We may be seeing the emergence of Riz Ahmed, and it's about time. The Nightcrawler star recently signed on to battle the Empire in Star Wars: Rogue One, and now he's joining Benedict Andrews' directorial debut, Blackbird. Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn lead the adaptation of David Harrow's play which centers on a confrontation between a man and a woman, estranged former lovers from 15 years earlier, who clash when the woman shows up unexpectedly at the man’s office. [ScreenDaily]
Ben Wheatley (Kill List) has already assembled Brie Larson, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley, and Armie Hammer for his next film, Free Fire, and now you can add Sharlto Copley to the list. The District 9 star revealed on Twitter he has joined the '70s-set gangland thriller, which will be exec-produced by Martin Scorsese. Wheatley's High-Rise is expected to open later this year.
A couple of years ago Christoph Waltz was circling the lead role in True Crimes, which was based on a 2008 New Yorker article on Polish writer Krystian Bala, who had been convicted of murder after he wrote about a similar crime in one of his novels. Waltz never truly committed, and now Jim Carrey is in talks to star, with Alexandros Avranas (Miss Violence) directing from a Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland) screenplay. [TheWrap]
