* Sick of seeing Jessica Alba play good girls? So am I, which is why it's good to learn she'll be the villain terrorizing Hailee Steinfeld in Barely Lethal. The action comedy follows a 16-year-old international assassin who fakes her own death and enrolls in school to live a normal life, but of course things don't work out as planned. Samuel L. Jackson is Steinfeld's mentor, while Alba is Victoria Knox, a former associate hunting her down. Brett Ratner is producing with Fanboys director Kyle Newman at the helm. [ScreenDaily]
* Maria Bello is always a great addition to any cast, even sappy-sounding Disney sports dramas. She'll join her Company Men co-star Kevin Costner in McFarland, in which he plays a track coach in a predominantly Latino community who must lead his time despite social, physical, and literal hurdles to become champs in the 1980s. While this sounds like standard Disney fluff, there's reason for optimism in director Niki Caro, who made a splash with Whale Rider in 2002, and then a few years later with North Country. [TheWrap]
* Why does it always seem that every Philip Noyce story involves him either replacing someone or being replaced by another? It's the latter in this case, as Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) has stepped in to direct For the Dogs, which has Terminator Salvation star Sam Worthington attached. Oren Moverman adapted Kevin Wignall's novel, which centers on a retired assassin who helps a college girl get revenge on those responsible for her family's murder. [Variety]
