Anna Friel joining medical thriller

British actress Anna Friel is in negotiations to play Bradley Coopers ex-wife in the medical thriller Dark Fields.
Cooper stars as a down-and-out writer,who gets his hands on a top-secret pharmaceutical drug that makes one smarter. He experiences sudden financial and social success but soon discovers that the drug has lethal and lasting side-effects,including trip-switching, a phenomenon in which time moves with a stop-motion quality. Before long,mysterious antagonists are pursuing him.
Friels character is a woman,who was a go-getter before their breakup. Robert De Niro and Abbie Cornish Bright Star already are cast in the movie,which Universal Pictures will distribute on behalf of indie producer Relativitys Rogue Pictures. Neil Burger The Illusionist will direct.
Friel,coming off an acclaimed run of Breakfast At Tiffanys on Londons West End,earned a Golden Globe nomination in 2008 for her performance in ABCs Pushing Daisies. She next appears in Woody Allens You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger as well as London Boulevard,the directorial debut of Oscar-winning scribe William Monahan.

Anton Yelchin to star in new Fright Night
Anton Yelchin,who played Chekov in last years Star Trek movie,is in talks to star in Fright Night,a remake of the cult 1985 vampire film. Craig Gillespie Lars And The Real Girl is directing the DreamWorks project,which sticks to the concept of a teen being convinced that his new neighbour is a vampire,although no one will believe him.
The new iteration keeps the characters name the same as in the original: Charley Brewster. William Ragsdale,now seen on FXs Justified,originated the role.
DreamWorks seems to have Fright Night on a potentially similar path as the companys 2007s hit Disturbia. That modestly-budgeted thriller followed a home-bound teen convinced that his neighbour was a killer and provided a breakout role for its young star,Shia LaBeouf.
For Yelchin,the movie will continue his streak of acting in notable sci-fi-horror genre movie projects. Besides Star Trek,he appeared in Terminator Salvation as robot fighter Kyle Reese.

Stephen Daldry to direct Extremely Loud
Stephen Daldry,who has developed a reputation for high-caliber literary adaptations with The Hours and The Reader,is tackling his latest book-to-film project.
Daldry is attached to direct Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close,the adaptation of the September 11-themed novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Scott Rudin,king of the high-brow adaptations,is producing Close,which will be a co-production of Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. The 2005 book centres on Oskar Schell,a nine-year-old amateur inventor,jewellery designer,astrophysicist,tambourine player and pacifist,as he searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father when he was killed in 2001 attacks. Eric Roth,who last took on The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button,wrote the screenplay for the adaptation. Casting the childs role will be critical for Daldry,who has established a knack for finding key young talent.
The director gave Jamie Bell his feature debut with 2000s Billy Elliot and introduced German actor David Kross to American audiences in The Reader. Kross was a teen when he played the younger version of Ralph Fiennes in the Holocaust-themed film.

Juno sidekick battling aliens in sci-fi film
Olivia Thirlby,the young actress known for supporting roles in such indies as Juno and The Wackness,has booked one of the leading roles in The Darkest Hour,a sci-fi action movie that will shoot on location in Moscow during the summer.
The script,which director Chris Gorak and Josh Zetumer are currently revising,follows a group of Americans travelling in the Russian capital when an alien invasion occurs. Thirlby plays a trust-fund girl,who teams up with others to try to defeat the invaders.
Summit Entertainment will distribute in North America,and Fox internationally. Thirlby,perhaps best known for playing Ellen Pages sidekick in Juno,is due to shoot another indie,the fantasy romance Jack And Diane,this spring.