Showbiz people briefs

SYDNEY (Hollywood Reporter) - Guy Pearce will star in the Australian crime drama "Animal Kingdom," playing a cop who helps a 17-year-old trying to survive a criminal family.

Also on board are fellow Aussies Ben Mendelson, Joel Edgerton and Jackie Weaver. It marks the directing debut of David Michod.

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NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - "Twilight" star Ashley Greene, Haley Ramm and James LeGros are rolling into Anthony Burns' 1980s-era coming-of-age drama "Skateland."

Shiloh Fernandez is in final negotiations to play Ritchie Wheeler, a teen forced out of a job when his small-town roller rink shuts down. He faces tough decisions about his future, his parents' divorce and complicated relationships with friends Brent (co-screenwriter Heath Freeman) and Kenny (Taylor Handley), his sister Mary (Ramm) and Brent's sister Michelle (Greene). LeGros plays Brent and Michelle's father.

The independently financed "Skateland" begins production this month in Louisiana. Fernandez next appears in "Cadillac Records."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter