Finally!: Ben Stiller and Justin Theroux will be bringing Zoolander back to the big screen. The duo are working on a script for Zoolander 2, a sequel to the 2001 cult classic; Theroux, who wrote Tropic Thunder and Iron Man 2, will also direct the film. Owen Wilson is in talks to reprise his role of male model Hansel. And Jonah Hill is in negotiations to play the film’s villain, which proves there is more to casting than being ridiculously, ridiculously good-looking. [Deadline]
Must Love Whales: Universal will make Everybody Loves Whales, the story of a 1988 rescue of three California gray whales trapped in the ice of the Arctic Circle. Drew Barrymore is in talks to star as a Greenpeace activist, and Ken Kwapis (He’s Just Not That Into You) will direct the script by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler. Someone might want to tell these guys that now may not be the best time for a feel-good whale movie. [Deadline]
Nat Hits The Road: Natalie Portman is in final negotiations to star in Best Buds, a road-trip comedy about a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown right before her wedding. The film, which Portman will also produce, follows her character on a road trip with two of her best friends, as they “rely on a combo of marijuana and the bonds of their decades-long friendship.†Just one more friend and this totally could’ve been Sisterhood of the Traveling Bong. [Variety]
Writer Of Steel: Warner Bros. is negotiating with David Goyer to pen a new Superman script, tentatively titled Man of Steel, which would allow the studio to get a Superman movie made before it loses the copyright on the character in 2013. Goyer was a co-writer on Batman Begins, helped develop the story for The Dark Knight, and is currently working on a script with Jonathan Nolan for the next Batman installment. Goyer also is behind the Blade franchise and just penned a version of Fox’s X-Men Origins: Magneto. The guy is clearly as picky with his superhero movies as Tiger Woods is with cocktail waitress. [Variety]
Crood For Thought: Nicolas Cage and Ryan Reynolds will lend their voices to DreamWorks’ animated The Croods, a cavemen comedy directed and written by Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch). Cage will play the patriarch who leads his family on a journey after their house is destroyed, during which they run into Reynolds’ “modern-minded†nomad, who charms the family, especially the eldest daughter. She won’t be so pleased when she meets his bombshell nomad wife, Scarjomad! [Variety]
Cuba Joins The List: Cuba Gooding Jr. and Cole Hauser will star in the indie action-thriller The Hit List about a man who drunkenly confides his problems to a stranger (Gooding) he meets in a bar, and then gives him a list of the five people he’d like to see dead. Soon thereafter, the people on his list are killed off one by one. And you felt guilty after drunk texting your ex last weekend! [Variety]