AngelWorld only came into our field of vision this past weekend, but they’re jumping right out of the gate, hitting the ground running, striking the iron while it’s hot… you get the idea. In this economy — brief digression: a favorite saying of those who don’t understand how “this economy” works — take it as an encouraging sign for independent film.

First, Deadline reports that they’ve corralled Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Biel, and Chloe Moretz for The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (the latter part of that title hasn’t been used enough), a drama written by Bill Purple & Robbie Pickering — the former will be directing — and with music provided by Justin Timberlake, who’s also acting as a music supervisor.

Their script centers on Henry (Morgan), a “grieving widower” who finds solace and hope by helping a “wisecracking young girl (Moretz) fulfill her dream of building a raft and sailing across the Atlantic Ocean”; Biel will play his deceased wife. With Iron Ocean Films and Preferred Content also producing, shooting will begin in the fall.

It’s also been announced that Susan Sarandon and Jim Sturgess will headline The Big Shoe, a “sexy comedic drama” from Secretary director Steven Shainberg. Written by he and Mickey Birnbaum, the movie centers on a shoe designer, Nate (Sturgess), who’s “forced to break free from a family who wants to cheapen his art for their own commercial gain.” In an attempt to get Nate back into the swing of things, his mother (Sarandon) hires a psychoanalyst and “muse” — you can probably predict where that goes. Fitting, then, that the director sees this as an opportunity to, like Secretary, “explore a playful, romantic, sexy, intimate connection.” [Deadline]

It’s unsafe to make any kind of prediction as to where either film will go — this isn’t exactly a load of information — but these two projects at least sound like a good start for such a young, inexperienced company. We should all hope it goes well.

What do you gather about either project, based on this information?