De Niro Asks, “Are You Makin’ a Pilot With Me?â€: CBS has made a three-pilot deal with Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Productions, with the amazing promise that one of the three projects will definitely go to series. Their first pilot is a drama set in New York City, written by The Departed’s William Monahan, which should fit right into Tribeca’s slate next to Little Fockers. [Variety]
Adams Looks Before She Leaps: Amy Adams is in negotiations to topline Leap Year, Spyglass’s romantic comedy from Made of Honor’s Harry Elfont and Deb Kaplan. Adams will play an uptight woman who travels to Dublin so she can propose to her boyfriend on leap day, which according to Irish tradition means he must say yes. And then according to Irish tradition, they get married, become alcoholics, and fight every day but Sunday. [HR]
Happytime for Hensons: Mark your calendars, folks, because today is the day that awesomeness officially returned to Hollywood. The Jim Henson Company is developing a film-noir puppet comedy called Happytime Murders, about a puppet detective trying to figure out who’s killing off the cast of a popular children’s show. Brian Henson will direct from a script by Todd Berger (Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five). It kind of makes us wish every movie had puppets: “In Leap Year, Amy Adams travels to Dublin to propose to her husband, a chicken voiced by Frank Oz.†[Variety]
Hot Wheels Races to CN: Cartoon Network has picked up an animated series based on Mattel’s Hot Wheels, called Hot Wheels: Battle Force 5 and produced by Vancouver’s Nerd Corp Entertainment. With the flashtastic Storm Hawks on their résumé, Nerd Corp is no stranger to making awesome cartoons that make no sense to anyone over 8 years old. Oh, Hollywood, is there any childhood memory you can’t tarnish? [Variety]
Boom, Headshot!: Warner Bros. has picked up the rights to Headshot, a three-book graphic novel by Alexis Nolent, to be produced by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Comic, originally published in France, follows an unlikely alliance between a cop and a hit man after a common enemy kills both of their partners. Likely suspects include Tin Tin, Astérix, and Babar the elephant. [Variety]