* Adrien Brody has joined Shohreh Aghdashloo and Salma Hayek in The Septembers of Shiraz, Wayne Blair's adaptation of Dalia Sofer's novel. Penned by Hanna Weg, it's based on the "true story of a secular Jewish family caught in the Islamic revolution in Iran, and their journey to overcome and ultimately escape from the deadly tyranny that swept their country and threatened to extinguish their lives at every turn." [Deadline]
* Terrence Howard will play a small-town sheriff in Term Life, the action-comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Hailee Steinfeld. Vaughn plays a criminal low life everybody wants dead, and takes out a life insurance policy to help out his daughter. When he learns it doesn't take effect for a few weeks, he must fight to stay alive long enough for her to reap the benefits. Peter Billingsley directs, with Taraji P. Henson, Jon Favreau, and Shea Whigham co-starring.
* Mae Whitman, one of my favorite actresses who is unfortunately stuck on NBC's Parenthood, has just landed her first feature headlining role. She'll star in The DUFF, directed by Oscar-winner Ari Sandel and adapted from Kody Keplinger's novel. DUFF stands for "Designated Ugly Fat Friend", and Whitman plays a high school senior who has been designated as such by her supposed friends. Determined to reinvent herself, she gathers other DUFFs in a scheme to overthrow the school's evil queen. Mean Girls redux, maybe?
