Casting Bits: Brit Marling Likely For 'The Company You Keep;' Gerard Butler In 'The Bricklayer;' Natasha Lyonne In 'Imogene'
We've got a diverse set of projects on which to report in this latest casting break: a political prestige project, a more routine-sounding thriller, and a dark comedy with quite a good pedigree. After the break, you'll find:
Last week we heard that a few different directors have been courting Brit Marling (a new Sundance sensation thanks to Another Earth and Sound of Your Voice) for new films. Looks like the winner might be Robert Redford, as Variety reports that the actress is about to sign on to his new film, The Company You Keep. Scripted by Lem Dobbs based on the Neil Gordon of the same name, The Company You Keep features Robert Redford as "a former militant wanted by the FBI who must go on the run when his true identity is exposed by an ambitious young reporter," with the latter played by Shia LaBeouf. Nick Nolte was recently cast as well. And here I was hoping she'd end up opposite Tom Cruise in One Shot.
Millenium Films is putting together an adaptation of former FBI agent Paul Lindsay's novel The Bricklayer, which he wrote as Noah Boyd. Gerard Butler is now attached to play the lead role, " a rogue former agent who's called in to help battle a criminal group that is demanding an escalating series of multi-million dollar ransom payments." (via THR)
Hanna Weg is scripting, but we don't have a director's name yet. Here's the synopsis for The Bricklayer:
The pseudonymous Boyd, a former FBI agent, fails to bring much convincing insider information to his debut, a routine thriller. FBI deputy assistant director Kate Bannon tracks down Steve Vail, a maverick FBI agent who left the bureau for a new life as a Chicago bricklayer, because she needs Vail's help in apprehending a criminal gang, the Rubaco Pentad, with a grudge against the FBI. The Pentad follows up the murder of L.A. reporter Connie Lysander, who wrote a story critical of the FBI, with ever-increasing demands for money from the bureau to forestall future killings and the setting of sophisticated death traps. When an agent disappears while making a payoff to the gang, he becomes a prime suspect, despite Vail's reservations. Predictable plot elements include the hero's incredible escapes from peril and the growing romantic bond between the laconic Vail and the attractive Bannon. The identity of the person behind the Pentad will surprise few.
Finally, Natasha Lyonne, who is putting the long bad '00 decade behind her (let's just say it wasn't filled with good years), is already in the American Pie sequel American Reunion, and has a role in Abel Ferrara's 4:44 – The Last Day on Earth opposite Willem Dafoe.
She now looks to be taking a good part in the dark comedy Imogene. That's the film that Kristen Wiig has been hoping to make for a minute, which Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor) will direct. Wiig is a playwright who fakes her suicide to try and win back her ex (Darren Criss) and is subsequently put into the custody of her gambling-addict mother (Annette Bening).
According to Variety, Natasha Lyonne will be Allyson, " a Jersey Shore girl who works on the boardwalk and is the love interest of Christopher Fitzgerald's character." June Diane Raphael is also in the cast.