Casting Net: Gerard Butler's new goal to defeat Nazis in 'Dynamo.' Plus: Paul Giamatti, Olivia Wilde, Romany Malco

Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

• Gerard Butler is attached to star in Dynamo, about the real-life soccer match during WWII between a team of starving Ukrainian players and a well-fed German team, commonly referred to as “The Death Match.” The project is based on the book Dynamo: Defending The Honour Of Kiev; no director is yet attached. [Deadline]

• Moving forward in time for historical dramas, Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton and Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) are set to star in Parkland, which examines the assassination of President John F. Kennedy through the prism of Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where Kennedy was brought after he’d been shot. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing. The film is based on Vincent Bugliosi’s tome Reclaiming History: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. The project, which is aiming to arrive in theaters next year in time for the 50th anniversary of JFK’s death, does not yet have a director. [THR]

• Olivia Wilde, Hailee Steinfeld and Nicole Behaire (Shame) have signed up to star in the Civil War period drama The Keeping Room, about two sisters and their slave who fend off Union soldiers from attacking their home. Daniel Barber (the UK film Harry Brown) will direct from a script by first-time feature writer Julia Hart. [THR]

• Romany Malco (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Think Like a Man) has joined Last Vegas, as the hotel concierge at the hotel where four old friends (Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline) have gathered for a bachelor party. Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) is directing from a script by Crazy, Stupid, Love screenwriter Dan Fogelman. [Deadline]

• Saturday Night Live‘s Jay Pharoah, longtime comic character actor Bryan Callen (The Hangover), and actress Tika Sumpter (Sparkle) have joined the comedy Ride Along, about a security guard (Kevin Hart) forced to accompany the cop brother (Ice Cube) of his fiancée (Sumpter) on his regular beat. Pharoah will play an informant, and Callen will play an undercover cop alongside John Leguizamo. Tim Story (Think Like a Man) is directing. [Variety]