Exclusive: The road trip movie about future Republican Party strategists Karl Rove and Lee Atwater is ready to hit the road this fall, now that it has a full tank of gas. StarStream Media has committed to finance and produce Young Americans, a Black Listed Wes Jones-scripted film that reunites Kill Your Darlings director John Krokidas with Daniel Radcliffe (who’ll play Atwater) and Dane DeHaan (who’ll play Rove). Amanda Seyfried has also been set to star in the film…...

Whiplash is many things: intense, inspiring, riveting; and a story of obsession and frustration that features two knockout performances. It’s no secret we here at Sos are big fans of the film, which nearly cracked our list of the ten best movies released in 2014. By now, most cinephiles have had a chance to see the brilliant sophomore effort from director Damien Chazelle, but not too many people have seen his 18-minute 2013 short film of which it is based on. In order to secure financing for his Black Listed script, Chazelle directed an 18-minute short film version for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival which went on to win the jury prize in its U.S. Fiction category. The win helped land him $3 million in cash to go on to make what would later became an Oscar winning hit. Now with the Blu-ray release, the short is finally available to watch. Enjoy!

In order to nail down financing for his Black Listed script, writer/director Damien Chazelle directed this 18-minute short film version of "Whiplash" for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. And the rest is history: the film lured investors to produce the full script to the tune of $3 million. (Watch below, courtesy of The Film Stage.) Produced by Right of Way Films and Blumhouse Productions, the short stars J.K. Simmons in an early treatment of the first "chair-throwing" scene from the 2014 feature, which won Sundance's Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize. Johnny Simmons assumes the Miles Teller role. Blumhouse's Jason Blum, who co-produced with Jason Reitman and a long list of other co-producers, said Reitman also co-conceived this idea to do the short. "Jason had a lot of success with this [in the past]," Blum said. "Jason Reitman's movies are tonally incredibly complicated, and he's amazing with tone and before he proved himself, he had.

Just after we learned that Fast & Furious franchise star Tyrese Gibson was trying really hard to land the lead role in the eventual reboot of Green Lantern at Warner Bros. Pictures, the actor is heading to the studio that made the first adaptation of the DC Comics superhero for his next project. Deadline has word that Gibson is attached to star in Desert Eagle, an action spec script that the actor/rapper wrote with Mike Le. The story follows two border patrol agents sent to investigate a drug cartel being operated out of a Native American reservation casino. That sounds kind of like an old school thriller premise from the 90s. The script will now be rewritten by Matthew Stuecken and Josh Campbell (they also wrote the remake of Snabba Cash in development) with Ted 2 producer Scott Stuber on board as well, but the original script should be a...

After messing with politics both dramatically and comedically with Game Change and The Campaign respectively, director Jay Roach is looking to switch things up by venturing into action comedy. THR has word that the director of the Austin Powers trilogy is attached to direct Mad Dogs, an adaptation of the book of the same name by James Grady. The book, which is being used as a jumping off point for the big screen story described as The Hangover meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Wes Jones, who wrote the 2010 Black Listed script College Republicans, will write the script, and this one sounds like a lot of fun. The story will follow three dysfunctional guys working low-level jobs in U.S. Intelligence who have been deemed crazy and sent to a government mental hospital for spies. Convinced someone wants them dead, they hatch an escape plan. It’s obvious they...

After making his feature directorial debut with the poignant and hilarious satire Dear White People this year, director Justin Simien is ready to head into more broad comedy. Deadline reports Paramount Pictures has picked up the 2013 Black Listed comedy script Make a Wish from first-time writer Zach Frenkel with Simien attached to direct. In addition, Captain America: The Winter Soldier star Anthony Mackie will star in the film as Butchie Jones, a football star who wants to grant the final wish of a dying 14-year-old who adores the athlete. However, his dying wish isn't just to meet the football player. Read on! The real wish from the teenager is that he wants the football player to help him get laid before he dies. That certainly sounds like it could be full of inappropriate but hilarious humor, but maybe even have some heart as well. Mackie has proven to be a...

While Jake Gyllenhaal blows up the internet with photographs of him with massive muscles for his next project, another one of the actor’s upcoming films has been sold with the director of Wild and Dallas Buyers Club set to bring it to the screen.

