Ivan Reitman’s “Friends With Benefits” (or whatever the name will finally be) cast keeps on expanding. The picture already stars Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Olivia Thirlby, Kevin Kline, Greta Gerwig, Ophelia Lovibond, and Ben Lawson. Now Lake Bell (“It’s Complicated,” “Shrek Forever After” and a lot of TV work we’re not familiar with) and comedian Guy Branum have been added. The film has a a January 7, 2011 release date. [Variety]
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s India-set musical “Bombay Dreams” is headed to the big screen as well.”Monsoon Wedding” screenwriter Sabrina Dhawan is penning the adaptation and the film will shoot in India in 2011.”Slumdog Millionaire” composer A.R. Rahman was involved with the music when the Bollywood play did its run in London, so don’t be surprised if he’s brought on board once again. [Variety]
Donald Sutherland and Brendan Gleeson will star in the “The McLean Boys,” a fact-based historical actioner set in the 1880s. [Variety]
Nick Hornby’s novel “A Long Way Down” is headed to the big screen. The dark comedy centers on four disparate characters wanting to convene to commit suicide, but decide against it when they meet each other. The novel then follows their misadventures together. It’s being put together by the same duo that produced “An Education,” a script which Hornby wrote. [Variety]
Two-time Academy Award-nominated Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov (“Mongol,” “Prisoner of the Mountains”) will direct “Spook’s Apprentice” for Warner Bros which is the first of a six-part series based on Joseph Delaney’s novels about a 13-year-old boy who learns about wizardry from a forbidding old spook. Legendary Pictures and Thunder Road will co-produce. Yes, the “Harry Potter” series is almost over so WB is looking for what’s next. [Variety]
Remember, “Rush” the very admirable 1991 directorial debut of Lili Fini Zanuck starring Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh? Zanuck hasn’t directed a feature since and before that was an Oscar-winning producer (“Driving Miss Daisy,” “Cocoon”) but she’s returning to her directorial roots to mount a big-screen adaptation of John O’Brien’s 1996 novel “Assault on Tony’s.” [THR]