Here’s a quick look at some of the casting announcements made recently:

Gina Carano: The mixed martial arts competitor has just scored herself a Steven Soderbergh film. Gina (also known as American Gladiators’ “Crush”) will star in Knockout, an thriller about a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Carano’s character will get to use her fighting skills for a purpose while traveling around the world. Production will be in January.

Nicolas Cage: The Oscar winner may have departed The Green Hornet, but he is not averse to movies with creature titles. In The Hungry Rabbit Jumps, Cage finds himself mixed with an underground vigilante organization after his wife becomes a victim of brutality. The Bank Job‘s Roger Donaldson is on board to direct. Filming will start in early 2010.

Halle Berry: The Swordfish actress may be encountering bigger fish in Dark Tide, an action thriller that will film in South Africa. Berry is in talks to play a diving instructor who returns to the water after a run-in with a Great White shark. Production will begin later this year. (I’m guessing this means the pregnancy rumors about Halle aren’t true?)

Keanu Reeves: Although his acting sometimes produces laughs, this will be the first time in a while Keanu has done it intentionally. The Matrix star is now attached as a producer and a star to Henry’s Crime, a romantic comedy. The film will feature Reeves as a “big-hearted man” who is mistakenly labeled a bank robber. Malcolm Venville (44 Inch Chest) will direct.

Christina Hendricks: The Mad Men bombshell will be getting a chance to update her wardrobe in Life as We Know It, a film with Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel. The two leads are forced to come together when their mutual best friends are killed and their daughter is left behind. Hendricks has been cast as one of their friends.

Ne-Yo: The “Sexy Love” singer will be putting down the mic and picking up the guns in Battle: Los Angeles, a project for Columbia. In the sci-fi film, Ne-Yo will play a corporal trying to fight off an alien invasion. Others gearing up for the Jonathan Liebesman-directed film include Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan and Michael Pena.