Casting Net: Tom Hiddleston to play country legend Hank Williams

• Tom Hiddleston will star (and sing) as Hank Williams in an upcoming biopic about the country legend. I Saw The Light will be directed by Marc Abraham (Flash of Genius), who adapted the script from Colin Escott’s biography of Williams. Quite different than his role in The Avengers, Hiddleston will sing from the entire Williams catalog, with songs like “Hey, Good Lookin’,” after the rights were secured through a deal with Sony ATV. The film will follow Williams’ rise to fame before dying of heart failure at age 29. [Deadline]

• Demi Moore (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle) has replaced Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker in the road trip comedy Wild Oats. The story follows a widower and retiree who goes on the run after accidentally receiving a $5 million life insurance check. Directed by Andy Tennant (Sweet Home Alabama), the movie will also star Jessica Lange (American Horror Story), Shirley MacLaine (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), and Judd Hirsch (Taxi). [Variety]

• Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect) is the latest star to join the ensemble of Sacha Baron Cohen‘s action comedy Grimsby. Wilson joins previously announced actors Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Gabourey Sidibe (American Horror Story:Coven), and Ian McShane (Deadwood), among others. Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) is directing a script from Baron Cohen and frequent collaborators Phil Johnston (Cedar Rapids) and Peter Baynham (Bruno). [Variety]

• Guy Pearce (The Hurt Locker) has joined Kristen Stewart (Twilight) and Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Days of Future Past) in the futuristic feature Equals. The film is set in a society where emotions have been eliminated and falling in love can be the most dangerous thing. Drake Doremus (Like Crazy) is directing, with a script written by Nathan Parker (Moon). Pearce and Doremus previously worked together in 2013’s Breathe In. [THR]

• Workaholics star and creator Anders Holm has been hired for The Intern. Holm will play the romantic lead opposite Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables) in the Nancy Meyers-directed comedy about an elderly man who becomes an intern for a successful fashion website. Hathaway will play the owner of the website opposite Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook) in the title role. [THR]

• Alessandro Nivola (American Hustle) will play civil rights activist John Doar in Selma, the Martin Luther King Jr. drama from director Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere). The film documents the three attempts made to march through Alabama from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 to demand equal voting rights for African-Americans. Lee Daniels’ The Butler star David Oyelowo will play King, with Carmen Ejogo (Alex Cross) as Coretta Scott King, Tom Wilkinson (Belle) as President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Oprah Winfrey, who will serve as a producer on the film, as civil rights leader Annie Lee Cooper. [THR]

• Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story) and Ben Rosenfield (Boardwalk Empire) will star in the untitled second feature from Hannah Fidel (A Teacher). The film documents a series of volatile events in the life of a young couple at the end of college. Lindsay Burdge (A Teacher), Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project), Peter Vack (Fort Tilden), and Jennifer Lafleur (The Do-Deca Pentathlon) will also star. [Deadline]

• Clifton Collins Jr. (Pacific Rim) has joined Lawless director John Hillcoat’s cop drama Triple Nine, which also includes Woody Harrelson (True Detective), Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), and Kate Winslet (Divergent). [Deadline]

• Disney Channel star Stefanie Scott (A.N.T. Farm) will star in the horror threequel Insidious: Chapter 3 from writer Leigh Whannell (Saw) in his directorial debut. [Deadline]

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