Anne Not Getting Married: Building on her “characters having to do with weddings†buzz, Anne Hathaway will star in The Fiancé, to be directed by Burr Steers (episodes of Big Love) for Warner Bros. Story, freshly rewritten by Tropic Thunder’s Etan Cohen, follows a woman who cancels her wedding plans so she can discover herself, but her meddling parents try to patch things up with her “perfect husband,†presumably the Vatican CFO. [Variety]
Williams and Watts: Naomi Watts is in negotiations to headline My Name Is Jody Williams, a terribly titled drama that Audrey Wells (Under the Tuscan Sun) is directing for Universal. True story follows a woman — we forget her name — who leaves her temp agency in Washington to pursue a career in global activism, eventually receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign to eliminate land mines. She famously called Bill Clinton a “weenie†because he wouldn’t sign her land-mine ban, which probably marked the last time “Bill Clinton†and “weenie†were used together in a sentence without referring to Monica Lewinsky. [HR]
Kutcher for Five: Ashton Kutcher will star in Five Killers, the action-comedy directed by Robert Luketic (21) for Lionsgate. Story, by Bob DeRose and Ted Griffin, follows a former hit man who has to deal with the group of killers paid to terminate him. He probably thinks the contract on his head is because of an old vendetta, but actually the killers were hired by audiences who sat through What Happens in Vegas. [Variety]
Polo Digs Deep: Teri Polo (Meet the Fockers) will star in Joe Dante’s totally non-pornographically-titled feature, The Hole. Story centers on a mother and her teenage sons who move to a rural house and discover a bottomless hole in their basement. We imagine one of two things could ensue: supernatural scariness, or some muscle-bound shirtless cement-pourer showing up at her door asking, “I hear you have a hole that needs filling?†[HR]
Bregman Turns Orange: Jay Reiss and Ian Helfer will write Oranges for producer Anthony Bregman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), with financing and a director getting set up soon. Story focuses on a man who has a romantic relationship with the daughter of a family friend, kind of like American Beauty but with jokes instead of creepy Wes Bentley. [HR]