According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tracey Ullman is in negotiations to join the growing cast of Into the Woods, Disney’s adaptation of the Broadway musical being directed by Rob Marshall. Ullman will join an all-star roster that is likley to include Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Chris Pine, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Emily Blunt, all of whom are in various stages of negotiations to be part of the production. The play is a darkly comic mashup of classic fairy tales that revolves around a childless baker and his wife (Blunt), who attempt to lift a family curse by journeying into the woods to confront the witch that put the spell on them. Along the way, they encounter a group of characters including Rapunzel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. Ullman will play the mother to Jack the Giant Killer, who has yet to be cast. Streep is playing a witch and Depp is taking on a variation of the fairy tale wolf. Gyllenhaal and Pine play princes to Cinderella and Rapunzel. Many thanks to Frank and Glenn for the heads-up.

According to Vulture, Emily Blunt is confirmed for “Into the Woods”. They also mention Jake Gyllenhaal’s involvement, although this hasn’t been confirmed as of now. Blunt has been speculated to be joining already confirmed stars Meryl Streep (as The Witch) and Johnny Depp (as The Wolf) in the project. Jake Gyllenhaal is also presumedly involved (as a Prince) according to many reports, as is 2012 Tony Award winner James Corden (as The Baker) and Smash star Megan Hilty (as a Stepsister). “I can’t believe I’m playing in two movies with Meryl where she’s playing someone who’s horrible to me,” Blunt reveals. “I’m so excited,” she says. Filming on “Into the Woods” is set to begin in the UK later this Summer. Casting confirmation for Blunt’s role – and the others – has yet to be officially confirmed by Disney. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

The Inquirer has recently interviewed Hilary Swank after wrapping her scenes for “The Homesman”, Tommy Lee Jones’ upcoming western starring himself, Swank and Meryl Streep. “It’s a dream come true—I’m in a movie with Meryl Streep,” Hilary Swank happily informed us of being cast with arguably the greatest living actress, in “The Homesman.” Then, Hilary added, “But I don’t have one scene with Meryl! I thought, ‘Well, on the days that I’m not working, I’m going to be a fly on the wall. I’m just going to watch Meryl – but, she wasn’t even in the same location! I did all my work in New Mexico. When we wrapped there recently, they went to Georgia.” Hilary admitted that it was “nice to have a dress on after all that time out there” in New Mexico to shoot “The Homesman,” being directed by Tommy Lee Jones who, along with Wesley Oliver and Kieran Fitzgerald, wrote the screenplay adaptation of Glendon Swarthout’s western novel of the same title, set around 1855.

“I was on the prairie for the last 60 days,” Hilary reported. “My character (Mary Bee Cuddy) is a farmer—I plow the fields and pump for water. My hands are all beat up.” The actress plays the title role, a “homesman” who must escort several women who lost their minds back to civilization. She teams up with an unlikely partner, George Briggs (Tommy Lee), a claim jumper. According to Hilary, Meryl plays Altha Carter, who collects the insane women to help bring them home. Also in the cast are Fil-Am actress Hailee Steinfeld, James Spader, John Lithgow, Tim Blake Nelson, Miranda Otto, William Fichtner and Grace Gummer (Meryl’s daughter). “It was an absolutely wonderful experience,” said Hilary of filming “The Homesman.” “It was right up there with my ‘Million Dollar Baby’ experience. I’m sad that it’s all over. It’s nice when you get your butt kicked to step up to the plate, and challenge yourself every day and in a new way with artists all across the board. The complete article can be read here.

The Wrap has a nice article on the Weinstein Company’s recent presentation of upcoming films at Cannes: The Weinstein Company unveiled its slate for the year at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, giving a glimpse of their game plan for Oscar season, which includes an intriguing documentary-style feature about the elusive writer J.D. Salinger, a biopic on Nelson Mandela and a southern vehicle for A-list Actresses, “August: Osage County.” The most obvious Oscar bait – at least in the acting category – was a first look at “August: Osage County,” based on the play, starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper, Ewan McGregor and Juliette Lewis. It also includes Abigail Breslin and my how Little Miss Sunshine has grown! The film delves into the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, starting with Streep, in a frowsy black wig (Weinstein told TheWrap this week that Streep went wandering through Wal-Marts late at night to prepare for the role), Roberts as her daughter returning during a family crisis and Lewis as her sister. Looks like Streep gets in lots of zingers and embodies the tagline for the movie: “Misery loves family.” The complete article can be read here.

