Film News: Pirates 4 Director Ahoy, Twilight Controversy, Theron & Worthington Are Tourists

- Disney is in talks with director Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha) for the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film. While producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp will return to the franchise, previous director Gore Verbinski has chosen to move on to new projects.  If a director is confirmed soon, the new film would begin shooting in 2010. [Variety]

- Rachelle Lefevre is out as Victoria in the third Twilight film, Eclipse, and will be replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard.  Evidently Rachelle and her castmates aren't happy about her dismissal, and Summit Entertainment isn't happy that people know Rachelle isn't happy . . . [E! Online]

- The projects keep rolling in for Hugh Jackman. The Wolverine actor has signed on to portray P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman on Earth, an original big screen musical. Jackman "will play the showman with a penchant for hoaxing a gullible public as he creates the three-ring circus that made him famous." Singer/songwriter Mika of "Grace Kelly" fame is in talks to write the music an lyrics. Anne Hathaway is being eyed for the female lead. [Variety]

- Charlize Theron and up-and-coming leading man Sam Worthington(Terminator Salvation, Avatar) will star in The Tourist, a remake of a 2005 French thriller. Theron will play a spy who chooses an "everyman" tourist and uses him as bait to lure a wanted criminal, who also happens to be her ex-lover. Worthington replaces Tom Cruise, who was strongly considering the project but eventually passed. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Steven Spielberg's next project will be . . . a remake?  Spielberg has chosen to tackle a remake of the 1950 film Harvey, in which Jimmy Stewart memorably played a man whose best friend is a 6 1/2-foot-tall invisible rabbit. [Variety]

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TV News: Wylie Confirmed for New Spielberg Series, Trek Stars Appear on Leverage

- Looks like Steven Spielberg got what he wanted (and that's a good thing). Noah Wylie has signed on to star in Spielberg's currently untitled alien-invasion series for TNT.  This will be the second time the 15-year ER vet has worked with the famed director. "It is a privilege to be starting a second series with Noah. The first one didn't do too badly," said Spielberg, who helped launch ER. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Jeri Ryan, best known for her role as Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager, will have a recurring role in TNT's Leverage. The sophomore drama stars Timothy Hutton as the head of a team of specialists who design elaborate scams to "exact revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize people." [Hollywood Reporter]

- Speaking of Leverage and Star Trek, Wil Wheaton (best known for his role as Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation) shot a guest role on an episode of Leverage last week. A profilic blogger and Twitter addict, Wil shared his experiences on set while filming (he had a good time). [Wil Wheaton's Official Blog][Wil Wheaton's Official Twitter]

- TV Guide has posted a quick Q&A with Tim Daly aka Pete Wilder of Private Practice. Daly discusses his take on what he'd like for his character next season and the baby-triangle with Pete, Violet and Sheldon from this past season. [TV Guide]

- Ana Ortiz, who plays Hilda Suarez on Ugly Betty, has a brand new baby girl -- her first child with husband Noah Lebenzon. The couple's daughter weighed in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and is named Paloma Louise. Congratulations to the new parents! [Associated Press via Yahoo! News]

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TV News: Spielberg Pursuing Wylie, Exec Producer Talks Flash Forward, More Monaghan Rumors

- According to EW's Michael Ausiello, Steven Spielberg wants Librarian and ER alum Noah Wylie to star in his upcoming alien-invasion pilot, a project that was announced at the TNT upfronts. The show would be set six months after evil alien forces overwhelm Earth, and Wylie would be "the leader of a ragtag group of citizens who try to bring down the aggressors." [Entertainment Weekly]

- Marc Guggenheim, executive producer for the fall sci-fi drama Flash Forward wants fans to know that the new series won't drive them nuts for years the way Lost has. Flash Forward "begins when every person on Earth blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, during which time each as a vision of his or her future six months from now."  The ABC show boasts an impressive cast including Joseph Fiennes, John Cho, Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Courtney B. Vance.  Click here to read the interview with Guggenheim. [SCI FI Wire]

- Speaking of Flash Forward and Lost, after the rampant speculation sparked by an ABC promo, the latest rumors have Dominic Monaghan joining the cast of Flash Forward a couple of eps into the show's first season and possibly making a return to Lost as the erstwhile Charlie Pace. [E! Online]

- A&E has officially cancelled The Beast, the gritty cop drama starring Patrick Swayze. Swayze has earned kudos throughout the industry for delivering a hard-nosed portrayal of the lead character while battling pancreatic cancer in real life. [Associated Press via Yahoo! News]

- The One Tree Hill role that was originally intended for Brian Austin Green has gone to Robert Buckley (Lipstick Jungle) after a deal with the 90210 alum couldn't be reached. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Primeval, a UK-produced show that airs on SciFi in States, has been cancelled after three seasons. [SCI FI Wire]

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LaBeouf Says Spielberg Working on Indy 5

During an interview with BBC News for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Shia LaBeouf revealed that work is underway on a possible fifth Indiana Jones movie.

