Cinematical

In case you're interested, here are some casting tidbits from the past couple of days:

• Talk about lining up a decent cast for a first-time director, Sissy Spacek is set to join Ian McShane in the comedy Hot Rod, SNL writer Akiva Schaffer's directorial debut. Also starring in the film will be Schaffer's SNL buddies (and Lonely Island partners) Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. The film, which we've previously discussed, reminds me of that Simpson's episode where Bart attempts to jump Springfield Gorge in order to impress his friends. Pam Brady, who occasionally writes for South Park, penned the script. Hmm, could a South Park writer be borrowing from The Simpsons?
• Damn, Feast of Love is turning out to be some feast all right, having recently added an additional eight people to its cast. Pic, which already stars Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear and Radha Mitchell, has tacked on Jane Alexander, Alexa Davalos, Toby Hemingway, Selma Blair, Stana Katic, Billy Burke, Fred Ward Erika Marozsan and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. Davolos will play the lead role; a sensual free spirit who interrupts the lives of a group of friends from Oregon and changes them in unexpected ways. Geez, and here I didn't even think that may people lived in Oregon.
• Emmy-winning actress Tammy Blanchard is currently in talks to star opposite Brittany Murphy in The Ramen Girl. Director Robert Allan Ackerman will make his feature film debut with this story about an American girl stranded in Tokyo who decides to survive by learning how to be a ramen noodle chef. Blanchard would play a drug-addicted American escort who befriends Murphy's character and, hopefully, the two will share stories over a wonderful dish of warm noodles. Yum.