Heart to Heart: Robyn and Kelis will be embarking on a co-headlining tour, which they announced today via a cutesy back-and-forth Twitter conversation. After some initial banter, Kelis tweeted, “Lets call [the tour] ‘All Hearts.’ What do you think?†… to which Robyn responded: “#allheartstour in the us. heartbrake on all four on top of a speaker in a shower of star dust and acid rain,†which we’re just going to assume was her way of saying “Sounds good.†[Pitchfork]
Taking the Chair: Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code) will make his directing debut with Man and Wife, a drama about an assassin who is hired to kill a family but has trouble going through with it when he “falls in love with them.†It’s the “them†there that’s tripping us up a bit, but color us intrigued. [Deadline]
Scream Makes Offers: Dimension has begun casting Scream 4, which will bring back original cast members Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox, but with a new roster of younger folk. Lake Bell is in negotiations to join the film, and offers have been made to Ashley Greene (Twilight), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), and Rory Culkin (Twelve) for key roles. Greene would play the film’s heroine, Campbell’s cousin; Panettiere would be Greene’s nerdy “film geek†best friend; Culkin would play Greene’s love interest; and Bell is in negotiations to play a police officer. Apparently casting is moving slowly because the studio isn’t sending the script out in order to “protect its secrecy,†so actors are having trouble deciding if roles are for them based on the character descriptions alone. Here’s a clue, guys: You’re all going to have to shriek a lot, maybe kiss each other once or twice, and then die in some overly staged manner. [Heat Vision/HR]
Blame the Book: Chris Lowell (Private Practice) is in negotiations to join The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel. The film stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, an aspiring writer in sixties Mississippi who writes a book about the way black maids are treated by society. Lowell will play her boyfriend, a senator’s son who breaks up with her because of the book. But probably also a little bit because it just got too hard for him to say his girlfriend’s name with a straight face. [HR]
Double Mac: Just as the parody MacGruber is hitting theaters, things are moving along on the film adaptation of MacGyver, the television series that inspired it. Jason Richman (Bad Company) will write the script, based on the adventure series that ran from 1985 to 1992 on ABC. Despite the strange timing, at least the release of the parody doesn’t seem to be deterring this project, after the failed attempt by MacGyver’s creator to block MacGruber’s release. No doubt Pepsi will be banned on the MacGyver set. [Risky Business/HR]
Strange Indeed: Dance-punk band !!! is releasing new album Strange Weather, Isn’t It? on August 24, their first album since 2007’s Myth Takes. The rare album title that doubles as an icebreaker. [Pitchfork]
Kaboom!: Gary Oldman will lend his voice to Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom, the 3-D sequel to the 2008 original, centered on a panda named Po voiced by Jack Black. Oldman will voice “a character named Peacock,†who is “more than he seems†and who helps Po find evil bandits. Wait, is the idea here that the “character†named Peacock isn’t actually a peacock? For a kids’ movie, Kaboom seems poised to pose some incisive philosophical questions. [Heat Vision/HR]