Honest to Blog: Columbia Pictures is developing The Pioneer Woman, a romantic comedy designed as a starring vehicle for Reese Witherspoon. The project is based on the blog thepioneerwoman.com, written by a woman who took a pit stop in Oklahoma on an L.A.-to-Chicago road trip, where she fell for a cowboy and shed her “spoiled city girl†persona. So take Sweet Home Alabama and add … absolutely nothing, and you’ve got this. [Deadline]
Ivan and Friends: Ivan Reitman will direct Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman in an untitled romantic comedy for Paramount Pictures. Though the specifics of the plot have not been released, the film will generally explore “the ease with which men and women become sexually involved†and the challenges they face when things get more serious. The script from Elizabeth Meriwether uses the working title Friends With Benefits. It’s too bad She’s Out of My League is already taken. [Variety]
Redhead Goes Blue: Jayma Mays (Mr. Schuester–obsessed Emma on Glee) has signed on to play the female human lead in The Smurfs, the upcoming live-action/animated hybrid for Sony. Mays will play the pregnant wife of Neil Patrick Harris, already cast as the other human lead. Hank Azaria will voice Gargamel, the sworn enemy of the Smurfs. Jayma better watch out or she’ll start getting typecast as Love Interest to Man Who Loves Singing More Than Her. [HR]
weJealous: Miranda Cosgrove is 16. Today, she signed a deal with Nickelodeon in the “low-to-mid-seven-figure range†(!!) to remain on her show iCarly for 26 additional episodes (bringing the total order for the series to 96 episodes). “You may get all the paparazzi, Miley, but I’ve got BANK!†Cosgrove shouted on the street … and then her mom picked her up to drive her home. [HR]
From 24 to War: 24 executive producer and show runner Howard Gordon has acquired the rights to Prisoners of War, an Israeli show he will adapt for America with his 24 producing/writing team, likely in their final year on the Fox hit. While the Israeli version centers on three soldiers who return home from seventeen years in Syrian captivity, the American iteration will focus on three U.S. soldiers thought to have been killed in Iraq in 2003 but who are found in a cave ten years later and returned home. The U.S. version will also introduce a new character who is a … counterterrorism agent. Uhhh, seems like Gordon may have some separation-anxiety issues to work out before getting started here. [HR]