"Steven [Spielberg] just said that he cracked the story on it before I left and I think they're gearing that up," said LaBeouf, who played the famous adventurer's son, "Mutt" Williams, in 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

To watch the interview (which also covers the Transformers movie and a bit about the Wall Street sequel, Money Never Sleeps), click here.  The Indiana Jones mention starts at the 1:59 mark. [BBC News]

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Film News: Bruno Crashes Into MTV Movie Awards, Another Alien in the Pipeline

- The MTV Movie Awards were held Sunday night, with sparkly vampire flick Twilight raking in a slew of awards including Best Movie, Best Female Performance (for actress Kristen Stewart), Breakthrough Performance - Male (for actor Robert Pattinson), Best Kiss and Best Fight. High School Musical actors took home two awards: Breakthrough Performance - Female (Ashley Tisdale) and Best Male Performance (Zac Efron). The biggest moment of the night however, was Sacha Baron Cohen (in character as gay fashionista Bruno) dive bombing straight into Eminem's lap while wearing chaps . . . and nothing underneath them. Needless to say, the following clip is NSFW. [MTV.com]

- Tony Scott, brother of Alien director Ridley Scott, has confirmed that 20th Century Fox is making a prequel to the 1979 sci-fi horror classic. In an interview with Collider website after the junket for his new film The Taking of Pelham 123, Tony Scott named Carl Rinsch as the new director and said that he hopes shooting on the film will begin by the end of the year. And that sound you hear? I'm pretty sure it's Pop Wench Joia railing at the heavens against this news . . . [Collider.com]

- Angelina Jolie was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure on Friday after suffering a slight injury while filming an action sequence. The brief hospital examination Jolie received after suffering a bump to the head did not hold up production on the upcoming action thriller Salt for long. Columbia Pictures' spokesman said that the actress was back on the set on Friday and filming resumed later that day. [Associated Press via Yahoo! News]

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- Steven Spielberg's 3-D motion-capture film The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn has been slated for a December 23, 2011 US release by Paramount and Sony studios. The 2011 Tintin movie is intended to be the first of a series produced by Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Kathleen Kennedy. Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) will star as the young, world-traveling reporter Tintin. Daniel Craig (playing nemesis Red Rackham), Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg costar. [Hollywood Reporter]

- A few days after Paul Verhoeven signed on to direct The Surrogate, it's been announced that Oscar-winner Halle Berry is in talks to topline the thriller. Berry would be one-half of a couple "who hire a surrogate to carry their child and fnd out mid-term that the surrogate is insane." [Variety]

- Natalie Portman has joined the cast of Your Highness alongside Danny McBride and James Franco. Portman plays a warrior princess and McBride's romantic interest in the film, which "centers on an arrogant, lazy prince (McBride) who must complete a quest to save his father's kingdom. Franco plays the prince's "more heroic" brother. [Hollywood Reporter]

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Film News: MLK Movie Generates Family Controversy

Fresh off yesterday's announcement of a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic helmed by Steven Spielberg, two of the civil rights leader's children are threatening legal action over the project.

Bernice King and Martin Luther King III are in the midst of a legal dispute with their brother Dexter King over the rights to the personal papers of their late mother, Coretta Scott King, and are also disputing the film project focused on their father. Dexter King is the chairman-CEO of the King Estate.

Variety reports that DreamWorks insiders do not feel that the family dispute will affect the project.

Dexter King has released a statement saying, "The King Estate is committed to working very closely with DreamWorks (and producers) Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones . . . For over 15 years, I have had the honor of being chief executive of the King Estate Corp. and am charged with the duties of managing my father's name, image, likeness, recorded voice, copyrighted works and rights of publicity." [Variety]

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Film News: Spielberg Produces MLK Biopic

Legendary director and filmmaker Steven Spielberg will produce a big screen biopic on the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. for DreamWorks. This will be the first film authorized by King's estate and DreamWorks has been granted rights to use King's copyrighted speeches (including the famous "I Have a Dream" speech), books and other intellectual property.

King, who became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his civil rights work in the US, was assassinated in 1968 at the age of 39. [Variety]

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