Fox Searchlight announced on Wednesday that Jean-Marc Vallée’s followup to this year’s Wild, Demolition, has sold to over 25 territories worldwide. The film was snapped up in a heated bidding war back in October and will co-star Naomi Watts.

Demolition turns on a troubled, investment banker widower (Gyllenhaal) whose world is changed by an unexpected encounter with a single mom (Watts). The film is based on Bryan Sipe’s 2007 Black Listed screenplay.

The director came from Quebec and hit the movie scene by storm with last year’s Dallas Buyers Club, which was nominated for Best Picture and garnered Best Actor and Supporting Actor Oscars for its two stars,...

Joe Wright’s take on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan lore doesn’t hit theaters until July 17 but a first teaser has dropped via Warner Bros. The fantasy actioner retells the tale of an orphan boy snatched from turn-of-the-century London and transported to a magical land ruled by a moustache-twirling pirate. Pan stars Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily, Garrett Hedlund as Hook, and youngster Levi Miller as Peter in the Black Listed origin tale scripted by Jason Fuchs.

'Plus One' will be produced by Gloria Sanchez Productions,which is dedicated to female-driven film and TV projects, alongside executives Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. This is Prosser's second screenplay to enter development, as her 2012 Black Listed script "The One That Got Away" is currently in production via Amazon Studios. Weinstein's Julia Rapaport and Melissa Wells will oversee "Plus One." Here's the synopsis: In "Plus One," Rachel comes out of a long-term relationship only to realize all her friends have married off and there’s no one single left to go out with…except Summer, the loud, sexually-oversharing wild card who is now Rachel’s only option for a wing woman. Harvey Weinstein says Prosser is a "talented up-and-comer" and that "female-driven comedies continue to be a tremendously exciting force in film these days." Weinstein has a solid slate of Fall 2014 films led by women:...

Nearly two years ago, we heard about Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Tom Hardy  teaming up to produce an animal trafficking drama, in the same vein as Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, that takes a dramatic from look at everything from the ground war on poachers in the African savanna to how animal material ends up in the fancy fashion houses of Paris. There's been no news since then, but now Deadline reports Mission: Impossible 5 writer Will Staples will script another untitled film set up at Warner Bros. about the same topic with Hardy, DiCaprio and Maguire still possibly taking roles in an ensemble cast. Staples previously worked writing video games like Call of Duty and Need for Speed, but he's hit Hollywood with a Black Listed script called King of Heists, which will star Jeremy Renner, and a project called Myth that will be produced by Transformers franchise producer...

It’s not all comic books and superheroes over at Legendary Pictures, though perhaps that is where the bulk of its fame lies. On the contrary, the production company is talking to new screenwriter Michael Werwie about an adaptation of the recently published Operation Shakespeare, by John Shiffman – an investigative reporter for Reuters.

The work of Michael Werwie is as yet untested in practical terms, but he has already made Hollywood waves with his original screenplay Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, And Vile – which landed a well-ranked spot on the 2012 Black List, and brought Werwie a Nicholl Fellowship In Screenwriting that same year. Always seeking exciting new talent to work with, and interesting new directions in which to head, Legendary is apparently tapping the scribe for this adaptation job, once he has completed a script titled Lost Girls for Warner Bros.

The book in question, which announces itself as “the great...

When it premiered at Toronto last Fall, writer/director Ned Benson's "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby," like monogrammed towels, appeared in two version: "Him," and "Her." Starring James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain, this three-hour-plus drama about the disintegration of a relationship could be seen from either perspective, respectively.  Once we knew that a new, two-hour cut -- now officially dubbed "Them" -- would be hitting la Croisette on May 17 in Cannes' Un Certain Regard, the real question became: what version will The Weinstein Company, who bought the film for some three million dollars at Tiff, unveil in theaters this Fall? The answer, folks, is all three. The Weinsteins have strategically slated the film for a September 26, 2014 release, with virtually no festival play between Toronto '13 and Cannes '14. According to Deadline, TWC plans to release all three cuts ("Him," "Her," "Them") of Benson's debut feature, which was originally Black Listed,...

The only time the words Epic Fail could be considered a good thing for a movie production company, is when they are accompanied by the disclaimer that it is actually an Ed Helms movie. The actor – beloved for his giggle-inducing turns in The Office and The Hangover franchise – helped to develop the original idea for the action comedy, and will also star in it.

