Jennifer Yuh Nelson's adaptation of YA novel Darkest Minds continues to bolster its roster of strong actresses. Joining the previously cast Amandla Stenberg and Mandy Moore is Game of Thrones' resident honorable knight, Gwendoline Christie. The film is based on Alexandra Bracken's book, the first of four, that takes place on an alternate Earth where most people under the age of 20 have been killed by a pandemic, with those remaining placed in internment camps. Stenberg plays a girl with telekinetic powers who escapes and goes on the run from the government. Christie will play a bounty hunter of teens who takes great pleasure in doing her job. [THR]
The Jason Bateman-led comedy Game Night has just found a new player in Kyle Chandler. The Manchester by the Sea actor joins Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Jesse Plemons, Billy Magnussen, Kylie Bunbury, and Lamore Morris in the film about a group of couples who meet for their regularly scheduled game night, only to have things go terribly wrong. Vacation duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley will direct. [Deadline]
Issa Rae, the Golden Globe nominated star of HBO's Insecure, has landed a role opposite Bill Hader in Empress of Serenity. The comedy stars Hader as Sheldon, a man with a plan to win back his ex-wife, only to have those plans upended when his widowed father guilts him into a month-long cruise. Rae plays the reclusive kindred spirit in the cabin next to Sheldon's. Jesse Andrews, the author and screenwriter behind Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, will make his directorial debut.
