A little bit of a flurry of indie movie casting today as a trio of thesps line up some new work.
First, Vera Farmiga and Mark Strong will topline the period drama “Closer To The Moon” which boasts a pretty interesting premise. The film is set in communist Romania and will center on Max Rosenthal (Strong), a former head of a criminal investigation unit for the Bucharest police force who is sentenced to death after he and four other Jews pull off a bank robbery under the guise of filming a movie. The twist here is that Rosenthal is forced to re-enact his heist for a propaganda film before being executed. Farmiga will play his lover and mother of their child, who lives in Moscow but returns home as all this takes place. Romanian helmer Nae Caranfil will direct with shooting to get underway this fall. Thick Eastern European accents guaranteed.
Meanwhile, the final piece has been put into place for Kristen Wiig‘s first post-“Bridesmaids” project “Imogene.” Set to be directed by “American Splendor” helmers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, the story follows a playwright (Wiig) who stages a fake suicide attempt to win back her ex-boyfriend, and winds up in the custody of her gambling-addict mother played by Annette Bening. And it looks like the latter now has a love interest. Matt Dillon has come aboard as her crazed suitor, who claims he’s in the CIA. Darren Criss, Natasha Lyonne and Christopher Fitzgerald round out the cast for this promising flick, which commenced shooting this week.
