-Is it true? Have the Weinsteins gotten so desperate that they are finally spinning off the most popular scene in their huge flop “Grindhouse?” Whispers around Hollywood suggest the Danny Trejo slice-and-dice segment “Machete” is now a “priority” for the sinking ship that is the Weinsteins, especially a weekend after the Oscar nominations did nothing to fatten the profit margin for “The Reader.” Robert Rodriguez has claimed he’s had a script for a feature-length “Machete” ready for ages, and he’s known to shoot quickly, so in theory, this could get shooting very quickly, though reports of a trilogy might be fairly premature. [Slashfilm]
-Neil Marshall (“Doomsday,” “The Descent”) is set to direct “Centurion,” a historical action picture set in 117 AD and focused on a group of Romans who banded together in the wake of a horrific Pict slaughter to wipe the warring race off the planet. Cheery. Dominic West, Michael Fassbender and Olga Kurylenko have been cast in this project, which is also being written by Marshall, and features a main villain named Gorlacon. [Hollywood Reporter]
-New stills have been released for Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me To Hell,” which had a secret screening last night in Los Angeles. So secret that there are major reviews found here, here and here. So far, word is very, very strong, though it’s hard to not be dubious considering how “Spider-Man 3” went down. [CHUD]
-“Elite Squad” helmer Jose Padilha is jumping to the big leagues by signing on to direct “The Sigma Protocol.” Adapted from a Robert Ludlum novel, the story follows a Wall Street type who specializes in catastrophic “black swan” events and who finds himself on the run from secret agents and double crossers and all that cloak and dagger BS. “Iron Man” writing team Art Marcum and Matt Holloway are scripting for a summer start. [Hollywood Reporter]
-Wayne Kramer has signed on to direct “Fully Automatic.” Produced by Joel Silver, this buddy cop film finds two rookies and a female Delta Force operative tracking a mercenary who has stolen a cache of weapons. Kramer can’t afford to strike out- his troubled “Crossing Over” is set to be dumped into Spring by the Weinsteins after it goes through an umpteenth round with scissors, and Kramer himself has said, according to CHUD, that the “Fully Automatic” script was “the worst thing he’s ever read.” [Variety]