Bateman joins Clooney 'Up In The Air'

Variety is reporting that sardonic funny man and perneial supporting actor Jason Bateman has signed on to star alongside George Clooney in Jason Reitman's adaption of Walter Kirn novel 'Up In The Air'

George Clooney stars as a corporate downsizer who is obsessed with collecting frequent flyer miles at the expense of having a life. Bateman will play his boss.

I dig Reitman's work, I loved 'Juno' and I liked 'Thank You For Smoking' so I have high hopes for this one, I am not a huge fan of Clooney but he can pick decent projects that interest me now and then and Bateman is always good value for money.

'Up In The Air' is currently shooting for a projected release later this year.

Keira Knightley to star in 'Never Let Me Go'

When I read the blurb in Variety's article "Keira Knightley to star in sci fi thriller" I momentarily got excited, y'see I like Keira but I am so sick of her doing period pieces that don't interest me, however i then caught the three dreaded letters F...O..X....As we all know that usually signals doom, but then I actually read the article and it's Fox's superb indie arm searchlight that is handling this aforementioned thriller, so a collective sigh of relief all round I'd say.

The film is going to be directed by Mark Romanek who made the pretty decent indie thriller 'One Hour Photo' and who was attached to helm the remake of 'The Wolfman' until virtually shooting time.

The synopsis is as follows:

Story revolves around a trio who grew up in a boarding school with no contact or knowledge of the outside world until they discover they are clones grown for the sole purpose of organ donation.

So it pretty much sounds like Michael Bay's 'The Island' only set in England and minus the car chases, but I am sure there will be more to it than that., I'm just glad Keira is ditching the wigs and corsets!

New 'Terminator Salvation' Posters and Pics!

Yahoo has debuted some great looking new posters and stills from McG's highly anticipated 'Terminator Salvation', the full trailer will be online tomorrow on their site at 7pm ET/4pm PT.

 

First Image From 'The Book Of Eli'

EW has gotten hold of the first image (above) from the upcoming Denzel Washington post apocalyptic action film for Warner Brothers., 'The Book of Eli'.

The film centers on a lone warrior (Washington) who must fight to bring society the knowledge that could be the key to its redemption. Gary Oldman plays the despot of a small makeshift town who's determined to take possession of the book Eli's guarding.

Directed by the Hughes Brothers (From Hell) In this early scene, Eli finally gets some company when he steps into a bar. ''They peddle some nasty, prison-type alcohol — whatever you can make in the future when there's nothing left,'' says Allen Hughes — who is codirecting with his brother, Albert — during a break from shooting in New Mexico.

The film also stars Mila Kunis, Jennifer Beals and new Punishe Ray Stevenson who plays an enforcer dispatched to kill Eli. It all sounds like a cross between 'The Road Warrior' and Kevin Costner's 'The Postman', but Denzel is looking badsass and I dig these post apocalyptic flicks, The Hughes Brothers will bring some visual flair so at the very least it sohuld be entertaining.

'The Book of Eli' opens January 15th 2010.

Penn 'Fair Game' for Liman ?

Variety reports that Proverbial Oscar baiter Sean Penn is in talks to star in 'Fair Game' for Doug Liman. Naomi Watts is signed to play the lead role of outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, Penn would play her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Wilson watched his wife's CIA status become compromised after he wrote op-ed columns that accused the Bush Administration of manipulating intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.

The project, based on Plame Wilson's memoir, landed at Pohlad's River Road after Warner Bros. put the project in turnaround.

Plame Wilson left the CIA in 2005 and she and her husband filed a civil suit against Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Cheney's ex-chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. While Rove and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage admitted they leaked her agency status to journalists, Libby was convicted of lying to a federal grand jury about his role in compromising her covert status.

I remember when this was going to star Nicole Kidman and Russel Crowe was being eyed to play the role Penn is now circling. Both are quality actors and I'm sure they are smelling potential Oscar's which as we know is pretty much why Sean Penn makes movies.

I'm a fan of Doug Liman and this would be a really fresh direction for him after the fun but undercooked 'Jumper'.

Naomi Watts can currently be seen in 'The International' and Sean Penn can be found in possession of Mickey Rourke's Oscar.

Liev to get "Salty" with Angelina

Ok that is maybe the worst healdine ive ever written but it's late, so onwards. Variety reports that Liev Schrieber in negotiations to play opposite Angelina Jolie in the Colubmia Picutres action thriller 'Salt'.

Some may remember this was a Tom Cruise project for a while but he dipped out in favour of other options and the script was re-written to fit a woman, so that it could star the worlds most famous actress Angelina Jolie.

