Good Things Come In Small Bits

Lots of industry bits to get to...

*Christopher Eccleston will play John Lennon in yet another biopic of the famed singer called "Naked Lennon" written by Robert Jones reports Variety.

Set between 1967 and 1971, the film deals with the end of Lennon's first marriage to Cynthia Yoko Ono coming into his life, the death of manager Brian Epstein and The Beatles bitter end

*José María Yazpik has been cast in both "El Atentado" and Buried says The Hollywood Reporter.

*Dirk Benedict, who played Facemank in the original "The A-Team" television series, has a cameo in the upcoming movie says Cinematical

*Robert Downey Jr. has been very involved in the scripting process of both Iron Man flicks says Yahoo UK

*A recent tweet has the online media speculating about just what Andy and Larry Wachowski/Lana Wachowski are up to. CHUD and Cinematical have their ideas

*Robert Duvall told Collider that he is tipped to play the lead in Terry Gilliam’s resurrected project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. though Gilliam is still currently getting financing together on the project.

*Peter Berg says once he's finished Battleship, his next project will be "Lone Survivor". Hancock 2 on hold for now via HitFix.

*Production Weekly says that Michelle Williams is in talks to play Marilyn Monroe in Simon Curtis‘ "My Week With Marilyn". She replaces Scarlett Johansson.

*Stan Lee confirms his Thor cameo‎

*Dennis Iliadis is no longer attached to remake The Birds says BloodyD

*Tom Hardy confirmed to MTV that while he did audition for George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road", it was an anonymous read and so he hasn't had a conversation at all about what role he would play if he were cast.

*Paul Reubens talks of his alter ego Pee-wee Herman's comeback to MTV

*The voice cast of Zebediah DeSoto's 3-D CG animated zombie flick "Night of the Living Dead: Origins" has rounded out says The Hollywood Reporter.

*Kevin Smith's buddy cop comedy "A Couple of Dicks" has a new title that will be announced soon.

The first trailer for the film will be attached to every copy of "Sherlock Holmes" when it hits theatres Christmas Day.

He says via Twitter that this is "not MY movie, [its] a movie I was hired to direct"...

*Studio Chief Mary Parent says that the upcoming "Red Dawn" remake will play like "a live-action Call of Duty" via RiskyBiz

*Nimród Antal says folks are in for a "very pleasant surprise" referring to the upcoming franchise reboot "Predators" via ComingSoon..

*Lance Henriksen will appear in the upcoming "Alien Vs. Predator based game as Karl Bishop Weyland, a descendant of Charles Bishop Weyland, the founder of the infamous Weyland-Yutani corporation. The game is scheduled for a February 2010 release for various platforms says ComingSoon

*Producer Wyck Godfrey talks about adapting the hit video game "Gears of War" for the big screen to Making Of

*The Weinstein Company wants a new angle for the next "Halloween. with the project open to pitches. Patrick Lussier was previously attached to helm "Halloween III-D", no word as yet on what he wants to do...via ComingSoon

*The 3-D sequel "Resident Evil: Afterlife" has been pushed back several months from August 2010 to a January 14th 2011 release. via ComingSoon.

*Scott Stewart's adaptation of Priest has been moved up two months from October to August 27th says BloodyD

*Garth Jennings tells The Playlist that he has completed two film scripts he hopes to get to work on soon. First is an animated film for which the script is completely done, the other is a "live action epic" that is still being worked on. Both are described as "gigantic labors of love". Funding however is proving a problem in these tough times.

Hardee Har-Har Wars

The hilarious trailer for The Empire Strikes Back inspired episode of "Family Guy" called Something, Something, Something Dark Side is here.



A must have on DVD December 22nd 2009

No Shirt Ripping Please

Thomson on Hollywood recently said not to expect another "Superman" film in theaters until 2014 at the earliest since the studio has no plans to rush another film about the caped wonder before the copyright deadline‎ due date in 2012...

Will Brandon Routh still be in the suit by then?

Routh has been keeping plenty busy with roles in season 3 of Chuck... And has a slew of film in 2010 including Dead of Night Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Miss Nobody the actioner Unthinkable...



I suppose I understand the studio's decision but they have really miss hanled Supes' film career since just after the bow of Superman Returns.

Salty Language

Get your first peek at Angelina Jolie in action as 'Evelyn Salt'-- a CIA officer accused by a defector of being a Russian sleeper spy. Written by Kurt Wimmer and Brian Helgeland; Directed by Phillip Noyce (who worked with Andie before on The Bone Collector) Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Andre Braugher co-star. The pic lands in theaters on July 23, 2010...

