Casting Net: Carey Mulligan to hunt for rich husband in 'Nancy and Danny.' Plus: Tom Hardy, Zoe Saldana, Joy Bryant

* Carey Mulligan is in talks to star in the comedy thriller Nancy and Danny, about a gold-digger aiming to land a man she crushed on in high school. James Marsh (the documentary Man on a Wire) is directing from a script by Brad Ingelsby (the upcoming crime thriller Out of the Furnace). [THR]

* Tom Hardy and Michael Shannon are attached to star in The Long Red Road, an adaptation of Brett C. Leonard's play about an alcoholic named Sam (Hard), who's drinking his life away on a South Dakota Indian reservation. Shannon would play his older brother; Leonard will pen the adaptation. In 2010, Hardy headlined the world premiere of the play at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. That production was directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, but it's not clear whether he will join the feature film version. [Variety]

* Zoe Saldana will play the singularly voiced singer Nina Simone in the long-in-the-works biopic Nina, and David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) will play her longtime manager Clifton Henderson. Cynthia Mort (who wrote The Brave One and created HBO's Tell Me You Love Me) is directing from her screenplay. [THR]

* Joy Bryant (NBC's Parenthood) has joined the untitled adaptation of David Mamet's play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, which itself was previously adapted into the 1986 romcom About Last Night… starring Rob Lowe and Demi Moore. Bryant will play a Los Angeles woman who enters into a one-night stand with a man (Michael Ealy) that becomes a full-blown relationship, to the strenuous objection of their respective friends (Regina Hall and Kevin Hart). Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine) is directing from a script by Leslye Headland (Bachelorette). [Deadline]

* Elle Fanning (Super 8) is attached to an adaptation of Kevin Henkes Newbery award-winning YA novel Olive's Ocean, a coming-of-age tale about a teenager who learns a girl named Olive, who had recently died, had admired her from afar. First-time feature screenwriter Christina Hammonds Reed is penning the script. [Deadline]

* Along with landing a high profile release date next June, Kick-Ass 2 added two more actors to its ranks. Morris Chestnut will play the legal guardian for Chloe Moretz's Hit Girl (a role that seemingly was originated by Omari Hardwick in the first film). And Robert Emms (War Horse) will play Insect Man. Jeff Wadlow (Never Back Down) is directing. [Deadline/Deadline]

* Speaking of Morris Chestnut, he's also joining the thriller The Hive, as the love interest for Halle Berry's 911 call operator, who fields a frantic phone call from a kidnapped girl (Abigail Breslin). Brad Anderson (The Machinist) is directing from a script by Richard D'Ovidio (Thir13en Ghosts). [Deadline]

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Casting Net: Aaron Paul taking 'A Long Way Down.' Plus: Eric Bana, Christoph Waltz, Richard Dreyfuss