De Niro Paints Houses: Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro just can’t escape the mob, having signed on for the Paramount adaptation of Charles Brandt’s I Heard You Paint Houses. Steve Zaillan is attached to write, and De Niro is cast as Frank “the Irishman†Sheeran, the mob hit man believed to have carried out the murder and dismemberment of Jimmy Hoffa. And Scorsese will presumably just point a camera on De Niro, who won’t need much directing seeing as he’s played this role countless times already. [Variety]
Shot on Location in Jellystone: Warner Bros. is developing a Yogi Bear feature, which is planned as a live-action/animation hybrid. Yogi Bear and Boo Boo will presumably be done in CG, but if Warner has real creative guts, they’ll use actual bears and animate all the human roles. [HR]
Bringing Panda Back: The sequel to Kung-Fu Panda has been scheduled for 2011. Returning to voice roles will be Jack Black and Angelina Jolie, but if matinee-attending dads can’t actually see her, they’re just as likely to tote the kids to Cars 2 instead. [HR]
Rileys Family Grows: Frozen River star Melissa Leo is onboard for Welcome to the Rileys, an indie drama about a family driven apart by the death of a daughter. She’ll play the wife of James Gandolfini. [Variety]
Hoffman Gets a Pen Pal: Philip Seymour Hoffman will be lending his voice to the lead role of Max in the Australian claymation project Mary and Max. The story is about the friendship of two international pen pals over the course of twenty years. But does the plot matter with those trippy claymation visuals? [HR]