Screen Talk: Jessica Chastain cast in The Zookeeper's Wife

Our contact at The Hollywood Reporter gives us the insider gossip from Tinseltown

Jessica Chastain cast in The Zookeeper's Wife (AP)

Plans to bring Diane Ackerman's novel The Zookeeper's Wife to the big screen are picking up with Jessica Chastain attached to star. Niki Caro will direct the Second World War story, which details the true account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion.

Frankie goes to Hollywood

Rob Reiner's comedy And So It Goes starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton has recruited singer Frankie Valli as a club owner. Valli has signed to appear in the movie about a selfish real-estate agent who learns to love again after his estranged son drops off a granddaughter he never knew he had.

Allen adventure signs up Stone

Woody Allen is busy assembling his traditionally high-profile cast for his next untitled comedy. Not much of the plot is known but it is set in the south of France and is scheduled to shoot later this summer. Emma Stone and Colin Firth have signed up for the Allen adventure, the film-maker's eighth to be set in Europe.

Fairy-tale stuff for Lady Lily

From Downton Abbey to legendary princess. Lily James is to star as Cinderella in Disney's live-action interpretation of the classic tale. Kenneth Branagh directs the latest big-screen incarnation of the tale with Cate Blanchett playing the evil stepmother. James secured the role after talks with Emma Watson didn't work out.

Noah and Naomi in crisis talks

Noah Baumbach has resurrected attempts to make his midlife-crisis-for-hipsters movie While We're Young. Naomi Watts is in talks to star opposite Ben Stiller, while Girls' star. Written by Baumbach, the story is about an uptight film-maker and his wife who become more laid-back after befriending a free-spirited couple.

Zombie story returns to life

Speaking of resurrection, the adaptation of the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is back on. Lily Collins is attached to star and Burr Steers, the director behind the Zac Efron movies 17 Again and Charlie St., is lined up to direct. Zombies and genre bending remain a hot commodity in Hollywood.