“Into the Woods” could become even more familiar territory for Meryl, as two previous co-stars have been recently announced to be possible additions. According to Variety, Emily Blunt is finalizing a deal to join the Disney’s musical playing the Baker’s wife, while The Wrap reports that Christine Baranski could be joining the cast as well. Baranski participated in a reading of the script back in October where she played Cinderella’s mean-spirited and demanding stepmother. As with Chris Pine and Jake Gyllenhaal, who are circling the princely roles of Cinderella and Rapunzel’s self-absorbed love interests, Baranski has not received an offer yet. However, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap she’s in talks to join the cast, though a scheduling conflict with “The Good Wife” is one obstacle that must be overcome. Thanks to Frank and Glenn for the heads-up!

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is currently making the rounds to talk about “Star Trek Into Darkness,” and has mentioned working with Meryl Streep on the upcoming “August: Osage County” in an interview with New York Magazine. The complete interview can be read here with his quote being snipped out below.

Cumberbatch prefers the hows to the whys of acting, and he found a kindred spirit in Meryl Streep, his co-star in this fall’s August: Osage County. “I asked her how she approached the multiple layers of her part,” says Cumberbatch. “And she said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t have a process. It changes with every job, doesn’t it?’ And I thought, Oh, thank God, to hear her say it. This whole thing about technique or method? It’s bullshit. People say, ‘Oh, you’re so precise.’ But within that I work very hard to give every part a heartbeat. I learned a lot from just watching Meryl in repose. It was a bit like a Sherlock deduction actually.”

Since the announcement of Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp leading Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”, more famous names have surfaced for parts in the film. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine are in talks to join the Disney musical. Deal-making hasn’t quite begun but the two actors met and even sang for director Rob Marshall for their respective parts and are expected to receive offers to join the star-studded cast. If deals close, Gyllenhaal and Pine would play their first on-screen singing roles. And according to BroadwayWorld, singer Jewel is about to audition as well. She has taken to Twitter to muse on a particularly intriguing topic – singing the music of Stephen Sondheim, specifically the tricky “On The Steps Of The Palace” and followed with “Been working hard all weekend on an audition for a movie. Fingers crossed.” Why exactly is Jewel singing Sondheim’s “On The Steps Of The Palace”? What movie could she be auditioning for soon? She is not necessarily known for her musical theatre covers done in concert, after all. Indeed, the singer and sometimes actress has not been announced to be taking part in any upcoming production of “Into the Woods”, nor even scheduled to be a guest at a concert of Sondheim’s material as of this writing, so could she possibly be participating in the forthcoming feature film adaptation? Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

According to BroadwayWorld, a new casting notice for Disney confirms the commitment of Streep and Depp in the film’s pivotal roles, along with the addition of James Corden playing the Baker: “Starring in “Into The Woods” is three-time Academy Award nominee and Disney favorite Johnny Depp, who is playing a hungry and sexy vicissitude of the fairy tale Wolf. Also starring as the vain and charismatic Witch is three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. Rounding out the first three roles Disney has cast is Tony Award winner James Corden playing the role of The Baker. Corden, who is hugely popular in England, recently played the role of “Britain’s Got Talent” sensation Paul Potts in the film “One Chance”.” The casting notice is available here. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

The buzz for the November releasing “August: Osage County” starts earlier than expected. Today, ABC News has launched the film’s theatrical trailer, which you can watch below. Hopefully a HD version will follow the next couple of days.

The trailer’s release comes with a nice summary by Entertainment Weekly. August: Osage County (out Nov. 8) may well become the year’s fanciest movie about a trashy family. It’s based on Tracy Letts’ hours-long, Pulitizer prize-winning play (which we said was, “horrifyingly, deliciously mesmerizing”) and is directed by John Wells from Letts’ adaptation. The cast is stuffed from every angles with talent: Ewan McGregor, Sam Shepard, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julia Roberts (as the favorite daughter), and Meryl Streep (as the hated mother). As the film’s first trailer makes clear, Osage County is a Jenga-like drama of family dysfunction, with funerals and divorces piling atop dinner-table conflicts. Roberts is weary. Streep, with a frizz of black hair, has the juiciest role in the play. Edward Sharpe plays in the background.

Misery loves family! The Weinstein Company has released a first poster for “August: Osage County” today via Yahoo Movies, giving a first glance at the November releasing family drama starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Julianne Nicholson, Abigail Breslin and Sam Shepard. When the family patriarch vanishes, the Westons return to rural Oklahoma to care for their afflicted, manipulative mother Violet. Armed with prescription drugs and paranoid mood swings, Violet reigns over the home as family secrets unfold.