Detailing the exploits of a somewhat unusual Special Forces team, the film follows the group as they play to their strengths – excessive dysfunction and firepower – to save America, under the leadership of “the only soldier more badass and moustachioed than a Navy Seal: The Walrus.”

Nicky Weinstock from Invention Films will produce, with colleague Whitney Thomas as Executive Producer. They will work alongside Ed Helms and Michael Falbo of Pacific Electric Picture Company – launched by Helms in 2013 – with Erik Feig, Matthew Janzen and James Myers of Lionsgate overseeing proceedings.

Exclusive: Hot off the crime drama True Detective, the critically acclaimed eight-episode limited series he directed for HBO starring Matthew McConaughey-Woody Harrelson, Cary Fukunaga is in the middle of a pitch that Fox has bought pre-emptively for mid-six figures. It’s untitled, and it’s set in a contemporary wartime context. And it will be written by Nicole Riegel — who, like Fukunaga, came from the Sundance Labs program and whose script Dogfight was a Black List choice. The deal went down Friday night, with Riegel (who just signed with CAA off all this heat) writing this as a vehicle for Fukunaga to direct. He also will produce with Anonymous Content’s Michael Sugar. Fox’s Kira Goldberg and Emma Watts are point on the project. Related: Fox, Chernin Buy Pitch From Black Listed Twin Scribes It isn’t uncommon to hear that industry people like cutting-edge series on pay and basic cable,...

Following on from the 2011 remake, word now surfaces that German director Dennis Gansel is in talks to direct The Mechanic 2, currently on the market out in Berlin.

THR report that the director is in negotiations with Nu Image, who are shopping the action sequel to international buyers at the European Film Market.

Jason Statham is reprising his role as Arthur Bishop, the eponymous elite assassin with a talent for clean kills, often made to look like accidental deaths, and a strict code of conduct.

No word yet if Ben Foster will be reprising his role for the upcoming sequel, but Statham’s involvement alone will no doubt be enough to continue the success of the franchise.

Remaking the 1972 film of the same name, Simon West’s The Mechanic netted just over $50m. around the world, with its home entertainment release sure to have tipped the scales very nicely in the black,...

There’s no doubt that Jason Bateman’s Bad Words is set to be one of the best comedies of the year, getting its debut out in Toronto last year to glowing early reviews.

The R-rated comedy launched a suitably red-band first trailer last year, followed more recently by a new trailer and poster this month. And with its release just a few weeks away, Focus Features have launched the red-band first clip, focusing on Bateman’s character’s winning word to great comedic effect.

Guy Trilby is a 40-year-old man seeking catharsis in his life. He seizes the ideal that this will come for him through the National Spelling Bee; after discovering a loophole in the rules, Guy zealously joins the competition and easily outpaces the pre-teen field in match after match. As reporter Jenny Widgeon delves into Guy’s story, Guy finds himself forging an unlikely friendship with a competitor,...

Not too long ago we heard that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be starring in a zombie film called Maggie. The gestating Black Listed script from John Scott III revolves around the titular teenage girl who lives a seemingly normal life in middle America until she becomes infected after a zombie bites her. There’s a catch though, the turn from human to undead takes six months, meaning that her family has plenty of time to deal with Maggie’s transformation.

The film is said to focus not so much on the zombie elements of the story but more on the effect that Maggie being bitten has on her family, specifically her father, who will be played by Schwarzenegger.

Today, actress Abigail Breslin has signed on to play the lead role, which was initially offered to Chloe Grace Moretz. The Henry Hobson-directed film will head into production this Fall but aside from Breslin and Schwarzenegger,...

Just last month, Arnold Schwarzenegger was linked to a surprising project in the form of Maggie, the gestating Black Listed script from John Scott 3 about a 16-year old girl from a town in middle America who becomes infected by a zombie. But the turn takes six months, with the story following the effect it has on her family, specifically her father who continues to lover her unconditionally. Commercials director Henry Hobson (who was at the helm of this Resistance 3 trailer) will make his feature directorial debut, and now THR reports Abigail Breslin has taken the lead role that once belonged to Chloe Grace Moretz. Read on! Like Moretz, the young actress has grown up on the big screen with early roles in films like Signs and Little Miss Sunshine. Though Breslin hasn't chosen projects as wisely, with missteps like New Year's Eve, she's still quite the talented actress, and...

