Slide, Slide, Slippery Slide: James Cameron’s next project has been revealed! He will produce and serve as HMIFC on a remake of the 1966 sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage. Shane Salerno will direct the film about a group of scientists who shrink down small enough to enter the bloodstream of a sick colleague. Insiders say the film will employ the same technology used for Avatar, though none of the characters will be smurfs. [Variety]
There Will Be Brains: Natalie Portman has signed on to star in and produce a film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which will not be a mini-series after all. Seth Grahame-Smith’s mash-up of Jane Austen and George Romero includes lots of lace, love and lobotomies. Portman will play Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine who is distracted from her mission of killing zombies by the sexy Mr. Darcy. [Variety]
Man on Fire: J.J. Abrams is in the process of snagging the rights to Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin. Abrams would produce for Bad Robot films while McCann would write the screenplay himself. The book starts with the story of Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers and moves on to his trial. Characters include a monk who lives with prostitutes in the Bronx, a group of mourning mothers, and a grandmother and her daughter. We look forward to seeing how Abrams fits a smoke monster in there. [THR]
See Here: Bryce Dallas Howard will star opposite Matt Damon in Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter. Written by Peter Morgan, the film is about a working class American, a French journalist and a British student who are all touched by death in a traumatic way. Hereafter should hit theaters in December 2010 and get Clint Eastwood another Oscar nomination he’ll act like he doesn’t want. [Variety]
Roughed Up: Danny McBride and a group of friends have set up a comedy production house at Mandate Pictures. Rough House has a two year first look deal with Mandate and will focus on producing “high-concept comedies.†Here’s hoping this means Eastbound and Down gets turned into a movie, because the world needs more of this. [THR]