Casting Net: Seth Rogen to direct, produce, star in 'The Interview'; Plus 'Hercules' adds to its cast, more

• Seth Rogen just got a whole lot busier. The This Is the End actor and director has signed on to direct, produce, and star in a comedy that he co-wrote with Evan Goldberg — Rogen’s collaborator on Superbad, Pineapple Express, and The Watch, among others. The Interview is about a talk show host and a producer (Rogen) who somehow find themselves involved in an attempt to assassinate the North Korean prime minister. This will be Rogen’s second time in the director’s chair. And, don’t get too excited just yet, but apparently Columbia Pictures wants James Franco to star as the talk show host. [THR]

• Brett Ratner’s Hercules added a host of actors to the cast, Thursday, including Ian McShane (Jack the Giant Slayer), Rufus Sewell (The Holiday), Joseph Fiennes (American Horror Story), and John Hurt (Melancholia). According to the press release announcing the news, the revisionist film is set in a world where the supernatural doesn’t exist. The Dwayne Johnson vehicle is based on the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars, and is expected to be released in theaters on July 25, 2014.

• Magic Mike’s Alex Pettyfer and Gabriella Wilde (The Three Musketeers) have signed on to star in Endless Love. Scott Spencer’s 1979 book tells the story of David Axelrod and Jade Butterfield, who are desperately in love with one another. When Jade’s father forbids David from their home, he sets fire to it, hoping that they’ll forgive him when he rescues all of them. Franco Zeffirelli directed a 1981 adaptation of the novel with Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. [Variety]

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