Mrs. St. Cloud: Kim Basinger is in talks to join The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. She’d play the mother of Zac Efron’s character, a caretaker at a cemetery who has regular conversations with his younger brother, whose accidental death he feels responsible for. Sources indicate that Basinger’s only doing the role so she can get close enough to Efron to touch his hair. [Variety]
Playing Ball: Happy Madison will produce a script based partially on an incident in the life of ex–Baltimore Oriole Rick Dempsey (who had script input): In 1963, Dempsey’s Little League coach took Dempsey’s squad to the World Championship; later, he’d be arrested for a series of bank robberies. Interestingly, one of the screenwriters is actor Johnathon Schaech — yes, the guy who wrote and starred in Road House 2: Last Call. [Variety]
Dynamite: Jon Heder will star in the adaptation of the graphic novel Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede. He’ll play Oliver Vale, an average geek who is contacted by Buddy Holly through his television and pursued by disguised aliens. Jon Heder — still getting work! [Variety]
Q-Tastic: Maggie Q is joining Priest, the Paul Bettany “horror Western†set amid an all-out war between humans and vampires. Bettany plays a vampire-hunting priest who teams up with a sheriff to track down a crew of particularly evil vampires who have kidnapped his niece; Q will play a priestess who joins the team. On a side note, we’d like to celebrate Maggie Q for going with the one-initial last name. [HR]
Duffy Moves Up: Patrick Duffy has joined the cast of You Again, the Kristen Bell–headlined flick about a girl trying to convince her brother that his fiancée is not the swell person she pretends to be. Amazingly, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Duffy has never done a studio feature before — he’s done a bunch of TV movies and, of course, a whole boatload of television, but no one’s ever pulled him up into the majors … until now. What a beautiful story of perseverance. [HR]
Scammed: Denzel Washington is considering becoming an executive producer on Billy Stiles, a cop show that may be picked up by Fox. Scripted by Virgil Williams, it’s an ensemble drama focused on Stiles, a genius ex-gang-member who becomes a police officer. And we know just the right guy for the part — McLovin! [HR]