So we can cover as many films as possible, we thought we’d give you these quick updates on some of today’s smaller film announcements…
Partick Dempsey is continuing his bid to become a fully fledged a-list movie star by signing up for a heist comedy. At the moment the movie doesn’t have a title, but it’s been written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who had a massive success earlier this year with The Hangover, and will be directed by Paul McGuigan (Gangster No. 1, Push). The Grey’s Anatomy actor will play a man caught between two robberies that take place at the same bank at the same time, who secretly plots to win the heart of a feisty bank teller. (Source: Screen International)
Alan Cumming has joined the cast of the upcoming Steve Antin musical, Burlesque, which is filming now. The movie stars Cristina Aguilera as an ambitious small-town girl with a big voice who finds success at a neo-burlesque club. Cumming will play the club’s gender-bending host and master of ceremonies. Cher, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Kristen Bell and Julianne Hough co-star. (Source: Variety)
Screenwriter Justin Malen is having a good week, as he signed up to script two new comedies. Paramount has hired him to write Time Out, based on a 2006 New York Times article written by Warren St. John about recent college graduates who get in over their heads when they volunteer to coach a youth-league football team. He’s taking over from Matt Eddy and Billy Eddy on the project. Malen is also writing Trophy Husbands for Media Rights Capital, although there’s no news on exactly what this is about. (Source: THR)
Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevy have sold their original script, Once Upon A Time In Hell, which featured on the Black List of the best unproduced screenplays, to Phoenix Pictures. The script takes Alexandres Dumas’ Count Of Monte Cristo and updates it to modern London’s organised crime underworld. (Source: THR)