Olivia Lands ‘Rush’ Role Of Suzy Miller

It’s a role that a lot of actresses wanted, but I’m told that Olivia Wilde will play 1970s supermodel Suzy Miller in Rush, the Ron Howard-directed Formula One drama about the rivalry between drivers Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) and James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).

Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver is producing with Imagine’s Brian Grazer and Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. Cross Creek funded the film with Exclusive Media Group.Miller fell in love with and married Hunt, a handsome, womanizing driver, but the most interesting part of their relationship is how Miller soon fell in love with Hunt’s actor pal, Richard Burton. Hunt and Burton famously negotiated a “transfer” of assets, with Burton paying the $1 million divorce settlement that Hunt owed Miller. Burton and Miller were married shortly after.I’m told that Howard hopes to recruit his A Beautiful Mind star Russell Crowe to play the small role of Burton in the Peter Morgan-scripted film. Wilde, who’ll next be seen starring in Butter, is repped by WME and Untitled along with UK-based Hamilton Hodell.

Olivia Wilde toplines ‘Longest’ comedy

Marking his feature film directorial debut, Peter Glanz will direct “The Longest Week” — a new indie comedy assembled by Far Hills Pictures — and has nabbed Olivia Wilde as his leading lady.

Pic, which Glanz also wrote, joins the titles currently for sale at the Toronto Film Fest. Story centers on Conrad Valmont, affluent and aimless, who lives a life of leisure in his parents’ prestigious Manhattan hotel. In the span of one week, he finds himself evicted, disinherited and in love.Stone Douglass and Taylor Materne are producing through their Far Hills Pictures banner along with “Rachel Getting Married” producer Neda Armian.
Far Hills packaged and developed the pic and will finance, budgeting “Longest” at under $5 million. Company will look to get the film into production within the next three months.
Wilde has kept busy with Universal’s “Cowboys and Aliens” and 20th Century Fox’s “In Time,” which unspools in October; and “Butter,” which bowed at the Telluride Film Festival.
Glanz based “Longest” on his black-and-white short, “A Relationship in Four Days,” that screened at Sundance and at the Critics Week in Cannes in 2008.
A fully financed development and production shingle, Far Hills most recently produced “Corman’s World,” which unspools in October. Company looks to produce up to three pics a year in the $5 million to $20 million range. WME Global arranged the financing and will represent distribution rights.
Wilde is repped by WME and Untitled Entertainment.

Olivia testing for female lead in “Horizons” opposite Tom Cruise

Who’s ready to go head to head with arguably one of the biggest movie stars in the world? Variety reports five young up and coming young actresses are testing this weekend to star opposite Tom Cruise in new sci-fi epic “Horizons” (formerly “Oblivion”). Will it be Brit Marling, Olivia Wilde, Noomi Rapace, Jessica Chastain or Olga Kurylenko, some combination of the above or others altogether? All five young ladies are testing for two roles up for grabs on Saturday, but other names are still under consideration.

Tron: Legacy” helmer Joseph Kosinski directs the film about a man named Jack who lives in the clouds above the earth and goes down to the surface to repair drones that keep the planet safe from an alien race that has practically wiped out the human race. The two female leads are Victoria, Jack’s fellow cloud dweller, confidante and lover, and Julia, who had been his fiancee on earth before the invasion.

Advantage Wilde: Kosinski obviously has great affection for the increasingly in demand actress, having already cast her as the female lead in “Tron”. Advantage Marling: the Sundance breakout star was sought for Cruise’s thriller “One Shot” but passed due to scheduling conflicts. Rapace, Sweden’s original “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, was hand-picked by Ridley Scott to headline “Prometheus”. Chastain is easily the most prolific actress of 2011, with “The Tree of Life”, “The Help”, “The Debt” and “The Texas Killing Fields” already under her belt. Kurylenko, Daniel Craig’s Bond girl in “Quantum of Solace”, co-stars with Chastain in Terrence Malick’s next, “The Burial.”.
While Universal, the studio behind “Horizons”, has been dumping one high profile project after another in recent days – “Ouija”, followed by “Wicked Lovely” – this particular film is on the fast track, already set for a July 19, 2013 release.