Olivia Thirlby has joined the cast of Judge Dredd, reports Variety.

Thirlby will play Judge Cassandra Anderson, a psychically powered rookie Judge who teams with Judge Joe Dredd (Karl Urban) for training. Set in a dystopian future, the British comic book adaptation focuses on a police force given the power to act as judge, jury and executioner to whomsoever they perceive to be part of the criminal element.

In the 2000 A.D. comic book series (within which Judge Dredd is a recurring story), Anderson goes on to lead the city’s Psi Division, maintaining an uneasy friendship with Dredd.

Judge Dredd will be directed by Pete Travis with a script by Alex Garland. It was previously adapted into a film in 1995 with Sylvester Stallone in the lead. The character of Judge Anderson did not appear in that iteration of that franchise.

EXCLUSIVE: Summit Entertainment and New Regency suspended filming earlier this month because of wildfires raging in Russia. More than 50 people have been killed and more than 2,000 homes destroyed after an unprecedented heat wave and drought gripped the region. Prior to shutdown The Darkest Hour was filming using the 3D technology of Timur Bekmambetov’s Moscow-based film, commercial, and effects company Bazelevs. Summit is set to release the film on August 5 2011. Chris Gorak is the director and Tom Jacobson the producer. Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachel Taylor, Max Minghella and Joel Kinnaman star in this story of four tourists fighting for their lives in Moscow following an alien attack.
Darkest Hour Starts Up Again

The Darkest Hour — New Date: August 5th, 2011
The latest New Regency-Summit supernatural project starring Rachael Taylor, Joel Kinnaman, Emile Hirsch, and Olivia Thirlby. Chris Gorak will be at the helm of this alien invasion chiller.

Summit Entertainment will open Doug Liman’s “Fair Game” in limited release domestically on Nov. 5.
Studio will expand the Naomi Watts-Sean Penn topliner, about outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, on the following two weekends.

Summit picked up rights to “Fair Game” in April. Pic was financed by River Road Entertainment, Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi; producers are River Road’s Bill Pohlad, Zucker Prods.’ Janet and Jerry Zucker, Weed Road Pictures’ Akiva Goldsman, Liman and Jez Butterworth.

Summit also announced that it’s dated “The Darkest Hour” for Aug. 5, 2011. Pic’s directed by Chris Gorak with Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachel Taylor, Max Minghella and Joel Kinnaman starring and centers on four young tourists who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack.

BIG congrats to Olivia!

Olivia Thirlby, the young actress known for supporting roles in such indies as “Juno” and “The Wackness,” has booked one of the leading roles in “The Darkest Hour,” a sci-fi action movie that will shoot on location in Moscow during the summer.

Film

The script, which director Chris Gorak and Josh Zetumer are currently revising, follows a group of Americans traveling in the Russian capital when an alien invasion occurs. Thirlby plays a trust-fund girl who teams up with others to try to defeat the invaders.

Summit Entertainment will distribute in North America, and Fox internationally.

Thirlby, perhaps best known for playing Ellen Page’s sidekick in “Juno,” is due to shoot another indie, the fantasy romance “Jack and Diane,” this spring.