KARL URBAN IN "THE WONDER" FANTASY ADVENTURE! GERARD BUTLER IN WW2 "DYNAMO"! MARK STRONG JOINS NICOLE KIDMAN IN "BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP"

 Our dear Karl Urban, who has covered pretty much all of the best fantasy sagas from LORD OF THE RINGS and RIDDICK to STAR TREK, has a new gig according to "The Hollywood Rerporter". He will

 take the lead role in family oriented 3D fantasy adventure THE WONDER which will be directed by Ron Underwood and will also have Chinese actor Leehom Wang in the cast alongside another major Asian star. The story will focus on 14-year-old Rachel (Willow Shields) who, together with two of her classmates, finds the end of a rainbow which, magically, transports them to China. There, they find themselves pursued by local authorities and a mysterious organisation. With unexpected help from Consul William Stanley (Urban), the kids are able to elude their chasers but soon discover that their journey has triggered a major natural disaster. Together with their new friend Cheng (Wang), they find their way back home but still need to race against time to stop the global catastrophe.

GERARD BUTLER IN DYNAMO

You gotta give it to him - that Scottish hunkster Gerard Butler sure does love playing in sports films, from being a coach in PLAYING FOR KEEPS

 to surfing in CHASING MAVERICKS, to kicking a soccer ball in THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES, he will now do the same but going back to WW2. According to "Deadline" he has signed on to star in DYNAMO, a true story based on "Dynamo: Defending The Honour Of Kiev" a novel by Andy Dougan. The story in the novel is set in the Ukrainian capital Kiev during World War II. The plot follows a landmark soccer game between the Ukrainian soccer team and the Nazis. Gerard Butler is starring as the Ukrainian goalie, who inspired the Ukrainian city in their dark hour. The match is still remembered to the country as The Death Match.

BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP

If you follow HOLLYWOOD SPY regularly, you already know that last year's UK bestseller BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP is getting a movie adaptation and you know that yours truly translated one of the world

editions of the book. The story written by S. J. Watson, already has Nicole Kidman who will play a London woman who wakes up every day unable to remember anything about her life. She only has a 24 hour memory span. She is told by her husband that she shouldn't leave the house after suffering a trauma. The woman sneaks off to see a doctor, who gives her a digital recorder to dictate her thoughts into (in the book she uses a written diary), with the hope that she will begin to remember who she is. The technique works, although the woman comes to realize the man she shares a bed with is not her husband. The update is that Mark Strong will play the doctor.