Adding Marianne Jean-Baptiste to the cast of a film or TV show is always a good idea, and now that Without A Trace is over, she’s free to bring her skills to a range of projects, even if Hollywood doesn’t often seem to use her as much as they should.

However now she’s been added to the cast of All You Need Is Kill, which has already started shooting with Tom Cruise in the lead role and Doug Liman directing. She will play a scientist called Dr. Whittle, although it’s not known exactly how she’ll play into the plot.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘The story unfolds in a near future in which a hive-like alien race, called Mimics, have hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, shredding great cities to rubble and leaving millions of human casualties in their wake. No army in the world can match the speed, brutality or seeming prescience of the weaponized Mimic fighters or their telepathic commanders. But now the world’s armies have joined forces for a last stand offensive against the alien horde, with no second chances.

‘Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and then dropped—untrained and ill-equipped—into what amounts to little more than a suicide mission. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an Alpha down with him. But, impossibly, he awakens back at the beginning of the same hellish day, and is forced to fight and die again…and again. Direct physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop—dooming him to live out the same brutal combat over and over.

‘But with each pass, Cage becomes tougher, smarter, and able to engage the Mimics with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), who has lain waste to more Mimics than anyone on Earth. As Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated battle becomes an opportunity to find the key to annihilating the alien invaders and saving the Earth.’

As you can see, there’s plenty of room for a scientist to play into that, not least helping explain to Cage is reliving the same day over and over again. A March 2014 release is currently set for the film.

Tom Cruise is loving sci-fi at the moment, as he’s recently finished shooting Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion and now he’s headed to the set of Doug Liman’s All You Need Is Kill, and to prove it the first shot from the movie has shown up online (via CBM). As you can see, Cruise is having a bit of an explosion issue and is wearing some sort of haute couture mech suit.

We’re presuming the suit is what many have said will be the future of warfare, where soldiers where mechanical appendanges that make them stronger and fast (basically partway to being Iron Man).

Here’s the synopsis: ‘The story unfolds in a near future in which a hive-like alien race, called Mimics, have hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, shredding great cities to rubble and leaving millions of human casualties in their wake. No army in the world can match the speed, brutality or seeming prescience of the weaponized Mimic fighters or their telepathic commanders. But now the world’s armies have joined forces for a last stand offensive against the alien horde, with no second chances.

‘Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and then dropped—untrained and ill-equipped—into what amounts to little more than a suicide mission. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an Alpha down with him. But, impossibly, he awakens back at the beginning of the same hellish day, and is forced to fight and die again…and again. Direct physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop—dooming him to live out the same brutal combat over and over.

‘But with each pass, Cage becomes tougher, smarter, and able to engage the Mimics with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), who has lain waste to more Mimics than anyone on Earth. As Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated battle becomes an opportunity to find the key to annihilating the alien invaders and saving the Earth.’

The movie hits cinemas March 14th, 2014.

Tom Cruise has been attached to All You Need Is Kill for over a year, with Emily Blunt joining him a few months ago. However it’s only now things have moved close enough to production that they’re starting to fill out the cast, with THR reporting that Bill Paxton is in talks for the film.

The film is based on a graphic novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and tells the story of a solider (Cruise) who is forced to keep reliving the last day of his life over and over again after he is killed in a war against an alien race. The solider uses these time loops to train and become a better soldier (it’s a little bit Groundhog Day and a little bit like a videogame). Should he accept the role, Paxton will play the “tough leader of Cruise’s platoon.”

Dante Harper (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters) wrote the script with Joby Harold (who is in the midst of doing a rewrite). Doug Liman will direct, with production set to start later this year in London.

Tom Cruise is going to be hanging round quite a few British women on the set of All You Need Is Kill, as Emily Blunt has already signed up to co-star, and now she’s been joined by Tom Hardy’s fiance, Charlotte Riley (and just for the fact she gets to sleep with Tom, we hate her). It’ll be her first major role within the Hollywood system.

The movie is based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s graphic novel, which is about a soldier who is killed during an on-going war between human and alien forces. He mysteriously keeps reliving his last day on Earth over and over again, eventually becoming a better soldier each time he steps into battle – sort of Groundhog Day meets a video-game. Charlotte Riley plays a fellow soldier fighting alongside Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.

Doug Liman will direct from an adapted screenplay by D.W. Harper, with Joby Harold performing the most recent rewrite. Shooting is scheduled to begin this autumn in London.

Emily Blunt isn’t an actress who’s immediately comes to mind for sci-i action, although she did okay with the subtle sci-fi in The Adjustment Bureau. However now she’s planning a bit more intense alien action, as Variety reports that she’s in talks to star in All You Need is Kill (which some sources say has been retitled We Mortals Are, although it’s not 100% clear whether it has) for Warner Bros. and director Doug Liman.

The film is about a soldier (Tom Cruise) who finds himself reliving his last day over and over again after being killed by aliens in a long-running war. Each time he comes back to life, he finds himself becoming a better fighter (as in a video game). Blunt will play a woman who fights alongside his character.

Doug Liman is directing from a screenplay by Dante Harper. It isn’t known when production will begin on this sci-fi tale.

A few weeks ago we reported that Tom Cruise was sniffing around the sci-fi action project, All You Need Is Kill (which appeared to have changed its name to We Are Mortals back then, but now seems to be back to the original), after Doug Liman had come onboard to direct. Now Variety reports that Cruise has formally agreed to star in the movie.

Based on a Japanese graphic novel, the story is Groundhog Day meets Halo. A soldier in a war against aliens finds himself reliving his last day over and over after being killed. Through the training and battles he experiences in these time loops, he becomes a better soldier. So it’s kind of like a video game turned into a movie, but more literally than most.

The original script called for a younger actor, but it’s not being rewritten to better fit Cruise. It also means he’ll likely be making back-to-back sci-fi pics, as Joseph Kasinski’s Horizons is likely to shoot next March, with Kill coming directly after that. Cruise was initially a little worried about this, but Liman managed to convince him the role were completely different.

General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser