What's Hot

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Welcome back to another edition of “This Week in Casting,” the column that gives you the rundown of who’s attached to the hottest upcoming projects in Hollywood. From big time players to fresh-faced rookies, we’ve got the week in review for you right here. This week, we’ve got casting news about Robert Pattinson, Zoe Saldana, Tobey Maguire, and many more. Get all the details below!

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BIG NAMES
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Robert Pattinson to star in Queen of the Desert

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The movie: A story of Gertrude Bell (Naomi Watts), a writer and explorer for the British empire back in the early 1900s. She helped found the countries of Iraq and Jordan and put their first rulers into place. Pattinson will play T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia), a British Army officer who made a name for himself with his writing and was good friends with Bell.
Other projects: Cosmopolis is in theaters now, and he has an Australian western called The Rover coming out in which he stars opposite Guy Pearce.
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Tobey Maguire set to lead the new movie Z For Zachariah

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The movie: A futuristic post-apocalyptic story, it follows a young girl who seems to be the lone survivor on Earth as she farms the only valley capable of sustaining life. Her world is shaken when two strangers wander out of the forest, one being Maguire’s character, a scientist who she has to patch up. No word yet on who will play the female lead, but it should be a pretty great part for a young actress.
Other projects: Maguire’s visual stunner The Great Gatsby was set to hit theaters this Christmas, but was bumped back to Summer of 2013 in order to reach the widest possible audience.
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Jake Gyllenhaal will star in Mississippi Grind

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The movie: It’s about a down-and-out gambler who teams with a younger gambling addict (Gyllenhaal) on a road trip through the South in a last ditch effort to come back from his crushing debt.
Other projects: He has the cop drama End of Watch set for release this September.
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Zoe Saldana starring in Nina

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The movie: A biopic of singer Nina Simone, Saldana will be playing the lead role after Mary J. Blige had to drop out due to funding issues. Simone was an iconic singer back in the 50s and became involved with the civil rights movement in the 60s, so this should be a great chance for Saldana to sink her teeth into something dramatic as opposed to a big blockbuster like she’s used to doing.
Other projects: She has a drama called The Words out later this year, and will appear in Star Trek 2 next summer.
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Tom Hardy and Michael Shannon will star in The Long Red Road

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The movie: Bane and Zod unite! Based on a play, the film follows (Hardy) a father who escapes to a South Dakota Indian reservation to drink his problems away. But when his daughter shows up, he has to man up and face the choices he’s made in his past. Shannon will play Hardy’s older brother.
Other projects: Hardy has Lawless with Shia LaBeouf out next month, while Shannon will star in Premium Rush opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt which hits theaters at the end of next week.
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Carey Mulligan to lead new film Nancy and Danny

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The movie: Similar to Young Adult, this one stars Mulligan as a money-hungry woman who’s big city dreams have gone up in smoke, so she uses a local guy as a pawn in her quest to hook up with her high school crush.
Other projects: She’ll also appear in The Great Gatsby, along with the Coen Brothers next film, Inside Llewyn Davis.
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RISING STARS
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Aaron Paul joins cast of A Long Way Down

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The movie: Paul will play one of four people who coincidentally meet on the top of the same building that they all separately planned on jumping from to kill themselves. Fascinating! Pierce Brosnan, Toni Colette, and Imogen Poots also star.
Where you might have seen him: He’s best known for playing Jesse Pinkman on “Breaking Bad” but he’s slowly building up his film resume with projects like Smashed and The Last House on the Left.
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Elle Fanning to lead film adaptation of Olive’s Ocean

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The movie: Based on a young adult novel, Fanning plays a teen who goes on a summer of soul searching after making the discovery that a recently-deceased classmate wanted to be her friend.
Where you might have seen her: She lit up the screen in Super 8, and will also appear in the upcoming Maleficent film opposite Angelina Jolie.
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Morris Chestnut joins cast of Kick-Ass 2

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The movie: Chloe Moretz returns as Hit-Girl and re-teams with Aaron Johnson’s title character in this sequel to the 2010 comic book adaptation. Chestnut will play Moretz’s guardian (although it seems like with her training, she probably doesn’t need anyone looking out for her).
Where you might have seen him: He played Ricky in Boyz N the Hood, starred in Think Like A Man, and recently had a stretch of work on “American Horror Story” as Luke.
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Chris Klein joins comedy Raising Hope

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The show: The comedy centers around a dude who has to raise his daughter after a one night stand with a murderer. Klein will play Brad, a local celeb realtor that is Jimmy’s (Lucas Neff) “almost” long-lost older brother. Not quite sure how that works, but we’ll have to tune in to find out. Klein has good comedic timing, so expect him to fit in well with the NBC comedy rhythm.
Where you might have seen him: He’s starred in a bunch of movies, including the American Pie series, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, and Election.