* With Simon Baker(The Mentalist) making the jump from the small screen to the lead in rom-com, I Give It a Year, two sexy and very funny ladies have joined the cast. Anna Faris and Rose Byrne, both coming off very different 2011s in terms of success, will star in the directorial debut from writer Dan Mazer(Borat). Byrne will play the husband to Rafe Spall(Hot Fuzz), in the story of a mismatched couple trying to survive their first year of marriage. [Variety]
* Casey Affleck has emerged as the frontrunner to play Christian Bale's brother in Out of the Furnace, the upcoming crime drama from Scott Cooper(Crazy Heart). In the last few days the film has been casting up nicely, with Zoe Saldana joining yesterday, and Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall circling roles as well. Garrett Hedlund, Channing Tatum, and Taylor Kitsch were being looked at for the brother role as well. Affleck has been pretty quiet after a fantastic 2010 which saw him in an unforgettable performance in The Killer Inside Me and directing the Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary, I'm Still Here. He appeared in Tower Heist last year, but was lost in that rather large ensemble. Hopefully this will be the film that puts him back in the spotlight. [Deadline]
* Scott Rosenberg(High Fidelity) has come on board to do a rewrite on Michael Bay's Fargo-esque crime film, Pain and Gain. He'll touch up the script from Captain America: The First Avenger scribe Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The small budget film stars Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as a pair of Florida bodybuilders who also run a criminal ring involved in kidnapping and murder. Anthony Mackie, Ed Harris, Bar Paly, and Tony Shalhoub will co-star. Filming begins later this month. [THR]
