Playing Gods: Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman are joining the cast of Percy Jackson as Greek gods Chiron and Medusa, respectively. The movie, based on the children’s book The Lightning Thief, revolves around Poseidon’s half-human son Jackson, who is on a modern-times mission to prevent a war among the gods. Chiron, for the record, was a particularly classy centaur — which, let’s face it, is right up Brosnan’s alley. [HR]
Overloaded: Woody Allen refuses to stop casting notable actors and actresses in his upcoming, still-untitled film: Nicole Kidman will join the cast alongside her buddy Naomi Watts, plus Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, Josh Brolin, and Anthony Hopkins. The movie shoots in London this summer, by which point Diego Luna, Daniel Craig, and the reanimated corpse of Laurence Olivier will likely have signed on. [HR]
Leaving Wichita: James Mangold will direct the romantic comedy formerly known as Wichita, one of the hundreds of movie projects Tom Cruise is currently attached to. The plot concerns a woman with terrible luck in love who has some sort of mystical connection to a handsome, mysterious stranger she meets on a blind date. Cameron Diaz is attached, as well. Before you pooh-pooh the thing, recall that the last time these two appeared on film together, in Vanilla Sky, Diaz awesomely broke Tom’s face. [Variety]
Down South: The late playwright Horton Foote’s final screenplay, Main Street, is moving forward, with Orlando Bloom in talks to join a cast that includes Andrew McCarthy, Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Clarkson, and Colin Firth. The plot revolves around a group of people in a small North Carolina town whose lives are ruffled by the appearance of a (mysterious and handsome?) stranger. Bloom may need to find some better representation: Somehow, he’s stuck playing a boring cop, while Andrew McCarthy gets to play the lothario businessman. [HR]
Rashida and Will Forever: Rashida Jones will star in Celeste and Jesse Forever, a comedy for Fox Atomic. She’ll play one-half of a divorcing couple that tries to maintain their friendship while looking for new love. The script was actually written by Jones along with fellow actor Will McCormack, who should have landed a recurring role on a better show than Brothers and Sisters if he expected to get cast in his own movie. [Variety]