Jailhouse Blues: Adrien Brody, Forest Whitaker, Elijah Wood, and Cam Gigandet are onboard for The Experiment, a remake of the German film Das Experiment, being adapted and directed by Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring. The plot is a fictionalization of the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which a group of men assigned guard roles in a simulated prison accept their tasks with a bit too much sadistic glee. Oh, Germans! [Variety]
Rap Love: Rapper-actors Common and Queen Latifah will share the spotlight in the romantic comedy Just Wright. Latifah plays a sports trainer who falls in love with Common’s character, a pro basketball player, while rehabbing him from a serious injury. We don’t know about Common’s athletic acumen, but we’re going to push for a stunt double in the sports scenes anyway; nobody wants a Leonardo DiCaprio–in–Basketball Diaries situation on their hands. [Variety]
Shaq Fu: Shaq is producing a series of comedy specials for Showtime under the title All-Star Comedy Jams. Cedric the Entertainer’s special aired this week; up next is D.L. Hughley, who is shooting his special this month at the American Black Film Festival for a January airdate. Please say this means it’s now inevitable Shaq gets his own comedy special? [Variety]
Ghost Tribulations: DreamWorks Animation is planning a new project for late 2012. Untitled, but referred to internally as Boo U., the movie will revolve around a ghost who is bad at its job and must return to ghost school. Igor’s Tony Leondis will direct and The Simpsons Movie’s Jon Vitti will write. Will the main character bring ghost shower shoes and eat bad ghost cafeteria food? [HR]
Arnold II: Austrian actor Roland Kickinger is in talks to be the next Conan the Barbarian. Like the original, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kickinger is a former bodybuilder and played a T-800 (in Terminator Salvation); he also played Arnold in 2005 A&E biopic See Arnold Run. [HR]
Fairy Tales: Mike Mitchell, the director of Shrek Forever After, will go live-action with the fantasy flick Once Upon a Time. The plot revolves around Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty, who have all married their princes, the Charming Brothers; when their husbands go mysteriously missing, the trio takes action. That sounds like it’d make a good animated movie. [Variety]