In what would have to be a director’s casting match made in heaven, all American actor Matt Damon is set to play all American politician Robert F. Kennedy in an upcoming biopic directed by Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit). From a screenplay by Steven Knight, who has adapted the Kennedy biography ‘My Life’ by Evan Thomas, RFK begins during the aftermath of JFK’s assassination and follows Bobby as he steps out from his brother’s shadow and becomes a political leader in his own right.

After his original choice Christoph Waltz (who is in high demand thanks to his Oscar-winning turn in Inglorious Basterds) dropped out to co-star with Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson in circus flick Water for Elephants mastermind director David Cronenberg has persuaded his old pal and frequent leading man Viggo Mortensen to play Sigmund Freud in his biopic The Talking Cure. Joining Mortensen on Freud’s couch are previously announced Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley.

Given that her last attempt at acting halted her then husbands burgeoning directing career, I am slightly pleased that Madonna has decided not to grace the silver screen again for her next film outing, but has instead chosen to step behind the camera and try her hand at directing. The reigning Queen of Pop’s film will depict the scandalous affair between British monarch King Edward VIII and socialite Wallis Simpson that led to his decision to abdicate the throne in 1936 so he could marry the twice-divorced American. Simpson’s story is set to be told parallel with Wally Winthrop’s, a modern-day woman who is obsessed with the Duchess of Windsor and finds herself facing her own similar romantic dilemmas.

Please, please, please say it isn’t so. In what is quite possibly the most disturbing and unexpected piece of casting news of the week, Nicole Kidman, the Academy Award winner currently deemed by critics to be box office poison and one of my personal favourite actresses, has reportedly joined the cast of the upcoming rom-com Just Go For It.