Over a year ago, Chloe Moretz continued her penchant for dark, unique dramas when she became attached to Maggie, a Black Listed drama about a 16-year old girl from a town in middle America who becomes infected by a zombie. However, this film is different then your average zombie flick as it actually takes six months for the girl to turn into a zombie and the story follows the affect it has on her family, mainly her father who continues to have nothing but unconditional love for her. However, Variety reports scheduling will keep Moretz from starring, but Arnold Schwarzengger has signed to play the father. More below! Timur Bekmambetov won an auction to pick up the script, by John Scott 3, but it will be Schwarzenegger producing the film now along with Silver Reel and Lotus Entertainment, who have partnered with Silverlining Media Group and Gold Star films. Commercials...

Shia Labeouf might be making more headlines for his, uh, eccentric foray into theater and emailing Alec Baldwin than for his movie work of late, but it doesn't change the fact that he's got a compelling, engaging screen presence, and he's been making some bold and interesting choices since breaking free of the "Transformers" franchise. The actor, who was last glimpsed at Sundance with "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman," has Lars Von Trier's "Nymphomaniac" in the can, and the actor just added another project to his slate, with Deadline reporting that the actor will star in the indie "Villain." A Black Listed script by Josh Zetumer (who wrote next year's "RoboCop" reboot, and was one of our Screenwriters On The Rise in 2012), it's a two-hander about a man confronted and tortured in the mountains by his brother, who blames him for having his kids taken away by social services.

As pre-production chatter for the Brian Duffield-penned Black Listed Western Jane Got a Gun has been nothing but positive (especially when it comes to the film’s very talented cast), today’s news that director Lynne Ramsay has exited the project in spectacular fashion is nothing short of genuinely shocking and quite confusing. Deadline Hollywood reports (via The Playlist) that the film’s cast and crew (including stars Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton, Jude Law, and Rodrigo Santoro) showed up on Monday (the project’s official first day of production) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, only to find that Ramsay “was a no-show and had abruptly dropped out of the film.” Producer Scott Steindorff “confirmed the crisis” and weighed in to Deadline in a passionate plea, saying, “I have millions of dollars invested, we’re ready to shoot, we have a great script, crew and cast…I’m shocked and so disappointed someone would do this to...

• Cameron Diaz is attached to play The Other Woman, a comedy about an unwitting mistress who, upon learning her boyfriend is really a married man, teams up with his wife for revenge. Kristen Wiig is also being considered for the film, though it’s unclear whether she would play the wife. Screenwriter Melissa Stack (who penned the Black Listed, but unproduced, I Want to F— Your Sister) penned the script. No director is yet set for the film. [TheWrap]

• Chris Hemsworth is set to star in Candy Store, a thriller from Syriana writer-director Stephen Gaghan about a former elite spook whose...

Despite his many great performances, in my mind Phillip Seymour Hoffman will always be Scotty in Boogie Nights. My wife and I watch it whenever it’s on TV and Scotty always makes us laugh. Now, I am happy to report that Scotty is moving from Jack Horner’s boom mic operator to a full fledged director.

Variety brings word that Hoffman, who also directed Jack Goes Boating, will direct Ezekiel Moss for Mandalay Pictures. The flick is a described as a “Depression Era ghost story about an imaginative boy living in a small town who befriends a mysterious drifter who may have the ability to communicate with the dead.” the Black Listed script was written by Keith Bunin.

Anthony Bregman and Stefanie Azpiazu are producing for Likely Story. Cathy Schulman is doing the same for Mandalay with Adam Stone. Emily Ziff of Hoffman’s Cooper’s Town Productions is also producing.

Variety is reporting Old Boy director Park Chan-wook will direct Corsica 72. Skyfall writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade wrote the Black Listed script.

From Variety:

Based on a true story, period pic follows two best friends who live on the small island of Corsica where they choose different paths in life — one as an honest working man, the other as a gangster — and feud over a woman who comes between them.

Park also recently signed on to direct another Black List script, the western The Brigands of Rattleborge.

When Corsica was first making the rounds Andrew Garfield and Gemma Arterton were attached, but they have since left the project.

