[IMG:L]Witherspoon and Vaughn Spend Christmas Together
Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn star together for the first time in the romantic comedy Four Christmases. The story revolves around a newly married couple who decide to brave visits to all sets of their parents for the Christmas holiday–despite the scars each has from being raised in broken homes. Actor/director Jon Favreau and country star Tim McGraw will play two bullying siblings who delight in tormenting their brother (Vaughn). Dwight Yoakam will play the overly zealous partner of the Witherspoon character’s mother (Mary Steenburgen). Sissy Spacek, Kristin Chenoweth and Robert Duvall are also set to co-star. Man, Vaughn does get around with his leading ladies, but I guess since he and Jennifer Aniston split, he’s looking for new blood. He and Witherspoon should make a good pairing.
[IMG:R]Berg Eyes Cruise Flick
The Kingdom’s Peter Berg is in talks to helm Edwin A. Salt, a spy thriller starring Tom Cruise. The story centers on a CIA officer who is fingered as a Russian sleeper spy. He eludes capture by superiors who are convinced that he is out to assassinate the president and struggles to find the true traitor while attempting to reunite with his family. Ho hum, same old, same old–but with a frenetic director such as Berg, it might be at least action-packed. If story fails, a car chase always works.
[IMG:L]Keener and Holofcener Go for Another Spin
Catherine Keener is in final negotiations to reunite with writer/director Nicole Holofcener, who directed the actress in her previous three films. The indie project, still untitled, centers on a group of women who live in the same New York apartment building. It is described as a look at friendship, old age and real estate. Keener would play the main character, who has a cantankerous elderly neighbor. Both Keener‘s character, who owns the woman’s apartment, and the woman’s two granddaughters are in some ways waiting for the woman to die. Much like Holofcener and Keener’s previous work (Friends with Money, Lovely and Amazing and 1996’s Walking & Talking), this will be a lot of talking heads, kvetching about their miserable lives. Should be fun!
[IMG:R]Rossum Plays Dragonball; Rudd Spits Out I Love You, Man
The Day After Tomorrow’s Emmy Rossum has joined the cast of the sci-fi adventure Dragonball, a live-action adaptation of a popular Japanese comic. Heroes actress Eriko Tamura and Korean pop star Joon Park are also coming aboard the project. Justin Chatwin stars as a powerful warrior who protects the Earth from an endless stream of rogues bent on dominating the Universe and controlling the mystical objects known as Dragonballs. Oh, I’m always looking for those, darn it. They roll under the couch all the time. Meanwhile, Paul Rudd is set to star in the comedy I Love You, Man, playing a bridegroom who attempts to find a best man. Jason Segel, a series regular on CBS’s How I Met Your Mother, is in final negotiations to play the best man. And the conflict comes from…?
[IMG:L]Serkis and Jackson Make Tintin
Andy Serkis is reteaming with his King Kong and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson in Tintin, the DreamWorks movie trilogy collaboration from Jackson and Steven Spielberg. According to the Hollywood Reporter, it is believed Serkis will play the role of Captain Haddock, a temperamental sea captain, in British scribe Steven Moffat’s adaptation of the comic strip created by late Belgian animator Herge. In the comics, Tintin is a young reporter and world traveler who is aided in his adventures by his faithful dog Snowy and later accompanied by characters like Haddock, Professor Cuthbert Calculus and bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson. The books, hugely popular in Europe, have been translated into 50 languages with more than 200 million sold. Let’s see who they get to play Tintin.
[IMG:R]Bees Life Not So Secret
Dakota Fanning and Alicia Keys are in final negotiations to join the cast of The Secret Life of Bees, a female-oriented coming-of-age tale based on the Sue Monk Kidd best-seller. Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) are already on board. Bees is a drama set in the Southern U.S. in the 1960s and centers on teenager Lily Owens (Fanning) and her friend Rosaleen (Hudson) who flee their hometown to escape their harsh upbringing and seek to uncover the mysteries of Lily’s late mother. Along the way, they encounter three beekeeping sisters (Latifah, Okonedo, Keys) who take the pair in to their South Carolina home. Sounds sudsy to me, but hey, bees are all the rage these days, aren’t they?
[IMG:L]G.I. Joe Gets a Cast
Rachel Nichols (P2), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (TV’s Lost) and Said Taghmaoui (The Kite Runner) will join Sienna Miller and Ray Park in the live-action movie based on the popular military doll and its comic-book and cartoon series spinoffs. The cartoon series featured military soldiers fighting a terrorist group called Cobra, with characters like the mute ninja Snake Eyes (Park) on the side of the good guys. Directed by Stephen Sommers, this big-screen adaptation has “G.I. JOE”–which stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity–as an international force of operatives set in Brussels. Nichols will play a skilled martial artist who specializes in hand-to-hand combat and counterintelligence. Akinnuoye-Agbaje will play an ordnance expert, and Taghmaoui the team’s communications specialist. Miller will play the Baroness, known for her espionage skills. And a franchise is born!
