Stacy Martin Joins 'High-Rise'; Pierce Brosnan Eyes 'Sympathy for the Devil'

* After baring all (and then some) in Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac Vol. I & 2, Stacy Martin has decided to trade sex for some good old fashioned violence. She's joining Ben Wheatley's adaptation of High-Rise, which already has a great cast with Tom Hiddleston, Elisabeth Moss, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, and Luke Evans. The JG Ballard novel takes place in an isolated luxury high-rise and its occupants as they descend into a primal, tribal society. [TB]

* Who lit a fire under Pierce Brosnan all of the sudden? Maybe he's feeling nostalgic over his James Bond days but he's been keeping busy in the action genre of late, and now he may add another thriller to his schedule. Brosnan is circling a role in the supernatural film Sympathy for the Devil, directed by John Marks and follows a "television journalist who faces off against a criminal mastermind who feeds on the souls of victims of mass murder."  Brosnan will next slip into spy mode for The November Man, opening at the end of summer.

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Ben Kingsley Joins 'The Jungle Book'; Rooney Mara Enters 'A House In the Sky'; 'High-Rise' Adds Elisabeth Moss

* Jon Favreau's had his fun in the indie world with Chef but now it's time to pay the bills. He's directing Disney's 3D live-action version of The Jungle Book, and the already great voice cast just got better with the addition of Ben Kingsley. Kingsley will voice Bagheera, a black panther who becomes a friend to Mowgli, a human boy left in the jungle and raised by the animals. Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, and Lupita Nyong'o will voice other characters when The Jungle Book opens October 29th 2015.

* Rooney Mara is set to produce and star in A House in the Sky, an adaptation of Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett's memoir. Mara will play Lindhout, who in 2008 was abducted in Mogadishu by a terrorist group and held captive for 15 months and subjected to terrible abuses. No word on a writer or director yet but with Annapurna Pictures backing this one don't be surprised if it has awards potential.

* Ben Wheatley is putting together an amazing cast for his adaptation of J.G. Ballard's dystopian novel, High-Rise. Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) and James Purefoy (The Following) have come aboard, joining Tom Hiddleston, Sienna Miller, Jeremy Irons, and Luke Evans in the film set inside a luxury high-rise where a violent tribal uprising is taking place.

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Luke Evans Climbs 'High-Rise'; William H. Macy Joins 'Blood Father'; Taissa Farmiga in Untitled Break-Up Film

* Luke Evans, who had a pretty great 2013 as Bard the Bowman in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and as the villain in Fast & Furious 6, has joined Ben Wheatley's new thriller, High-Rise. The anticipated adaptation of J.G. Ballard's book features Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, James Purefoy, and Sienna Miller in lead roles, and takes place in a dystopian society in a luxury high-rise cut off from the rest of humanity. However, a class system emerges in the building and sparks a violent confrontation amongst different tribes. [DailyMail]

* William H. Macy has tweeted an image of himself alongside Mel Gibson on the set of Blood Father, revealing that he has joined the action-thriller in the vein of Taken.  While Jean-Francois Richet (Mesrine) is directing, the real reason for optimism is The Town writer Peter Craig's screenplay which centers on an ex-con who reunites with his estranged wayward 16-year old daughter to protect her from drug dealers who are trying to kill her. Macy's role is unclear but this is one film to keep an eye on for next year.

* Taissa Farmiga, last seen in the psychological thriller Anna, is starring alongside Ben Rosenfield (Boardwalk Empire) in an untitled film from director Hannah Fidell. This will be Fidell's second film after last year's Sundance-debuting drama, A Teacher, which is currently being developed by HBO as a series. Fidell wrote the script with Mark Duplass (Safety Not Guaranteed)  producing the story about a "young couple, who have been together from high school and who are about to graduate college when events threaten to tear them apart." Lindsay Burdge, Joshua Leonard, Peter Vack and Jennifer Lafleur co-star. Filming is already completed so hopefully we'll hear about a title and potential release date. [THR]

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Sienna Miller Scales 'High-Rise'; Gerard Butler Joins 'Den of Thieves'; Peter Sarsgaard Leads 'Experimenter'

* Sienna Miller and Jeremy Irons have joined Tom Hiddleston in High-Rise, the next film from Kill List and Sightseers director, Ben Wheatley. Adapted from J.G. Ballard's novel, this one is set inside a luxury high-rise apartment where a violent class war erupts amongst the tenants. Irons will play the building's architect, with Miller a his aide who strikes up a romantic relationship with Hiddleston's character. [ScreenDaily]

* After ditching that awful Point Break remake, Gerard Butler has jumped right into another potentially terrible heist movie. He'll star in Den of Thieves, which is co-written and directed by Christian Gudegast, Butler's writer on London Has Fallen. The story centers on a "legendary bank heist crew decides to rob the Federal Reserve in Los Angeles right under the nose of a rogue sheriff’s deputy." [Variety]

* Peter Sarsgaard and Winona Ryder will headline the biopic, Experimenter, The Stanley Milgram Story. Milgram was the social psychologist whose controversial 1961 experiment studied human willingness to obey authority figures by instructing subjects to deliver what they believed to be painful electric shocks to complete strangers. Michael Almereyda (Hamlet) is directing, with Sarsgaard as Milgram and Ryder as his student and future wife, Sasha Menkin.

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Tom Hiddleston Climbs 'High-Rise'; Ewan McGregor and Tye Sherdian Spend 'Last Days in the Desert'

* Last fall we learned that Kill List and Sightseers director Ben Wheatley would helm an adaptation of J.G. Ballard's 1975 book, High-Rise, about a violent class war that erupts inside a luxurious apartment block. Now Wheatley has taken to Twitter to announced that he's scored Tom Hiddleston as the star. He also revealed some nifty promo art which you can see above. Filming is set to begin this June after Wheatley finishes up his work on Doctor Who.

* Ewan McGregor and Tye Sheridan have come aboard Last Days in the Desert, the follow-up film from Albert Nobbs director Rodrigo Garcia. It'll be a double-dose of McGregor as he plays both "a holy man and a demon who must confront his own fate after an encounter with a family struggling to survive in the harsh desert environment."  Ciaran Hinds and Ayelet Zurer (Man of Steel) will co-star, with Gravity cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki lensing the picture. [Deadline]

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