With the clear exception of Chris Cooper, I’ve got a new favorite actor in the August: Osage County bunch. It’s thanks to THR, who inform us Benedict Cumberbatch (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Star Trek 2, The Hobbit) is expected to come aboard the John Wells-helmed take on Tracy Letts‘ acclaimed play.

The British dynamo has been pursued to play Little Charles, a “sensitive,” emotionally damaged son of Mattie Fae Aiken (Margo Martindale) and Charlie Aiken (Chris Cooper); he’s often mistreated by his mother, but receives more sympathy and understanding from Charlie — who, against the man’s own knowledge, isn’t even his father. Charles is also in a romantic bind with his first cousin, Ivy, creating the necessity to keep his affairs secret. (That doesn’t hold together.)

Cumberbatch is joining a group currently led by Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep, and which also has Juliette Lewis and Abigail Breslin in supporting positions. George Clooney and Grant Heslov are producing for The Weinstein Company, who plan to start shooting Osage County this fall and open at the end of 2013.

Further down the casting line, Deadline reports that Mireille Enos (The Killing, World War Z) has been corralled into David Ayer‘s Breacher. The actress is one of the newest female additions to a mostly male-centered cast — currently comprised of, on that side, by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello, and Max Martini — putting her in line with Malin Akerman, Dawn Olivieri, and, most recently, Olivia Williams.

The actress is expected to play the wife of Worthington‘s character, making the married couple a pair of DEA agents who, in tandem with their team members, rob a drug cartel during what would appear to be a crime-busting raid. (This proves not to be worth any potential rewards when, in Breacher‘s main conflict, they start getting knocked down by an unseen force.) If one’s never seen the actress, I can understand how unfamiliarity would create a general lack of investment — yet she is good. You might not know because two of her upcoming film roles (World War Z and Gangster Squad) have been delayed on account of reshoots, so just trust me here.

Finally, Deadline have also learned that Alexander Ludwig (The Hunger Games, Grown Ups 2) is another selection of Peter Berg‘s to lead Lone Survivor, putting him in the same company as Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, and Eric Bana. As far as we know, he’ll play a member of the real-life Navy SEAL team who were attacked by Taliban forces whilst on a covert mission in Afghanistan sometime during 2005.

Lone Survivor will begin shooting at the end of September, with a 2013 release being the most likely option.

Where do all three projects currently stand, now that things have fallen into place like so?