The Tom and Oprah Show: Playtone’s Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and Harpo Films’ Oprah Winfrey and Kate Forte are set to produce the adaptation of David Wroblewski’s novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, about a mute teenager on the run with his dogs in the woods of Wisconsin. This will be the first-ever collaboration between the production companies of Hanks and Winfrey, a powerful combination that more-or-less means your mother has already purchased tickets for this movie. [Variety]
Finally, Answers!: Tom and Jerry will hit the big screen in a live-action, CG-animation combo from Warner Bros. Awesomely enough, the movie will be an origin story about the roots of the pair’s decades long feud. We are kind of speechless. [Variety]
Polanski Hearts Belushi: Tom Wilkinson and Jim Belushi have joined the cast of Roman Polanski’s The Ghost, a political-sexual thriller which revolves around the scandalous death of an aide to a former British prime minister. And before you ask – yes, Polanski is a huuuuuge According to Jim fan. [Variety]
Mayhem Is Back: Bowing to what could only have been insurmountable pressure, Tommy Lee is resurrecting his late-nineties rap-rock outfit Methods of Mayhem, this time excising the hip-hop in favor of more “electro dance-rock.†Lee, whose decision to reform the group was surely bolstered by the fact that the group’s debut went platinum, apparently doesn’t remember that even Sharper Image noise relaxation CDs were going platinum back in the late nineties. [Billboard]
Ruffalo Gets Sympathetic: Mark Ruffalo’s directorial debut Sympathy for Delicious, which halted pre-production upon the September death of Ruffalo’s brother, is once again moving forward. The movie stars theater actor and screenwriter Christopher Thornton as a handicapped D.J. turned faith healer; it will also feature Orlando Bloom as a frontman for a “tough-as-nails†rock band and Laura Linney as the band’s manager. We will only accept the words “Orlando Bloom†and “tough-as-nails†in the same sentence if there is a quiver of arrows involved as well. [HR]
Palin Lit: Sarah Palin has acquired the services of Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who has landed book deals for Obama and both Clintons. While we can only assume that the potential book will cover her life story, it could also instead be a treatise on the … um, no one wants to hear any more Sarah Palin jokes, right? [HR]