Four Peepers: Indie flick Peep World has nabbed Michael C. Hall and Ben Schwartz, with Rainn Wilson and Sarah Silverman in talks to join the cast as well. To be directed by Barry Blaustein, the movie’s about the strife that arises among siblings after one of them publishes a novel depicting thinly veiled versions of them all. Watch out, Ben Schwartz: The on-set “you’ve never starred in a beloved television series” heckling will surely be fierce. [HR]
Back Together: Summit Entertainment, which parted ways with Catherine Hardwicke after she directed the first Twilight movie, even though it made a ton of money, has hired her for the fantasy-drama If I Stay. Based on Gayle Forman’s upcoming novel, the story revolves around “a gifted classical musician and her indie-rock-star boyfriend who’s forced to choose between life and death when she’s in a car accident with her family.” We have no idea what that means, either. [Variety]
Moving On … : Up will be the first animated film ever to open the Cannes Film Festival, when it screens out of competition on the fest’s opening night in May. Here’s hoping that, in a promotional move reminiscent of Jerry Seinfeld’s dangling over the crowds at Cannes in a bee suit two years ago, Ed Asner will land on the red carpet in a house. [Variety]
Back to Basics: Tristan Wilds, who played an ascendant crime operative on The Wire and is now battling insidious high-school gossip on 90210, has signed on for Red Tails, George Lucas’s long-gestating WWII drama. The flick — written by Three Kings’ John Ridley and to be directed by fellow Wire alum Anthony Hemingway — features Wilds as Ray “Ray Gun” Knight, a member of the 332nd Fighter Group, the elite all-black unit of escort pilots also known as the Red Tails. Yes! Tristan Wilds returns to killing people! [HR]
Scammed: Mary J. Blige has joined the cast of Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself, playing a nightclub manager-singer-buddy to lead actress Taraji P. Henson. This will be the first movie project for the multiplatinum recording artist since 2001’s Prison Song, and her first ever featuring a boisterous grandmother played by a six-foot-five man. [Variety]
