the industry

Industry Roundup: McHale, Hendricks

Kids, Inc.: Joel McHale (Community) is in final negotiations to star opposite Jessica Alba in Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 4. McHale will play a “spy-hunting reporter” married to Alba, the stepmother to his children. You can just imagine the hard time he’s going to get from his Spanish-study-group buds about this. [Variety]

Ready to Drive: Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) is joining Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks, and Bryan Cranston in the indie flick Drive. The project, based on James Sallis’s crime novel, centers on a Hollywood stunt driver (Gosling) who moonlights as a getaway driver in “L.A.’s criminal underworld.” Unclear what part Hendricks will be playing; most likely, she heard that it was set in present day and she could wear modern clothes and she immediately said she was in. [Variety]

OMG!: Usher will be touring this fall on a 25-date North American arena “OMG Tour,” which will kick off November 10 in Seattle. He will be on the road through late December, wrapping up on December 18 in Hartford. And contrary to rumors, Chris Brown will not be featured on the tour. Good call, Ush. [MTV]

Duo Joins Daniel: Ciaran Hinds and Janet McTeer are joining Daniel Radcliffe in the Victorian mystery The Woman in Black. Hinds will play a local landowner who advises Radcliffe, while McTeer will play Hinds’ wife. Also, the film will not shoot in 3-D as had previously been announced. Huzzah! [Deadline]

By the Numbers: Malin Akerman (The Romantics, Watchmen) has signed on to the CIA thriller The Numbers Station opposite Ethan Hawke. The Kasper Barfoed–directed film follows a disgraced black-ops agent (Hawke) who has to protect a young woman (Akerman) in the middle of the Nevada desert. [Variety]

Homecoming: Andrea Bowen (Desperate Housewives) will star in the upcoming indie feature Preacher’s Daughter. The film is focused on the estranged daughter of a small-town minister who is “forced to return to the strict, religious home of her youth” after having left four years earlier. [Variety]

Industry Roundup: McHale, Hendricks