Alice Eve and Luke Evans, but mainly Alice Eve, have joined the cast of The Raven. John Cusack is already on board to don the ascot of that waaaaaaaacky author Edgar Allan Poe. Evans will play a "detective who partners with Poe to search for a serial killer who has kidnapped the author’s fiance (Eve) and has gone on a murders spree that mimics the author’s work." Just like it happens in the classic novel!
James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) will begin shooting the film November 9, with Budapest and Serbia standing in for 1849 Baltimore. Things haven't changed much there in the past 160 years. (THR)

Smells like Oscar.
Now that his totally not-staged downward spiral documentary I'm Still Here is playing before audiences, Joaquin Phoenix is ready to get back in the game. He's set to star in Big Shoe, a movie that focuses on a shoe fetishist who is also a talented footwear designer. Which could or could not be gross. On the one hand, it's healthy to be invested in what you do for a living. On the other, I'm proud of that Photoshop I did up above, but I didn't choke-fap while creating it. I save that kind of bahavior for the Girl Gallery. (THR)

Quoth the Raven, "Herpity derp!"
John Cusack has announced via his Twitter that he will be playing all around bad boy Edgar Allan Poe in James McTeigue's thriller The Raven. The movie won't be about a guy in a room who keeps hearing strange knocking (Cusack already did that in 1408), but instead "a serial killer thriller in which the famed horror author would have to solve clues of a string of murders based on his stories."
Considering Poe wasn't a stranger to smoking a boat-load of opium for inspiration, I wonder if they'll incorporate that character trait into the film. Nothing would give me more pleasure than watching John Cusack stumbling around 1850s Baltimore stoned out of his gourd on barbiturates. It would be like a really old school episode of "The Wire." (ComingSoon)

Jeremy Renner is undoubtedly on many a casting wishlist thanks to his Oscar-nominated performance in The Hurt Locker. But that doesn't mean you have to take every role Jeremy.The actor has confirmed he will take a role in James McTiegue's The Raven, a movie that centers on the final days of Edgar Allan Poe as he hunts for a serial killer inspired by his stories. I don't remember that from high school English. Appears that Ms. Fitzgerald was asleep at the wheel.But the really distressing news is that he's considering the lead role in Peter Berg's Milton Bradley-adaptation Battleship. He's interested in the role but needs to decide if he would rather take a super-secret role for which he's had five meetings. Trust me, Jeremy. Whatever the other role is, you want to take it over board game sailors fighting aliens. Don't throw away your Oscar goodwill before you even win it. And make sure to use hand sanitizer after contact with Mickey Rourke. It's the only way to prevent the spread of career suicide. (NY Times)