The Bulletin: Spacey to Reprise Lex Luthor

Kevin Spacey will return as Lex Luthor in Bryan Singer's "Superman: Man of Steel" (2009), reports Variety. Michael Dougherty ("Superman Returns") will write the script, with production to start next year.

Huston to 'Choke'
Anjelica Huston will star with Sam Rockwell ("Matchstick Men") in "Choke," an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel in which a con artist, with an unhealthy disposition to asphyxiate on cue, parasitically frauds strangers out of wealth, and more importantly, compassion, reports Variety. Kelly Macdonald ("No Country for Old Men") and Brad Henke ("World Trade Center") will co-star. Clark Gregg wrote the script ("What Lies Beneath") and will direct. "It's a tricky adaptation because like a lot of Chuck's work, it operates in a heightened satirical, dark world, yet this one is one of his black romantic comedies, so getting the tone right took me some time," Gregg said. Production begins this week in New Jersey.

Theron in 'The Burning Plain'
Charlize Theron will star in "The Burning Plain," in which a woman comes to terms with a turbulent childhood, reports Variety. Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga ("Babel," "21 Grams," "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada") will direct. Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will produce. Theron will executive produce with Marc Butan, Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. Beth Kono will co-produce. Production will start in November with a budget of $20 million.

Role of Dead Girl Cast in 'Lovely Bones'
Saoirse Ronan ("I Could Never Be Your Woman," "City of Ember") will star with Rachel Weisz and Ryan Gosling in Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" an adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel in which a slain girl, Susie Salmon, observes her own family's grief — and her killer's deeds — on Earth in the afterlife, reports Variety. Ronan will star as the slain daughter. Jackson wrote the script with Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh ("The Lord of the Rings," "King Kong"). Carolynne Cunningham, Jackson, Walsh and Aimee Peyronnet will produce, and Tessa Ross will executive produce with Ken Kamins and Jim Wilson. Production begins in October in Pennsylvania and New Zealand.

Cheadle, Pearce to Star in 'Traitor'
Don Cheadle ("Ocean's Thirteen," "Hotel Rwanda") and Guy Pearce ("Memento," "The Proposition") will star in "Traitor," an espionage thriller in which an undercover CIA operative emerges as a terrorist suspect, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Jeffrey Nachmanoff wrote the script, an inspiration of Steve Martin, and will direct. Cheadle will produce with David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Jeff Silver. Ashok Amritraj, Arlene Gibbs and Kay Liberman will executive produce with Martin. Production will start in September in Toronto and Morocco.

Proyas to Direct 'Year Zero'
Alex Proyas ("Dark City," "I, Robot") will direct "Dracula: Year Zero," in which Romanian royal Vlad the Impaler, per lore, bargains with the Devil to save a kingdom, and as a result, metamorphizes into Dracula, reports Variety. Michael De Luca will produce. Mat Sazama and Burk Sharpless wrote the script.

Efron to Star in 'Footloose' Remake
Zak Efron (TV's "High School Musical") will star in an update of Herbert Ross' "Footloose" (1984), in which a rebellious adolescent skirts a small town's dance ban, reports Variety. Dylan Sellers will produce and Kenny Ortega (TV's "High School Musical) will direct and choreograph for Paramount. Kevin Bacon was cast in the original.

Parker to Direct 'Coram Boy'
Alan Parker ("Evita") will write and direct "Coram Boy," an adaptation of Jamila Gavin's epic novel about two orphans' — one free from an African slave ship and the other a homeless son of an heir to an estate — lives in Britain's Coram hospice in 1741, reports Variety. Scott Rudin and Allison Owen will produce in partnership with BBC Films, Miramax and the U.K. Film Council. The novel won the Whitbread Children's Book Award.

Spielberg May Direct 'Trial'
Steven Spielberg may direct "The Trial of the Chicago 7," about the court cases of protesters at the chaotic 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, reports Variety. Aaron Sorkin ("Charlie Wilson's War," "A Few Good Men") wrote the script for DreamWorks. Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes will produce.

Mark Your Calendar
In Theaters: James Mangold's "3:10 to Yuma," with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, will draw earlier, Sept. 7 (From Oct. 5); Michael Dougherty's "Trick 'R Treat," 2008 (From Oct. 5). On DVD: Davis Guggenheim's "Gracie" will be available for rental and purchase Sept. 18; Paul Verhoeven's "Black Book," Sept. 25; and Lee Tamahori's "Next," with Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel, Sept. 25.