Seriously, the Dude Is Busy: Hollywood’s War on Original Ideas finds an unlikely ally in the form of Guillermo del Toro, who’s signed a three-year first-look deal with Universal and set up four directing projects, including remakes of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Slaughterhouse-Five. While we’re obviously excited to see the monsteriffic visionary continue directing through 2017, we can’t help but mourn the death of the original ideas that could have been. So it goes. [Variety]
Whitaker and Zellweger in Love: Forest Whitaker and Renée Zellweger will star in My Own Love Song, written and to be directed by La Vie en Rose’s Olivier Dahan. Californication’s Madeline Zima has also joined the production, which begins shooting next month in Kansas and New Orleans. Story centers on a road trip to Memphis taken by a wheelchair-bound singer and her friend, and you can bet the editor is already queuing up Paul Simon’s “Graceland†to cut the saccharine trailer. [Variety]
The Other Judd: Ashley Judd will join Dwayne “Don’t call me ’the Rock’ anymore†Johnson in Fox’s Tooth Fairy, the story of a minor-league hockey player — nicknamed the Tooth Fairy — and his girlfriend, to be unfortunately directed by The Santa Clause 2’s Michael Lembeck. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, so expect Lembeck to bring you the hypnotic non-comedy of the Rock trying to change little-kid diapers with a hockey stick. [Variety]
Cage to Ride Again?: During an interview with our friends at ComingSoon, Nicolas Cage revealed that he had “a nice meeting with the studio†about the possibility of a Ghost Rider sequel. They’re thinking about “taking him to Europe, having him go on a motorcycle tour through Europe, and he’s connected with the church,†because he wants elements of “The Da Vinci Code and things like that.†Um, all we can say is … at last, the perfect movie? [ComingSoon]
More Lesbians!: With the sixth and final season of The L Word fast approaching, Leisha Hailey has signed on to Showtime’s new L Word spinoff, written and produced by L Word creator Ilene Chaiken. The logline is under wraps, but the series is believed to revolve around lesbians. [Variety]