Benjamin Again: Anna Faris will star in Private Benjamin, a remake of the 1980 comedy that starred Goldie Hawn as a spoiled woman who joins the army after her husband dies during sex on their wedding night. With this and the recent green light for Overboard, expect news of a First Wives Club remake any day now. [Risky Business/HR]
Cranston Wears Crowne: Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston is in final negotiations to join Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in Larry Crowne, a story which follows a man (Hanks) who is let go from his job and decides to re-enroll in college, where he “catches the eye†of a professor (Roberts). Cranston will play Roberts’ husband, a - get ready - “blogger who spends most of his time looking at porn.†We can just imagine the conversation between Cranston and his wife: “Oh, sorry, hon… I’m just, uh, researching for my role.†[HR]
Stone Takes On McGee: Oliver Stone is in talks to helm Travis McGee, with Leonardo DiCaprio set to star as the title character. The movie is based on the first of the 21 John D. MacDonald-scribed detective novels featuring McGee, and the story will follow the hero in his search for treasure hidden by a soldier after World War II. Nicolas Cage is no doubt fuming tonight, his grasp on the treasure hunt movie genre slipping out of his fingers. [Risky Business/HR]
Greengrass Embarks On Voyage: Paul Greengrass (Green Zone) is in talks to direct Fantastic Voyage, Fox’s remake of the 1966 sci-fi thriller about a team of scientists shrunk to “atomic size†and placed in a mini-submarine in order to save the life of a defecting Soviet scientist. Of course, the film will be made for 3-D. That’s right, your wildest dreams are coming true: a combination of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Avatar. [Heat Vision/HR]
He Is Number Four: Alex Pettyfer, who will star in the upcoming Beastly, is in negotiations for the leading role in I Am Number Four, Dreamworks’ adaptation of the young-adult science-fiction novel with a script from Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar. The plot follows a group of nine aliens who escape their home planet right before it is annihilated; the central alien (Pettyfer), who is “hiding†on Earth, disguises himself as a human high schooler. Gough and Millar certainly have a genre, huh? [Heat Vision/HR]
Ring, Ring!: Broken Bells, the new group featuring Danger Mouse and Shins frontman James Mercer, who recently played one of SXSW’s most buzzed-about shows, will launch its first ever full-scale tour in North America over May and June. Catch them now before their songs are played on every CW show and they are no longer cool. [Pitchfork]