Casting About: James Franco’s Brother Is a Magician Thief

• Perhaps you're tired of James Franco's antics -- well, that's OK, because now younger brother Dave is starting to make a name for himself. He's signed up for "Now You See Me," the awesome-sounding drama about a crack team of magician thieves. Even better, he's the Franco brother who hasn't ruined the Oscars for you. [Deadline]

• We've never loved the conceit of having a relative of a slain bad guy try to get revenge on the hero in a sequel. (That's just one of the reasons we thought "Die Hard With a Vengeance" was very silly). But "Taken 2" has cast Rade Serbedzija ("Batman Begins," "Mission: Impossible II") to play the father of one of the guys Liam Neeson killed in the first film. If we were Serbedzija's character, we'd figure the last thing you'd want to do is mess with Neeson. Seriously, he killed a bunch of people. [Heat Vision/The Hollywood Reporter]

• Hey, pay attention to this item, because we're actually excited about it. Juliette Binoche, who has been fantastic in just about everything of late, and Edgar Ramirez, the magnetic star of "Carlos," will be toplining "A Monkey on My Shoulder." It's described as a romantic melodrama about two surgeons whose relationship is complicated by an unexpected pregnancy. We don't care if they were in "Taken 4," we'd be curious. [Variety]