Leave It to Beaver: Steve Carell is out and Jim Carrey may be in on The Beaver, the dark comedy screenplay from Kyle Killen that topped the Black List last year. Carrey would play a depressed toy-company CEO who starts communicating with, and through, a beaver puppet he wears on his hand. We previewed the screenplay (just replace all the Carell mentions with Carrey) and liked what we saw, although were hoping for an edgier director than Jay Roach; well, he’s out too, and may be replaced by … Jodie Foster? This is getting weirder. [HR]
Aquatic Time Travel: Also getting weirder? Hot Tub Time Machine, the movie about a group of friends reuniting at the ski lodge where they spent a weekend as teens and getting sent back to 1987. No, not because Lizzy Caplan will play April, lead partier John Cusack’s romantic interest, but because Crispin Glover will play Phil, a clumsy one-armed bellhop at the lodge. Wow, we still have no idea what to think about this. [HR]
French Fries and Gravy: Barry Levinson’s next project, Sixty-Six, will yet again tell a story of young people coming of age in Baltimore. Set in, yeah, 1966, it features six central characters, including a protagonist who works at a local television network and is something of a Levinson stand-in. The director calls it “the last of the diner stories.†You know what would be perfect, then? Casting Mickey Rourke again. [HR]
French Fries and Gravy: Barry Levinson’s next project, Sixty-Six, will yet again tell a story of young people coming of age in Baltimore. Set in, yeah, 1966, it features six central characters, including a protagonist who works at a local television network and is something of a Levinson stand-in. The director calls it “the last of the diner stories.†You know what would be perfect, then? Casting Mickey Rourke again. [HR]
Step Up 2 the B-Boys: Benson Lee is adapting his 2007 documentary Planet B-Boy, about break dancing’s international reach in the years since its popularity waned in the U.S., into a feature film. The movie will tell the story of a legendary b-boy crew that must take back its title as the best by competing against international teams; it is described as 8 Mile meets The Warriors. Yep, they’re break-dance fighting. [HR]