Wes Bentley Joins 'We Are Your Friends', Alexandra Maria Lara Boards 'Geostorm', and More

Wes Bentley has joined Zac Efron and Emily Ratajkowski in the DJ film, We Are Your Friends. Directed by Max Joseph, the film centers on Cole (Efron), a troubled aspiring DJ looking to score his first hit in the world of electronic dance music. Bentley will play James, a rich but damaged older DJ who takes Cole under his wing, only to have the young man fall for his girlfriend. [Deadline]

Alexandra Maria Lara, last seen in Ron Howard's Rush, has joined the overstuffed disaster flick, Geostorm. Directed by Dean Devlin and starring Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy Garcia, the film follows a satellite designer who must save the world from a man-made super storm when weather controlling satellites go haywire. There's also a trip to space and an attempt to assassinate the President complicating matters.

Alexia Landeau (2 Days in New York) will be co-writing and starring in Day Out of Days, the follow-up feature from Broken English director, Zoe Cassavetes. Landeau will play an aging actress trying to make it in the world of Hollywood while facing competition from much younger actresses. Also starring are Melanie Griffith, Alessandro Nivola, Eddie Izzard, Brooke Smith, and Cheyenne Jackson. [Deadline]

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Abbie Cornish and Jim Sturgess Face the 'Geostorm'; Carra Patterson Joins 'Straight Outta Compton'

 For his directorial debut, Dean Devlin is following in his buddy Roland Emmerich's footsteps with Geostorm, a film that sounds like 2012 meets White House Down. Gerard Butler is already on board to star in the sci-fi adventure flick, and now in talks to join him are Abbie Cornish, Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, and Andy Garcia. Butler plays a stubborn but charming satellite designer who must work with his estranged brother (Sturgess) to save the world from a man-made storm when the weather controlling satellites malfunction. This is followed by a trip into space and a plot to assassinate the President. Seriously. Cornish will play Sturgess' girlfriend, who happens to be a Secret Service agent, with Harris as the Secretary of State and Garcia as the President. Filming is to begin in October. [THR]

Between the hails of gunfire filming is still underway on N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton, and now the role of another key hip-hop figure has been cast. Carra Patterson (Why Did I Get Married Too?) will play Eazy-E's wife Tomica Woods in the film which chronicles the rise of the legendary rap group. Woods married Eric "Eazy-E" Wright on the eve of his death due to AIDS complications. Woods inherited the Ruthless Records label from him and is one of the film's producers.

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Gerard Butler Leads 'Geostorm'; Taylor Lautner to 'Run the Tide'; James Franco is 'Michael'

* Dean Devilin, a frequent collaborator of Roland Emmerich who helped pen the Stargate screenplay, is set to make his directorial debut with Geostorm. Gerard Butler will topline the sci-fi flick as a stubborn but charming satellite designer who, when the world’s climate-controlling satellites malfunction, has to work together with his estranged brother to save the world from a man-made storm of epic proportions. A trip into space follows, while on Earth a plot to assassinate the president begins to unfold." Filming is to begin this fall, which will give Butler plenty of time to finish up starring in the Point Break remake. [THR]

* Remember Taylor Lautner? Yeah, he was pretty big once. Now the former Twilight hunk is going the indie route, entering talks to star in Run the Tide. Directed by Soham Mehta with a Rajiv Shah script, the story centers on "a man who kidnaps his younger brother and flees for the California coast when their drug-abusing mother is released from prison determined to rebuild their family. With nothing but the open road ahead of them, the brothers race away from a past they never wanted towards a future that could have been as their mother and her ex-husband follow in close pursuit." Well, it sounds better than Abduction, anyway. [TheWrap]

* Gus van Sant has tapped his protege Justin Kelly to direct Michael, a gay-themed film that will star James Franco as the title figure. But don't expect this to be another gay rights story. Instead, the story is based on the New York Times article, My Ex-Gay Friend, about Michael Glatze, a gay rights activist who suddenly renounced his homosexuality and became an anti-gay crusader. Sounds right up Franco and van Sant's alley. Filming begins this summer. [Deadline]

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