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• George Clooney: ”Hi, Hollywood. It’s George. Want to be in my next movie?” Hollywood: “Sure!” That’s not really an exaggeration. Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), and Bob Balaban (Moonrise Kingdom) are all in talks to star in The Monuments Men, for which Clooney will serve as star, co-writer, and director. (Cate Blanchett and The Artist‘s Jean Dujardin entered negotiations to join the film earlier this month.) Based on the book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, the story follows a troop of American and British art experts who step behind enemy lines to recover the artwork stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Clooney adapted the script with regular collaborator Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck, The Ides of March). [Deadline]
• Frank Grillo (The Grey, End of Watch) will play the Marvel villain Crossbones in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the comics, the character was a henchman for Red Skull, and his presence in the film seems to suggest the sequel could delve into (warning: the link is a SPOILER) one of the most momentous arcs in the Captain America canon. Grillo joins Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Samuel L. Jackson, and Cobie Smulders. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo (NBC’s Community) are helming from script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who penned Marvel’s first Captain America film. [Variety]
• Jaime King (The CW’s Hart of Dixie) and Jamie Chung (Premium Rush, Sucker Punch) have signed onto Sin City 2, the sequel to Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller‘s adaptation of Miller’s noir graphic novel. King will play Wendy, the twin sister of the character she played in 2005′s Sin City, Goldie. And Chung takes over the role of the assassin Miho from Devon Aoki, who played it in the first film. Rodriguez and Miller are once again co-writing and co-directing the film, which has Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, and Jessica Alba reprising their characters. [THR]
• Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) is attached to star, write, and produce an “anti-romantic comedy” entitled Leftovers, for Paramount Pictures. No other details were released. [Variety]
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