Casting Call: Eva Mendes Joins 'Lieutenant' Ranks

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Eva Mendes joins the "Lieutenant's" ranks. Robert Downey Jr. plays "Cowboys & Aliens." Plus, Amanda Peet sets her clock ahead to "2012." It's all in the latest edition of the Access Hollywood Casting Call!

Eva Mendes is in talks to join Nicolas Cage in a remake of the 1992 drama "Bad Lieutenant," according to Variety.

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The original film starred Harvey Keitel as a corrupt cop investigating the rape of a nun.

"Bad Lieutenant" marks a reunion for Cage and Mendes, who previously teamed up for the 2007 film "Ghost Rider."

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Shooting is slated to begin later this summer.

Mendes recently wrapped production on "The Women," an ensemble comedy co-starring Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith and Debra Messing.

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She will also soon be seen in the Frank Miller film "The Spirit," scheduled to hit theaters around Christmas 2008.

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Fresh off his uber-success as "Iron Man," Robert Downey Jr. is in negotiations to star in "Cowboys & Aliens," per The Hollywood Reporter.

The film, described as a "pulpy mix of the sci-fi and Western genres," focuses on an Old West battle between the Apache and Western settlers, which is interrupted when a spaceship comes crashing down into the prairie in old time Arizona.

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Downey is in line to play a former Union Army gunslinger named Zeke Jackson.

The Apache and the cowboys must join forces to fend off their extra terrestrial invaders.

Next up for Downey is the comedy "Tropic Thunder," alongside Jack Black and Ben Stiller. In the fall, Downey takes on the role of a schizophrenic homeless musician in the drama "The Soloist."

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Amanda Peet will star in the disaster film "2012," per The Hollywood Reporter.

She joins the previously announced stars John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, Oliver Platt and many more in the Roland Emmerich project.

"2012" centers on the heroic struggle of survivors following a global cataclysm.

Peet will play Cusack's ex-wife, who has recently re-married a wealthy man.

The duo also shared the screen in the 2007 drama "Martian Child."

Peet recently finished shooting the crime caper "Real Men Cry," opposite Ethan Hawke, Mark Ruffalo and New Kid on The Block Donnie Wahlberg.

She also will co-star in the upcoming sci-fi blockbuster, "The X-Files: I Want To Believe."

"2012" is set to hit theaters in July 2009.

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Now that he's unleashed "The Incredible Hulk" upon moviegoers, director Louis Leterrier is in talks to develop and direct "Strays," an environmental action thriller, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Strays" follows a group of young business consultants on a business trip to Russia, who mysteriously awake inside an abandoned and radioactive city, where they must fight deadly obstacles to survive.

No potential casting info is available yet.

Leterrier's other directing credits include "The Transporter 2" and the Jet Li film "Unleashed."