While he can be seen on TV screens again with the recent season of Mad Men kicking off, Jon Hamm is making the jump to Hollywood yet again, this time with a family friendly offering. Last fall, the baseball drama Million Dollar Arm got a director with Lars and the Real Girl and Fright Night‘s Craig Gillespie, and now with Hamm leading, Variety reports on another addition.
Oscar winner Alan Arkin has come aboard, playing a retired baseball scout in the script from Win Win‘s Tom McCarthy. The main story follows Hamm as “a real-life sports agent who discovered professional pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel through a reality show he staged in India with cricket players.” Production kicks off next month for a likely 2014 release.
In other sports-related movie casting, an emerging TV star has been added to the ensemble of Draft Day. According to Deadline, Timothy Simons (aka Jonah Ryan on HBO’s comedy Veep) will be joining Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner and Denis Leary. The NFL comedy was originally centered on the Buffalo Bills, but after proper incentives were made to Lionsgate, it now centers on the Cleveland Browns.
Directed by Ivan Reitman, the Black List-topping script follows the general Manager of the Browns (Costner) as he desperately seeks out a number one draft pic to rescue his problem riddled team, butting heads with the team’s coach (Leary) along the way. Simons will play a domineering NFL scout for the Cleveland caught in the war room on the day of the NFL draft.
Moving over to action terroritory, the ensemble of the Jason Statham-led remake of Heat (which sadly has Simon West directing instead of Brian De Palma) has filled out. With Michael Angarano and Sofia Vergara recently joining the redo of the 1986 Burt Reynolds actioner, Deadline reports that Stanley Tucci, Anne Heche, Cedric the Entertainer, Hope Davis and Milo Ventimiglia have come aboard in various roles. Statham leads the story as Nick, a recovering gambling addict working as a for-hire tough guy.
Lastly, Variety reports that the upcoming thriller Solace has found its female lead. Directed by Afonso Poyart, Abbie Cornish has joined the film that stars her Seven Pyschopaths cohort Colin Farrell, along with Anthony Hopkins. With production set for next month, the film follows a doctor with psychic abilities that tries to track down serial killer. While Cornish’s role is currently unknown, she can next be seen in the upcoming RoboCop remake.
Which of the upcoming films are you most interested in?