Pride In Her Work

Natalie Portman will star in and produce the film version of Seth Grahame-Smith's "Pride And Prejudice And Zombies" says Variety.

Grahame-Smith's book takes Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice and puts bloodthirsty flesh-eating zombies into the action. The tome now tells the timeless story of a woman's quest for love and independence amid the outbreak of a deadly virus that turns the undead into vicious killers.

Portman will play feisty Elizabeth Bennet, who is distracted from her quest to eradicate the zombie menace by the arrival of the arrogant Mr. Darcy.

Annette Savitch Richard Kelly, Sean McKittrick and Ted Hamm will also produce.

Now that's an Austen like adaptation I fully support.

High Wire Act

J.J. Abrams is in line to produce a feature film version of Colum McCann's award-winning novel "Let The Great World Spin" says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story is built around Philippe Petit's real-life "artistic crime of the century" -- when the Frenchman illegally walked a tightrope strung between the World Trade Center towers in August 1974. The event was covered in the award-winning 2008 docu "Man on Wire".

"Spin" however follows an ensemble cast of characters struggling throughout New York including a young Irish monk living among prostitutes in the Bronx; a group of mothers mourning their sons, killed during the Vietnam War in a Park Avenue apartment; and a 38-year-old grandmother walking the streets with her teenage daughter.

McCann will pen the adapted screenplay himself.

Abrams is also in talks to develop a film based on the animated series "Samurai Jack"...

Twice As Bryce

Bryce Dallas Howard is joining Matt Damon in Clint Eastwood's thriller Hereafter reports Variety.

The story follows three people -- a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — who are touched by death in different ways.

Peter Morgan writes the script. The pic produced by Eastwood, Kathleen Kennedy and Robert Lorenz. Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, Peter Morgan and Tim Moore are the exec producers

Shooting is about to begin in Paris, London, Hawaii and San Francisco for release next December.

Howard also spoke with Coming Soon and confirmed she's NOT involved in "Spider-Man 4.and though she's not signed for anything beyond Terminator Salvation she'd definitely consider returning to the franchise if asked...

On that very subject Salvation director McG recently said in a-Live chat that he is still planning on directing Terminator 5 and 6. One problem, the Halcyon Holding Group who owns the rights to the franchise says it expects to auction them off before February to buyers who will do what they want...

Hmm...

Tar Heels

We are now a week away from the release of James Cameron's long awaited Avatar and there's lots news bits floating around...

--Speaking at a press conference in London, the helmer confirms that should the film do well that two potential sequels could be in the works reports Variety.

Cost‎ issues?

With many of the assets (CG backgrounds) and the technology already in place it should make further films in a series much cheaper to produce.

Cameron says "in terms of the pitch it was: OK, you've spent a lot of money on the first one; on the second one we'll be able to amortize it [the CG assets] and focus on the story and all that ... and they bought that."

Cameron adds that he has worked out the story for a second and third film. Fox however says while the property clearly has sequel potential, the studio would not confirm any plans for further installments.

The film has screened for media in the US, UK‎ Canada and Australia over the past 12-24 hours, expect my review up either later today or Saturday.

--The Leona Lewis song "'I See You'" for the Avatar Soundtrack can be heard at Youtube....Sap-Pee

--The final running time of "Avatar" clocks in at 161 minutes...


Will the film change movies forever? Too early to say but it should be one hell of a ride

--As previously tweeted by Production Weekly--Shane Salerno has been hired to write a sci-fi feature for Cameron reports Variety.

The pic is a remake of the classic 1966 sci-fi classice Fantastic Voyage. which Cameron will produce. It's been on Cameron's radar for awhile with Roland Emmerich and Tarsem Singh both attached to direct at different points along the way.

The story centres on a dying scientist whose only chance for survival rests with five colleagues who are miniaturized and injected into his bloodstream.

The film is expected to be the first of several features that Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment will utilise the 3-D and digital technology developed for "Avatar".

De Lovely

As the weather gets colder movie awards season heats up...



Clint Eastwood reunites with Morgan Freeman and puts Matt Damon in the game for Invictis (reviews); The traditional 2-D toon The Princess and the Frog (reviews) hops onto the big screen looking likely to be #1 come Sunday; Peter Jackson brings The Lovely Bones novel to the big screen amidst mixed reviews...



