R.E.M. Prepares to Disappoint Us for the Fourth Album in a Row

R.E.M. to Accelerate: R.E.M. announces the release of their fourteenth studio album, Accelerate, on April 1. Manager Bertis Downs promises a return to a more early-R.E.M.-era rock vibe, though the music-buying public has yet to promise a return to early-R.E.M.-era interest. [Billboard]

Radcliffe Takes Journey: Daniel Radcliffe makes his first major bid for a post-Potter onscreen career by beating out Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom for the role of photographer Dan Eldon in Journey, the real-life story of a British journalist killed in Somalia. We’ll hold the jokes on this one. [IMDb]

Chekhov Another One: Alan Cumming joins Classic Stage Company’s spring revival of The Seagull as the younger lover of an actress played by Dianne Wiest. Well, sure, if there’s anything that would convince us to sit through another production of The Seagull, it’s the chance to see Alan Cumming make out with Dianne Wiest. [Playbill]

Hampton Twofer in the Works: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly screenwriter Christopher Hampton is in development on a movie about the Japanese-American woman falsely accused of being the radio propagandist “Tokyo Rose,� to be directed by Frank Darabont, and another about fashion icon Coco Chanel, to star Audrey Tautou. Hampton has no information on release dates for either film, so don’t start counting the days yet. [Collider]

Nichols to Fight for Freedom Wherever There’s Trouble: Rachel Nichols signs on to Stephen Sommers’s big-screen G.I. Joe feature as, according to Variety, “a skilled martial artist who specializes in counterintelligence.� More casting guessing games! Um, Snake Eyes? No wait, that’s taken. [Variety]