The Bulletin: "I Heard You Were Dead"

Gerald Butler ("300") will star as terse renegade Snake Plissken in an update of John Carpenter's 1981 dystopian thriller "Escape From New York," reports Variety. Ken Nolan ("Black Hawk Down") will write the script, and Neal Moritz ("The Fast and the Furious") will produce. In "Escape From New York," Plissken (Kurt Russell), a notorious fugitive with an outlaw's stylish eye patch, infiltrates Manhattan, an inescapable maximum security prison of the future, to rescue the President of the United States.

New Franchise in "Sherlock Holmes"
Warner Bros. Pictures will develop "Sherlock Holmes," a revisionist variation on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's immortal sleuth, with Lionel Wigram, a producer and writer, reports Variety. Wigram's concept, in the vein of recent reinventions of iconic archetypes ("Batman Begins," "Casino Royale"), reintroduces Sherlock Holmes and his confidante Dr. John H. Watson with an edgier style, more adventurous, suave and less stuffy. Neil Marshall ("The Descent") will direct, and Michael Johnson wrote the script.

Black Enlists in "Tropic Thunder"
Jack Black will enlist with Robert Downey Jr. and Jay Baruchel ("Million Dollar Baby") in "Tropic Thunder" (July 11, 2008), a comedy about five actors haphazardly caught in the crossfire of a real war while on the location shoot of a bombastic war epic, for director Ben Stiller ("The Cable Guy") and Dreamworks Pictures, reports Production Weekly. Black will star as Jeff "Fats" Portnoy, an overweight comedian and addict in recovery, while Downey Jr. and Baruchel will star as Kirk Lazarus, the greatest actor of his generation, and the clueless Kevin Sandusky, an unknown actor on the set, respectively. Stiller, Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen wrote the script. Production begins in July.

Blanchett Joins "Indiana Jones"
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 and Cate Blanchett 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." Frank Marshall will produce, and Kathleen Kennedy will executive produce. Expect the fourth chapter Thursday, May 22, 2008.

Humans in Disguise
Jonathan Mostow ("Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines") will direct "The Surrogates," an adaptation of Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele's graphic future-shock thriller of a novel in which humans, in isolation, use surrogate robots to interact, reports Variety. Michael Ferris and John Brancato ("Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines") will write the script, and David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks will produce for Touchstone Pictures.

Howard to Star in "Teardrop Diamond"
Bryce Dallas Howard ("Manderlay") is in negotiations to supplant Lindsay Lohan as Southern debutante Fisher Willow in Tennessee Williams' "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," about a rebellious socialite's struggles in high society, reports Production Weekly. Chris Evans ("Cellular"), Ellen Burstyn, Ann-Margret and David Strathairn will star. Actress Jodie Markell ("Safe," "Hollywood Ending") directs. No word yet on the reasons for Lohan's replacement.

Kutcher, LaBute in Talks for "Lakeview Terrace"
Ashton Kutcher is in negotiations to star with Kerry Washington ("I Think I Love My Wife") and Samuel L. Jackson in "Lakeview Terrace," a thriller in which an interracial suburban couple is the victim of a LAPD officer's harrassment, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Neil LaBute ("Nurse Betty," "The Shape of Things") is in negotiations to direct. Will Smith and James Lassiter will produce.

Eastwood, Jolie Catch "Changeling"
Angelina Jolie will star in "The Changeling"" for director Clint Eastwood and Universal Pictures, reports Variety. J. Michael Straczynski (TV's "Babylon 5") wrote the script, in which a Los Angeles woman's son, the victim of an abduction, is quickly found; but the mother suspects the child is, in fact, not her own. Ron Howard, once on the shortlist as director, and Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment will co-produce with Rob Lorenz of Malpaso Productions.

New Life in "The Giver"
Warner Bros. Pictures will spring an adaptation of Lois Lowry's 1994 novel "The Giver," winner of the illustrious Newbery Medal, from an interminable development purgatory, reports Variety. In "The Giver," a futuristic utopian society unloads the community's emotional baggage, i.e. memories, on a model youth, only to stimulate the youth to revolt the loss of humanity in a world without poverty, crime, sickness or unemployment. Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher will produce.

Thornton, Berry Reunite in "Tulia"
Billy Bob Thornton will reunite with Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball") in "Tulia," an adaptation of the Nate Blakeslee's narrative "Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town," about a female attorney's efforts to expose a corrupt rash of convictions in a Tulia, Texas, in 1999, reports Variety. Carl Franklin ("Devil in a Blue Dress," "Out of Time") will direct for Lionsgate. Karen Croner wrote the script, and Franklin did a rewrite. Adam Rosenfelt, Jesse Franklin, Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins, Vince Cirrincione and Berry will produce. Sam Nazarian, Marc Schaberg, Sharla Bridget Sumpter, Malcolm Petal, Kim Anderson and Tom Ortenberg and Mike Paseornek will executive produce. Production begins April 30 in New Orleans.

Johansson Joins Allen's Next
Scarlett Johansson ("Scoop," "Match Point") will star with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in Woody Allen's next production, Johansson's third with the auteur, in Barcelona, reports Variety.

Mark Your Calendar
Andy and Larry Wachowski's "Speed Racer," with a two-lap head start in the summer circuit, will skid into multiplexes May 9, 2008, instead of, per previous announcement, May 22, 2008. On DVD: "Hannibal Rising" will be available for rental June 5; "Music and Lyrics" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, June 5; David Fincher's "Zodiac" (A), June 26; "The Astronaut Farmer" with Billy Bob Thornton, June 5; "Reno 911!: Miami," June 26; "We Are Marshall" with Matthew McConaughey, Sept. 7; Anthony Minghella's "Breaking and Entering" with Jude Law and Juliette Binoche, May 8; and "Epic Movie," May 22 (From May 8).