nathan Lane, and Charlie Saxton. Collins will play a popular high school student who has a conflict with the teacher.

Collins hasn't been acting for very long, but she's already done quite well for herself in a short time. The biggest role she has coming up is probably Tarsem Singh's untitled Snow White movie, in which she'll star as the classic fairytale princess opposite Julia Roberts' Evil Queen and Armie Hammer's Prince Andrew Alcott. [Deadline]