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Jeff Daniels has finally returned to television with American Rust: Broken Justice, and he already has his next series lined up with A Man in Full. Based on the Tom Wolffe novel of the same name, the new limited series showcases the rise and fall of a massively affluent empire. Daniels stars as ruthless real estate kingpin Charlie Coker, who, despite being on top of the world for the majority of his career, watches as the company he built is on the precipice of collapse.

The distributor has acquired Us distribution rights to the Jackie Chan action comedy directed by Renny Harlin and plans a third quarter theatrical release.

Bloom handles international sales on Skiptrace, which tells of a Hong Kong detective who teams up with an American gambler to rescue his kidnapped goddaughter from a crime lord.

Johnny Knoxville plays the American and the action spans the dramatic Chinese locales of the Gobi Desert and the mountains of Guilin. Bingbing Fan also stars.

Jay Longino and Ben David Grabinski wrote the screenplay. Talent International Films and Dasym Media produced with Chan, Esmond Ren, Charlie Coker, Damien Saccani and David Gerson.

Shanghai New Culture Media Group, Talent International and Dasym Media co-financed and co-present Skiptrace.

Saban brokered the deal with Wme Global on behalf of the filmmakers.

A cameraman working on the latest Jackie Chan pic Skiptrace has drowned while filming, according to local reports. Fifty-one-year-old Chan Kwok-hung died after a vessel carrying his film crew capsized off Lantau Island this morning, writes the South China Morning Post.

Chan Kwok-hung and Jackie Chan had previously worked together on Stephen Chow Sing-chi’s 1996 comedy God of Cookery. Chan Kwok-hung had also previously worked as an assistant cinematographer for directors Jingle Ma Chor-sing and Chan Chi-ying.

The Renny Harlin-directed Skiptrace also stars Johnny Knoxville and and X-Men: Days Of Future Past‘s Fan Binbing in the tale of a Hong Kong detective (Chan) who teams up with a mouthy American gambler (Knoxville) to save his niece and take down the city’s most notorious criminal.

There are conflicting reports about whether Jackie Chan was on-board the vessel, although there is no indication of any other casualties.

Chan is producing with Brian Gatewood,...

Animated feature Animal Crackers has added some heavyweights to its voice cast. Sir Ian McKellen, Danny DeVito, and Sylvester Stallone will lend their voices to the Blue Dream Studios film about a family whose life is turned upside down when they inherit a rundown circus and a mysterious box of Animal Crackers that turn the person who eats them into the animal they’ve just snacked on. Patrick Warburton, Gilbert Gottfried, Raven-Symoné, Harvey Fierstein, James Arnold Taylor, Tara Strong, and newcomer Lydia Taylor round out the line-up for co-directors Scott Christian Sava and Tony Bancroft. Sava and Dean Lorey are co-writers; Sava is also producing with George Lee and Marcus Englefield from Storyoscopic Films, Jamie Thomason, and Leiming Guan. Odins Eye Entertainment is repping international sales.

Chile-set actioner Redeemer has been picked up for North America by Mpi Media Group, which has set a summer theatrical bow through genre arm Dark Sky Films.

Exclusive: Shanghai New Culture Media Group Company Limited (Snc) has come on to co-finance Jackie Chan action-comedy Skiptrace, which Bloom sells internationally.

Snc joins China’s Talent International and Dasym Media on the financier roster and is in talks to find a North American home for the film.

Renny Harlin commenced production on Skiptrace in September in China. Johnny Knoxville and Fan Bingbing also star in the China-us co-production about a Hong Kong cop who teams up with an American gambler to rescue his niece from the Mob.

Jay Longino wrote the screenplay with revisions by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, Geoff Moore and David Posmentier, Ben David Grabinski, Jack Donaldson and Derek Elliott, Rodney Rothman and Jordan Rubin.

Snc’s ZhenhuaYang and Xiaolin Liu will serve as executive producers, while Qun Gao of Snc and Lifeng Wang of Xing Xing assume the roles of co-executive producers.

Talent International, Dasym Media, Chan, [link...

• Jessica Chastain is in early discussions for The Martian. She would play the female lead opposite Matt Damon in Fox’s sci-fi film, which Ridley Scott is directing. Based on the e-book by Andy Weir, the film follows an astronaut who gets stranded on Mars and must fight to survive and make his way home. Simon Kinberg originally brought the book to Scott, and will produce alongside Aditya Sood through Kinberg’s Genre Films Banner. Fox’s Steve Asbell will oversee the film for the studio. [Variety]

[Note: Deadline and THR reported that Kristen Wiig is also in early talks for a lead female role in the film.]

• Johnny Knoxville will star alongside Jackie Chan and Fan Bingbing in Skiptrace, which Renny Harlin is directing.

Exclusive: Johnny Knoxville has been set to star alongside Jackie Chan in Skiptrace, the Renny Harlin-directed film that has just begun shooting in China. Last I wrote about this, Chan was going to star opposite Seann William Scott and X-Men: Days Of Future Past‘s Fan Bingbing in the tale of a Hong Kong detective (Chan) who teams up with a mouthy American gambler (Scott) to save his niece and take down the city’s most notorious criminal. Bingbing is in, but Scott exited and Knoxville has stepped up to play that role. The tone of the movie is Midnight Run.

Related: Renny Harlin Takes Helm Of Jackie Chan Action Comedy ‘Skiptrace’

Chan, who hatched the idea, is producing with Brian Gatewood, Esmond Ren, Damien Saccani and Charlie Coker. Jay Longino, Brian Gatewood & Alessandro Tanaka, Geoff Moore & David Posamentier, and BenDavid Grabinski all had a hand in the script and Rodney Rothman is polishing.

Bloom announced Renny Harlin (The Legend of Hercules, Die Hard 2) will direct action buddy comedy Skiptrace which will commence production on August 11, 2014.

Starring Jackie Chan (Rush Hour, The Karate Kid), Seann William Scott (American Pie, Role Models) and Fan Bingbing (Iron Man 3), Skiptrace is written by Jay Longino with revisions by Brian Gatewood & Alessandro Tanaka and Geoff Moore & David Posmentier and BenDavid Grabinski.

Skiptrace follows a Hong Kong detective Bennie Black (Chan), who has been tracking a dangerous crime boss, Victor Wong, for over a decade. When Bennie’s beautiful young niece Bai (Fan Bingbing) gets into trouble with Wong’s crime syndicate, he comes to the rescue and must track down the only man who can help her – a fast-talking American gambler named Connor Watts (Scott) who is also on the run from the mob. The unlikely pair embarks on a hilarious adventure from the wind swept...

Seann William Scott (American Reunion, Role Models) has joined Jackie Chan (Rush Hour, The Karate Kid) and Fan Bingbing (X-men: Days Of Future Past) in Academy Award nominated director Sam Fell’s action comedy Skiptrace, it was announced today by Exclusive Media’s Co-Chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East and Beijing based Talent International Film Co., Ltd.’s President Esmond Ren.

Set to start production on January 13, 2014, Skiptrace will be produced as a Sino-Foreign co-production by Exclusive Media and Talent International (北京唐德国际电影文化有限公司) (Chinese Zodiac 12), who will also co-finance the film. In addition to starring, Chan is a producer on Skiptrace.

Based on Chan’s original idea, Skiptrace is written by Jay Longino and co-written by The Sitter scribes Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, and David Posamentier and Geoff Moore (Better Living Through Chemistry).

The film follows Bennie Black (Jackie Chan), a Hong Kong detective who has been tracking notorious crime...