In today’s Callbacks — your daily roundup of casting news from Deal Central — Brad Pitt reads books about newspapers, Renee Zellweger returns to Hollywood as a producer, Disney "flirts" with Timur Bekmambetov while Adam Shankman and Sam Mendes look on helplessly, DreamWorks’ "Real Steel" adds Hope Davis, Adam Beach joins Jon Favreau’s "Cowboys and Aliens," McG befriends a DUFF, TV director Alex Graves travels way back in time and Marvel starts talks with "Lost" star Josh Holloway now that he’s off the island.
• Brad Pitt and his Plan B partner Dede Gardner have acquired feature rights to Tom Rachman‘s novel "The Imperfectionist" through the company’s development deal with India-based Reliance, reports Deadline.
The book concerns the inner workings of an English-language newspaper in Rome. Rachman is a former wire service reporter who worked in the AP office in Rome.
Coincidentally, Pitt was set to star in the newspaper industry drama "State of Play" before he bowed out of that Kevin Macdonald-directed Universal film.
In other Plan B news, the company just hired former 2nd unit director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon ("Babel") to write and direct the big-screen adaptation of Jonathan Lethem‘s novel "Fortress of Solitude," which was also purchased with Reliance funds.
• Renee Zellweger has acquired feature rights to Brantly Martin‘s novel "Pillage," which she will produce with PalmStar Entertainment’s Kevin Frakes, reports Variety.
John Krokidas will direct from his own adapted screenplay. Story follows four best friends living in Manhattan who rebel against their dead-end lives by searching for the perfect party in the downtown nightlife scene (good luck with that one — nothing happens downtown).
PalmStar Media Capital will finance and handle worldwide sales for the project, which is scheduled to begin filming during the first half of next year in New York City.
PalmStar is also behind Phil Alden Robinson‘s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis‘ meta-novel "Lunar Park," as well as "The Golden Sucides," based on the Vanity Fair article about the suspicious deaths of artists Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan.
Zellweger previously served as exec producer on "Miss Potter." She recently starred in "My Own Love Song," and has Christian Alvart‘s "Case 39" sitting on a shelf at Paramount.
• Buried in an announcement about Disney’s "Alice in Wonderland" crossing the billion-dollar mark, Deadline reports that the studio has been "flirting" with Timur Bekmambetov as a possible director for "The Great and Powerful Oz," which Adam Shankman and Sam Mendes had been circling.
Apparently, the "Wanted" director is also thinking of taking a "Jungle Cruise," an action-adventure movie based on the Disney theme park ride. Just kill me now.
• Hope Davis, James Rebhorn and Olga Fonda have joined the cast of DreamWorks’ "Real Steel," reports Variety. No word on what roles the actors will be playing.
The trio joins Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand and Dakota Goyo in the Shawn Levy film. John Gatins wrote the futuristic sports drama, which follows a former boxer who teams up with his long-lost son to train a robot to fight. Production begins later this month.
Fonda has a handful of TV appearances to her resume, as well an uncredited turn in Universal’s "Meet the Fockers" sequel, as well as a role in WB’s untitled marital crisis comedy starring Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling.
Rebhorn is a terrific character actor who played the D.A. who threw Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine in prison in the series finale of "Seinfeld."
Davis recently played Hillary Clinton in the HBO movie "The Special Relationship." The UTA-repped actress has come a long way from playing the French ticket agent in 1990’s "Home Alone."
• Adam Beach has joined the cast of Jon Favreau’s "Cowboys and Aliens," reports Variety.
Adapted from the popular 2006 graphic novel, the script by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof follows rival groups of Apache Indians and Western settlers who must join forces when an alien spaceship crashes in their city.
Beach will play Nat Colorado, a half-Apache who works for Woodrow Dollarhyde (Harrison Ford). Beach, who is represented by ICM, was recently featured in a recurring role on HBO’s "Big Love."
Daniel Craig stars alongside Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell and Paul Dano.
DreamWorks and Universal are co-financing the project, which is set to begin filming this summer. "Cowboys and Aliens" will do battle on July 29, 2011.
• "Terminator Salvation" director McG has optioned feature rights to Kody Keplinger‘s coming-of-age novel "The DUFF," and will produce the project through his company Wonderland Sound and Vision with Vast Entertainment, whose CEO Lane Shefter Bishop will also produce, reports Variety. Wonderland’s Mary Viola will exec produce.
"DUFF" stands for Designated Ugly Fat Friend, and follows a 17 year-old high school student who struggled with maintaining her sense of identity while juggling a tumultuous home life. In other words, it’s the white "Precious."
Keplinger is the 20 year-old Ithaca College student whose debut novel will be published by Poppy this fall.
• Alex Graves will direct the pilot for Fox’s high-concept midseason sci-fi series "Terra Nova," according to Entertainment Weekly.
Graves previously directed the pilots for Fox’s "Fringe" and NBC’s "Journeyman."
Series follows a futuristic family that travels back to the prehistoric era when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
The "24" duo of Brannon Braga and David Fury are the showrunners. Production is expected to begin at the end of the summer in Australia.
• And oh yeah, Marvel is talking to "Lost" star Josh Holloway about a possible collaboration, according to AvengersNews, which speculates about a whole bunch of possibilities, none of which are remotely interesting. Holloway definitely has a bright movie career ahead of him, but playing a lesser-known superhero would not be a wise move.
