Frank Bascombe Heads to HBO

Ford’s Trilogy to HBO: James Mangold will direct six-hour miniseries based on Richard Ford’s trilogy of books, The Sportswriter, Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land. Mark Bomback will write. From a Pulitzer Prize winner and American fiction master to the screenwriter of Die Hard 4: Such is the trajectory of Hollywood. [Variety]

Witherspoon Goes Under the Bridge: Type A Films, Reese Witherspoon’s shingle, options Under the Bridge, an account of real-life teen murder by author Rebecca Godfrey. Catherine Hardwicke will direct; Witherspoon may star as Godfrey, who returned home to report on the murder. Luke Wilson or someone to play dewy local boy who steals her heart. [Variety]

CW Looking for Farm Wives: The CW Network imports Farmer Wants a Wife, a bluntly named reality show from England in which ten women compete for the attentions of a farmer. In true trash-TV tradition, contestants will be gorgeous and urbane; farmer, we assume, will be Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel. [Variety]

Modine Joins Weeds: Matthew Modine added to cast of Showtime’s Weeds; he’ll play a real-estate developer and a romantic interest for both Mary-Louise Parker and Elizabeth Perkins. His career’s been in a lull, so this is nice; the one time the very funny Modine hosted Saturday Night Live, the musical guest was Edie Brickell and New Bohemians. [Variety]

Saved! to Stage: A new musical based on the 2004 religious satire Saved! will open at Playwrights Horizons in spring 2008. Michael Friedman writes the music, John Dempsey and Rinne Groff write the book. Finally, a movie title earns its exclamation point. [Playbill]

Wopat, Lane Workshop Catch Me: Tom Wopat and Nathan Lane “have been asked� to star in July workshop of Catch Me If You Can, new musical from Terrence McNally and Marc Shaiman. Since it’s already being reported in Playbill, we can assume they’ll say yes; may be joined by previous workshoppers Christine Ebersole and Celia Keenan-Bolger. [Playbill]

Mike Watt Pairs Up: Ex-Minuteman bassist Mike Watt takes break from his Stooges tour to form two duos: Pelicanman, with Petra Haden, and Funanori, with Go! Team guitarist Kaori Tsuchida. Music due from both before the end of the year. [Pitchfork]

So Long, Gilmores: CW cancels Gilmore Girls. Lorelei and Rory have two episodes left to sort out their entire lives. [Zap2It]