Not Quite an Opera: Green Day’s American Idiot is getting the musical treatment at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Spring Awakening’s Michael Mayer wrote the book along with front man Billie Joe Armstrong and will also direct the adaptation, which will open the theater’s 2009–2010 season; Steven Hoggett, the movement director for the National Theatre of Scotland’s Black Watch, will do the choreography. Not too shabby, but before you again marvel at the remarkable late-career trajectory of this once low-stakes threesome, take note: The Berkeley Rep’s also doing a Matthew Sweet musical. [Variety]
Russell Sees the Silver Lining: David O. Russell has signed on to direct the Weinstein Co.’s adaptation of Matthew Quick’s debut novel, The Silver Linings Playbook. The book revolves around a former high-school teacher who has moved back in with his mother after getting out of a mental institution and is looking to reconcile with his ex-wife. As of today, no actors have committed to being yelled at by David O. Russell. [HR]
Suited Up: In what’s sounding like a throwback to A Time to Kill — and a time when Matthew McConaughey had a better relationship with his shirts — the actor has signed up for legal thriller The Lincoln Lawyer. Based on a Michael Connelly best seller, the movie will star McConaughey as Mickey Haller, a criminal-defense attorney representing a wealthy client with ties to a previous murder case Haller worked. Hey McConaughey, as long as you’re rehashing the past — still got Linklater’s phone number? [Variety]
Need for Speed: Tobey Maguire will produce and star in race-car drama The Limit. Based on Michael Cannell’s upcoming book, it’s the story of rival Grand Prix drivers — and best buds! — Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips, who battled each other in the 1961 Driver’s Championship. Maguire will play Hill, in a decision that was foolishly not influenced at all by the “awesomeness of name†factor. [HR]
Potential Disasters: Hard to know quite what to make of this one: Fox’s new dating show More to Love will give “average-looking†people a shot at a relationship. The format will be similar to The Bachelor, only the man in the middle will be a “Kevin James type.†Producer Mike Fleiss says, “We want to send the message that you can be the size you are and still be lovable.†“And, let’s face it, just a little bit, we want to make fun of fatties,†he did not add. [HR]
Scarlet Stone: Superbad’s Emma Stone will star in the comedy Easy A., a modern high-school retelling of The Scarlett Letter. Apparently Stone’s character pretends to be promiscuous in order to become more popular, only the plan backfires and the townspeople makes her wear an “A†because she secretly gave birth to the minister’s baby? We’re short on details here. [Variety]