The story centers on Evelyn Salt, a CIA officer who is fingered as a Russian sleeper spy. She eludes capture by superiors who are convinced she is out to assassinate the president. While trying to reunite with her family, she struggles to prove someone else is the traitor.

Schreiber will play Salt's boss and friend on the Russian desk at the CIA.

I like Liev, I think he's a good actor and I'm glad to see him getting bigger roles, and Jolie can certainly carry off action like no other actress, so this "bourne with boobs" as some have dubbed it, or maybe I just did, should turn out to be fun, Phillip Noyce is at the helm and he's a solid director.

'Salt' is set to start shooting in New York next month

Tom is Cruising several projects

Seems Tom Cruise is back in the Hollywood good graces as a number of studios vie for his signature to star in their movie. Variety has a list of the projects Cruise is eyeing, the top three are:

* "Matarese," which also has Denzel Washington attached, and will soon get a rewrite by Cronenberg.

* "The Tourist," the Spyglass remake that would co-star Charlize Theron. A rewrite was turned in this week by Christopher McQuarrie, who co-wrote and produced "Valkyrie" with Cruise, and whose script work was informed by long talks with Cruise as they barnstormed publicity on the UA WWII film.

* "Motorcade," the Len Wiseman-directed DreamWorks thriller that pits the U.S. president against terrorists who commandeer his motorcade on the streets of Los Angeles. Billy Ray is racing to complete a rewrite of the script, with Cruise's input.

He is also circling a movie titled 'Lost for Words' as well as two Fox comedies 'The Hardy Men' with Ben Stiller and 'Wichita' with Cameron Diaz.

Varitey also state that Crusie is expected to make two movies this year from the above as well as starring in the adaption of 'The Champions' next year.

Now if I were Tom's agent I'd tell him to get on 'Motorcade' and 'Matarese', one for the summer and one for November, both are ideal vehciles to get Cruise back on the blockbuster path.

Nottingham now called Robin Hood

Ridley Scott has been talking to the 'MTV Movies Blog' and has revealed that the once red hot spec script for 'Nottingham' that caused such a bidding war with it's fresh take on the Sherwood legend with Nottingham as more of a good guy detective than evil lawman, is now simply gonna be called 'Robin Hood'.

"Nottingham" has now officially been renamed to reflect its lead character. "Oh yes, I think we are just going to call it 'Robin Hood'," Scott revealed. "We start in almost 2 months."

In an attempt to clarify all the confusion from a few months ago about Russell Crowe playing multiple roles, Scott was eager to say that he had changed his mind, and that Crowe will simply portray the famed archer who rises from an unlikely background. "Robin Hood is in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion," he said of how we'll find the character early in the film "He is a bowman in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion."

"[Crowe as both Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham] was an idea so far back, way back when at the time I had this proposed to me, and I read it and thought, 'I don't really know what it does for it, but it's alright'," Scott recalled of the now-abandoned idea. "It is better to simply have the evolution of a character called Robin Hood, who will come out of a point in the Crusades which is the end."

So essentially it's just going to be yet another Robin Hood movie, I actually thought that the revisionist take the original Nottingham spec brought to the table was pretty exciting, the idea of a detective in Sherwood forest and Robin as more of a shady character than usual, now granted a straight Ridley Scott Robin Hood movie sounds way better than that nonsense of Crowe playing both roles, but still, this is all a little underwhelming.

In the interview Ridely also talks about two other projects he has lined up post 'Robin Hood', they are a Gucci biopic and the infinitely more interesting sounding than either of the above, Child 44.

A good look at The Fallen!!!

Over the weekend our very own Brett posted the bootleg 'Transformers Revenge of the Fallen' trailer, and today the HQ version came online (you can check it out below.

Now in amongst all of the insane robot carnage, stunning SFX and slick transformations is our first look at the big bad of the title, The Fallen! I thought the design looked good in toy form but he looks simply awesome rendered in the movie, check out the cap below, this is gonna be epic!

Scarlett A Black Widow For Iron Man 2 ?

Initially the role was set for Emily Blunt but scheduling conflicts have meant she will most likely have to pull out, then earlier this wee Eliza Dushku was peddling herself for the part on Howard Stern, now news comes from 'hollywoodinsider that the sexy and talented Scarlett Johansson is in talks for the role. Apparently she is interested and just awaiting a 100% confirmation that Blunt is out.

Now Iron Man 2 does not yet have a locked script and as far as I know neither Rourke nor Rockwell have actually signed on, plus there is no start date, but Scarlett would be an exciting addition to the cast, she's never really done action before, in fact her only action film to date is 'The Island' and she really only ran around in that.

I'm sure some will complain about her age or the fanboy classic "She's too famous" but personally I love this choice and hope it comes off.