Pamela McClintock of Variety:

Disney's traditionally animated "The Princess and the Frog" will look to sweep tots off their feet as it expands nationwide today at the domestic B.O., while Warner Bros. opens Clint Eastwood's "Invictus."

The specialty box office sees two high-profile titles launch in limited runs: Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones," from DreamWorks/Paramount, and the Weinstein Co.'s "A Single Man," the directing debut of fashion designer Tom Ford.

"Single Man" opens in nine theaters in a handful of markets including New York and L.A. "Lovely Bones" opens in three theaters in New York and L.A.

With Golden Globe nominations being announced Tuesday morning, awards season will kick into full gear, with films including "Invictus," "Lovely Bones" and "Single Man" hoping to benefit at the box office.

The domestic B.O. is running at record levels as the film biz heads into the busy year-end sesh.

This weekend, "Princess" is expected to draw a royal flush after a successful two-week limited run in New York and L.A. Many of the shows were sold out.

Box observers say "Princess," going out in 3,434 runs, has a strong shot at winning the weekend and toppling Warners' sleeper hit "The Blind Side," which topped the B.O. last weekend.

"Princess" has kids to itself for two weeks before 20th Century Fox's "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel" opens on Christmas Day. "Squeakuel" bows first in the U.K., where it unspools this weekend.

"Princess" opens day and date in a handful of markets, including Germany and Mexico. Other action overseas includes the debut of Sony's "Julie and Julia" in Japan.

Opening in 2,125 theaters domestically, "Invictus" stars Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.

"Invictus" tells the story of how Nelson Mandela, then president of South Africa, used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to unify his country. Damon plays the captain of the team.

Eastwood's films don't tend to see huge openings. "Million Dollar Baby" posted a weekend gross of around $10 million when it expanded nationwide. Filmmaker's last film "Gran Torino," in which he also starred, was the most successful of his prolific career, grossing nearly $270 million worldwide.

Adapted from Christopher Isherwood's tome of the same name, "A Single Man," starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, revolves around a gay British professor living in Southern California in the 1960s.

"Lovely Bones" toplines Saoirse Ronan, Mark Whalberg, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci.

Film was adapted from Alice Sebold's harrowing book about a young girl who is murdered by a serial killer. It is Jackson's first film since "King Kong" in 2005.

Nicole Sperling of EW forecasts a solid if not spectacular opening weekend for well-reviewed animated film

Murphy Talks Evil

The great Donna Murphy has joined the voice cast of Disney's 3-D animated musical comedy "Rapunzel" says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story reimagines Grimm's Fairy Tale and centers on Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), who is kidnapped from her parents'castle as child and locked in a hidden tower before escaping with the help of a bandit (Zachary Levi).

Murphy will voice Mother Gothel, the witch who keeps Rapunzel prisoner in a tower that had no doors or stairs.

Nathan Greno and Byron Howard are directing the November 24th 2010 pic

Alan Menken ("Enchanted," "Aladdin") is handling the film's musical chores.

Angel Triangle

Disney wants its own Twilight Saga trading vamps and werewolves for angels as studly looking bad boys...

The Mouse House has optioned the film rights to Lauren Kate's four-book young-adult novel series "Fallen" says The Hollywood Reporter.

The modern tale centers on an alienated girl torn between two charismatic young men, unaware that they are fallen angels who have battled over her for centuries.

Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray will produce.

Black Tie Kiss & Tell

On rumor patrol...

The LA Times reports that actor Josh Brolin may join Men in Black III.



“His exact part is a matter of discussion, but in recent days there’s been chatter in Hollywood development circles of a few possibilities: He could play a new single-monikered government agent, with Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K passing the baton to Brolin’s character. Or he could play Agent K as a young man. Or something else entirely.”

Brolin could totally pass for a younger TLJ

The MIB 3 script is being written by Etan Cohen. Will Smith is expected to return

Brolin Bonus: He says it was "tough" making out with his Jonah Hex hottie Megan Fox-- "The thing is, I had a prosthetic on my face and it was very tough for me because of the way Jonah Hex is and the way the character is, there's kind of a rope-idermis halfway through my mouth and half of my face is burned, so it's very tough to figure out..."

Still he's a lucky guy.

Teachable Moment

Cameron Diaz will star in a new comedy called Bad Teacher says Variety

The film sees Diaz as an arrogant, gold-digging educator who gets dumped by her boyfriend and then locks horns with a colleague over a sexy, yet perfectly sweet, male teacher they're both attracted to.

Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky wrote the script. I hope it's better than their gawd awful work on last summer's stinker Year One.

Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard) will direct the pic.

Going out on a limb may I suggest her What Happens in Vegas hubby Ashton Kutcher for the male lead and his real life wife Demi Moore as the other teacher...Snicker

Vexed Hex?

Bloody Disgusting reports that the comic book to film adaptation of Jonah Hex is going back in front of the cameras for reshoots.



To be honest this kinda stuff happens all the time now so much so that--at first glance--I'm like so what?

But then it's stated that original Hex director Jimmy Hayward will have I Am Legend’s Francis Lawrence "consulting" on the new footage--and that's when I raise the red flags.

The two weeks of reshoots will begin in January and sound rather extensive...

Big Eclipse

Not a surprise really--given New Moon's boffo biz

Both IMAX and Summit Entertainment have announced plans that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse the third film in the studio's " Twilight Series" film franchise, will be released in the large screen format as well as conventional theaters simultaneously on June 30, 2010.



Directed by David Slade and and once is once again starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

The film will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of "The IMAX Experience" with proprietary IMAX DMR(R) (Digital Re-mastering) technology.

In "Eclipse", Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge.

In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob -- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf.

With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.

The sequel will only stay on IMAX screens for two weeks, to be replaced on July 16th by Christopher Nolan's Inception.

A move to squeeze as much cash as possible out of the saga and potentially breaking another record.

Maya-n Calendar

Dougray Scott has signed on to star in Dana Lustig's indie romantic fantasy The Veil Of Maya says Variety.

Alex Kustanovich and Vadim Moldovan wrote the script--desctibed as a "Kafka--esque story about a woman who travels back in time to undo a relationship in order to avoid its tragic finale."

The Time Traveler's Wife meets The Butterfly Effect with a dash of Back to the Future.

Has the potential to be super sappy....

Let's Pretend

Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler are in talks to team for the romantic comedy "Pretend Wife" says The Hollywood Reporter.

Deets on Allan Loeb and Tim Dowling's script are being kept under wraps.

Sandler's buddy Dennis Dugan is the leading contender to direct the picture.

Talented duo to be sure but often hampered by weak material Fingers Crossed for success.

Filming aims to kick off early next year for release in February 2011.

Mal-Content

Movieline get the net all abuzz with a report that John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway are being sought to play the villains in Spider-Man 4.



Malkovich is wanted to play the Vulture an elderly crook who uses a suit to fly through the air on wings that can be used as weapons.

What's extra confusing though is that Hathaway is wanted for the character of Felicia Hardy who will NOT transform into the thief Black Cat but rather a new super powered villian the Vulturess.

Father/daughter villains???!!

Finally the report cites that Curt Connors (Dylan Baker) won't be turning into Lizard as the studio "can’t bring themselves to sign off on such an odd-looking enemy".

Say what? I have seen odder looking enemies in other comic book pics--Willem Dafoe's suit in Spider-Man one

None of these rumors are confirmed by the studio or team Sam Raimi so take all of this with the proverbial grain of salt.

Jones Finds Friends

Rashida Jones is the latest to join the cast of David Fincher's The Social Network reports Variety.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg,, Andrew Garfield is the other co-founder Eduardo Saverin,, Justin Timberlake as Napster® founder Shawn Parker , and Rooney Mara is a girl named Erica.

Aaron Sorkin wrote the script

Jones' role is unspecified, but filming is currently underway in Los Angeles.

An October 15th 2010 release date has been targeted for the film.

Scavenger Hunt

Sean Patrick Flanery and Louise Linton have joined the indie sci-fi thriller "Scavengers" says The Hollywood Reporter.





The story follows crews of space scavengers competing for supplies, energy and treasure.

When the crew of the Revelator, led by Emerson (Linton), comes across the alien-created Chaos Generator, they must fight to keep it out of the hands of her former shipmate, the sinister Captain Jekel (Flanery).

Production designer Travis Nicholas Zariwny makes his directorial debut on the pic which has just begun production.

SPF has done it all throughout his acting career--really starting out on "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" TV series through The Boondock Saints movies....He's one of those actors that deserves to be more famous than he is.

As for Linton she hasn't done much but obviously loves the camera

Awww Inspiring

First Charles Martin Smith brought us the animal pic Air Bud--now he writes and directs the drama "A Dolphin Tale" reports THR

"Dolphin" is based on the true story of Winter the Dolphin who was rescued off the Florida coast and taken in by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

The movie centers on a boy who befriends an injured dolphin who lost her tail in a crab trap.