Producer Adi Shankar on Park:

“Having spent the majority of my life in Southeast Asia I have been a fan of director park my whole life. Where I’m from it doesn’t get any better than Park Chan-wook.”

Park...

“Arrested Development” is finally making its way back before cameras thanks to Netflix, so that means that the cast will be too busy for other projects in the near future, right? Wrong. Jason Bateman is planning on taking the lead role in the Andrew Dodge’s 2011 Black Listed indie comedy “Bad Words.” He’ll play a bitter thirtysomething (despite being 43) who exploits a loophole to enter a kids' spelling bee. Not content with simply starring in the film though, Bateman has lined this up to be his debut feature as a director. Bateman first tried his hand at directing way back in 1989 on his sitcom “Valerie.” He’s since directed episodes of six other shows including the excellent “Afternoon Delight” episode of "Arrested Development." As well as acting and directing, Bateman will also serve as a producer through his fledgling company Aggregate Films (who are also bringing Seth Gordon’s.

Take a little bit of Zombieland, a pinch of Mad Max and the romance of a John Hughes film, and you have Monster Problems a spec script by Brian Duffield (who wrote the Black Listed script for Jane Got a Gun, a western with Natalie Portman attached). It's Heat Vision reporting Paramount is negotiating to pick up the script with director Shawn Levy and his 21 Laps production banner looking to produce. While specific plot points are being kept under wraps, the aforementioned description with romance on the road in a post-apocalyptic world is what we have to work with, and that's enough to tickle my fancy now. Read on! It's like that there are monsters let roaming the world, perhaps not unlike in Gareth Edward's Monsters (which has a sequel getting off the ground), and there's a small group trying to survive and navigate the world, maybe trying to find...

Did Jake Gyllenhaal just have a bad night’s sleep or something?

Just one day after replacing Dominic Cooper as the lead of B-movie thriller Motor City, the actor has exited the project citing scheduling issues for his departure. It turns out Gyllenhaal was under the impression that his attachment to the film would convince the producers Dark Castle to push the Spring start date back to accommodate the film star but the studio weren’t having it, told him it was now or never, and Gyllenhaal just the latter.

The search is back on for Dark Castle to find a leading man who can play the ex-military vet/petty criminal who is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and once being freed from the slammer, takes revenge on the guys who put him there. Yes, it does sound like every other revenge thriller ever made and indeed...

From a Denzel Washington-starring chase film, to a Yakuza crime film. Talk about a one-two punch for director Daniel Espinosa.

It appears as though the Snabba Cash and Safe House helmer is in talks to take on WB’s upcoming film The Outsider, based on the Black Listed script from Andrew Baldwin. The film follows the story of a Pow in Osaka, who becomes a cohort of the Yakuza.

Read more on Daniel Espinosa to helm The Outsider, Michael Fassbender eyed to star...

George Clooney will continue his interest in real-life characters by adapting the life story of radical '60s comedian-musicians Tom and Dicky Smothers for the big screen.  Clooney and his Smokehouse partner Grant Heslov have optioned the David Bianculli's "Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" for Sony.    Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman, who wrote the Black Listed script "Atari," about video game pioneer Nolan Bushnell, will pen the screenplay. While Clooney and Heslov are producing, it's unknown at this time if Clooney will star, according to Deadline.com, who broke the story.   Best known for the...

Here's a couple casting updates for projects moving through development. First up, Deadline reports Captain America himself Chris Evans has taken a more villainous role in The Iceman, the thriller from director Ariel Vromen which follows Michael Shannon as the titular killer, Richard "The Ice Man" Kuklinski, a mafia hit man who murdered more than 200 people. Evans is actually replacing departed talent James Franco as Kuklinski's mentor Robert Pronge. This will be a darker turn for Evans who traditionally has taken the hero or romantic lead role in films over the years, so it should be a performance to keep an eye on. In addition, Deadline also has word that Amber Heard has snagged the lead female role opposite Dominic Cooper in Motor City, the Black Listed thriller from Albert Hughes, one-half of the sibling directing duo that also includes Allen Hughes. This will be Albert's first solo directing gig...

