the industry

Industry Roundup: Banks, Jones, Deschanel

Fantastic Four: Paul Rudd will be joined by a quartet of awesomeness in the upcoming comedy My Idiot Brother. Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, and Rashida Jones have joined the Jesse Peretz film about a dude (Rudd) dealing with an overbearing mother who crashes at the homes of his “three ambitious sisters” (Banks, Deschanel, and Mortimer) and brings “truth, happiness and a sunny disposition” into their lives while, of course, also “wreaking havoc.” And in a casting move likely to cause indie boys (and girls) everywhere to pass out on the spot, Jones will be playing Deschanel’s girlfriend. [HR]

McVampire: David Tennant (Doctor Who) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) are joining the cast of Fright Night, a remake of the 1985 film. The duo joins Anton Yelchin as a teenager convinced his new neighbor (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. Tennant will play Peter Vincent, a Las Vegas magician who claims to be a “vampire expert” (but who ends up being “less than helpful”) and Mintz-Plasse will portray “Evil Ed,” Yelchin’s friend who gets his feelings hurt when his bud ditches him — so he resolves to join the vampire’s cult. That’ll show him, McLovin. [Heat Vision/HR]

Scaly: Vinnie Jones (Snatch, X-Men: The Last Stand) has joined NBC’s The Cape as a series regular. Jones will play Scales, a scary man with a “freakish skin condition that gives him the appearance of green and gold scales.” Cape is centered on a cop framed for murder and presumed dead who then takes on the identity of his son’s favorite comic-book hero to fight back against those who screwed him. Well, it shouldn’t be too hard for him to find this Scales guy. [HR]

Quale’s Destination: Steven Quale, the second unit director on Avatar, described as “James Cameron’s protégé,” will get his chance to shine on his own, as he has been tapped to helm Final Destination 5. According to insiders, Cameron called the studio to recommend Quale, at which point it was probably a done deal … since who is going to dare piss off James Cameron? [Heat Vision/HR]

Dark Affair: Max Minghella (Agora) will star in The Darkest Hour opposite Emile Hirsch and Olivia Thirlby. The film centers on a group of kids who are “struggling to survive” in Russia after an alien invasion. Minghella, the son of late director Anthony, will also be appearing in the upcoming Facebook film The Social Network, which is about a very different kind of wasteland. [Variety]

Funny Doc: The story of the humor magazine National Lampoon will be the subject of a documentary from Douglas Tirola and Susan Bedusa (All In: The Poker Movie, An Omar Broadway Film). The film will tell the tale of the Lampoon from its beginnings as the Harvard Lampoon up through its transformation into a moviemaking powerhouse. For those of you who have ever been watching Van Wilder and wondered “what are the series of events that led to this moment being possible”? [HR]

Industry Roundup: Banks, Jones, Deschanel