Oliver Stone wants Johnson to play one of the two leads in the drama Savages, about two pot growers whose sexy communal girlfriend (nice?) gets kidnapped by Mexican mobsters. The drug cartel wants the dudes to work for them, or the girl goes… up in smoke. “Muahaha.” Stone is directing, Shane Salerno (Armageddon) and novel author Don Winslow wrote the script, and they’re looking to shoot this June.

Meanwhile, Keira Knightley beckons Johnson, just like she does for me in my dreams. Johnson’s been offered the lead opposite Knightley in Anna Karenina, writer Tom Stoppard‘s adaptation of the Tolstoy classic novel I might have read in a literature class at some point. The film will be directed by Joe Wright (Atonement). One of the best modern writers adapting a novel considered to be one of the best of all time? Hmm… pass. (Deadline)

Wright’s hoping to get Anna Karenina up and running with go-to Oscar baiter, Tom Stoppard, whittling down the narrative. “You can [make a 2 hour movie] if you’ve got Tom Stoppard writing. He’s done an amazing script which involves Levin’s story as well as Anna’s story. Yeah, Tom Stoppard is just..also, he’s so immersed in Russian history and culture and identity or lack of it.”

He doesn’t come out right out and say it but he implies that Keira Knightley is his top choice to star. “Not sure yet. It’s fairly obvious, but I can’t quite say. She hasn’t signed on the line yet. I’m loyal to my actors.”

I appreciate any director who doesn’t string us along with endless casting shortlists. However, should Knightley not sign on, I’m fully prepared to Photoshop a picture of Michelle Williams, Carey Mulligan, and Mia Wasikowska all leg-wrestling for the role. Actually I may just go ahead and do that anyway for my own usage. (via The Playlist)