Wax On: Jackie Chan is in negotiations to star in Columbia’s remake of The Karate Kid as Mr. Miyagi, played by Pat Morita in the original. Jaden Smith is already onboard to revive Ralph Macchio’s Daniel-san. Director Harald Zwart plans to stick close to the original story, but the setting is moving from the U.S. to China. The remake is Hollywood’s latest attempt to make you feel super-old by remaking something popular from your youth. [HR]
A Real Man’s Biopic: Producers Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters have acquired the rights to Marshall Terrill’s biography Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel, and plan to turn it into a biopic. The project will mostly chronicle McQueen’s Hollywood career, beginning with his big break in 1956’s Somebody Up There Likes Me and extending through offscreen addictions to motorcycles, drugs, and women. Spoiler alert: He dies. [Variety]
Back to Eden: Brian Grazer has brought John Adams helmer Tom Hopper onboard to direct an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Christopher Hampton is set to write the script of a Cain and Abel story set in early twentieth-century America. The book was first optioned in 2004 when it shot to the top of the bestseller list, thanks to a spot on Oprah’s book club. Since the characters are brothers, we’re thinking it makes sense to cast real-life siblings. Alec? Stephen? You guys busy? [HR]
CSI: Nashville: Best-selling artist, favorite singer of Sasha Frere-Jones, and now guest star on CSI? This Taylor Swift really can do it all. The 19-year-old is set to appear in an episode of CSI as a young girl whose family runs a rough-and-tumble Vegas hotel. According to Variety, she “undergoes personal changes that have tragic consequences.†That’s called puberty, right? [Variety]
Dirty Money: House of Saddam writer Alex Holmes has signed on to pen The Infiltrator, based on Robert Mazur’s memoir The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel. The book is about a customs official who helped uncover the massive money-laundering scheme that led to Pablo Escobar’s downfall. Mark Cubans’ company, 2929, is producing, which means he gets a seat on-set from which he can berate the director. [Variety]
What If Brenden Fraser Was Our Doctor?: Brendan Fraser has signed on to star in CBS Films’ first film, an untitled medical drama also starring Harrison Ford. Fraser is set to play the father of two children who are diagnosed with an incurable genetic disorder. Undeterred, he seeks out the help of an experimental doctor, played by Ford. Tom Vaghan is directing the Robert Nelson Jacobs– penned screenplay, based on Geeta Anand’s book,The Cure. Robert Smith will play himself. [HR]