* Imogen Poots has done a good job bouncing between indies and blockbusters, and it looks like she'll follow up next year's Need for Speed with something considerably smaller. She'll star in the Kickstarter-funded indie dramedy A Country Called Home. Anna Axter will make her writing and directing debut on the film about "Ellie, a 27-year old whose life is far from where she imagined it to be. Filled with annoying friends, a self-involved boyfriend, and a career that she can’t bring herself to pursue, Ellie feels detached from her life. When she learns that her estranged alcoholic father has died, her world is disrupted and she begins a journey that takes her to a small town in Texas." Music is a big part of the production with Grammy-winner Ryan Bingham providing the score, and a "music 'n movie" tour is being planned. You can help contribute to the Kickstarter fund here.
* For years Zac Efron has been trying to get his way into the comic book movie world, and now it finally seems to be happening. Since 2010 he and comic book scribe Brian Michael Bendis have been developing Fire, based on Bendis' graphic novel "about a college student (Efron) who is recruited by the CIA only to find out he is being trained for a program that churns out expendable spies." Bendis had been planning to adapt the film himself, but now the project is moving forward with Jesse Wigutow penning. Wigutow had been working on the Tron: Legacy sequel before it hit the skids. A director still needs to be found so this could be a ways off. [Deadline]
