Will "Travis McGee" finally get made? The project has been bouncing around Hollywood for years, at one time was positioned as a vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio (who is still producing), while directors like Paul Greengrass and Oliver Stone circled at various times. Now James Mangold ("The Wolverine," "Walk The Line") is attached to direct and an old friend may star. Christian Bale is in early talks for the movie which is franchise material, based on the books by John D. MacDonald and centers on a beach bum “salvage consultant,” who specializes in recovering client’s otherwise forever lost property in return for half the property’s value as a fee — his first case (based on the novel "The Deep Blue Good-By") finds him reluctantly in search of a treasure hidden by a soldier after World War II. Will Bale be the one to get this moving? We’ll see. [THR]
Speaking of long developing projects, "The Man Who Knew Infinity" has been kicking about for eight years, but it’s finally starting production next. Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons and newcomer Devika Bhise will star in this one about math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, who is discovered in Edwardian India to have a way with numbers is trained to be the best. Matthew Brown wrote the script and will direct. [Variety]
Former "Remington Steele" star Pierce Brosnan is going back to the small screen for the event series "The Crusades." The Spike TV (really) production "centers on two very different knights who journey from Scotland to the Holy Land for very different reasons. There, bound together in the crucible that is war, politics and betrayal, they will encounter and be forced to overcome, among others, Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, the Hashshashin and ultimately their own personal demons." No word yet on when this might lens. [The Wrap]