Payne's 'Descendants' cast is growing

Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Matthew Lillard and Robert Forster are joining George Clooney in Alexander Payne's next directorial effort "The Descendants," a drama based on the book by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Payne wrote it with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, and the project has just kicked off filming in Hawaii.

The plot follows Clooney as a husband and dad who attempts to work on his troubled relationship with this two daughters after his wife gets into a boating accident in Waikiki. Shailene Woodley, Mary Birdsong, Nick Krause and Amara Miller co-star, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Saturday film news web roundup: Billy Bob Thornton to star in boxing film?; Sony moves up 'This Is It'

Here are some short but interesting film news that appeared in the trades and on the Web today:

• Billy Bob Thornton is in talks to star in "Pound for Pound," a boxing flick based on F.X. Toole's novel. Writing and directing the project is Ron Shelton. The film focuses on two men whose lives intersect. Thornton would be playing a retired, widowed boxer who slips into depression after his grandson is killed in an accident. The other one is a young Latino fighter struggling with life as well.

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