Here are some recent casting news updates from inside the Hollywood circle.

First off, EW is telling all that Dustin Hoffman is going to be reprising his role in the third Focker film, Little Fockers.  Originally, he was supposedly written out of the movie, but he is now confirmed to be back in.

Hoffman will be in four scenes, some indeed with Streisand, a studio source confirms. These were shot during one week of additional photography, after Hoffman had seen the movie and wanted to be a part of it. The source also confirms that the reason for Hoffman’s initial unavailability was not salary-related.

While I thought the first film Meet The Parents was pretty strong for a comedy, its sequel was unwatchable, so this news comes with little entusiasm here.

Up next, Jessica Alba (who is working with Robert Rodriguez in his upcoming Machete, will also star in the latest in his Spy Kids series, Spy Kids 4.  Considering Spy Kids probably doesn’t require great acting (I haven’t seen any of them but I feel strongly in this guess), Alba is perfectly cast as a retired spy.  I could totally see her in that. HeatVision says of Spy Kids 4: All The Time In The World:

The Dimension movie is a reboot of sorts for the moneymaking franchise, which initially starred Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara as the kids of superspy parents (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino). Rodriguez wrote and directed each installment.

Vega and Sabara are no longer kids — Vega is nearly 23 and recently engaged — but Rodriguez wanted to continue the series.

The new movie centers on Alba as a retired spy who has been reactivated. The actress, mother of a toddler in real life, will be playing the mother of a baby and two preteen stepchildren.

Makes complete sense that it is Spy “kids” with young 20 something actors in the roles.  Moving on…

The Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel (I thought he was gonna take off after that movie(?), I guess not) is set to star in Transit. Via THR

In the story line, thieves on the run from a bank robbery come across a suburban family on its way to a camping trip. When the criminals stash their stolen money in the family’s SUV at a rest stop, the road trippers, with Caviezel as the protective father, unwittingly draw the murderous band of outlaws on their trail.

Seems reasonably intriguing.

Comingsoon says Katie Holmes is joining the cast of Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill.  Al Pacino and Sandler also star.

In the Dennis Dugan-directed script, a family man by the name of Jack deals with his twin sister, Jill, when she visits for Thanksgiving then won’t leave. Sandler will play both characters.

Holmes would play Sandler’s wife; Pacino is set to play himself.

BTW, Jack and Jill went up the hill with $1.25 a piece, Jill came down with $2.50.  Holmes is starting to re-take on roles after her married life has settled in it appears.  I like that Pacino is playing “himself”.  What does that mean these days? Does he even know how he really is in real life anymore?  A valid question.  If you have thoughts, share them.

I thought it had been a while since we’ve seen Katie Holmes onscreen. It was back in 2005 when she was Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins, as well as the love interest in Jason Reitman’s stellar debut film, Thank You For Smoking. Since those films, it’s only been last year’s Mad Money.  How I could forget that? Very easily. She’s back to acting full-time it seems, as she’s finished a couple of projects and is now signed on for another, The Romantics.

According to “Variety,” Holmes will join Anna Paquin, Josh Duhamel, Malin Ackerman, Elijah Wood, Adam Brody and Jeremy Strong in the independently-produced film. The story “revolves around eight friends from college who reunite for a wedding. Holmes…will play Laura, the maid of honor to Anna Paquin’s Lila, the bride. Laura and Lila are best friends who both have a past with the groom (Duhamel).” The script was adapted by Galt Niederhoffer (Prozac  Nation) from her novel. She will also direct.

The eclectic casting ensemble makes this project intriguing. I can only assume the film will be a drama of sorts, full of reminiscences of “when we were kids.” Although the addition of Holmes may not seem like much just yet, it will come after her new projects, which will perhaps have put her a bit more on the map than she’s been lately.

By “The Film Nest” guest contributor Chase Kahn (see him in the comments section as well).

“A worried man with a worried mind”, croons an aged Bob Dylan over the opening credits, voice raspier than ever. Michael Douglas plays a struggling writer and literary professor in the midst of a serious life crisis. His wife has just left him, he can’t finish his second novel and he’s in love with the chancellor of the university; her husband also happens to be head of the English department.

In between making early 90’s thrillers (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The River Wild) and venturing into contemporary Nancy Meyers territory (In Her Shoes, Lucky Me), Curtis Hanson peaked in 1997 with his neo-noir police saga L.A. Confidential. He would follow it up three years later with his 2000 box-office flop Wonder Boys, an exceptional yet underrated and seldom seen film that grossed a mere $19 million domestically. Even with a solid backing by most critics at the time, for whatever reason, the movie never caught on significantly with audiences or awards-season voters, catching just a screenplay, editing and best song nomination at the Oscars.

Douglas plays said professor and novelist Grady Tripp, in love with the aforementioned school chancellor (Frances McDormand) and a mentor to students James Leer (Tobey Maguire) and Hannah Green (Katie Holmes). All the while, he’s hassled by his editor (Robert Downey Jr.) who needs Grady to finish his book as badly as Grady does – for reputations’ sake. To make matters worse, Grady’s most troubling student – the brilliant but reserved James Leer – has just shot his boss’s dog to death at a party, which now finds its resting place in the back of Grady’s 1966 Ford Galaxy.

