'The Silver Linings Playbook': David O. Russell, Mark Wahlberg Testing Big Name Actresses For Film

Gigantic A-List Actress List Competing For Huge New Role
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Call it an ugly battle between some very beautiful people.

David O. Russell and Mark Wahlberg, who teamed for the Oscar-winning film, "The Fighter" last winter, are preparing two more films together. One is a sequel to "The Fighter," and the other is a film about a depressed man who leaves a mental institution in search of the little things in life.

Titled, "The Silver Linings Playbook," it will feature Mark Walhberg as the lead, with a gigantic cast of A-list actresses battling it out for the co-star role.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Russell is screen testing a veritable dream list of stars, with Elizabeth Banks, Kirsten Dunst, Blake Lively, Rooney Mara, Rachel McAdams, Andrea Riseborough and Olivia Wilde, as well as potentially a few others.

Interestingly, Amy Adams, who nabbed an Oscar nomination for her role in "The Fighter," is not on that list -- perhaps because she's due to star in Paul Thomas Anderson's film, "The Master."

Any of those actresses would be huge gets, as each of them is on the way to topline status. Banks will co-star in "Our Idiot Brother" later this summer, and is filming a huge part in "The Hunger Games"; Lively is still on "Gossip Girl" and is now starring opposite Ryan Reynolds in "The Green Lantern"; Rooney Mara is taking lead in "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"; Rachel McAdams just featured in the hit Woody Allen film, "Midnight In Paris"; Dunst just won Best Actress at Cannes; and Olivia Wilde, still on "House," is featuring next month in "Cowboys & Aliens."

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