‘American Pastoral’ Adds David Strathairn, Uzo Aduba & Others; ‘Friends And Romans’ To Bow In Fall

Lakeshore Entertainment’s American Pastoral has beefed up its cast, adding David Strathairn, Uzo Aduba, Peter Riegert and Valorie Curry, who join Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly, and Dakota Fanning in the Vietnam War drama, Based on the Pulitzer-winning novel by Phillip Roth, the film follows a family torn apart when a legendary former high school athlete’s seemingly perfect life is shattered after his rebellious daughter’s antiwar activism turns to violent political terrorism. Strathairn will play Nathan Zuckerman, Aduba will play Vicky, Reigert will play Lou Levov and Curry will play Rita Cohen. McGregor is directing from a script by by John Romano (Lincoln Lawyer), replacing previously signed director Phillip Noyce. Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi are producind and filming is set to start this month in Pittsburgh.

Paladin and partner Michael Mailer have set a fall release date for the comedy Friends And Romans, starring Michael Rispoli and Annabella Sciorra along with several veterans of HBO’s The Sopranos. The story is a farce about a group of struggling Italian-American actors constantly typecast as mobsters. In an attempt to get themselves taken seriously, the group decides to stage a performance of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, but end up suspected by law enforcement of operating a criminal front. Friends And Romans is from Michael Mailer Films and was directed by Christopher Kublan from a script he co-wrote with Gregg Greenberg and Rispoli. Mailer produced.

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