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This is the first in a weekly series bringing you the very latest in the casting world. Movies, TV, you name it – each week, we’ll give you a rundown of who’s signed on to the hottest projects in Hollywood. Want to know what your favorite actor is working on next? Want to be ahead of the curve and know all of the hottest up-and-comers? Look no further, because we’ve got old and new alike right here in one easy place. So skip the daily news roundups and make this your go-to destination at the end of each week. Well, what are you waiting for? Read on!

BIG NAMES
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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Hercules in Hercules

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The movie: Based on the comic “Hercules: The Thracian War,” The Rock will play the mythical hero as he trains armies under the ancient Thracian king.
Other projects: An intense action thriller called Ciudad, Journey 3, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain
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Connie Britton as Rayna James in ABC’s Nashville

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The show: A fading country music superstar must team up with a teen sensation (Hayden Panettiere) to save her career.
Other projects: The Steve Carell/Keira Knightley movie Seeking a Friend For the End of the World, and a Christmas movie called When Angels Sing
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Keri Russell as a spy in FX’s The Americans

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The show: Set in the 1980s, Russell and her on-screen husband plays a KGB married couple who are undercover, and even their kids don’t know their secret identities.
Other projects: The Jane Austen indie film Austenland
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Jeremy Piven as the title character in Mr. Selfridge

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The show: In 1909 London, entrepreneur Harry Selfridge wants to empower wealthy women by making shopping as thrilling as sex.
Other projects: Voiced a character in the upcoming The Pirates! Band of Misfits as well as starring alongside Miley Cyrus in So Undercover
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Anthony Anderson and Jesse Bradford as two leads in Jimmy Fallon’s still-untitled comedy DILFs

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The show: Three 30-something guys become parents even though they haven’t grown up themselves.
Other projects: Coincidence – both of these guys are starring in an indie film called The Power of Few alongside Christopher Walken and Christian Slater.
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Casey Affleck as Christian Bale’s brother in Out of the Furnace

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The movie: A revenge thriller where Bale plays a guy who’s fresh out of prison and wants to get his life back on track and marry his girlfriend, but his brother his murdered and he wants revenge.
Other projects:  The “I see dead people” animated film Paranorman
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Alison Brie as a fast-talking friend in Get A Job

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The movie: Brie plays a smart co-worker of three guys in this multigenerational comedy about people of all ages struggling to find work. Co-starring hot names like Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Anna Kendrick, Brandon T. Jackson, Miles Teller, Jay Pharoah, Bryan Cranston and more.
Other projects: NBC’s Community returns to TV March 15th, and she’s starring in the upcoming comedy The Five-Year Engagement
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Tom Hardy as the lead in an untitled biker movie for WB

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The movie: Hardy will star as a Vietnam vet who returns to San Francisco in 1969 and becomes the leader of California’s most violent biker gang.
Other projects: The biggest movie of the summer, The Dark Knight Rises. Maybe you’ve heard of it?
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LESSER KNOWNS
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Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora in Disney’s Maleficent

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The movie: Disney’s alternate take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale told from the perspective of the evil Maleficent, as played by Angelina Jolie.
Where you might have seen her: Hanging out with Matt Damon in We Bought a Zoo, making movies with the boys in J.J. Abrams’ Super 8
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Theo James as Walter William Clark in CBS cop drama Golden Boy

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The show: James plays an ambitious young cop who rises quickly in the department thanks to busting up a drug ring. True Blood star Kevin Alejandro and “Human Target” star Chi McBride are in it as well.
Where you might have seen him: Tearing up the sheets in PBS’s posh period drama Downton Abbey, as a vampire in Underworld: Awakening, or, if you’re into more difficult-to-find stuff, in the British supernatural drama Bedlam.
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Genesis Rodriguez as the female lead in Hours

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The movie: A thriller starring Paul Walker in which he must fight to keep his newborn daughter alive in a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina hits the city.
Where you might have seen her: Opposite Sam Worthington in Man on a Ledge, the upcoming Will Ferrell Spanish film Case De Mi Padre
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Mamie Gummer as Emily in CW pilot First Cut

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The show: She’ll play Emily, a new doctor who’s relieved to leave her nerdy past behind her, but shocked to discover that the hospital where she works is exactly like high school.
Where you might have seen her: Mamie is Meryl Streep’s daughter, and she’s appeared in ABC’s short-lived “Off the Map” and had a small run on CBS’ “The Good Wife”
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Megan Ketch as the female lead in ABC pilot Gotham

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The show: Despite the title, this one’s got nothing to do with Batman. It’s about a New York detective (Ketch) who realizes that New York has a secret magical history that no one knew about.
Where you might have seen her: Guest spots in one episode each of A Gifted Man and Law & Order: SVU, so probably not much!
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