Adrien Brody Joins 'The Septembers of Shiraz'; Terrence Howard Gets 'Term Life'; Mae Whitman is 'The D.U.F.F.'

* Adrien Brody has joined Shohreh Aghdashloo and Salma Hayek in The Septembers of Shiraz, Wayne Blair's adaptation of Dalia Sofer's novel. Penned by Hanna Weg, it's based on the "true story of a secular Jewish family caught in the Islamic revolution in Iran, and their journey to overcome and ultimately escape from the deadly tyranny that swept their country and threatened to extinguish their lives at every turn." [Deadline]

* Terrence Howard will play a small-town sheriff in Term Life, the action-comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Hailee Steinfeld. Vaughn plays a criminal low life everybody wants dead, and takes out a life insurance policy to help out his daughter. When he learns it doesn't take effect for a few weeks, he must fight to stay alive long enough for her to reap the benefits. Peter Billingsley directs, with Taraji P. Henson, Jon Favreau, and Shea Whigham co-starring.

* Mae Whitman, one of my favorite actresses who is unfortunately stuck on NBC's Parenthood, has just landed her first feature headlining role. She'll star in The DUFF, directed by Oscar-winner Ari Sandel and adapted from Kody Keplinger's novel. DUFF stands for "Designated Ugly Fat Friend", and Whitman plays a high school senior who has been designated as such by her supposed friends. Determined to reinvent herself, she gathers other DUFFs in a scheme to overthrow the school's evil queen. Mean Girls redux, maybe?

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Jason Momoa Climbs 'Sugar Mountain'; Taraji P. Henson Joins 'Term Life'; Carla Gugino Heads to 'San Andreas'

* Jason Momoa, who can be seen now on Sundance's original series, Red Road, has joined the dark comedy thriller, Sugar Mountain. Directed by Richard Gray with Cary Elwes, Haley Webb, Drew Roy, and Shane Coffey co-starring, the film "centers on two down-on-their-luck brothers who fake a disappearance in the wilderness so they’ll have a great survival story to sell. But the hoax turns out to be more real than they planned." [Deadline]

* Vince Vaughn's action flick Term Life continues to build an impressive ensemble with the additions of Taraji P. Henson and Bill Paxton. Vaughn stars as a hated thief who has the entire criminal underworld looking to kill him. In a rare selfless act, he takes out a life insurance policy on himself with his estranged daughter as the sole beneficiary. Hailee Steinfeld plays his daughter, and she goes on the run with her father as he tries to stay alive for 21 days until the policy kicks in. Jon Favreau, Shea Whigham, William Levy, and Jonathan Banks co-star with Peter Billingsley directing. [Variety]

* We already know that Dwayne Johnson will play the father of Alexandra Daddario in the 3D disaster film, San Andreas, but now we know who will play her mother. Carla Gugino (Sin City) has taken the female lead as Johnson's wife. Directed by Brad Peyton (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) from a Carey and Chad Hayes (The Conjuring) script, the film follows a special ops firefighter who must make the dangerous trek from Los Angeles to San Francisco to rescue his daughter when a massive earthquake hits California.

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Jon Favreau Gets 'Term Life'; Ed Helms Stars in 'Epic Fail'; Erin Moriarty Enters 'Crawlspace'

* When Jon Favreau began making his name around Hollywood after a little indiefilm you might have heard of called Swingers, right there by his side was his pal, Vince Vaughn. The two later re-teamed on Made, and have worked together a few more times over the years. Now they'll be reunited once again in the action-thriller, Term Life, which stars Vaughn as a thief who is hated and hunted by the criminal underground. When he takes out a life insurance policy to help his estranged daughter, he comes to realize it doesn't take effect for 21 days and must stay alive long enough for her to collect. Favreau's role is unclear but we know he'll be co-starring alongside Hailee Steinfeld and Shea Whigham, with Peter Billingsley directing. [Deadline]

* Ed Helms is developing and will star in Epic Fail, a new comedy recently picked up by Lionsgate. Based on an idea cooked up by Helms with a script by Chris Poole and Mike Arnold, the film "centers on an elite but unorthodox Special Forces team that takes their dysfunction and excessive firepower on a desperate mission to save America — led by the only soldier more badass and more mustachioed than a Navy SEAL: The Walrus." Helms has been busy, recently agreeing to star in a reboot of The Naked Gun spoof franchise.

* Erin Moriarty may not be a big name just yet, but that's probably about to change real soon. She was great, and was a picture of beauty, as the love interest in last year's The King of Summer. She's coming off a recurring stint on HBO's True Detective, and now she's landed her first leading part in a feature film. She'll star in Crawlspace, a new thriller directed by Phil Claydon (Lesbian Vampire Killers) about a family that moves into a suburban home where the previous occupants had been murdered. [Variety]

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Emily Ratajkowski joins 'Entourage'; Ashley Greene Enters 'Shangra-La Suite'; Shea Whigham Gets 'Term Life'

* From video vixen to movie star, Emily Ratajkowski has made the most of being the hot chick in Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines'. She's already wrapped up her role in David Fincher's Gone Girl opposite Ben Affleck, and now she's joined the starry cast of Entourage. Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jerry Ferrara, Kevin Dillon and Jeremy Piven are back in the big screen version of the HBO series, with new faces including Billy Bob Thornton, Haley Joel Osment, Kid Cudi, and Liam Neeson. Directed by Doug Ellin, Entourage opens June 12th 2015.

* Strange casting as Ashley Greene will play Priscilla Pressley in Shangra-La Suite, opposite Ron Livingston as Elvis. Directed and co-written by Eddie O'Keefe, the film doesn't seem to have all that much to do with their relationship at all. Instead it's "set in 1974 and focuses on two troubled 20-year-olds who set out to kill The King." Interesting premise. [Deadline]

* Shea Whigham, who tends to be awesome in pretty much everything, has joined the Vince Vaughn action flick, Term Life. Directed by Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from A Christmas Story), the film has Vaughn as a low life that the entire criminal underworld wants dead. In a rare act of selflessness he takes out a $1M insurance policy to benefit his estranged daughter, only to discover that it doesn't take affect for 21 days, meaning he'll have to stay alive until then. Pretty cool concept, and with a cast that includes Hailee Steinfeld, Bill Paxton, Mike Epps, Jordi Molla, Jonathan Banks, and William Levy, this could be the first Vaughn in awhile worth getting excited over. Whigham will play a vice cop estranged from his own family. [THR]

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