Crazy Danny: Danny DeVito will head back to the tiny director’s chair on Crazy Eddie, being written by 21’s Peter Steinfeld. The movie charts the story of Brooklyn’s Eddie Antar, who built a discount-electronics-store empire on the backs of commercials promising “â€In-sa-a-a-a-a-ane!†prices before being charged with stock fraud, fleeing to Israel, and finally serving a six-year prison term that ended in 1999. In other news, when’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia coming back?! [Variety]
On Your Marks: Following the floppish American Buffalo and the mercury-poisoning-ish Speed-the-Plow revivals comes a new David Mamet Broadway production: While no cast or theater details have been decided, Mamet’s Race will begin previews November 10 for a December 10 opening. Details are sparse, but according to producer Jeffrey Richards, “[t]he title is self-explanatory.†Ah, of course — a play tackling the ever-contentious discussion of the role of footraces in America. [Variety]
So, So Wacky: Jeff Goldblum has joined the cast of The Baster, the Jennifer Aniston–Jason Bateman comedy based on a Jeffrey Eugenides short story. Goldblum will play Bateman’s wacky business partner and friend, whose idea of working out is — get this — walking slowly on the treadmill while eating a candy bar. [HR]
X-rated: Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has found his first post–28 Weeks Later project: MGM’s remake of Roger Corman’s 1963 movie X: The Man With the X-ray Eyes. The plot revolves around a scientist, near a breakthrough in X-ray-vision technology when his funding is cut off, who tests the goods on himself and gains barely controllable new powers. Then he probably goes to a girl’s locker room, and after that, we’re not really sure what else could happen. [HR]
TV’s Don: Sonic Youth has collaborated with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones on “Nearly Ninety,†a musical piece for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company celebration of Cunningham’s 90th birthday. Along with mixed-media sound composer Takehisa Kosugi, the band and Jones will perform the piece at BAM on April 16, before it takes off on a short international tour. We’re assuming this is just Jones’s roundabout way of getting Thurston Moore to finally commit to fronting the Zeppelin reunion. [Billboard]
History: Chariots of the Gods, Erich von Daniken’s 1968 bestseller, has been purchased by Paradox Entertainment, who will use it as source material for a sci-fi movie. According to the book, various civilizations throughout history were visited by aliens, welcomed as gods, who gifted humans with technology and religion; also, apparently, superior human intelligence was brought about via alien mating. Awesome. [Variety]