The Bulletin: 'Zohan' Versus 'Iron Man'

Columbia Pictures is in negotiations to acquire Judd Apatow ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin"), Robert Smigel ("TV Funhouse") and Adam Sandler's script "You Don't Mess With The Zohan," with Sandler likely to star, reports The Hollywood Reporter. In "You Don't Mess With The Zohan," a Mossad agent fakes his death in order to anonymously migrate to New York City to be a hair stylist. Smigel will do a rewrite of the script, with production to begin in the summer in Los Angeles. Sandler's production company Happy Madison will produce. No word yet on a director.

Stiller, Cruise Will Star as Frank and Joe Hardy
Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise will star as the classic sibling sleuths The Hardy Boys, all grown up but together again to solve a case (the secret of the old mill, perhaps) in "The Hardy Men," reports celebrity blograg TMZ and Variety. The comedy director du jour Shawn Levy ("Night at the Museum") will direct for 20th Century Fox. Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld and Robert Kosberg will produce. The script is in rewrites, with production to begin next year. Stiller is in negotiations with Cruise to possibly star in "Tropic Thunder" (July 11, 2008), too, a comedy about five actors haphazardly caught in the crossfire of a real war while on the location shoot of a war epic. Stiller ("The Cable Guy") will direct for Dreamworks.

Bridges Joins "Iron Man"
Jeff Bridges will star in Jon Favreau's "Iron Man" (May 2, 2008), an adaptation of Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby's comic about frail American industrialist billionaire Tony Stark, whose iron exoskeleton outfits the Vietnam veteran with superstrength, flight, virtual invulnerability and an array of weaponry. Bridges joins Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow. Production on "Iron Man" begins in Los Angeles in March for Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures.

"Indiana Jones" Cracks Whip Again on May 22, 2008
Update: Production on a fourth chapter of "Indiana Jones," in script development for years, will finally begin in June in locations abroad and in Los Angeles with Harrison Ford back to star, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Frank Darabont ("The Green Mile") and Jeff Nathanson ("Catch Me If You Can") took cracks at abortive scripts, but David Koepp's ("War of the Worlds") has Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' stamp of approval. "George, Harrison and I are all very excited," Spielberg said. "We feel that the script was well worth the wait. We hope it delivers everything you'd expect from our history with Indiana Jones." Expect the fourth chapter on Thursday, May 22, 2008.

Mark Your Calendar
Sept. 14: An FBI agent recruits a professional Ping Pong prodigy for a secret mission that requires a paddle in Robert Ben Garant's outrageous spoof "Balls of Fury." With Christopher Walken, Dan Fogler and George Lopez. (From April 27) ... Sept. 28: A whip-smart FBI agent (Jamie Foxx) mobilizes an elite unit (Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman) to capture a terrorist mastermind responsible for a deadly attack on Americans in Saudi Arabia in Peter Berg's geopolitical procederal thriller "The Kingdom." (From April 20) ... Dec. 7: George Clooney and Renee Zellweger match wits in "Leatherheads," a romantic comedy about Dodge Connolly, an aging professional football star and coach, in a contest with the club's superstar player Carter Rutherford (John Krasinski of TV's "The Office") for the affections of Lexie Littleton, a spitfire cub journalist, in the American heartland of 1925. ... June 20, 2008: Peter Segal's adaptation of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry's TV spoof "Get Smart," with Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, and Anne Hathaway ("The Devil Wears Prada") as Agent 99. ... Oct. 3, 2008: Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic "Where The Wild Things Are" with Catherine Keener.