David Simon Re-‘Wires’ His New Pilot

Simon Goes to the Treme: David Simon has begun casting his HBO pilot, Treme, and he’s recruited The Wire veterans Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters to play New Orleans residents struggling to rebuild after Katrina. Khandi Alexander will join them as the owner of a bar, having finally escaped the vile sunglasses of CSI: Miami. [HR]

Bastards, Bastards, Everywhere: What’s next for B.J. Novak now that Ryan got arrested for fraud in the season finale of The Office? You guess it: He’s in talks to play a PFC Ultivich, a “soldier with a slight build who comes from New York� in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards. Revise that description to “a soldier who acts by staring blankly into the camera� and you’re gold, boys. [HR]

Streep Triangulates: Meryl Streep is in final negotiations to star in Nancy Meyers’s untitled romantic comedy for producer Scott Rudin. Streep will play the female part of a love triangle with two men for writer-director Meyers, whose Something’s Gotta Give and The Holiday suggest Streep will once again be classing up the joint. [HR]

Levinson Takes the A-Train: Barry Levinson will direct Train, a crime noir based on Pete Dexter’s novel, for Lakeshore Entertainment. Story explores mid-century race issues by following a white sergeant in the San Diego Police Department who meets a young black golf caddy with key information about a murder. It’s the only time in history where a movie’s been pitched as “L.A. Confidential meets The Legend of Bagger Vance.� [HR]

Leder Joins the Marines: Thick As Thieves’ Mimi Leder will direct Remember Their Names, the story of a young merchant marine’s WWII adventures with Woody Guthrie. Guthrie’s music will play a big part of the story, which follows the marines as they sing and play their way across Europe. Kind of like what you did that year between college and grad school. [Variety]

Schrader Sees the Light: The producers behind Cormac McCarthy’s upcoming The Road (Nick Wechsler, Steve Schwartz, and Paula Mae Schwartz) are teaming up to bring Paul Schrader’s The Dying of the Light into theaters. Script focuses on a CIA agent who’s forced into retirement because he has Alzheimer’s but must complete one final mission before he completely loses his mind. Um, we guess every other line from the hero’s mouth is “I’m getting too old for this shit,� because he keeps forgetting he just said it? [Variety]