The film adaptation of Claire Messud’s gorgeous novel The Emperor’s Children has faced an unfairly bumpy trip to the screen. Back in 2009, Ron Howard was slated to direct the film from a script by Noah Baumbach. Then the project seemingly fell dead, with no news until March of 2010, when Howard left the project entirely, leaving both writing and directing duties to Baumbach. At that time, a list of attached cast members was announced (including Keira Knightley, Eric Bana, and Richard Gere, with buzz about some other names like Michelle Williams). Production was supposed to start last summer, but of course, it didn’t, and know Baumbach appears to be back out of the director’s chair, with Crazy Heart helmer Scott Cooper stepping in to direct from Baumbach’s script (according to an insider report from Twitch). Cooper burst on to the scene with his Jeff Bridges-starring Crazy Heart back in 2009, a directorial debut...

First Trailer For Daniel Nettheim's Tiff-Bound Adaptation Of Leigh's Novel 'The Hunter' A batch of new photos from writer Julia Leigh's directorial debut, "Sleeping Beauty," have been unveiled and exhibits the beautiful, perverse nature of the film we had all come to expect from their first provocative trailer. Starring up and comer Emily Browing, the Jane Campion-backed film sees Leigh direct from her own 2008 Black Listed script originally described as “a haunting erotic fairy tale about a student who drifts into prostitution and finds her niche as a woman who sleeps, drugged, in a ‘Sleeping Beauty chamber’ while men…...

Two new posters have been unveiled for features on opposites ends of our anticipation scale in Julia Leigh's erotic thriller "Sleeping Beauty" and Roland Emmerich's period conspiracy drama "Anonymous." First up is the French poster for Leigh's film, which is based on her own 2008 Black Listed script originally described as "a haunting erotic fairy tale about a student who drifts into prostitution and finds her niche as a woman who sleeps, drugged, in a 'Sleeping Beauty chamber' while men do to her what she can‘t remember the next morning." Rising thesp Mia Wasikowska was actually set to star in…...

There's a new possible project for Tron Legacy director Joseph Kosinski. The military/sci-fi film Archangel was originally written by Andrew Will, but Adam Kozad has just been signed to rewrite for New Regency, and Mr. Kosinski has been attached as director. Given that the rewrite process is just starting this will take another couple months before it goes forward, still leaving Oblivion as the likely next project for the director. (That movie has Tom Cruise attached, and could become a big thing at Universal if current negotiations go through.) But Archangel is now on the horizon. More details are after the break. The film sounds like a sort of Men in Black with military spirit where comedy used to be. It is about "a secret unit of the military that tracks and hunts down aliens living among us." Adam Cozad is the same guy who re-wrote [1] his script Dubai into Moscow,...

You’ll first get a chance to see Aaron Guzikowski‘s writing when Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg, hits theaters in March of 2012, but his Black Listed script for Prisoners may finally see the light of day soon as well. According to Twitch, Incendies director Denis Villeneuve has signed on to make it his English-language debut. The story concept is streamlined – a man’s daughter is kidnapped, and he decides to take the law into his own hands by kidnapping who he thinks is the kidnapper. That last part leaves a big window open to fool around with the classic revenge tale, and we’ll undoubtedly learn more about what got the script onto the Black List in the first place. Villeneuve has proven himself to be more than capable, but the road to making films in Hollywood is a notoriously treacherous one for even the best foreign directors. Still, it’s great to see him progress and...

With a summer release imminent, Sony has released, thanks to IMDb, a brand new look at their upcoming comedy, 30 Minutes Or Less, from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer.

The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, and Michael Pena, and is backed by a Black Listed screenplay, penned by Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan. 

Read more on New look at 30 Minutes Or Less features Danny McBride and a crossbow...

Update: Variety [1] repeats the news, but refers to the film as Out of the Furnace. Since Crazy Heart became a critical, awards and art-house success, director Scott Cooper has been linked to a few different projects. Jennifer Lawrence was hoping he'd make [2] Lie Down in Darkness, and ask her to star in it. He was an option for the Warner Bros. film Tales From the Gangster Squad, and mentioned as a possible director [3] for The Hatfields and the McCoys. While some of those projects might still happen (Tales From the Gangster Squad is definitely in the hands of another, however) Relativity has hired him to rewrite the Brad Ingelsby script The Low Dweller, and to direct the film. Deadline [4] has details of the deal, saying that while Leonardo DiCaprio and Ridley Scott were initially attached to the script when Relativity bought the Black List entry, now only Leonardo DiCaprio remains,...

