* Brad Pitt hasn't played an assassin since he squared off with Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but he's set to do so again as he's in talks to star in The Gray Man
, an adaptation of Mark Greaney's 2009 thriller novel about the world's greatest hitman on the run after a job gone bad. The Black List approved script was written by Adam Cozad, who will also be lending his talents to the Joe Kosinski's sci-fi thriller, Archangel. [Variety]* Sullivan Stapleton, who played the middle Cody brother in Animal Kingdom
, has joined the expansive cast of Gangster Squad. Directed by Ruben Fleischer(30 Minutes or Less
), the film is set in the 1940s and tells the tale of a special team of LA cops with the task of stopping the influence of east coast mobsters in the west. Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Michael Pena, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick, and Giovanni Ribisi are already set to star. Stapleton will play an ex-mobster turned police informant. [THR]* Unfortunately I feel like Jean-Claude Van Damme has wasted the good buzz he earned a few years ago for JCVD
, because he's still making stuff nobody will ever see. The former Lionheart
has reportedly joined the cast of the simply titled UFO, as an ex-military advisor. Directed by Dominic Burns, the film follows five friends in a neighborhood where a UFO has appeared overhead. Sounds...forgettable. [Variety]
