Seemingly loving this whole social media thing, Paul Schrader was a steady presence through 2013 on Facebook, during the highs and lows of getting his low-budget sizzler “The Canyons” out in the world. Now, he’s kicking off 2014 by making a new film, “The Dying of the Light.” The director revealed today, using Mark Zuckerberg’s site, that Anton Yelchin, Irene Jacob (“Three Colors” trilogy, “The Double Life Of Veronique“) and Swedish actor Alexander Karim have rounded out the principal cast for the movie, led by Nicolas Cage, which will start shooting on January 27th. Nicolas Winding Refn (who was attached to helm an earlier incarnation of the movie) will produce the Schrader-penned movie about a C.I.A. agent who starts to become afflicted with blindness while on his last mission. Schrader working with this cast on this material? Yeah, we’re excited.
Director Rebecca Miller—wife of Daniel Day-Lewis, and helmer of undersung films “The Ballad of Jack And Rose” and “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee“—is lining up her next effort, a romantic comedy entitled “Maggie’s Plan,” that has Greta Gerwig attached to star. “It’s the story of a young woman and the joys and pitfalls of trying to make your own way in New York City,” Miller told Deadline about her script. “Greta has a very specific kind of innocent intelligence about her that made her perfect for this part. I’m so happy I found her.” Sounds a bit too similar to “Frances Ha,” but presumably it’s a different take on that theme. Production begins this fall.
Rebel Wilson, who has risen to fame thanks to “Bridesmaids” and “Pitch Perfect,” will now do tentpole duty by playing a night guard in “Night At The Museum 3,” Deadline reports. We suppose it’ll help pay for a few bills.
Lastly, Deadline also reveals that James Marsden has been offered to take over the lead role in the Nicholas Sparks adaptation “The Best of Me,” formerly attached to the late Paul Walker. The story centers on two former high school sweethearts, from opposite sides of the track, who after 25 years, are brought back to their hometown in North Carolina for the funeral of a local mentor. Michelle Monaghan is attached in the female lead, but we’d advise Marsden that his time is probably better spent elsewhere.