Bill Murray teeing up Black List dramedy 'ST. Vincent De Van Nuys'

As Bill Murray prepares to enter awards season with his portrayal of FDR in HYDE PARK ON THE HUDSON, thesp has begun looking at future projects, including the Black List dramedy ST. VINCENT DE VAN NUYS, which he’s in early negotiations to topline for Twentieth Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment. Coming-of-age tale follows a 12-year old boy who, in the wake of his parents’ divorce, forms an unlikely friendship with the misanthropic retiree (Murray) living next door. A war veteran whose life mainly consists of drinking, gambling and prostitutes, the elder soon becomes an unlikely mentor. Script appeared on the 2011 Black List where it earned the same number of votes as Quentin Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED. Over the past year, Jack Nicholson had been rumored to potentially star.

Michael Ealy, Regina Hall think 'About Last Night'

EXCLUSIVE: As Screen Gems continues to search for a director on its untitled remake of ABOUT LAST NIGHT, the studio has begun reuniting the cast of its box office hit THINK LIKE A MAN, as Michael Ealy and Regina Hall are in early talks to join comedian Kevin Hart in the Leslye Headland-scripted pic, reports Variety's  Jeff Sneider and Rachel Abrams.

Romantic dramedy will follow a pair of Chicago residents who meet through friends, move in together and then break up while fighting feelings of reconciliation.

 Based on David Mamet's play SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO, original 1986 pic was directed by Ed Zwick and starred Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Jim Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins.

Read Full Article

Lava Bear working 'Freakshift' with Wheatley

EXCLUSIVE: Lava Bear is in exclusive negotiations to acquire monster action thriller FREAKSHIFT, which KILL LIST director Ben Wheatley will helm, reports Variety's Justin Kroll.

Co-written by Wheatley and Amy Jump, pic is set in a world where monsters rise from the ground and terrorize citizens when night falls. The Freakshift is a band of government-organized misfits and lawbreakers who hunt and kill the creatures for civic duty, sport and money.

Read Full Article

LIONSGATE, LIMAN TO TRY 'AGAIN' WITH FINNEY CLASSIC

EXCLUSIVE: The book Hollywood has spent decades trying to bring to the big screen is getting a new shot at life.

Lionsgate has acquired feature film rights to THE BODY SNATCHER author Jack Finney’s classic illustrated novel TIME AND AGAIN, and set Doug Liman to direct and produce with his Hypnotic partner Dave Bartis, reports Variety’s Jeff Sneider.

First published in 1970, the romantic time-travel tale follows Simon Morley, a young Manhattan illustrator who agrees to enlist in a secret government experiment and is transported from the mid-20th century to 1882 New York, where he falls in love with a beautiful young woman and finds himself forced to choose between his lives in the present and the past.

Read Full Article

Pettyfer in talks to play K-Stew love interest in 'Cali'

EXCLUSIVE: Hot off his starring turn in MAGIC MIKE, Alex Pettyfer is in final negotiations to play Kristen Stewart’s love interest in Nick Cassavetes’ gritty action pic CALI, reports Variety's Jeff Sneider.

Voltage Prods. and New School Media are producing the Michael Diliberti-scripted pic, which follows a pair of San Fernando Valley lovebirds (Stewart and Pettyfer) who sell a fake snuff film and ride off with a bundle of cash. Years later, Stewart’s character must “return from the dead” to save the younger sister she left behind.

Trio loan talents to 'Saving Mr. Banks'

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman and Ruth Wilson have joined the cast of Disney’s SAVING MR. BANKS, revolving around MARY POPPINS author P.L. Travers, report Variety's Marc Graser and Justin Kroll.

Wilson will play the wife of Colin Farrell’s character and mother of Travers in flashback sequences. She is currently in production on Disney’s THE LONE RANGER and has ANNA KARENINA upcoming.

Giamatti, fresh off ROCK OF AGES, will play Travers’ chauffeur Ralph, while she’s visiting Los Angeles. Thesp will next be seen in COSMOPOLIS.

Meanwhile, Schwartzman (MOONRISE KINGDOM) will portray Richard Morton Sherman, a songwriter who penned a number of tunes for Disney films, includingMARY POPPINS, “THE JUNGLE BOOK, WINNIE THE POOH, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG and IT'S A SMALL WORLD for the theme park attraction.

Read Full Article

 

Worthington looks for 'Ten' action

TERMINATOR SALVATION star Sam Worthington may be teaming with original TERMINATOR star Arnold Schwarzenegger, as he’s in early talks to join the former California governor in David Ayer’s action-thriller TEN, reports Variety's Jeff Sneider.

Worthington has an offer for TEN that he plans to accept, provided his reps can make the financial details work. A testosterone-heavy riff on Agatha Christie’s TEN LITTLE INDIANS, the Skip Woods-scripted film follows an elite DEA task force that robs a dangerous drug cartel under the guise of a tactical raid on one of its safe houses. They think they’ve gotten away with millions in merch, until team members begin getting bumped off one by one.

Branagh in talks for Jack Ryan villain

Paramount didn’t have to look far for the villain in its untitled JACK RYAN reboot, as the studio is in negotiations with Kenneth Branagh — who’s also directing the film — to star opposite Chris Pine in the action thriller that aims to reinvigorate the blockbuster franchise, reports Variety's Justin Kroll and Jeff Sneider.

Paramount had no comment on the casting.

Pine’s Jack Ryan is an ex-Marine who works as a successful financial analyst in Moscow. He discovers a plot by his employer to finance a terrorist attack designed to collapse the U.S. economy, and must race against time to save America and his wife.

Branagh is making a deal to play the Russian villain, who with the help of the local government, masterminds a plot to destroy America’s economy by making the dollar worthless.

'Catching Fire' eyes Claflin, Leo, Shalhoub

EXCLUSIVE: With two blockbusters under his belt, Brit thesp Sam Claflin looks to be lining up one more, as sources tell Variety that the SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN star is the choice to play Finnick Odair in Lionsgate's sequel THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE, reports Variety's Jeff Sneider.

Additionally, sources say that Oscar winner Melissa Leo and three-time Emmy winner Tony Shalhoub are the frontrunners to play Mags and Beetee, respectively. Regardless of the status of their potential involvement, Claflin, Leo and Shalhoub are all on the studio's shortlist for roles in the highly-anticipated sequel.

Lionsgate and all of the actors' respective reps had no comment on the casting.

Read Full Article

 

Renner believes in 'American Bullshit'

EXCLUSIVE: Just weeks before THE BOURNE LEGACY hits theaters, star Jeremy Renner has lined up his first project for 2013, as he’s in negotiations to replace Christian Bale in David O. Russell’s untitled Sony Pictures drama formerly known as AMERICAN BULLSHIT. Pic is based on the true story of a notorious financial con artist and his mistress/partner in crime who were forced to work with an intense and ambitious FBI agent to turn the tables on other con artists, mobsters, and politicians.

Read Full Article