Toon Wars: Will Ferrell will replace Robert Downey Jr. in DreamWorks Animation’s Ooberman, voicing the title character, a supervillain who finally defeats his arch-nemesis — superhero Metro Man, voiced by Brad Pitt — only to find his new life boring and predictable; Ooberman then creates a new superhero, Titan, voiced by Jonah Hill, who ends up wanting to be bad, forcing Ooberman to go good. And in the middle of the action is Tina Fey, as a reporter covering the superhero-villain scene. [Variety]
Spidey Sequels: James Vanderbilt has been hired to write Spider-Man 5 and 6, even though his original screenplay for Spider-Man 4 is now on its second rewrite (this one by Gary Ross). Apparently, Sony Pictures Entertainment liked the draft, even though director Sam Raimi did not. Also, the original plan to shoot the fourth and fifth films back-to-back has been scrapped, and now it’s not at all definite whether Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst will be back for 5 and 6. With the Spider-Man musical dying, one has to consider: Is there some kind of Spidey curse going around? Just to be safe, we’re throwing out our Carnage bedsheets. [Variety]
High Smith, Deep Water: Mike Nichols will direct and Joe Penhall (The Road) will write an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Deep Water. The 1957 novel revolves around a couple in a loveless marriage who work out an arrangement in which the husband lets the wife carry on affairs. We guess he changes his mind, though, ’cause eventually all her boyfriends start dying. [Variety]
Cold As Ice: Robert “Iceberg Slim†Beck’s 1969 autobiography, Pimp: The Story of My Life, has been optioned by Entourage exec producer Rob Weiss and some of his producer buddies. Slim was born into poverty, became a pimp at 18, and eventually rose to kingpin status in the Chicago underworld; he was imprisoned several times, escaped once, and eventually retired to become an insecticide salesman. But his greatest achievement may have been inspiring a whole generation of tough-guy rappers to consider using the word ice in their pseudonyms. [HR]
Quite Stoned: HBO has optioned ex–Rolling Stones manager and producer Andrew Loog Oldham’s memoirs, Stoned and 2Stoned, for a loosely based comedy adaptation about a young man living it up with artists in sixties London, which means they’ll probably leave out the part where he sued the Verve. [Variety]
More White: Marlon and Shawn Wayans will write and star in a sequel to White Chicks, with Keenan Ivory Wayans directing and co-writing. Plot details are unavailable thus far, but fans of the first film can rest assured that Marlon and Shawn Wayans will be once again dressing up as white chicks. [HR]