Our Top Story Tonight: Lots of Casting News Tonight

There is a lot to talk about tonight, so let's just dive right in...

Interstellar is quickly shaping up to be one of my most anticipated films of next year. Granted, we don't know anything about its plot, but Christopher Nolan is in the midst of assembling a stellar cast and tonight's announcement is quite exciting. Jessica Chastain, who has quickly catapaulted herself to A-list status thanks to stunning turns in The Help and Zero Dark Thirty, is set for the third lead role. She's joining the already cast Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, both of whom are already cast. Deadline broke all three casting stories. Seeing that the film won't be released until November 2014, there is no point in getting excited just yet, but the cast thus far is remarkable. It's also pretty nice to see Nolan working on a project that doesn't involve Batman, as his best films (Inception and Memento) were original works. Hopefully Interstellar will uphold that tradition.

Bradley Cooper quickly found a foolproof way to avoid being typecast as "the douchebag from The Hangover"- he got an Oscar nomination for last year's fantastic Silver Linings Playbook. And now he seems to be interested in keeping his status as an Oscar contender, as the actor continues to sign up for interesting projects. He's already set to star in this December's American Hustle, which reunites him with director David O. Russell and two of his Silver Linings co-stars. He'll also play the male lead in Cameron Crowe's next romance, opposite Emma Stone. But today news broke that Cooper is set for not one but two major Oscar films set to be released over the next few years- and that one of those roles will hook him up with none other than Steven Spielberg. That film, titled American Sniper, will find Cooper playing Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, who holds the record for most kills with 150. That will film in early 2014, after which he will star in Chef. That film follows Paris chef Adam Jones, who overcomes addiction and attempts to obtain three Michelin stars. It will be directed by John Wells (this November's August: Osage County). I'm much more interested in Chef than American Sniper, but it certainly seems like we'll be seeing a lot of Cooper over the next few years, and that certainly isn't a bad thing.

Then, on the comic book side of things, it seems that Michael B. Jordan is in negotiations to play the Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four film, which will reunite him with Chronicle director Josh Tank. Now, my knowledge of the comic books is fairly limited, but I'm going to guess that the Human Torch and the Invisible Woman will not be siblings in this version of the famous series, seeing that Allison Williams was recently rumored to be in contention for the part of Susan Storm. But, I like both these young actors so I'm fine with the change in mythology. Though I'm sure many fanboys will find reason to complain. Also of note is that Chadwick Boseman (42) is being considered for the role of the Black Panther, who may be introduced at some point into the Avengers franchise. But all signs point that these are very early talks and nothing is definite.

Ending the night, I have attached the trailer to White House Down- a film that didn't impress me with its first trailer, but now looks like a ton of fun thanks to some solid jokes and Channing Tatum's infectious charm. Check it out below: