Casting Net: Will Ferrell is after the Crown Jewels in 'The Yank'

• Will Ferrell (The Lego Movie) will play a guy who works in insurance and finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy to steal England’s Crown Jewels in The Yank. No director has been attached to the film, written by Steve Pink (High Fidelity) and John Morris (Hot Tub Time Machine). [Deadline]

• Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) is the 10,000th person rumored for a role in Star Wars: Episode VII. Per usual, no character was revealed but with principal photography approaching at light speed, it seems like we might be soon getting a look at the new population of that far, far away galaxy. [Deadline]

• Kevin Smith (Clerks) will direct Anti-Claus, a frightening, festive film about the Krampus, an Alpine country folklore character who eats naughty children. The film will reunite Smith with the stars of his upcoming film Tusk: Justin Long (Accepted), Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), Genesis Rodriguez (Identity Thief), and Michael Parks (Argo). [THR]

• Ronen Rubinstein (Detachment), Grace Phipps (The Vampire Diaries), and Sierra McCormick (A.N.T. Farm) will star in music video director Adam Egypt Mortimer‘s high school-set slasher film Some Kind of Hate. The film follows a boy who is sent to a reform school after being bullied and accidentally summons the spirit of a vengeful bully victim who helps exact revenge. Brian DeLeeuw co-wrote the script with Mortimer. The cast also includes Noah Segan (Looper), Lexi Atkins (Zombeavers), Spencer Breslin (The Happening), Maestro Harrell (Suburgatory), Jasper Polish (The Astronaut Farmer), and Brando Eaton (The Secret Life of the American Teenager). [THR]

• Halston Sage (Neighbors) will appear in two upcoming family-friendly horror films. The first is Goosebumps — an adaptation of the famed children’s horror series starring Jack Black (School of Rock) as author R.L. Stine — from director Rob Letterman (Gulliver’s Travels) and written by Darren Lemke (Shrek Forever After) and Mike White (School of Rock). Sony plans to release the film on March 23, 2016. Sage will also appear as Kendall in Scouts vs. Zombies from writer/director Christopher Landon (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones). The film will also star Tye Sheridan (Mud) and Patrick Schwarzenegger (Grown Ups 2) and follows a group of scouts who save their town from a zombie outbreak. [THR]