And You’re Gonna Love It: Steven Soderbergh is developing a biopic about Liberace he plans to direct for Warner Bros, and he’s tapped Michael Douglas to play the titular pianist. Another Soderbergh player, Matt Damon, is in talks to play Scott Thorson, the guy who sued Liberace for $113 million in palimony, even though “Liberace never wavered from career-long denials that he was gay.†We’re really looking forward to Douglas’s “not gay†costumes. [Variety]
Dr. Watson vs. The Internet: In one of our favorite ongoing “who is it now†Internet rumors, Colin Farrell is the latest actor allegedly in talks to play Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes project. Until tomorrow when we tell you the part went to Dom DeLuise. [JoBlo]
Anderson’s Best Friend: The mighty Wes Anderson slips a notch closer to Earth, signing on to write and possibly direct a remake of the 2006 French comedy, Mon Meilleur Ami, for Brian Grazer at Imagine. Story follows a cranky antiques dealer who finds out that his friends don’t actually like him, so he tries to get a taxi driver to pose as his buddy. A Wes Anderson remake spells bad news for fans of originality, but good news for Kumar Pallana. [Variety]
Water for Fox: Fox 2000 went bidding crazy over the rights to Sara Gruen’s best-selling Water for Elephants, the story of an old man who fondly recalls his life of hanging out with elephants in the circus. Studio president Elizabeth Gabler admits that “the translation might face challenges because of the [boring] nature of the [boring] story,†which only makes us sadder that she didn’t option our favorite story, “Water for Elephants Who Eat Other Elephants’ Poop.†[HR]
Kilmer’s Steam Bath: Val Kilmer, Armand Assante, and Patrick Muldoon have joined a growing cast in the indie suspense thriller The Steam Experiment. The story follows six people trapped in a Turkish bathhouse as a university professor (Kilmer) turns up the heat to prove that humanity will devolve into chaos because of … [dramatic pause] … global warming! The Bush administration would like to point out that despite the grisly body count, his results are inconclusive. [HR]
28 Months Later?: Danny Boyle has told MTV that he’s planning to make a trilogy out of his zombie franchise with a follow-up to 28 Weeks Later. He already has an idea for it, but he’s “got to present it and see what people think, because it might be silly, really.†Um, that goes without saying, but you’ve got to ask yourself: WWVDD? What Would Vin Diesel Do? [MTV]