Jared Leto Turns Down 'Brilliance'; Olga Kurylenko is 'Little Mizz Innocent'; Alison Brie Learns 'How to Be Single'

* So it won't be Jared Leto starring in the sci-fi adaptation, Brilliance. After circling the role some days ago, Leto now joins Will Smith in turning down the lead in Julius Onah's film which takes place in a world where some known as "brilliants" are born with incredible powers. So the search is on for a new A-list actor to join Noomi Rapace, who is on board as the female lead. Well, maybe this frees Leto up to take on Marvel's Doctor Strange?  [Nikki Finke]

* Ex-Bond Girl Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace, Oblivion) will finally get a shot at leading her own action movie, joining Little Mizz Innocent from Princess Kaiulani director Marc Forby. Penned by Gino McKoy, the story follows "a seemingly innocent UN interpreter caught in a power struggle between the FBI and a criminal dynasty." [Deadline]

* Alison Brie (The Kings of Summer) is learning How to Be Single alongside star Lily Collins. She has come aboard the adaptation of Liz Tuccillo's book, directed by Christian Ditter (Love, Rosie) and centers on a woman searching for love in New York. Gee, how novel. [Variety]

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Jared Leto Eyes 'Brilliance'; Victor Ortiz Laces Up for 'Southpaw'; Emilia Clarke Joins 'Voice from the Stone'

* When Will Smith dropped out of the sci-fi adaptation Brilliance, basically to star in Ridley Scott's untitled concussion drama, it left a big starpower gap left to be filled. Neither Noomi Rapace or director Julius Onah could do it, but maybe Oscar-winner Jared Leto can? Leto is being sought to replace Smith in the film, based on Marcus Sakey's book set in a world where a small group of people known as "brilliants" are born with extraordinary powers. Leto would play a gifted federal agent who uses his powers to track down another brilliant trying to start a civil war through terrorist acts. [Deadline]

*Former welterweight champ Victor Ortiz is bringing his boxing expertise to Southpaw, the Antonie Fuqua-directed drama on the sweet science. Jake Gyllenhaal will star as a leftie boxer who climbs the championship ranks while his personal life falls apart. Rachel McAdams and Forest Whitaker co-star, with Ortiz as a flyweight with real sparring potential. Ortiz will be seen later this year in The Expendables 3. Boxers who become solid actors are a rarity, but Ortiz's career is already better than what Fernando Vargas was able to put together. [Deadline]

* Between Game of Thrones and Terminator reboot Emilia Clarke probably doesn't have a lot of time for much else, and yet that hasn't stopped her from joining the psychological thriller, Voice from the Stone.  Eric D. Howell will make his directorial debut on the adaptation of Silvio Raffo's book La Voce Della Pietra, which is set in the 1950s and follows "a nurse who is helping a boy through the trauma of his mother’s sudden death. As she works with the troubled child, she becomes ensnared by a malevolent force inside the family’s castle." Why doesn't she just summon one of her dragons?  Filming is set to begin this fall. [THR]

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Will Smith Exits Sci-Fi Film 'Brilliance'

With filming set to begin this summer on Julius Onah and David Koepp's adaptation of Brilliance, the Marcus Sakey novel full of super powers and government agents, everything seemed to be coming together nicely. Will Smith was eying the lead role and earlier this month Noomi Rapace was in talks to join him. But now production has been derailed as Smith has departed the film due to scheduling issues.

The start date on the film had been bumped a couple of times, and the delays were enough to cause a conflict with Focus, the con-man film Smith will star in opposite Margot Robbie. Brilliance takes place in a world where a small number of people known as "brilliants" are born with incredible powers. Smith would have played federal agent Nick Cooper, a brilliant who uses his power to hunt down terrorists and fellow brilliants.

No word if production is still targeting the August start date, but Legendary Pictures is probably scrambling to find Smith's replacement. He may not be the sure box office draw he used to be, but Smith is still one of the biggest names in Hollywood and played a big part in moving the film forward. [Deadline]

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Noomi Rapace Joins Will Smith for 'Brilliance'

Since emerging as the pierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander in Swedish adaptations of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Noomi Rapace has taken her act to Hollywood and worked alongside some of today's biggest stars. She's appeared in films with Robert Downey Jr., Michael Fassbender, Colin Farrell, and later this year she'll co-star with Tom Hardy in Child 44 and The Drop. Now she can add Will Smith to list by joining him for sci-fi adaptation, Brilliance.

David Koepp will adapt Marcus Sakey's novel for Julius Onah to direct, with the story following a small group of people known as "brilliants" who are gifted with superhuman cognitive abilities. Smith will play a federal agent also gifted with powers who uses them to track terrorists, only now he's being sent after one of his own. Lurking in the background is a potential civil war between the "brilliants" and humans. Rapace will play a powered woman accused of being a terrorist.

So basically this sounds like a reworked version of the X-men with "brilliants" standing in for mutants. Filming is set to begin this summer.

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Will Smith Circles Sci-Fi Thriller, 'Brilliance'; 'Focus' Gets Winter 2015 Date

It's been a rough year for Will Smith as the former box office champ doesn't have the pull he once did. Last year's After Earth bombed quite publicly, and his hysterical appearances in the equally-disastrous Winter's Tale didn't do much to help. That didn't stop him from turning down an Independence Day sequel, and perhaps he did it because something else of a similar genre was on the table.

Smith is circling a lead role in Brilliance, a sci-fi film based on the trilogy of novels by Marcus Sakey. Julius Onah (The Girl is in Trouble) is directing from a David Koepp script, and it sounds a lot like the X-men, or maybe Brian Michael Bendis' comic, Powers. Here's the book synopsis:

In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in—and betray his own kind.

The second book in the series will be published soon, and this is clearly being eyed as a potential franchise for Smith, his first since Men in Black wrapped up.

Before that, we'll see Smith back in theaters next year, and nope it won't be during the thick of summer. Told you times were rough. His con-man film, Focus, has been set for February 27th 2015. A winter date for a Will Smith movie? Is that a bad sign or what? Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, with Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) co-starring, it stars Smith as a con artist whose romantic relationship with a young upstart comes back to haunt him years later.  [TheWrap]

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