Two of the most famous, craziest and controversial actors working in Hollywood today could possibly team up for one or two upcoming films. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage, who previously co-starred in the 1997 John Woo blockbuster Face/Off, are rumored to be circling two upcoming projects. The first is Shrapnel, written by Evan Dougherty and directed by John McTiernan. The second is Sea Trial, based on the novel by Frank De Felitta. Shrapnel would go first, possibly this summer, as Sea Trial has yet to find funding, but Vulture reports Travolta and Cage are both interested in both films. Read more about them after the break. Vulture, who exclusively broke the news [1] of these projects, says that the 2008 Black Listed Shrapnel had locked up McTiernan last year. It stalled, though, when the Die Hard-director was fined $100,000 and sentenced to a year in prison for lying to a jury in a Hollywood wiretapping case.

Last May we heard that Wayne McClammy,the man responsible for directing Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel's respective viral videos "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" and "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck was going to be at the helm of a new comedy called Desperados starring Isla Fisher (Hot Rod, Wedding Crashers). But now THR reports Betty Thomas, a woman who has helmed raunchy films like Private Parts to family films like Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel, will now direct the comedy. Trying to capitalize on another films success, the 2009 Black Listed screenplay is described as a female-oriented version of The Hangover. Written by Ellen Rapoport, the story follows a woman who sends an indignant email to her new beau, who has gone silent after they have sex, only to discover he's comatose in a Mexican hospital. Panicking, she races south of the border with her friends in tow to...

Kudos to Sony for playing it smart. A couple of weeks ago they dropped the red-band trailer first for "Bad Teacher," presenting the film as we'll see it in theaters, will all the gleefully foul language in place. But movie marketing can't live on filthy trailers alone, and the standard trailer for the film has now landed, and you know what? It still manages to be pretty funny. Based a Black Listed script from Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (“The Office," “Year One”), the film stars Cameron Diaz as a gold-digging teacher who sets her sights on the new substitute…...

When The Kitchen Sink made the 2010 Black List, little did writer Oren Uziel know that it would soon sell to a Sony Pictures executive that wanted to set out and make his own movies. Now there's more good news for this sci-fi/horror/comedy as Superbad star Jonah Hill wants to make The Kitchen Sink his feature film debut as a director.

Hill is now in contract negotiations to make the film for producer Matt Tolmach, the guy I mentioned up above that used to work for Sony. When Tolmach left his day job he grabbed the rights to Uziel's Black Listed script and started developing it. "I know from experience how quickly scripts either get bought or not, and it often has no bearing on whether they're good or not," Tolmach told Mike Fleming at Deadline. "This one is like the talented kid passed over in the first round of the draft.

As one of today’s most well-respected comedic actors, Jonah Hill is apparently set to take his talents to the other side of the camera.

According to Deadline, Hill is in talks to direct the upcoming film, The Kitchen Sink, based off of a Black Listed screenplay penned by Oren Uziel.

Read more on Jonah Hill to direct The Kitchen Sink…...

Did you ever imagine what it would be like to hear Rupert Murdoch scream at Steve Jobs on the telephone? If Murdoch gets made, you'll get your chance! Forbes got a hold of Jesse Armstrong's Black Listed script about the News Corp mogul, and in addition to that scene -- plus one of Murdoch dyeing his own hair in the bathroom sink -- there is plenty of Shakespearean drama for some intrepid filmmaker to sink his or her teeth into. Of course, no one is actually planning to produce Murdoch, presumably because they don't want to feel the wrath of its subject. Perhaps the Steve Jobs scene is a little too convincing? [Forbes/Mixed Media]...

Yo! Fares Fares (yes that's his name, I kidd you not) a Swedish film actor with Syriac origin (according to Wikipedia) has been cast as bad ass Emile Vargas in Denzel Washington's Safe House. In the 2010 Black Listed script by David Guggenheim, Emile Vargas is described as Ex-Paramilitary. Gun for hire. Hard body. Not particularly large -- just lethal. He was definitely one of my favorite bad guys in the script. Even goes mano a mano with Denzel. Who in el carajo is Fares Fares? Well, he worked with Daniel Espinosa in his breakout film Snabba Cash. It's all good but I got a bone to pick. Are we back to the Cliff Curtis school of casting where Arab looking dudes bag Latino roles? Remember when Curtis played Pablo Escobar in Blow and cornball cholo Smiley in Training Day? You mean to tell me that with all the Latin actors in L.

