Casting Net: Kenneth Branagh to play villain in (and direct) Jack Ryan film. Plus: Lena Headey, Abigail Breslin, Josh Holloway

• Kenneth Branagh is already set to direct the next untitled Jack Ryan spy thriller (starring Chris Pine as the popular character based on Tom Clancy’s bestsellers). And now the Shakespearean actor is also in talks to star opposite Pine as the film’s villain, a Russian bent on destroying the American economy. Given the way these thrillers often end up, the casting will likely put Pine in the unusual position of getting to shoot at his boss. [Variety]

• Lena Headey (HBO’s Game of Thrones) and Jared Harris (AMC’s Mad Men) will costar opposite Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower in the feature adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s novel The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. The series follows Clary Fray (Collins), a 15-year-old girl who learns she is part of the Shadowhunters, a team of warriors consigned to battle against an array of evil creatures. Headey will play Jocelyn Fray, Clary’s mother, and Harris will play Hodge Starkweather, the mentor to a group of young Shadowhunters. [Cassandra Clare/Tumblr]

• Abigail Breslin has joined Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, and Juliette Lewis in the feature film adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County. She’ll play Jean, the 14-year-old daughter of Roberts’ character, who likes to think she’s more rebellious than perhaps she really is. John Wells is directing from Letts’ screenplay. [Deadline]

• Josh Holloway (ABC’s Lost) has signed onto the corporate espionage thriller Paranoia, as an F.B.I. agent keeping tabs on Liam Hemsworth‘s character, who’s being blackmailed to spy on his company’s rival firm. Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Amber Heard, Richard Dreyfuss, Embeth Davidtz, and Lucas Till costar. Robert Luketic (21) is directing. [Variety]