Sure Shots: Evan Rachel Wood; Tom Hiddleston; Russell Crowe

* After being stalled for the last year with Zac Efron in the lead, production on The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman has ramped up with Shia Labeouf having taken his place just a couple of weeks ago. Evan Rachel Wood and Danish super stud Mads Mikkelsen(Casino Royale) are the latest to join the Frederick Bond-directed film, about an American who sustains one crazy beatdown after another to protect and woo a troubled Hungarian woman from her abusive ex-husband. Mikkelsen will of course play the heavy, although I long for him to get a shot at playing the romantic lead in an American film the way he did in After the Wedding. But I'll jump at the chance to watch him beat the snot out of Labeouf for a couple of hours. [Variety]

* Tom Hiddleston(Thor) and Anna Paquin(25th Hour) have joined the cast of Black Wings Has My Angel, the long gestating project based on Elliott Chaze's revered crime novel. The film has been around for years, with Elijah Wood for an unspecified role and as a co-producer. Hiddleston will play hardened criminal Timothy Sunblade, who commits a daring armed car robbery. Paquin is Virginia, the call girl who helps in the crime and turns out to be the girl of Timothy's dreams and of his nightmares. Alfonso Pineda Ulloa co-wrote the script and will make his directorial debut.  [ScreenDaily]

* It's funny how things work. Just a few months ago, Jaume Collet-Serra was attached to Warner Brothers' live-action Akira remake, but production was basically shut down due to the budget and an inability to secure top notch stars. So with his schedule now free, Warner Brothers is keen to get the ball rolling on Harker, a reimagining of Bram Stoker's Dracula which has been in the works for over a year. To help kick things into high gear, the studio is reportedly in talks with Russell Crowe to star, playing a newer version of Jonathan Harker who works for Scotland Yard and is tracking the creature's string of grisly murders. [Vulture]