Casting Net: Will Smith set to sail off with Manhattan, more

• Will Smith (After Earth) will star in City That Sailed for 20th Century Fox. Shawn Levy (The Internship) will develop and direct the film about a man and his daughter on the island of Manhattan after it breaks loose into the Atlantic Ocean. Smith has been rumored for the film for a couple of years but this marks his official attachment. Audrey Wells (Under the Tuscan Sun) is writing the script with Smith producing via Overbrook Entertainment. (Deadline)

• Asa Butterfield (Ender’s Game) is in talks to join Clive Owen (Children of Men) and Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) in the indie comedy King of the Kastle. Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka (The Sitter) co-wrote and will direct the movie about a philanderer (Owen) who is blackmailed by a teenager (Butterfield). Michael Benaroya (Margin Call) and Jonathan Gordon (Silver Linings Playbook) will produce. (The Wrap)

• Bruno Gunn (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) has joined the cast of Barely Lethal, about a young teenage assassin who runs away looking for a normal life. Academy Award nominee Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) stars with Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four) and Samuel L. Jackson (Django Unchained). Gunn will play a henchman to Alba’s character, one of Steinfeld’s former adversaries who won’t let her go. Production is already underway in Atlanta with Kyle Newman (Fanboys) directing a script by John D’Arco and John Cheng. (THR)

• Zachary Knighton (Happy Endings) and Steven Strait (Magic City) join the post-apocalyptic indie Hot. Noah Segan (Looper), Kate Siegel (Oculus) and Jessica Dykstra (Pain & Gain) also star in the film by director Victor Warren, who also adapted the script from Daniel Keleher’s play. Knighton and Strait will play best friends holed up together in an ostentatious penthouse while Los Angeles is being torn apart by a dangerous virus. (Variety)