Last month we heard that Ben Affleck was in the midst of considering Black Listed screenplay American Bullshit as a potential directing gig. However, Heat Vision now reports that Affleck is in talks for a project that hadn't been mentioned as one of the projects he was previously circling. The actor turned director is in early talks to helm Argo, a film from producers Grant Heslov and George Clooney about how the CIA used a fake sci-fi film to rescue Americans during the Tehran hostage crisis. The story originally comes from a 2007 Wired article which has since been adapted into a script that also appeared on last year's Black List as #9. The story sounds like a Hollywood creation, but during the occupation of the American embassy by Iranians in 1979, a rescue effort was mounted by the CIA and the Canadian government to extract six ...

What if you could go back in time and prevent The Beatles from breaking up? That’s the question that screenwriter Chris McCoy poses in his Black Listed script for Get Back, a comedy about two Fab Four fans that travel backwards through time to ensure that they get back to where they once belonged and that Yoko Ono never has the opportunity to “Yoko Ono” the band. I wonder if they’ll reach the late ’60s by way of a yellow, time traveling submarine?

Read more on The Beatles to Get Back to the future in new time travel comedy…...

Filed under: Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical

If you're in Park City enjoying Sundance 2011, use this as your handy guide to notable screenings and events popping up in the snowy mountain town. If you're stuck elsewhere, consider this your roadmap for navigating all the indie buzz.

The forecast for Wednesday, Jan. 26: The snow should ease up, though the chill is here to stay with a high of 31 degrees.

9:00 Am: 'Margin Call' at Eccles Theatre

A late entry into the fest, its first screening just last night, 'Margin Call' sees Zachary Quinto hitting the big leagues alongside heavy hitters like Spacey, Irons and Tucci in the story of an investment firm during a 24-hour period as the 2008 financial crisis hit. It was a Black Listed script, but response is mixed, even with such promise.

11:00 Am: Music and Film, the Creative Process at Sundance House

A...

Filed under: Sundance Film Festival, Cinematical

If you're in Park City enjoying Sundance 2011, use this as your handy guide to notable screenings and events popping up in the snowy mountain town. If you're stuck elsewhere, consider this your roadmap for navigating all the indie buzz.

The forecast for Wednesday, Jan. 26: The snow should ease up, though the chill is here to stay with a high of 31 degrees.

9:00 Am: 'Margin Call' at Eccles Theatre

A late entry into the fest, its first screening just last night, 'Margin Call' sees Zachary Quinto hitting the big leagues alongside heavy hitters like Spacey, Irons and Tucci in the story of an investment firm during a 24-hour period as the 2008 financial crisis hit. It was a Black Listed script, but response is mixed, even with such promise.

11:00 Am: Music and Film, the Creative Process at Sundance House

A...

It's fair to say that the state of the modern romantic-comedy is a dismal one. In the era of "Leap Year," "The Ugly Truth" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic"--where the heroes and heroines behave in a way unrecognizable to actual human beings, the plots are interchangable and contrived, and the comedy, and indeed the romance, are nowhere to be found--it's tempting to give the merely average likes of "Definitely Maybe" or "(500) Days of Summer" a pass, simply for having likable characters or a few interesting scenes. Coming from a Black Listed, genuinely funny (and occasionally insightful) script from Diablo…...

We already know that the lovely Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster and Giovanni Ribisi will join Mark Wahlberg in Contraband, the remake of the Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam. The story follows a security guard and former alcohol smuggler on the Iceland-Netherlands route who is tempted back into illicit business by a dubious friend after encountering financial problems. Baltasar Kormakur (the original film's star and producer) is directing this remake, and he's just brought on some great supporting talent as What's Playing reports Lukas Haas (Inception) and Diego Luna (Milk) have just signed on to star in the frigid thriller. Aaron Guzikowski, who wrote the Black Listed script Prisoners, is writing the American remake, and this sounds like a promising project for Wahlberg. It sounds like this might be the actor's immediately next project despite being linked to more than a few projects. Recently there's been talk about his producing an adaptation of...