Pushing Daisy: Baz Luhrmann confirmed that Carey Mulligan will play Daisy Buchanan in his rendition of The Great Gatsby. (Vulture reported last week that she had recently emerged as the front-runner for the role. Before her, it was Rebecca Hall, but she always seemed like more of a Jordan Baker, no?) Mulligan will join Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. [Deadline]
Blossoming Sitcom: Mayim Bialik, the actress previously known as Blossom (who also has a real-life neuroscience PhD), will be joining the cast of The Big Bang Theory as a regular. Deadline points out that Bialik’s arrival, as Sheldon’s quasi-girlfriend, “brings the number of female regulars on Big Bang to 3, improving the balance between the sexes on the comedy series which has 4 male regulars.†One more and we’ve got enough for a fair game of tug-of-nerd. [Deadline]
Burning Up: Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and Gerard Butler (The Bounty Hunter!) are in talks join the sci-fi comic adaptation Afterburn.The movie “takes place a year after a solar flare burns half the surface of a planet, and treasure hunters return to retrieve what’s left of value.†[Deadline]
More Muppet Cameos: The list of human cameos in the new Muppet movie is getting longer. Following Zach Galifianakis’s lead, the roster of guest stars who have said yes — pending scheduling — now include the likes of Alan Arkin, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, and Jean-Claude Van Damme. [HR]