"Desperado" Part III

Director Robert Rodriguez and his favorite leading man Antonio Banderas, hot off the duo's hit film Spy Kids, are re-teaming to make Once Upon a Time in Mexico (sound a little familiar?) for Dimension Films. The third in a trilogy of films by Rodriguez, Mexico is loosely based on the spaghetti Western classic, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, as El Mariachi (1992) was based on A Fistful of Dollars and Desperado (1995) was based on For a Few Dollars More. Rodriguez told the Hollywood Reporter that he will return to a more "down and dirty, more experimental style of shooting" as he displayed in the first film, El Mariachi. Quentin Tarantino and Salma Hayek are in talks to reprise their roles, with Mickey Rourke joining the cast as well. Maybe they could even persuade Clint Eastwood to do a cameo.

"Nothing" for Baldwin

Wonder whatever happened to Billy, the Baldwin brother who had so much potential after such '90s hits as Flatliners and Backdraft? One answer - the dismal 1995 film Fair Game that basically stopped model Cindy Crawford from acting ever again and put Baldwin's blossoming career on ice. Well, he's back and starring in the indie suspense thriller Say Nothing for director Allan Moyle (Pump Up the Volume) and costarring Nastassja Kinski and Hart Bochner. The film is a gender-reversed version of Fatal Attraction, in which a man (Baldwin) becomes obsessed with a married woman (Kinski) after a brief fling and seeks to ruin her marriage (to Bochner) and threaten their lives. The project, a HBO original movie, starts production May 14 in Toronto. Good luck, Billy.

Project Greenlight winner gets his cast

There's nothing like having friends at the top. Pete Jones, the winner of the Miramax/Project Greenlight Internet competition for first-time writer-directors, had his script Stolen Summer picked from 10 finalists by Miramax, HBO and producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to be made for a $1 million budget. And now with all that clout, Jones gets his cast - Kevin Pollak, Aidan Quinn and Brian Dennehy. Not bad for a rookie. The script revolves around two boys, one Irish Catholic and one Jewish, who are good friends, against their parents' oppositions. The Jewish boy has leukemia, so the two set out to try to get the boy into heaven. Pollak will play the rabbi father whose child has leukemia; Quinn will play the father of the other boy. Dennehy has a small role as a priest. HBO has already starting shooting a 13-part documentary on the making of the film, which will air later this year. Summer starts production in Chicago this month.

Sophia's son all grown up

There's nothing like having a famous mother at the top. Sophia Loren will star in son Edorando Ponti's feature directorial debut, Between Strangers, along with Mira Sorvino, Deborah Kara Unger and Gerard Depardieu. The drama centers on three separate yet interweaving stories of three women (Sorvino, Loren and Unger) and how, from different generations, their lives change dramatically when they confront their past. The film also will star Malcolm McDowell, Klaus Maria Brandauer and Pete Postlethwaite. Principal photography begins shooting June 4 in Toronto as a Canadian-Italian co-production.

The joys of forbidden love

Juliette Binoche and Benicio Del Toro will star in the BBC Films' The Assumption of the Virgin, based on the true story of the torrid affair between Fillipo Lippi, a 15th-century Italian monk and leading Renaissance painter, and Lucrezia, a nun who became the model for his Assumption of the Virgin ceiling in a church north of Rome. She also bore the monk a child. Wait, a monk and a nun? Apparently, there are several explicit love scenes that will certainly shock more than a few people. Yet, Tom Horwood, a media spokesman for the Catholic Church told Britain's Sunday Times, "Celibacy is a discipline not a doctrine in the Catholic Church." Uh, right. The controversial movie, co-written by Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) will be unveiled this week at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Kate Hudson can't keep a "Date"

And if you believe that one … Busy bee Kate Hudson has agreed to star in Paramount Pictures' romantic comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, about a womanizer who bets his friends he can stay in a relationship for more than 10 days. Only he gets more than he bargains for when the woman tries to get rid of him first. The film's script is based on an illustrated guide of the same name by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long that explains what it takes to ruin a perfectly promising relationship-in a mere 10 days. These are things we need to know. Lynda Obst, Robert Evans and Christine Peters will produce, and the project is still looking for a director.

Bob Crane's story comes to life

When actor Bob Crane, best known for his hilarious '60s sitcom Hogan's Heroes, was found murdered in 1978, his skull crushed by a camera tripod, it became one of Hollywood's most bizarre murder cases. And now director Paul Schrader (Affliction) has decided to bring Crane's story to the big screen. Auto-Focus will center on Crane's life after his sitcom fame, when the star became obsessed with videotaping his one-night stands. Yikes. Because he knew little about the equipment, a video technician named Johnny Carpenter ended up being Crane's late-night companion. Carpenter was accused of the murder but later acquitted after a lack of hard evidence. No cast has yet been set but here's a casting suggestion: Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Carpenter-he can be disarmingly friendly and creepy at the same time.

Goldwyn plays Christ-figure

Stepping back in front of the camera, actor-director Tony Goldwyn, best known for his slimy villain in the romantic thriller Ghost, is set to star in the indie film Joshua. Based on the first novel in a series by Joseph Girzone, the story speculates the possible second coming of Jesus Christ to a small U.S. town. Goldwyn will play the mysterious stranger who bursts into the town, preaching unity, love and conciliation among all the religions of the world-and turning everyone's life upside down. Goldwyn recently directed the Ashley Judd film Someone Like You. Production on Joshua will begin shooting at the end of month.

Nickelodeon crazy for Foxx

Comedian Jamie Foxx is having a good day. He has signed a feature film development deal with Paramount-based Nickelodeon Movies to co-write, executive produce and star in a family comedy tentatively titled We Do. Told through the eyes of a 12-year-old who is the nephew-in-law of a soon-to-be ex-bachelor (Foxx) when he marries the boy's aunt who has a large extended family. Foxx, best known for his hit WB sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, also showed his acting chops in Oliver Stone's 1999 film Any Given Sunday. "His comedy crosses many demographic lines," Nickelodeon Movies senior vp Julia Pistor told The Hollywood Reporter. "He has wanted to make programming this is both safe for kids and funny for parents, which is our goal, too."