Elijah Wood Joins The Late Bloomer; Beasts Of The Southern Wild Actors Ruled Ineligible For SAG Awards: Biz Break

Also in Monday afternoon's round-up of news briefs is more Elijah Wood news. He is teaming up for a production company focusing on genre product. Matt Reeves is picked to direct a major Fox project and more casting news in today's edition.

Elijah Wood Joins The Late Bloomer
Wood will play the lead in the new comedy. Directed by Randall Einhorn, the film is based on the 2001 book Man Made: A Memoir of My Body by Ken Baker. The film will be based on the true story about a 30 year-old man who hadn't totally undergone puberty, but then went through it in several short overwhelming weeks after the medical condition was removed.

AJ Bowen & Barbara Crampton Join Grow Up, Tony Phillips
The pair join previously attached cast members Tony Vespe, Devin Bonnée (both of My Sucky Teen Romance), and Jamie Landau (son of Jon Landau, in his feature film acting debut) in the independently-produced comedy about a Halloween-loving teenager who doesn't think childhood passions should have an expiration date. Grow Up, Tony Phillips is the fourth feature film from young director Emily Hagins, who drew an international spotlight when she set out to make her first feature, the zombie film Pathogen, at only 11 years old.

Around the 'net...

Elijah Wood Sets Up Indie Company with Genre Focus
Elijah Wood is partnering with Daniel Noah and Josh C. Waller for The Woodshed, an indie company that will create mostly genre pics. "I’ve been a fan of horror and genre cinema in general since I was a child and have become increasingly passionate about the idea of there being a space in which horror films that take their subject matter and characters seriously could be produced," said Wood. Deadline reports.

Matt Reeves To Direct Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Cloverfield director will direct the 20th Century Fox sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He had been atop a list of directors to replace Rupert Wyatt who departed the project, Deadline reports.

Beasts of the Southern Wild Actors are Ineligible for SAG Awards
The actors in the Fox Searchlight Sundance Film Festival award-winner has been ruled ineligible for the Screen Actors Guild Awards because it was not made under the terms of SAG Low Budget Feature Agreement, which mandates that professional actors be employed. The move is considered a hurdle to its Oscar chances because SAG Awards often mirror the Academy's selections, THR reports.