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• James McAvoy, with his streamlined combo of looks and smarts, is in talks to star as activist and author Daniel Domscheit-Berg alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a movie about the controversial whistleblowing website. With Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) directing and a screenplay adaptation by Josh Singer, the as yet untitled film is based on Domscheit-Berg’s book “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time With Julian Assange At The World’s Most Dangerous Website,” as well as another tome, “WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War On Secrecy,” by reporters David Leigh and Luke Harding. [Variety]
• Jennifer Jason Leigh has joined the cast of Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, also starring Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Hailee Steinfeld and Nick Nolte, about a single gal (Wiig) set up with a potential love interest (Pearce) by the granddaughter (Steinfeld) of an older man she cares for (Nolte). Liza Johnson is directing from a screenplay by Mark Jude Poirier, based on a short story by sharp-witted writer Alice Munro. [Deadline]
• Sara Canning (Vampire Diaries) has joined the dark comedy I Put a Hit on You, about a shafted woman who, in a fit of drunkenness, arranges a hit on her ex-boyfriend, then tries to stop the hit man from carrying out the murder. Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart are writing and directing, marking their feature film debut. [THR]
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