Stoppable … : Denzel Washington has officially left Unstoppable, the Tony Scott–directed, Chris Pine–co-starring, runaway-train-set, hero-conductor-featuring action movie. Apparently it was a monetary decision: Fox was trying to cut the budget down to the mid-nineties, and had asked Scott to knock $3 million off his $9 million salary and Washington to knock $4 million off his $20 million salary, which Washington was unwilling to do. He’s walking away over a measly $4 mil? Could there be something else going on? Like, maybe, Denzel remembering he doesn’t look good in overalls? [Variety]
Code Name: Duchess: FX has ordered six episodes of spy comedy Archer, the network’s first cartoon in ten years. Set at a secret agency known as ISIS, it features a cast of characters — including master spy Sterling Archer (Jon Benjamin), his mother and boss Malory (Jessica Walter), and ISIS comptroller Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell) — who are constantly screwing each other over. The trailer is promising: Check it out here. [HR]
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Rakim’s long-awaited The Seventh Seal, his first solo album since 1999’s The Master, is scheduled for release this fall. The emcee signed with Dr. Dre in 2001, but apparently got lost in the Detox shuffle and never released solo material on Aftermath; none of the material he’s recorded with Dre will be showing up on the new album. [Billboard]
Undergound: Craig Yoe’s Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster has been optioned by the Gotham Group. The book tells the story of Shuster’s work on mob-financed underground comic The Nights of Horror, featuring scenes of torture and S&M, which led to a police crackdown and a Supreme Court case in 1954 — all after the leader of a group known as the Brooklyn Thrill Killers credited the comics as inspiration for a murderous crime spree. Whatever else it is, it at least sounds more interesting than Superman. [Variety]
Coming Up From the … : Basement Jaxx have wrapped up their fifth studio album, Scars, and will release it in October on XL. Recorded in Berlin and New York, it features Yoko Ono, Yo! Majesty, Santigold, Lightspeed Champion, Sam Sparro, and Eli “Paperboy” Reed. On a random side note, we went to high school with Eli, although back then he was known as Eli “Milk Delivery Guy” Reed. [Variety]