* Want to know an easy way to guarantee I show up to see your movie? Put Guy Pearce and Rosamund Pike in it. Simple as that. The two will be joining Australian actor Bryan Brown in Violet Town, an adaptation of Steve Carroll's novel The Art of the Engine Driver. Directed by Mark Joffe(The Matchmaker), the 1957-set film centers on a typical suburban family who attend a neighbor's party only to have deep secrets about the entire neighborhood revealed. [Deadline]
* The always busy, hard to pin down James Franco has added another intriguing project to his crowded schedule. He's set to star in an adaptation of Good People, based on a novel by Marcus Sakey. The story follows a young, debt-ridden couple who find $400,000 in the home of their deceased neighbor. Thinking all of their problems will be solved, they take the cash, only for it to cause even bigger troubles. Henrik Genz(Terribly Happy) is directing from a script by Kelly Masterson, with Tobey Maguire and Avi Lerner on board as producers. [TheWrap]
* So much for hoping we'd get to see James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch reunited yet again for Bill Condon's Wikileaks film. Scheduling has forced McAvoy out, and he's now been replaced by Daniel Bruhl(Inglourious Basterds). With Cumberbatch as Julian Assange, Bruhl will take on the role of his former right-hand man Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who ultimately wrote one of the two books from which the film is based. Also, it appears Laura Linney hasn't been made an offer to join the film yet, despite previous reports, but there is a desire to bring her aboard. Make it so. [THR]
