Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Salma Hayek All in Talks for Oliver Stone's SAVAGES

The only actor who was committed to the project, Jennifer Lawrence, had to drop out due to her involvement with The Hunger Games but director Oliver Stone is circling actors and attempting to lock in a deal with a studio.

Both Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) are in talks for the two male leads. Savages centers around two Laguna-based pot growers whose product is so good their best friend, a female named O, is kidnapped and they must now work for a Mexican cartel to save her. Stone is looking at Salma Hayek to play the female leader of the cartel who forms a bond with the kidnapped girl.

Kitsch's role would be that of Chon, "an iron-hard former operative who is a remorseless killer and seems to only have room in his heart for his growing partner and O." Jennifer Lawrence was set to play O but Olivia Wilde may be a possible replacement. No description was given for Johnson's potential role; the actor was also recently offered to star with Keira Knightley in the Tolstoy adaptation Anna Karenina.

Universal Pictures is said to be the frontrunner for distribution of Savages, an adaptation of the Don Winslow novel with a screenplay from Shane Salerno.