the industry

Sam Raimi Drags Ellen Page to Hell

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Page Takes a Drag of Raimi: Juno’s Ellen Page signs on to Sam Raimi’s first non-Spider-Man project in years, taking the lead in his horror film Drag Me to Hell, co-written by Raimi and his brother Ivan. Page’s trademark wit should be on display, in between all the screaming. [HR]

Pfeiffer Eyes Cheri: Michelle Pfeiffer is in negotiations to take the lead role in the Miramax/Pathé co-production Cheri, based on the 1920 Collette novel about a romance between an older woman and a younger man. Christopher Hampton writes and Stephen Frears is set to direct. Considering Pfeiffer’s recent luck with this subject matter, we hope these negotiations involve some sort of assurance of theatrical release. How ’bout just make it simple and cast Tyler Perry as the younger man? [Variety]

Timbaland Goes Mobile: Producer extraordinaire Timbaland announces a deal with Verizon Wireless to release the first ever “mobile album,†for which he will record one song per month with a different artist each time throughout 2008, all of which will be available exclusively to users of Verizon’s mobile entertainment service V-Cast. Verizon users should be able to set Timbaland’s first track, “Hey People Magazine, Next Time I Have One of My Homeboys in Line, Let That (Expletive) In†as their ringtone shortly. [Billboard]

Bell Joins Rome-Com: Kristen Bell will topline Mark Steven Johnson’s romantic comedy When in Rome as a romantically luckless real-estate agent who picks up some magic coins from a fountain in Rome and returns to the U.S. to find a multitude of suitors waiting for her. [Variety]

Needless Controversy Magnet of the Week: Gary Oldman, Cloverfield’s Odette Yustman, and The O.C.’s Cam Gigandet star in David Goyer’s as-yet-untitled supernatural thriller for co-producer Michael Bay, about a teenage girl haunted by the ghost of a boy who died in Auschwitz, who has become a dybbuk since being barred from entering heaven. Yes, that’s right: Michael Bay is finally taking on the Holocaust. [HR]