Through their bond and friendship, the boy motivates everyone around him to help save the dolphin by creating a "Bionic" prosthetic appendage to replace the dolphin's tail.

Like Free Willy before it....

Gore Galore

After many problems , various test screenings, Universal Pictures new version of "The Wolfman" has been rated by the Motion Picture Association of America



It's received an 'R' rating for "bloody horror, violence and gore" that the studio suits seem quite happy about publicising rather than wanting to appeal.

It seems a PG-13 and a longer, darker and more violent R rated cut of the film were both tested recently with the latter winning out in terms of reaction.

The film may or may not be any good but this move of support by U for the rating is a victory for horrorphiles like me everywhere--The genre has been PG-13-ed to death for years and needs an adult shot in the arm.

The film lands in theaters on February 12th.

Mayor Daly

Andrew Daly will play Mayor Brown in the "Yogi Bear" live action/CG hybrid reports Variety.



Mayor Brown uses the city budget for his personal gains, drives the city into bankruptcy and comes up with the idea of selling Jelly Stone Park to fix his mess.

Anna Faris, Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake and Tom Cavanaugh star in the the pic which recently began shooting in New Zealand.

Eric Brevig is directing from a script by Brad Copeland.

Donald De Line and Karen Rosenfelt are producing.

For Pete's Sake

Peter Jackson's certainly been very talkative lately...



He says that casting for "The Hobbit" starts this week with wide auditions expected for every role except Gandalf (Ian McKellen) according to the Heat Vision Blog.

"We're auditioning for every role apart from Ian McKellen who we obviously want to return as Gandalf. We are not really offering any roles to anybody until we've done a casting sweep".

Big stars aren't necessary either as "(The films in the saga) have never been a star-driven vehicle.... We want to find the right people."

Just off that report Jackson told MTV though both Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) could both be back …

He once again dismissed Hobbit delay chatter, saying the films were always planned to start shooting around April or May of 2010.

French news Le Monde recently ran an exclusive interview with Steven Spielberg and Jackson about their upcoming motion capture films The Adventures of Tintin.

CinemaTeaser has the English translation of the conversation.

One Day @ A Time

Lone Scherfig (An Education) is in negotiations to helm the romantic comedy "One Day" says The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on author David Nicholls' book, the story revolves around Dexter and Emma, who meet for the first time during their graduation in 1988 and proceed to meet one day a year for the next 20 years.

Like When Harry Met Sally/Same Time, Next Year the story tracks their lives and loves until they realize they were meant for each other.

Nicholls will adapt the script himself. Nina Jacobson is producing the pic.

Super Agent

Adam Hamdy pens and will produce a film version of his own 2007 British comic The Hunter says THR .

The contemporary superhero comic series is set against the backdrop of organized crime. The first four issues focused on a CIA agent with extraordinary powers and the start of his investigation into four major terror attacks on America.

The trade says Hamdy will create an original Hunter story for the film..

Steven Pearl and Allan Loeb will produce the pic.

Savage Industry Takeover

What a day for funny gal Andrea Savage.

First she joins in on Jay Roach's ensemble comedy "Dinner For Schmucks" reports Variety

She is joining Zach Galifianakis, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd in the remake of 1998 French film "The Dinner Game".

Savage has also signed to pen a half-hour pilot for the FOX Broadcasting Company that could be developed as a starring vehicle for her, as well as a feature comedy script for Castle Rock Entertainment about five friends enjoying a relaxing "girls' weekend" in Santa Fe.

Comfy Footwear

Elijah Wood and Robin Williams are negotiating to reprise their Happy Feet voice roles in the animated 3-D sequel says The Hollywood Reporter.

Wood is reprising Mumble, the penguin who can't sing but can dance the tuxedo off of any waddler around him.

Williams is back as the hyper-acting and wise-cracking penguin Ramon; he also voices Lovelace.

George Miller's coming back to the director's chair and wrote the new script but story details being kept quiet.

No word whether Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy or Hugh Jackman will return as yet

Animal Logic will once again produce the animation.

Voice work will be recorded in Australia in late January/early February.

In The Know

Just off his role in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps Frank Langella's joining the cast of the thriller Unknown White Male according to Variety.

Liam Neeson stars in the pic as a man who awakens from a coma to find somebody else has assumed his identity.

