Casting Notes: Mark Strong "Tinkers"; Fanning joins JJ Abrams' Super 8

* Just as I thought Tomas Alfredson's Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy couldn't get any better they go ahead and add one of the best character actors working today as Mark Strong has signed on for an unidentified role. He'll be joining Gary Oldman as retired MI6 agent George Smiley, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, and Ciaran Hinds. Wow. The film is based on Jon Le Carre's acclaimed novel of the same name.

* While we all are still grasping around trying to figure out exactly what the heck JJ Abrams' and Steven Spielberg's mysterious new film, Super 8, is all about, they're already casting. The first two recognizable names? Elle Fanning(Phoebe in Wonderland) and Kyle Chandler(Friday Night Lights tv series). Nobody has any clue what they're doing in it, which makes sense because nobody knows what the flick is. I hate JJ Abrams for being so damned mysterious all the time.