Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell will star in London Boulevard, the directorial debut of The Departed screenwriter William Monahan. Farrell plays an ex-con who gets work as a handyman for a young actress. While it sounds like a rom-com premise, we steadfastly hold out hope that the ending goes the way of In Bruges. [Variety]
Fincher Gets Some Bad News: Despite The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s Oscar-nom bonanza, David Fincher’s next project with Paramount seemingly just fell through. The studio has allowed the rights to Torso, a thriller about a post–Al Capone–hunt Eliot Ness, to lapse. While a rights renegotiation is possible, potential reasons why the studio let it go include Fincher’s penchant for big budgets, perfectionism on set, and general surliness. [HR]
Irvin Gets Real: Michael Irvin will host a reality-TV competition in which the grand prize is an invite to the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp. The show will air on Spike TV in the spring. No word on Irvin’s other long, languishing reality-TV competition, Who Throws the Best Hotel Cocaine Party? [Variety]
Witching Hour: Reliant Pictures have picked up Todd Berger’s witch-doctor adventure-comedy script, Isaac Gray, W.D., while ABC has picked up a pilot loosely based on 1987’s The Witches of Eastwick, originally a John Updike novel. And with that, witches officially enter the field alongside mall cops and werewolves as 2009’s hottest trend. [Variety, HR]
Ephron Combo: Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore will get six benefit readings from a rotating cast of five women that will be announced at curtain time; potentials include Tyne Daly, Blythe Danner, Kristen Johnston, Rosie O’Donnell, Parker Posey, and Kristen Schaal. Be careful not to be trampled by the grumbling stampede heading towards the exits on the nights the legendary Tyne Daly’s name is not announced. [Playbill]
Lupone Rocks: Gypsy’s Patti Lupone will guest star on 30 Rock as Judah Friedlander–character Franks’ mother. The multiple–Tony Award winner cited her motivation for taking the role as a latent desire to make more fart jokes. [EW]