Bacon Explosion: Kevin Bacon and Steve Carell will soon be together at last. Bacon has joined the cast of the untitled film Carell and Dan Fogelman are making about a man (Carell) who hires a life coach (Ryan Gosling) after his wife (Julianne Moore) asks for a divorce. Bacon will play Moore’s sexy co-worker, who starts an affair with her. This reminds us that Bacon will soon play a character that steals Rainn Wilson’s wife. Which makes us think that John Krasinski should really watch out. [HR]
Foot Lose: Footloose isn’t having much trouble finding a lead, but it’s having a hell of a time hanging on to one. Chace Crawford, who replaced Zac Efron in the role, has dropped out of the film. Now Paramount is thinking about casting an unknown and possibly launching a nationwide search to find the right actor. Go grab your tights. This is your chance. [Hollywood Insider/EW]
Rocked: Chris Rock has taken over script-writing duties for Mike Nichols’s long-gestating remake of Akira Kurosawa’s classic High and Low. Nichols was originally going to shoot a screenplay written by David Mamet way back in 1999, but that version has been scrapped. Now Rock has been brought onboard to adapt the story of a businessman grappling with the decision to give up his life savings to save his chauffeur’s kidnapped son. Well, this is definitely a bizarre combination. [Black Voices]
Paper Boys: Patton Oswalt has scored the lead role in the NBC comedy pilot Beach Lane. Oswalt will star alongside Matthew Broderick as a rich slacker who is handed a job as editor of a Hamptons newspaper. Broderick will play a well-known journalist hired to turn the paper around by writing profiles of women who look like crispy pieces of bacon. [HR]
Shhh: Todd Phillips is prepping a mystery comedy before he starts work on The Hangover 2. With the working title Project X, the film is aiming for a hard R rating. Phillips will serve as the film’s creative guru, while British commercial director Nima Nourizadeh will make his directing debut. Little is known about the film except that it’s casting college-age students, and Phillips, along with Joel Silver, is insisting on casting actors who will be making their debuts. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. [Deadline]