UPDATED: Casting round-up: Ed Helms joins Joe Carnahan’s Stretch; Cusack and Jane board Hard Drive

UPDATED correction: Apparently, Ed Helms will be playing a co-worker of Wilson's, NOT the billionaire he's escorting.

Got some interesting casting news on two new projects on the horizon today. The first is for director Joe Carnahan's upcoming STRETCH, an action/comedy starring Patrick Wilson as a limo driver, escorting a billionaire around to earn some extra cash. The billionaire in question has just cast THE HANGOVER's Ed Helms, who also joins the previously cast Chris Pine, who worked with Carnahan on SMOKIN' ACES,  in an unspecified role. Carnahan has since posted a Tweet (below) of himself with Pine, Helms, and Wilson, along with the tease of "one more big addition." I'm a CarnaFAN, so whatever he puts out I'll be there to see it. I'm still holding out hope that he and Frank Grillo can somehow be wrangled by Marvel into a new Punisher film, but that's just me pipe dreamin.'

Here's the synopsis:

Wilson ("Insidious") is a down-on-his-luck chauffeur looking to relieve his debt by driving around a mysterious billionaire (Helms) who drags him to hell and back.

Next up is casting for HARD DRIVE, an action-thriller that commenced principal photography today. The project, from director Brian Trenchard-Smith (BMX BANDITS!!!) has cast the leads of John Cusack and Thomas Jane who will go head to head in the pic, which sounds like a pretty formulaic genre juant.

Here's the synopsis:

HARD DRIVE is the story about a bank thief (Cusack) who coerces an ex-Formula 1 champion (Jane) into becoming his getaway driver.

What do you think? Obviously, STRETCH is the clear frontrunner here, but HARD DRIVE has the potential to be a fun B-movie, especially with Cusack and Jane at the wheel. No release dates are set for these films as they're just getting underway. We'll update as details drop.