Russell Crowe will team up with Paul Haggis in the upcoming adaptation (translation: remake?) of 2008 French film “Pour Elle.” Titled “The Next Three Days,” the film will find Crowe as a teacher whose wife is arrested and convicted of a murder she says she did not commit. He comes up with a desperate plan to free her. Production will begin in late September with a script written by Haggis for Lionsgate that explores deeper themes of faith and belief. Deep from Haggis? Here we go again. [Variety]
Ron Howard is set to team with Universal, producer Brian Grazer and scribe David Self in adapting Robert Ludlum’s “Parsifal Mosaic.” Described as an espionage thriller, the story revolves around a CIA operative who gets back in the game after discovering a lover is still alive despite previously believing her to be a KGB double agent and witnessing her execution. [BFDealMemo]
A poster for Guillermo Arriaga’s (”21 Grams,” “Babel”) “The Burning Plain,” starring Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, has been unveiled. [Collider]
Despite what Gary Oldman said regarding the third “Batman” film, producer David Goyer has neglected to mention any dates, simply affirming: “Right now, Chris is involved in filming ‘Inception,’ and when he finishes that, he will turn his studious gaze back to the Bat universe and we’ll see.” The status is once again quo. [MTV]
Bridget Moynahan has joined the cast of “Battle: Los Angeles,” an alien invasion actioner starring Aaron Eckhart. Jonathan Liebesmann will helm the film which follows a Marine platoon that faces off against aliens who invade Los Angeles. [Variety]
Matthew McConaughey and Eva Mendes are set to team up in Jonathan Jakubowicz’s (Ja-who?-bowicz) “Southbound.” The Peter Craig-scribed drama will see McConaughey play a patrol officer on the border between California and Mexico who accepts a bribe from a beautiful Mexican woman which lands him in the middle of a war between the Mexican crime families and the U.S. immigration police. Sounds like all types of terrible. [Variety]
The latest delays for “The Wolf Man” are rumored to be a result of the “Wolfman” makeup because it wasn’t “working out” and “was too much like the original Chaney makeup.” The reshoots in England have also apparently put a $10-30 million dollar hole in Universal’s pocket and reportedly involved Rick Baker bringing back direct practical transformation work because the CGI wasn’t working. Sounds like the film is in deep trouble any way you look at it. [STYD]
A new trailer for Uli Edel’s “The Baader Meinhof Complex” has been released. The film follows the early years of the West German terrorist group the Red Army Faction (RAF), the most active and prominent terrorist group in post-war West Germany. [Cinematical]