Francophile: Soap Opera star James Franco has been cast as a mountain climber who cuts off his own arm after getting it stuck under a boulder in 127 Hours, Danny Boyle’s follow up to Slumdog Millionaire. Franco’s character is based on Aron Ralston, who survived in the Utah mountains for five days before taking a dull knife to his arm. We can’t wait for the irresistible one-armed dance number over the credits. [Production Weekly]
Lovely Killer: Saoirse Ronan is in negotiations to go from dead teenager to teenage killer in the Focus Features action flick Hanna. Directed by Joe Wright, who Ronan worked with in Atonement, the film will focus on a 14-year-old girl whose father raises her to be a killer. After leaving her father and discovering the trappings of a regular life, she’s pulled back into her father’s world and must use her killing skills to fight her way back to a free life. It’s the American Machine Girl! [Heat Vision/THR]
Zombie Pool: Zombieland scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have signed on to write Deadpool, the X-Men spinoff starring Ryan Reynolds as smart mouthed mercenary Wade Wilson. The script will have a similar tone to Zombieland and the Bill Murray cameo is sure to kick ass. [Variety]
Yank!-ee: Bobby Steggert, who’s currently dancing his heart out in Ragtime, will star in the upcoming Off Broadway production of Yank!. The play focuses on a naive Army draftee who works as a photographer for a military magazine. Think of it like Apocalypse Now, with a photographer instead of a writer, and songs instead of explosions. [Variety]