Scott Rudin Gets in the Josh Ferris Business

Rudin Acquires Unnamed: How much validation can one novelist safely absorb? Recent National Book Award nominee Joshua Ferris’s ears were already burning from all the times we told our friends how great his book Then We Came to the End is; now he sells the film rights to his next novel, The Unnamed, about a man with a mysterious affliction, based on a partial manuscript. The buyer? Scott Rudin, freshly minted Oscar winner and literature-snapper-upper. [Variety]

Fantastic Furious Four: Dominic Toretto. Brian O’Connor. Mia Toretto. And last, but certainly not least, Letty. These are the names of the non-indelible characters that are not emblazoned forever in the minds of the millions of moviegoers who were mildly diverted by the disposable 2001 thriller The Fast and the Furious. Some portion of these same moviegoers may be mildly interested to know that as Michelle Rodriguez has now signed on to join Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Jordana Brewster, Universal has successfully reunited all four original Fast and the Furious stars for the forthcoming fourth installment, titled (we hope) 4 Fast 4 Furiousest. What a slightly notable entertainment event! [Coming Soon]

Monahan Orders Chaser: Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) is in talks to adapt the hit Korean thriller The Chaser, about an ex-cop trying to rescue a kidnapped girl, for Vertigo Entertainment, with Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly considering the lead. Jeez, guys, it’s already hard enough to buy DiCaprio as a cop, but an ex-cop? How long was he a cop before he quit? Aren’t ex-cops supposed to look like Tom Sizemore? What’s next, Zac Efron as a retired colonel? [HR]

Whitney’s Back: BMG chairman Clive Davis announces that Whitney Houston will attempt a comeback ranking somewhere between Hillary Clinton’s and Lazarus’s with the forthcoming holiday release of her as-yet-untitled first album of original material since 2002, featuring writing and producing work by Will.I.Am, Sean Garrett, and Akon. [Billboard]

Mantello Reteams With Pal Greenberg: The team behind the Broadway hit Take Me Out, director Joe Mantello and playwright Richard Greenberg, looks to hit another home run by reuniting on the Roundabout Theater Company’s revival of Rogers & Hart’s Pal Joey, for which Greenberg will write a new book. As Joey was originally written in 1940, this production is likely to feature approximately 100 percent fewer distractingly well-hung naked men than Take Me Out did. [Playbill]