Welcome to Back Room Edition – an insiders look at big casting news and rumors. Let’s get started!
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The rumor mill was in high gear this week, spinning webs around Tobey Maguire. The Spider-Man star, who just picked up a Golden Globe nomination for his turn in Brothers, was attached to two projects via the blogosphere. On Monday, Pajiba reported that Maguire was said to be developing “Prisoners of Trebek” as a potential starring vehicle via his production company. The project is said to be based on the true story of a man who attempts to master “Jeopardy,” but ultimately finds himself and falls in love. There was no confirmation on the report, although any film relating to the mustachioed game-show host would give me pause – unless of course he were played by ‘SNL’-era Will Ferrell. The other project Maguire was attached to via the Web was Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit, in which it was said he’d play Bilbo Baggins. Maguire himself told “Access Hollywood,” “I have not met or spoken to Guillermo del Toro or Peter Jackson or anybody. Nobody has given me a script or approached me about it.” Meanwhile, another tale spun a few days ago related to Spider-Man 4 or as some have come to calling it, “Spider-M4N,” which said the Sam Raimi-directed project has been put on indefinite hold. Sony, the studio behind the film, denied the report.
It’s been a busy week in Steve Carell’s office as well. The star-producer is said to possibly be reteaming with Tina Fey (the two star in Date Night out next year and are also network buddies as their respective sitcoms, “The Office” and “30 Rock” both air on NBC) for “Mail-Order Groom” in which Carell would sport an accent as the husband Fey summons from Eastern-Europe. Meanwhile, on Friday, it was reported that Warner Bros. has closed what could be the biggest spec deal of the year paying nearly $2 million against $2.5 million for a script from Cars screenwriter Dan Fogelman. The project was written with Carell in mind and would see him play a dad whose life unravels while he deals with a marital crisis and tries to manage his relationship with his children. The actor is currently shooting the remake of France’s Le Diner des Cons known as Dinner for Schmucks in its American incarnation. Which project he goes for as his next – given his obligations to stick to the shooting schedule for The Office – is a matter of speculation at this point.
Finally, Summit Entertainment certainly looks like a studio that knows how to give the ladies what they want. Newly-buff New Moon star Taylor Lautner will head to Cancun for the studio. The film is said to be an action pic about a college kid who goes on spring break with a girl who ends up being kidnapped by a drug cartel. Lautner will get plenty of opportunity to flex his martial-arts skills, not to mention his now infamous abs, as his character attempts to rescue the girl and her friends.
