New Year New Bits

-Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen are said to be the front runners to play Gunslinger Roland Deschain in Ron Howard's adaptation of  Stephen King's masterpiece Dark Tower says The New York Post. Whichever actor signs on the dotted line will likely play Deschain across all three proposed films and potentially the first season of the tie-in TV show.

-Bardem, for his part is also rumored to join Sam Rockwell, Josh Brolin, Bill Murray, Mark Ruffalo, and Zoe Saldana in Andrew Dominik's "Cogan's Trade" reports Getting the Big Picture. The story follows a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that takes place during a poker game under protection of the mob.The news is on the heels of rumblings that previously attached star Brad Pitt has officially signed on to play the lead role in the comedy says Variety. Shooting kicks off in March in Louisiana.

-Natalie Portman finds herself linked to both Superman: Man of Steel and The Dark Knight Rises, She tells EW that "No, I haven't heard anything" about Superman, and "Oh, I don't know anything about that" vis a v Bats.

-There are rumblings going on to develop a new live-action film based on Harvey Entertainment's "Casper the Friendly Ghost"  following a 1995 film that yielded mixed results reports What's Playing.

-Samuel L. Jackson, Luke Wilson and Leslie Bibb will headline the noir thriller Meeting Evil reports Scene Magazine. An adaptation of Thomas Berger's book, the story follows a depressed real estate salesman (Wilson), struggling through an economic downturn He soon ends up on a violent and insane 24-hour crime spree with a mysterious criminal (Jackson). Bibb plays the salesman's wife. Chris Fisher ("S. Darko") directs when shooting kicks off in New Orleans this month.

-Jim Broadbent told THR that Meryl Streep is perfect for the part of Margaret Thatcher in the biopic The Iron Lady

-Is the 24 film dead? Sure seems that way since the latest script was rejected by the studio suits...