Langella plays Cole, who comes forward as Neeson's colleague and gets involved as he tries to reclaim his identity.

January Jones and Diane Kruger also star.

Jaume Collet-Serra (”Orphan”) will direct the movie from the screenplay (-based upon Didier Van Cauwelaert's book Out of My Head) written by Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell.

Filming kicks off in January.

Bosworth Checks In

Kate Bosworth is attached to star and produce "Lost Girls and Love Hotels" says The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on Catherine Hanrahan debut novel; the story centers on a woman (Bosworth) who tries to forget her past while working in Tokyo as an English specialist at a stewardess training institute by day and losing herself in a sex- and drug-addled oblivion by night. She finds herself on the road to redemption when she becomes interested in a missing Western girl.

Jean-Marc Vallée ("The Young Victoria) is directing from Nadia Conners adapted screenplay.

This pic as well as the forthcoming Straw Dogs remake-show that Kate is ready to really test her acting chops.

Dinner On Elm Street

Spoiler TV has news of several roles are now being cast for reshoots on the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

All the scenes seem to be for a diner scene in which lead Nancy (Rooney Mara) works and only consists of a few lines at most.

The reshoots come in response to a recent round of test screenings on the film that had a mixed response, not much different than the reviews that leaked online from the first round a few months back.

The studio Platinum Dunes is well known for its test screenings and reshoots on its horror remakes, so this is not a surprise or reason to panic yet.

The film hits theaters on April 30th

Light The Fires

Michael B. Chait will direct the action-adventure film " War Birds," says The Hollywood Reporter



The story follows an United States Air Force veteran-turned-reckless airshow re-enactment pilot as he gets pulled into the underground culture of illegal, real-life aerial combat.

Josh Staman and Bryan Binder wrote the intial screenplay which Richard Jefferies ("Tron Legacy") is polishing. Chait, Jeffries and J. Todd Harris will produce.

Filming kicks off this summer in Michigan and will use all real airplanes and aerial sequences.

Top Gun meets The Fast and the Furious--Cool!

Vlad The Movie

Sons of Anarchy actor Charlie Hunnam's action scipt Dracula tale Vlad has been sold to Summit Entertainment reports the Heat Vision Blog.

"Vlad" centers on Dracula as a young prince; he is known to history as Vlad the Impaler, the man behind the Dracula myth.

Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner will produce.

Ya gotta love Summit--The produce the Twilight saga--and now they nab another vampire themed project...they know what works for them

Ah synergy Pitt starred in the film version of Interview with the Vampire in 1994.

I would expect Hunnam's gonna also vie to play the lead...

Black Gets Cryptic

Jack Black is developing a comedy pitch by Jason Micallef for the big screen as an animated pic says The Hollywood Reporter.



Story details are being kept under wraps but it will deal with cryptozoology, the study of mythic and legendary creatures such as the Bigfoot Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster

Black, Ben Cooley Chris Meledandri will produce. At this point Black is not set to star or voice a character.

Given Black's work on the CGI animated flick Kung Fu Panda I find it hard to imagine that he would not be participating in the recording booth.

Jacked Up

Coming Soon caught up with Producer Mace Neufeld out doing promotions for Invictis--He was asked about the gestating second attempt to reboot the Jack Ryan film franchise.

Neufeld confirmed that the film will use Hossein Amini's original screenplay (that Adam Koxac polished) and not be based on author/creator Tom Clancy's work.

While it will use the model of a younger actor in the role (Chris Pine is the frontrunner) like 2002's "The Sum of All Fears", Neufeld is adamant though that it won't lose the deductive scenes in favour of dumbed-down action.

"We pick him up when he's on Wall Street ...[but] the Jack Ryan movies have never been action films. They're kind of 'thinking man's thrillers.' Jack is referred to as a 'water-walker' because of his ability to jump ahead to conclusions. That's very big in all the Jack Ryan films and that's how we want to portray him. He's a teacher. He's a historian. He's a linguist, and he's really smart"

Relief Pitcher

Bennett Miller is set to helm the Brad Pitt-led baseball film Moneyball says Variety.

Based on the Michael Lewis nonfiction bestseller, the story follows Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane who assembled a contending baseball club on a shoestring budget by employing a sophisticated computer-based analysis to draft players.

Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin wrote the script based on an earlier draft by Stan Chervin.

Steven Soderbergh was due to direct the film but left the project five days before it was set to start shooting due to Sony Pictures being unhappy with his script rewrites.