It must be a lot of fun casting veteran actors as parents of current stars. Thanks to past casting decisions we got to see Sean Connery play Harrison Ford's father, Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman play Ben Stiller's mom and dad, and Keith Richards (wait, he's not a veteran actor) as Johnny Depp's pirate papa. Now, somewhat similar to the parental stunt-casting of the Meet the Parents movies, we're getting some interesting casting choices for the roles of both Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn's parents in next holiday season's Four Christmases. It's a comedy about a married couple attempting to visit with all four of their parents -- who are all divorced and live in four different locations -- on Christmas Day.

We've already learned Robert Duvall is one of the fathers (now we find out he's playing Vaughn's). Now, according to the Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winning actresses Sissy Spacek and Mary Steenburgen are hopping on board as the moms. Can you imagine which one goes with which of the movie's leads? Immediately I thought "Loretta Lynn" should be mom to "June Carter" and tall(er) "Clara Clayton" should be mom to super-tall "Fred Claus". Alas, the casting went the other way: "Carrie" is the mother of "Norman Bates" and "Hannah Nixon" is the mother of "Tracy Flick". To be more specific, "Spacek will play the slightly spacey, New Age mother of Brad (Vaughn). Steenburgen will play the chameleonlike mother of Kate (Witherspoon), whose personality changes depending on whom she's married to or dating." We still don't know which Academy Award winning actor (he has to have an Oscar, like the other parents) will play Witherspoon's dad -- may I suggest Chris Cooper? or Alan Arkin? The only other role cast is the part of Witherspoon's "controlling, type-A sister", to be played by Kristen Chenoweth.

In the spring of 1999, I had a unique experience. The Roxie Cinema (in San Francisco) was opening a brand-new print of Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976), which I suspect had been struck as a sort of apology for the now-forgotten The Rage: Carrie 2, released just a week before. I attended their press screening -- the very first unfurling of the new print -- but oddly enough, I was the only one to show up. Had the other critics already seen it? Or was there something else? The Roxie guys shrugged, asked if I'd like to go ahead, and I said yes. I sat in the middle, all by myself.

I've seen it again since then, and have become doubly convinced of its excellence. Along with The Untouchables (1987) and Mission: Impossible (1996) it was De Palma's biggest success and yet it's usually left out of diatribes calling De Palma a ripoff artist and a misogynist. Based on the first novel by Stephen King, Carrie uses virtually no Hitchcockian elements, and, actually, only about a half a dozen of De Palma's 28 feature films to date, do. Likewise, it's a fairly perceptive view, not of female sexuality in itself, but of the male fear of it. (And, more importantly, an awareness of this fear.) Moreover, both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie received Oscar nominations for their performances, a justification for two strong female roles.

Lots and lots of casting news to report on today. Aren't we lucky? Check it out:

• My main man Ludacris (he's not actually my main man, I just feel a little bit more hip introducing him that way) has joined the cast of Fred Claus, where he'll play an angry elf. The rapper-turned-actor has been doing all he can to drum up interest in his mad skills ever since he co-starred in last year's Best Picture, Crash. Here, he joins a cast that already includes Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti and Kevin Spacey, among others. Pic is set to crash (no pun intended) onto the scene at some point during next year's holiday season.
• The adorable little (and I mean, little) Abigail Breslin (yes, she was Little Miss Sunshine) has been tapped to star alongside Ryan Reynolds in Definitely, Maybe for Working Title and Universal Pictures. In the flick, she'll play the inquisitive daughter of a divorced dad hell-bent on asking her pop some difficult questions about his love life. Awww.
• Sissy Spacek, Troy Garity and one of my favorite musicians, Dave Matthews, have signed on to star in Lake City, with Perry Moore and Hunter Hill co-writing and directing the pic. Spacek and Garity will play an estranged mother and son who reunite "under dire circumstances" to save their home. Though we're not exactly sure which character he's playing, Matthews (credited as David Matthews in the film) will take on the role of villain. Production is set to begin next week in Virginia.

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.