Dr. Death: Al Pacino is in talks to star as Jack Kevorkian in an HBO biopic, You Don’t Know Jack, to be directed by Barry Levinson. The film will follow Kevorkian, currently serving a life sentence in Michigan after a 1999 court decision, from his first assisted suicide to his countless legal battles defending a patients’ rights for euthanasia. Reportedly, Pacino became interested in mercy killings when, post–Righteous Kill — wait for it — his career took a sharp turn for the worse. [HR]
Hoffman’s Version: Dustin Hoffman has signed up for the indie drama Barney’s Version, playing a retired cop and the father of Philip Seymour Hoffman Paul Giamatti’s Barney, an irresponsible character who is now a “person of interest†in the shady disappearance of a friend. See, now this is the kind of Hoffman-on-Hoffman action those soulless mainstream Hollywood movies could never provide. [Variety]
Funny People: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s Paul, starring the two as sci-fi fanatics who encounter an escaped alien in Area 51, has added a bunch of funny people to its cast, including Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and Jane Lynch. The trades only say what Rogen will be doing — voicing the title alien, Paul — so we guess everyone else will just hang around on set being hilarious and stuff. [Variety]
Well … : HBO’s dark comedy Hung, about a well-endowed man looking to exploit his natural advantage, will premiere June 28 after True Blood with a 45-minute episode; nine 30-minute episodes will follow. The pilot for the series, starring Thomas Jane, Jane Adams, and Anne Heche, was directed by Alexander Payne. Okay, this sounds promising, so we only have one question: Boogie Nights prosthetic or no Boogie Nights prosthetic, Thomas? [Variety]
Wilmer in Charge: Prepare yourself for a world where Wilmer Valderrama continues to control our television programming. The creator of Yo Mamma has signed a three-year deal with reality- and alternative-TV production house RelativityReal and already has a few projects in the works, including a Disney show, a Nickelodeon show, and an MTV adaptation of the novella Brooklyn Sound, “set in a tough neighborhood where teenagers use their talent and passion to achieve stardom.†[HR]