Coen Brothers Offer Up Two New Movies

Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen will write, produce, and direct the following projects in their new pact with Focus Features and Working Title:

• Serious Man — A dark comedy in the vein of the Coen Brothers’ Fargo.
• Burn After Reading — Brad Pitt will star as a trainer at a gym. George Clooney and Frances McDormand will also star in the film, which begins shooting this summer.

The Coen Brothers are best known for Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Sam Raimi on Hobbit Rumor, Spidey 4, and a New Fantasy Flick

Sami Raimi told EW that he’s interested in directing The Hobbit, but only if Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson approved. If Raimi takes on the project, he might not be able to fit Spider-Man 4 into his schedule, though Sony Pictures has said they plan to make the sequel with or without the director.

In other Raimi news, the Spider-Man helmer will produce an all-ages fantasy adventure about a cynical guy from New York who is forced to go to a land untouched by modern civilization to save a village and a princess from fiendish fairy tale creatures, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project’s title is being kept under wraps, but has franchise potential for Columbia Pictures.

CASTING NEWS

• Chow Yun-Fat has dropped out of the lead role in John Woo‘s big-budget Chinese-language film Red Cliff only three days into shooting, according to Variety. The action star will appear in this summer’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End .
• Clive Owen (Sin City) has signed on to star in Columbia Pictures’ thriller The International, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

OPTIONED

• Fox 2000 has optioned screenwriter Tom Rob Smith‘s debut novel Child 44 for Ridley Scott to direct and produce, according to Variety.
• Actor David Arquette has written and will direct a Braveheart-like epic. [Link]
• Twentieth Century Fox has acquired screen rights to the upcoming fantasy novel The Seems, and has set it as a directing and producing vehicle for Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy, according to Variety.

OBIT

• Wizard of Id Cartoonist Brant Parker Dies
  Brant Parker, who co-created the cartoon strip The Wizard of Id with Johnny Hart, died 4/15/07 at the age of 86. Hart died just 8 days prior. [Link]

• Filmmaker Tim Burton (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands) will be honored with the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award and a day named for him at the 64th annual Venice International Film Festival, which starts on August 29, according to The Hollywood Reporter. September 5 will be noted as Tim Burton Day and will include a special “surprise offering.” The Venice festival has previously hosted the international premiere of Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1994 and the world premiere of his Oscar-nominated Corpse Bride in 2005.
• Tom Cruise will star in Bryan Singer‘s untitled United Artists World World II thriller scripted by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project, which will be produced by Singer and McQuarrie with production scheduled to begin early this summer, reportedly should not interfere with Singer’s sequel to Superman Returns for Warner Brothers early next year.
• Emile Hirsch (Lords of Dogtown) is in final talks to star as the title character in Speed Racer, the Joel Silver-produced live-action flick, according to Variety.The Warner Brothers film, which will mark the directing return of the Matrix‘s trilogy’s Wachowski brothers, is scheduled for a May 9, 2008 release.
• The April 3 episode of ABC’s Boston Legal will use footage of William Shatner from a 50-year-old TV pilot he did called The Defender to look back at an old court case of Shatner’s character Denny Crane. [Link, via SFSignal]
• The trailer for 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Danny Boyle‘s zombie flick 28 Days Later, will be attached to prints of The Hills Have Eyes 2 in theaters March 23. 28 Weeks Later opens May 11.

• Battlestar Galactica‘s Tricia Helfer has joined the cast of Them, the upcoming Fox pilot by BSG executive producer David Eick. If the pilot is picked up, it’s possible that Helfer will be able to appear on both shows. [Link] Eick will continue in his role on BSG while also working with BSG’s Ronald D. Moore on the series’ prequel, Caprica. Eick is also attached to the pilot for The Bionic Woman TV remake and two projects with FX, Guilty Pleasures and The Wanting. [Link]
• Director Zack Snyder talks about the Watchmen movie [Link] and the image of Rorschach that appeared in the R-rated trailer for 300 [Link].
• Director Stuart Rosenberg, best known for horror favorite The Amityville Horror and the Paul Newman prison drama Cool Hand Luke, died today of a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 79. [Link]
• Cate Blanchett has signed on to star in the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones adventures, which opens worldwide on May 22, 2008. The movie will mark the return of star Harrison Ford as the title character along with director Steven Spielberg. No word yet what role Blanchett will play, though it’s speculated that the Oscar-winning actress will be Indy’s new love interest. [Link]
• Warner Bros. Pictures is planning a big-screen adaptation of Lionel Wigram‘s upcoming comic book reimagining of Sherlock Holmes. Wigram will serve as producer on Sherlock with Neil Marshall (The Descent) directing. Michael Johnson penned the script for the action-adventure. [Link]
• Michael Bay will direct the sci-fi movie 2012, an adaptation of Whitley Strieber‘s upcoming book for Warner Brothers. [Link]
• Variety revealed a list of cast members signed on to voice roles in the upcoming animated film adapation of the Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears a Who, starring Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. The cast is to include Carol Burnett, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Isla Fisher, Dan Fogler, Amy Poehler, Dane Cook, Jaime Pressly, and Jonah Hill.

SNEAKS & SPOILERS
WARNING: Some links may contain spoilers. Click at your own discretion.

• Details leaked regarding NBC’s Heroes season finale. [Link]
• USA Today has a sneak peek at the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, the third installment of the franchise starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, which opens May 25. The trailer debuts tonight during ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. [Link]

• Get ready for a brand new level of gaming lag! Microsoft has announced that Halo 2 and Windows Live Gaming will be coming to their flagship operating system, Vista, on May 8th. [Link]
• There’s a Stargate MMO coming our way. Based on the worlds visited during the long-running movie-cum-tv spin-off Stargate SG-1, and the more recent Sci-Fi channel darling, Stargate Atlantis (the spin-off of the spin-off!), Stargate Worlds MMO is set to be a huge gaming environment containing all the planets featured throughout the shows, or as Cheyenne Mountain’s Joe Ybarrra says “as many as we have time to build.” There are also two direct-to-video movies in production which Ybarra suggests will share content (both up and down stream) with the MMO. [Link]
• EA and Spielberg. Two great gaming tastes that taste great together. [Link]
• Dell wants you to plant a tree, and it’s the first time we agree with anything Dell has ever suggested! Plant a Tree is now an add-on option with every Dell computer purchase, with the intent of reducing the ecological footprint created by every PC. And just in case you’re not in the market for a new computer, they’ve added a stand-alone donation section. [Link]
• From mile-long lines to midnight shootings to the most unwanted console on the market? PS3, what up? [Link]
• Can’t get enough handheld gaming? Love show tunes? Well then you’re in luck! From now until April 22 you can quell your jones for both with The Game Boy, a Broadway musical from the Vital Childrens Theatre about a boy who “gets too wrapped up in his new exciting computer game adventures.” [Link]