UPDATE: According to The Playlist, Biel will not appear in the film, with the lead female role going to up-and-comer Cody Horn.

For awhile there, it was unclear what the bigger joke was – that Steven Soderbergh was retiring from filmmaking, or that he’d potentially close out his career with a film based on actor Channing Tatum’s real-life “teen stripper” exploits. But with Soderbergh’s schedule more crammed than ever, and with the cast of “Magic Mike” turning out to be consistently interesting, it looks like no one is laughing now. On the heels of announcing that Matthew McConaughey had joined the film’s cast as a retired stripper, “Magic Mike” has now added four more talents to bare it all on-screen.

According to ComingSoon, Jessica Biel and Riley Keough are joining the film as female strippers who will also serve as love interests. Biel’s character is that of Amber, who is billed as the lover of ol’ “Magic” Mike Martingano (Tatum). Keough will play the love interest of Alex Pettyfer’s character, “The Kid,” the young stripper who is learning the ropes from Magic Mike. Keough’s role of Zora was once considered for Lindsay Lohan, but Soderbergh reportedly bowed out of that possibility, as “he didn't want to deal with all that." And, yes, Keough is Elvis Presley's granddaughter. And, yes, she will likely be easier to deal with than Lohan.

On the male side of things, The Hollywood Reporter weighs in with two new names to add to Soderbergh’s growing roster of exotic dancers. “True Blood” star Joe Manganiello is in talks for the role of “Big Dick Richie.” The role likely speaks for itself. The star of “White Collar,” Matt Bomer, is also set to join the film, also playing one of the strippers that presumably works at the club that McConaughey’s character owns, Xquisite.

The film is set to start filming in Tampa this fall.

There are certain enterprises that seem guaranteed to provide meteoric rises and crashing ends. One such enterprise? Crafting the nightlife of 1980s New York City, a dizzying combination of excess and extremes that should have come with its own neon warning label. Peter Gatien, “the lord of late night,” owned a bevy of nightclubs that exemplified all the glitz and glamour (and occasional grime) of eighties revelry – including Tunnel, Palladium, Club USA, and the daddy of them all – Limelight.

Billy Corben’s “Limelight” tells the story of Gatien and his clubby kingdom, one that, at the best of times, transformed after-hours culture and thrust new and different music genres into the ears of more than just club-goers and, at the worst of times, simply killed people. Limelight could pull in over 50,000 patrons in a single weekend, but that all changed when Rudy Giuliani took office and made it his business to clean up the city’s darkest, and most glamorous, streets. The story of Limelight has it all – drugs, sex, murder, crimes, crimes, more crimes, joy, pain, and even a deportation.

The first trailer for the film hints at the fantastic stories that both Limelight and Gatien have to tell, no matter the cost. The film opens on September 23. Check out the trailer over at Apple.

Portraying two friends whose plans to rule after the apocalypse -- bolstered by their DIY flame-throwing muscle car Medusa and their respect for 'The Road Warrior' bad-guy Lord Humungous --- are disrupted by love and hate, "Bellflower" is one of the most strong indie film debuts in years -- a bold departure, full of terrible wonder and swaggering monstrousness. Evan Glodell plays Woodrow, the lead lover and loser; he's also the director and writer. We spoke with Glodell at a cafe in Los Angeles about muscle cars, stupid men and the drive to succeed with a low budget; part two will run tomorrow.

Which came first: The car or the film?

Glodell: The film.

You have to think, 'We have a limited budget. Having the car's a necessity. We can't pour too much money into the car.' At what point does the car start to feel like a journey into the jungle of 'Heart of Darkness' where you can't stop making it?

Glodell: That definitely happened. How far in? I can't remember. The car started quite a bit before production did. I almost had a full-on revolt from the majority of the crew, overspending on the car. We didn't have money to eat and stuff. I'd be like, 'We have to do this to get the car to the next step.' People would be like, 'F--- the car. No one cares.'

How often were you terrified you were going to die?

Glodell: Pretty often, actually.

(4 out of 5 Stars)

Most of the time, foreign cinema is presented as cinema -- arty, big-idea films full of long takes and strong feeling. Anyone who's been abroad can tell you, of course, that foreign film industries make just as many buddy-cop flicks and stand-up-comedian-dr​iven comedy projects as Hollywood does; we just don't get to see them that often. But when a 'mere' genre foreign film does make its way over here, that can be the best indicator that that real virtues of the film are what's pushing it over the ocean to America; so it is with "Point Blank," the new thriller from French director Fred Cavayé. Cavayé gave us the basis for the not-so-bad Russell Crowe thriller "The Next Three Days," and "Point Blank" is, if anything, even better.

It's got a classic Hitchcock plot, as a hurtling footchase that opens the film with a bang settles down when an accident victim ( Roschdy Zem) is taken to hospital, under the care of a nice-guy nurse's aide (Gilles Lellouche). It soon becomes clear that the accident wasn't, when a group of toughs tell Lellouche that he has to get Zem out of the Hospital ... or his pregnant wife (Elena Anya) will pay the price. Lellouche lacks skills. But he's highly, highly motivated.