Mark Wahlberg Joins 'Mojave'; Kevin Spacey is Winston Churchill; Naomie Harris is 'Our Kind of Traitor'

* Mark Wahlberg recently wrapped shooting on a remake of The Gambler, which features a script by William Monahan. And they must have gotten along pretty well because Wahlberg admitted to having a small role in the Monahan-directed thriller, Mojave. Starring Oscar Isaac and Garrett Hedlund, the film takes place in the desert where a suicidal artist encounters his doppelganger, a brilliant homicidal drifter.  [Collider]

* Kevin Spacey is sticking close to the world of politics, taking on the role of Winston Churchill in Captain of the Gate. Written by Ben Kaplan (Reagan), the film will chronicle the Prime Minister's rise to power and attempts to protect Britain from Adolf Hitler.  Expect to hear the word "appeasement" come up frequently. This one's early on as a director still needs to be found. [THR]

* Filming on Susanna White's John Le Carre adaptation Our Kind of Traitor is underway, and a few more additions have been made to the cast. Naomie Harris (Skyfall), Damian Lewis (Homeland), and Jeremy Northam have joined Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgard in the espionage caper about an English couple on vacation who become the targets of British intelligence after encountering a Russian mob boss.

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Sure Shots: Spike Lee; Gerard Butler; Andrea Riseborough

* As Michael Mann continues to put the pieces together for his untitled cyber-thriller with Chris Hemsworth, it looks like he's been forced to drop a film he'd been attached to for a couple of years. Mann has dropped out of directing his gold mining tale, Gold, and has been replaced by Spike Lee. Based on a true story written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman, the film is based on the 1993 Bre-X gold mining scandal, and follows a prospector who uncovers what he believes is one of the largest gold mines in the world in the Indonesian jungle. Lee is currently wrapping up his Oldboy remake, so the hope is that Gold will be his next project once he's finished. [TheWrap]

* It looks like Olympus Has Fallen has made Gerard Butler a bankable action star again, so much so that he's taking on roles designed for actors half his age. Butler will take the lead role in The Raven, a conspiracy thriller about a man with superhuman powers hunted by the government. Liam Hemsworth was in talks for the part just last month, and obviously the script by Justin Marks and Michael Gilio is age-neutral if Butler can just step right in. Ricardo de Montreuil is directing, with Mark Wahlberg adding another credit to his name as producer.

* It's been a pretty good year for Andrea Riseborough already, with Disconnect, Oblivion, and the upcoming IRA thriller Shadow Dancer (review of that here) boosting her profile in a major way. Earlier today we learned she'll be starring in the dark fairy tale The White Circus, but she's hardly finished as she's set to topline The Silent Storm alongside Homeland star Damian Lewis. Riseborough plays “an enigmatic outsider living on a remote Scottish island who is caught between her commanding husband and a 17-year-old delinquent.” BIFA-nominated filmmaker Corinna Villari-McFarlane (Three Miles North of Molkom) will write and direct, with some powerful backing coming from the producers of Skyfall. [ScreenDaily]

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