Never were there such devoted sisters

David Strathairn has joined the cast of the American Tale of Two Sisters remake, due 2008. The flick is directed by British first-timers Thomas and Charles Guard from a script by Craig Rosenberg (whose three scripts include the better-than-it-looks Hotel de Love). Strathairn, getting a better choice of non-Sayles roles post-Good Night and Good Luck, joins Elizabeth Banks (Slither, Wet Hot American Summer), whose sequel work includes the small Betty Brant role in Spider-Man 2 and 3.

The lead role goes to Arielle Kebbel, who honed her American-version-of-Eastern-horror-film chops in The Grudge 2. Other sequel work since her inauspicious debut in the loathsome Soul Plane has included Be Cool and American Pie: Band Camp.

Kim Ji-woon's good but not great 2003 Tale of Two Sisters, a Korean horror-mystery based on a traditional folk tale, saw DVD release through Tartan's Asia Extreme line and has won generally good reviews.