Michael Douglas as Grady Tripp, a worried man, indeed.

Wonder Boys is essentially a darkly comic ensemble film about finding your purpose, taking action and pushing forward to achieve it – don’t sit idle wallowing in your daily routine. This notion is mirrored in Grady’s unfinished novel, which is pushing 3000 pages without an end in sight. Grady doesn’t have writer’s block, as he describes, he just, “can’t stop.”

It’s also very much fundamentally about the relationship between Grady (Douglas) and his most talented yet troubled student James (Maguire). Hated by his fellow students and quietly “spooky”, he makes his home out of a bus station, snacking on cheese sandwiches out of the vending machine for food. One day, while “rescuing” James from his grandparent’s basement, Grady and his editor, Terry (Robert Downey Jr.) run into a freshly typed paragraph still rolled around the typewriter. “His heart, once capable of inspiring others so completely could no longer inspire so much as itself. It beat now only out of habit,” it reads. Grady isn’t rescuing James, James is rescuing him.

No, Spider-Man is not a part of "The Avengers," sorry.

Douglas finds the twisted ironic center of this character and brings real emotion and humor to him. His filthy and tainted pink robe and leathery, wrinkled brows depict the years of stagnant progression, or lack there of, that have taken a toll on his life which is now clearly in its latter half. In fact, everybody in the cast is great. Before becoming Peter Parker, Tobey Maguire is fantastic here, his blank expression speaking louder than words ever could. Robert Downey Jr. shortly displays the eccentric humor and talent that he would later carry into works like Zodiac and Iron Man. Rip Torn, Frances McDormand and a “Dawson’s Creek” Katie Holmes all supply adequate weight to their respective roles, as well.

Wonder Boys is based on Michael Chabon’s novel of the same name, which was loosely based on his life and a professor he had in college named Chuck Kinder, who also had an inordinately long, unfinished novel. Chabon himself also took seven years in-between 1988’s “Mysteries of Pittsburgh” (his debut) and 1995’s “Wonder Boys”, the exact same amount of time that it’s been since Grady’s debut novel won the PEN award.

An amazing writer, Chabon is also very clearly a movie fan. In addition to references to Errol Flynn and Marilyn Monroe here, in his 2007 novel, “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union”, his alternate history sees Orson Welles finishing his elusive “Hearts of Darkness”, something only a die-hard film fan would ever dream of. I’m sure someone like Chabon would find a lot of like here in Wonder Boys, a real hidden gem.

Buy this Films U Missed here.

Little Miss Sunshine Oscar-nominated actress Abigail Breslin (remember when Alan Arkin was essentially praying that she didn’t win?) has signed up to do voice-work in two animated films and is in discussion to star in a Zombie flick as well.  MTV reports in a  misleading fashion to some extent that she is starring opposite Johnny Depp!  While that is partially true, it is merely voicing opposite him in the end, in Rango, one of the animated movies.  That little girl is a busy gal, gravy-training LMS for all it’s worth, you have to hand it to her (agent).

I’ll be perfectly honest, while she is cute enough, child actors freak me the hell out.  They are way too mature for their age and it is generally just weird hearing them do polished interviews and the like.  While what I remember of her seemed more genuine since she was going to a regular school and not home-schooled away from all the other kids.  Just a thought.

To keep the young theme going, we hear that Push star Dakota Fanning is prepped to go ahead with a role in New Moon, the Twilight sequel.  E! Online has informed us that she would take on the role of Jane.  I’ll let a snippet of their story explain it better.

…I can exclusively report that the 14-year-old child star—she turns 15 on Feb. 23—is in talks to play Jane opposite Robert Pattinson & Co. in New Moon, the upcoming sequel to box office megahit Twilight.

“There were no auditions,” a source reveals. “They just offered it to her outright, and now they’re in negotiations. They’ve been going back and forth.”

Jane is a member of Italy’s Volturi, the most deadly group of bloodsucking killers in author Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling series.

Fanning was a "freaky mature" actress as a youth.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call Twilight my thing (I believe I have mentioned that before and I will likely mention it again), but Fanning seems serviceable enough.  I am cautiously looking forward to Push, so we’ll see on this one.

Tom Cruise’s wife, Katie Holmes (is this what she has been reduced to, being called the wife of someone?) has been added to the cast of the upcoming indie comedy titled The Extra Man.  Variety informs us that she will star opposite some comedic heavyweights John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline, and up-and-comer Paul Dano. There is not a lot of info yet on what roles Holmes and Reilly will be in, but the synopsis known is as follows:

Kline plays a failed playwright who works as an escort for rich widows on the Upper East Side. He develops a mentor-student relationship with a troubled aspiring playwright (Dano).

Pre-Cruise makeover, she had something going.

Reilly is a genius, especially in his indie roots (see Hard Eight) and Holmes who was once worth a damn (Wonder Boys) has an opportunity to earn some respect back, outside of chopping off her mane to appear more Cruise-esque.  Kline is one of the most-underutilized actors working today.  Hopefully, this one turns out.