What is Casting Couch? Today it’s Associate Editor Kate Erbland, filling in for the intrepid Nathan Adams as he enjoys vacation. Also, it’s about casting. Also, there’s not much going on today in Casting Land. Also, it’s Friday. Let’s all relax together. Looks like Brad Anderson‘s Eliza Graves is getting increasingly more British-y. The film, based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story, already has Kate Beckinsale attached to star, and now Deadline reports that Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, and Jim Sturgess have also joined the cast. This one centers on a mental hospital that gives new meaning to the saying “the inmates are running the asylum.” Spooky and such. No word on who is playing who, but we’re willing to bet the pivotal role of the handsome new doctor in town belongs to Sturgess. 

What is Casting Couch? News about actors finding ways to get paid. Today we’ve got word about a new job for that girl who cut up her face in Evil Dead as well as a possible comeback for Mischa Barton. Perhaps you’ve heard of an actor named Robert De Niro. He’s the funny old guy in all of those Meet the Fockers movies. Ring a bell? Well, Deadline is reporting that he’s just signed on to appear in a boxing biopic called Hands of Stone that will focus on Roberto Duran and his rivalry with Sugar Ray Leonard as well as his relationship with his trainer, Ray Arcel (De Niro). Édgar Ramirez (Wrath of the Titans) is also on board the film in the Duran role, but there has yet to be any word on who might end up playing Sugar Ray Leonard. Didn’t I just read the Wesley Snipes got out of jail a couple of days ago? Is he old now?

What is Casting Couch? A bunch of casting news, all in one place. Today we’ve got more news about that YA adaptation, Divergent, as well as a possibility for what the king of YA adaptations, Robert Pattinson, may be doing next. And there’s other stuff too. You don’t have to be a young adult to keep reading. There’s been a lot of casting talk regarding Guardians of the Galaxy lately, but strangely enough, it’s all been about the same character—Drax the Destroyer. First Jason Momoa was said to have been offered the role, then there was said to be quibbles over money, then someone got wind that Dave Bautista was being looked at as a backup, and now THR is reporting that Bautista has officially signed. All of the hullabaloo kind of makes you wonder if they’ve even started to think about casting any of the other roles. But, anyway, Bautista is a huge ex-pro wrestler, he’s something of a charmer, and while he’s not as cool as Jason Momoa, surely he’ll make a fine Destroyer of Thanos.

What is Casting Couch? It’s the casting news roundup with the stiff upper lip, committed to carry on even as we lose Google Reader. Click through for news about what gentlemen like Robert Duvall, Jared Harris, and Charlie Day are doing next.

What is Casting Couch? It’s heading into the weekend with three pieces of casting news about three actors everyone has actually heard of. Star power! Remember how rumors were going around that Robert Downey Jr. was going to be the star of Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming project, Inherent Vice? Well, turns out that didn’t pan out. Don’t let the news that Downey and Anderson aren’t teaming up get you down for long though, because Variety has a report that says Inherent Vice is now going to star Joaquin Phoenix instead. Though opinions on The Master were a little divided, pretty much everyone agreed that Phoenix’s performance in that film was powerful enough to be hypnotic, so it should be great to watch the actor being directed by Anderson again. And, seeing as this one is supposed to be more of a comedy, it should feel fresh watching Phoenix doing something that isn’t so creepifying.

What is Casting Couch? It’s a column that’s trying to talk about casting news on a day when Oscar nominations are king. Pity it. Paul Thomas Anderson is the sort of filmmaker who casts amazing actors in his movies and then directs them to the best performances of their careers. From Philip Baker Hall in Hard Eight, to Tom Cruise in Magnolia, to Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, to Joaquin Phoenix in The Master, this has always been true. According to Showbiz 411, Robert Downey Jr. may be adding his name to that list soon. They say that he and possibly Charlize Theron are looking like they’re going to be the stars of Anderson’s upcoming adaptation of reclusive author Thomas Pynchon’s novel, Inherent Vice. If this ends up being true it would, of course, be completely awesome for film fans, and probably be the biggest thing that’s happened to Downey’s career since he got cast as Iron Man. That’s a win-win for everybody.

Recent months have been very kind to the career of young actress Shailene Woodley. Not only did she make herself ridiculously famous basically overnight by standing toe-to-toe with George Clooney in Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, but recently she signed on to play the very high profile role of Mary Jane Watson in Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man sequel. This freight train of success isn’t stopping with acclaimed dramas and big comic book blockbusters, however, because Heat Vision is reporting that Woodley is now closing in on a deal to star in the next big YA adaptation, Divergent. Divergent, if you’ll remember, is the first adaptation of a planned trilogy of Veronica Roth novels, and is set to be directed by Neil Burger (The Illusionist). Amazon’s description of Roth’s novel gives the story the following synopsis:

While it’s easy to scoff and snipe at the recent explosion of young adult novels making it to the big screen, it’s also a huge mistake to do so. Of course The Twilight Saga is to be thanked (blamed?) for said explosion, but not every YA book slated to get a cinematic translation is Twilight – in fact, most of them aren’t. Case in point: Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” series. The planned three-book series is already two books down (that would be 2011′s “Divergent” and 2012′s “Insurgent”) with the final one on the way in the fall of next year (while it’s currently nameless, it would be insane to think it won’t be called “Resurgent”). Summit Entertainment snapped up the rights to “Divergent” before the book even hit shelves (and they also own the rights to “Insurgent,” wily beasts), and now it looks like they’re really getting a move on when it comes to getting their next big series to theaters. Variety reports (via The Playlist) that director Neil Burger is “in early talks” to helm the first feature, Divergent, which is set to come with a script by Snow White and the Huntsman scribe Evan Daugherty, who was hired last summer. Burger last directed the Bradley Cooper-starring Limitless and he’s been attached to such hot-but-maybe-never-happening properties like Uncharted and a new Bonnie and Clyde in recent months. Though Summit won’t comment on the report, sources tell Variety that Burger “edged out several high-profile filmmakers” for the gig. But if there’s one