Casting: Chris Hemsworth Goes On ‘Vacation,’ Steve Carell Joins ‘Looney Tunes’ & ‘Freeheld’ And More

Well, here’s a name we didn’t expect to see in the "Vacation" reboot: Chris Hemsworth. Yep, Thor is throwing down the hammer, joining the comedy that stars Ed Helms and Christina Applegate, along with Charlie Day, Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins, who were also recently added. Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo will make cameos, too, and the movie follows "the grown-up son of Clark Griswold who takes his family on a road trip similar to the one he and his parents and sister took when he was young." John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein ("The Incredible Burt Wonderstone") wrote the script and will direct. [THR/Variety]

Steve Carell is keeping busy as an Oscar campaign surely builds for his turn in "Foxcatcher." Firstly, he’ll be in the brewing Looney Tunes movie being penned by "X-Men: First Class" writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz , with "Crazy Stupid Love" directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa in early talks to get behind the camera. No plot details yet, but the movie will likely be a live action/CG hybrid. Meanwhile, the actor has replaced Zach Galifianakis in the drama "Freeheld." He joins Julianne Moore and Ellen Page in the Peter Sollet-directed true story about the battle "to amend the Domestic Partnership Act, which grants pension benefits to domestic partners of all New Jersey public employees." No word on why Galifanakis bailed, but we presume it’s because his FX series "Baskets" — "about a man with aspirations of becoming a professional clown" — just got a series order. [THR/Deadline/TV Line]

Jean Reno will star in "The Squad," a Paris-set remake of "The Sweeney." Benjamin Rocher will direct the film that centers on the a cop named Buren who "is on the trail of a tough underworld crime gang, masquerading a larger crime operation behind a bank robbery and jewellery heist, while contending with a new boss who does not like his unorthodox methods." The film aims to be finished by the end of 2015. [Screen Daily]

Jack Kilmer has joined Ezra Miller, Billy Crudup and Michael Angarano in "The Stanford Experiment." Kyle Patrick Alvarez directs the movie about "the notorious 1971 experiment conducted at Stanford University, in which students played prisoner and guard in a psychological simulation with all too real results." [Deadline]