Idina Menzel (“Frozen”) has been cast in “Uncut Gems,” joining Adam Sandler and Judd Hirsch in the comedy set in New York’s Jewish-run Diamond District. Menzel will play Sandler’s wife and Hirsch’s daughter in a story about a jewelry-store owner with a gambling addiction and mounting debts whose diamonds are stolen. Menzel will also reprise her voice role of Elsa in “Ralph Breaks the Internet” in November and in “Frozen 2” next year.
Greg Grunberg, who played X-wing fighter pilot Snap Wexley in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” will return to reprise the role in “Star Wars: Episode IX,” set for release in December 2019. Producer-director J.J. Abrams has cast Grunberg in many of the movies and TV shows he’s done dating back to “Felicity” in 1999, including “Alias,” “Lost,” and “Mission Impossible III.” Grunberg also starred in “Heroes,” and will be seen in the forthcoming “A Star Is Born” as the tour bus driver for his “Alias” co-star Bradley Cooper’s character. Cooper directed the film, which opens Oct 12.
Zach Braff, most recently seen in the short-lived sitcom “Alex, Inc.,” has joined Christopher Walken and Christina Ricci in “Percy,” a Canadian drama based on the true story of a farmer (Walken) who sued the conglomerate Monsanto for genetically modifying his crops. Braff plays the small town lawyer representing the plaintiff who took the case all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court.
Isla Fisher is set to star as the wife of the self-absorbed billionaire played by Steve Coogan in “Greed,” which will shoot in Europe later this year. In March, Fisher will appear alongside Matthew McConaughey’s title character in “The Beach Bum,” also starring Zach Efron and Jonah Hill. And on a more serious note, she’ll star with Keanu Reeves in “The Starling,” playing a woman who becomes suicidal after the death of their baby daughter.
Actress Kyra Sedgwick will step behind the camera to direct “The Way Between,” about a man whose girlfriend dies in a car accident but he finds a way to connect with her in his dreams.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been cast opposite Jamie Foxx in a sci-fi movie for Netflix, directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost. No title, plot, or character descriptions have been released. Gordon-Levitt will also star in the drama “7500” as a pilot whose plane is hijacked.
