Rebecca Hall boards ‘Transcendence’

With Johnny Depp’s deal finally in place, Alcon has acted quickly in getting the remaining roles locked in for Transcendence, adding Rebecca Hall to the sci-fi thriller. Paul Bettany also stars with The Dark Knight Rises cinematographer Wally Pfister making his helming debut. (more…)

With Johnny Depp’s deal finally in place, Alcon has acted quickly in getting the remaining roles locked in for Transcendence, adding Rebecca Hall to the sci-fi thriller. Paul Bettany also stars with The Dark Knight Rises cinematographer Wally Pfister making his helming debut.

Pic will be financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. Warner Bros. will distribute. Straight Up Films’ Annie Marter, Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen also produce along with David Valdes. Details from Jack Paglen’s script are being kept under wraps.

Alcon had been eyeing co-stars for some time but couldn’t hand out offers until it was certain Depp could fit the film into his schedule. Once that issue was worked out, offers went out quickly to Bettany and Hall, who had been contenders for the roles going back to last fall. Other actresses were considered for Hall’s role included Rooney Mara and Emily Blunt.

The WME and Julian Belfrage Associates-repped Hall was most recently seen in HBO’s mini-series Parades End and can be seen next in Marvel’s Iron Man 3.

Tyler Labine, Damon Wayans Jr., Lucy Punch starring in comedy ‘Someone Marry Barry’

The movie follows three friends whose plot to get rid of their socially inappropriate friend Barry by finding him a wife backfires. Tyler Labine, Damon Wayans Jr., and Lucy Punch are starring in Someone Marry Barry, a comedy written and directed by Rob Pearlstein and produced by Barry Josephson. (more…)

The movie follows three friends whose plot to get rid of their socially inappropriate friend Barry by finding him a wife backfires. Tyler Labine, Damon Wayans Jr., and Lucy Punch are starring in Someone Marry Barry, a comedy written and directed by Rob Pearlstein and produced by Barry Josephson.

Hayes MacArthur, Thomas Middleditch, Frankie Shaw and Amanda Lund are also in the movie, which began production Monday in Los Angeles.

Barry follows three friends who plot to get rid of their socially inappropriate friend Barry by finding him a wife. But when Barry finally meets a woman, she turns out to be just like him, and now the guys have to deal with not one but two 'Barrys.'

Josephson is producing with Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen of Straight Up Films.

Executive producers are Josephson Entertainment vp Alexander YoungMadrose Productions’ Jeremy Bailer and Marc H. Simon of Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, who packaged the project.

“The funniest, most outrageous characters are often relegated to the role of sidekick,” said Pearlstein, who won an Oscar for best live-action short film for his movie Our Time Is Up. “We’re bringing those characters front and center and giving them their own love story. But the movie is also a love story between the friends, and at its heart, it’s about how friendship endures against all odds.”

Labine, repped by CAA and Canada's Characters Talent Agency, starred in Tucker & Dale vs. Evil and appeared in A Good Old Fashioned Orgy as well as Planet of the Apes. He will be seen on NBC’s fall series Animal Practice.

Wayans is one of the stars of ABC’s Happy Endings and appeared in The Other Guys with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

Punch may be best known to American audiences for her scene-stealing work in the Cameron Diaz comedy Bad Teacher. She also appeared in Good Old Fashioned Orgy as well as Dinner for Schmucks.

Straight Up Films steers sci-fi pic

Straight Up Films has partnered with producer Barry Josephson on an untitled sci-fi project with siblings David and Ian Purchase directing.

Script is being penned by Edward and Chris Borey (Continue) with Straight Up financing the development. Details are being kept under wraps.

Straight Up partners Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen will produce alongside Josephson. Annie Marter, who brought the project to Straight Up, will exec produce along with Alexander Young for Josephson Entertainment.

The Purchase brothers directed short film Escape From City 17. “We’re very focused on developing studio-caliber fare and saw this as a great opportunity to get on board a high quality project from the ground up,” Cohen said.

Josephson produced Enchanted and Life as We Know It. CAA reps the Boreys and the Purchases. It will represent the film’s distribution rights.