Casting Net: Billy Bob Thornton in talks for 'Our Brand Is Crisis;' more

• Billy Bob Thornton is in talks for Our Brand Is Crisis. The Warner Bros. political dramedy is being directed by David Gordon Green and already stars Sandra Bullock and Scoot McNairy. Smokehouse partners George Clooney and Grant Heslov will produce. Bullock will executive produce. Our Brand Is Crisis is based on Rachel Boynton’s 2005 documentary of the same name, which explored the use of American political campaign strategies in Bolivia by James Carville and Stan Greenberg, former consultants to President Clinton. Bullock will play a retired American political consultant, “Calamity” Jane Bodine. Details regarding Thornton’s potential role are unknown at this time. Peter Straughan wrote the script. Warner Bros. executives Courtenay Valenti and Racheline Benveniste will oversee the project for the studio. Production begins this fall. [The Wrap]

• Leslie Mann is up for the role of Audrey Griswold in New Line’s Vacation, a reboot of John Hughes’ 1983 comedy starring Chevy Chase. Ed Helms and Christina Applegate are already confirmed for the film, while Chris Hemsworth and Charlie Day are in negotiations. Chase, who played Clark Griswold in the original, and Beverly D’Angelo, Ellen Griswold, will make appearances. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein wrote the script and are making their directorial debut. The reboot follows a grown-up Rusty Griswold (Helms), son of Clark and Ellen, who takes his family on a road trip, similar to that he took as a kid. The updated version will show Rusty’s sister Audrey (Mann), played by Dana Barron in the original, now married to Stone Crandall (Hemsworth), an anchorman on the rise. Chris Bender and David Dobkin will produce. Jeff Kleeman is executive producing. The film starts shooting next week in Louisiana. [THR]

• Gerald McRaney (House of Cards)has signed on for Relativity’s The Disappointments Room. The psychological thriller stars Kate Beckinsale as a woman who, along with her five-year-old son, moves into a new house, which has a secret room where horrors are accidentally unleashed. D.J. Caruso is directing. Wentworth Miller wrote the script, which Caruso rewrote. The film also stars Lucas Till and Mel Raido. Geyer Kosinski is producing. Robbie Brenner is overseeing for the studio. Ryan Kavanaugh, Tucker Tooley, and Demarest Films are executive producing. The Disappointments Room began filming this month. [Deadline]

• Ben Foster has signed on for Disney’s The Finest Hours. Craig Gillespie is directing the film, which stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, and Holliday Grainger. Based on a true story, the film follows the Coast Guard’s rescue attempt in 1952 after a pair of oil tankers are ruined during a blizzard. Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson wrote the script, which was adapted from Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias’s 2010 book. Production is ongoing in Massachusetts. [Variety]

• Zachary Arthur (Transparent) has been cast in The 5th Wave, Sony’s YA adaptation of Rick Yancey’s book, which stars Chloe Grace Moretz. Arthur will play her younger brother, Sammy. The story follows 16-year-old Cassie Sullivan (Moretz) who is one of a few humans to survive five alien attacks, and soon sets out to save Sammy from an alien compound. Nick Robinson, Alex Roe, Maika Monroe, and Liev Schreiber also star. J Blakeson will direct. Susannah Grant wrote the script. Lynn Harris, Tobey Maguire, Graham King, and Matthew Plouffe are producing. Denis O’Sullivan and Richard Middleton are executive producing. [THR]