Here’s a casting item no one could have predicted: Rob Reiner will return to acting for none other than Martin Scorsese. As THR has learned, he’ll take “a key role” as Max, father of Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Jordan Belfort, in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Just how this role might be “key,” I don’t know, but I figure the parental influence of someone whose son committed financial fraud, cheated on his wives, and ingested plenty of drugs all the while was… not terrific. (Or, maybe — and, more interestingly — that’s the kind of life he wanted for his son. I’d hope not, though.) If Terrence Winter is as smart as I think, the scenes between these two should not only be engaging, but also have some strong thematic echoes throughout the rest of Wall Street.

Regardless of the specific role, we’re still looking at a pretty fascinating choice; I never pictured Reiner in a Scorsese film, much less acting alongside DiCaprio. Or, for that matter, Jonah Hill, Jean Dujardin, Kyle Chandler, Cristin Milioti, Margot Robbie, and Jon Bernthal. With shooting set to commence in August, The Wolf of Wall Street will open in late 2013.

Another fast-growing project has expanded its slate, with Deadline reporting that Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck, Fantastic Four) will play “Meechum” in Robert Luketic‘s Paranoia. It was, in fact, only yesterday when Amber Heard signed to play the employee of the company Liam Hemsworth‘s character is assigned to spy on; Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford, and Lucas Till also star. I don’t know how the director of The Ugly Truth got a cast with that much potential, either.

Finally, Deadline has also learned that Freddy Rodriguez (Six Feet Under, Planet Terror) and Ryan Hurst (Sons of Anarchy) will take spots in Randall Miller‘s CBGB. The former is locked to appear as a drug addict, Idaho, while the latter has been signed for the role of Mad Mountain, a biker who “provides Hilly Kristal [Alan Rickman] with some much-needed help when the CBGB owner gets leaned on by local crooks.”

Malin Akerman, Rupert Grint, Joel David Moore, and so, so many other people will put in work for CBGB. Shooting has been scheduled to commence on June 25th.

Do these three films stand to improve with the next round of casting choices?