What is Casting Couch? A big list of casting news. Today we’ve got word on who’s going to play the new Hercules. And no, we’re not talking about Dwayne Johnson. The other new Hercules. The new new one. Big things are happening over on Guillermo del Toro’s haunted house project, Crimson Peak. Plot details are still being kept under wraps, but we do know that Emma Stone and Charlie Hunnam are already on board to co-star, and we do know that del Toro is approaching the film as a throwback to the classic haunted house movies of yesteryear. And now, thanks to Variety, we also know that star-on-the-rise Benedict Cumberbatch has been brought on board in a lead role. As if starring in Sherlock, the new Star Trek, and The Hobbit wasn’t already enough to make him a geek icon, now he has to go and work with del Toro. If he keeps this up he could soon find himself at the center of one of those trusty geek backlashes.

What is Casting Couch? It’s having trouble finding casting news in a week where the entire film industry’s eyes are turned to Sundance, but it was able to dig up a couple nuggets anyway. Not a lot is known about Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming project, Crimson Peak, but what we do know is that it’s supposed to be some kind of ghost story, and del Toro is in the final stages of securing Emma Stone to star in it. And now there’s some new news about who the male lead is going to be. Variety is reporting that Charlie Hunnam, the Sons of Anarchy star who del Toro recently worked with on Pacific Rim, is now on board the movie as well. Seeing as details regarding the plot are being kept under wraps, there’s no way of really knowing what role Hunnam is going to play, but probably that doesn’t matter. Honestly, this one had everybody at Emma Stone.

Guilleremo del Toro just needs to keep making movies forever. At least one a year. Maybe every two years for a particularly big project. Let’s hope that Pacific Rim reminds everyone with checks to write why this guy is so loved and that he can keep busy with all the projects he’s attached to — including the ghost story Crimson Peak. According to Variety, the movie is close to securing Emma Stone to star. Although almost nothing is known of the script’s plot, hauntings are pretty popular right now even as Paranormal Activity‘s spectre still moans limply in theaters, and Stone is in high demand so the combination here makes sense.  She’s a talented actor, but it’s her popularity in particular that matters here. If she’s the puzzle piece that gets a del Toro ghost story greenlit, then let’s she’s as close to signing as Variety reports. At any rate, the Stone/del Toro combination is something of a geek dream. Who wants to bet Doug Jones will be on board soon?

Guillermo Del Toro has added so many projects to his wish list of cool things that he’d like to make that keeping up with every movie he’s attached to make and what order he’s supposed to make them in could be a full time job. But, despite the fact that this list is ever-expanding and ever-changing, it is sometimes possible to know for sure what movie he’s going to be doing next, and Deadline has a report that seems to solidify the fact that the next project he actually sits down and completes is going to be a ghost story called Crimson Peak. Backed by Legendary Pictures, Crimson Peak comes from a script that Del Toro wrote with his frequent collaborator Matthew Robbins. The current plan is for the director to work through another rewrite alongside Lucinda Coxon, and then start production on the film sometime in early 2014. This gives him plenty of time to wrap up his publicity work for Pacific Rim and also film a pilot for an FX show called The Strain, to which he is already committed. What do we know about Crimson Peak so far? We know that it’s a story Del Toro has described as being very set-oriented, and one that is supposed to work in the conventions of the ghost story genre, but give them a modern twist. The director says that he’s using this project as an opportunity to honor some of his favorite horror movies of the past, including “Robert