News Update: Cinderella, Elizabeth Bennett fights Zombies and JJ Abrams visits Downton Abbey!

Meet the new Cinderella!  Walt Disney Pictures' new live action film on Cinderella cast its lead actress in Lily James (Downton Abbey) after their first choice Emma Watson passed on it.  The film has 2014 release and features Cate Blanchett as James' evil stepmother and will be directed by Kenneth Branagh.  Although my personal favorite Cinderella film still remains 1998's Ever After: A Cinderella Story featuring a kickass Drew Barrymore (bad English accent notwithstanding) in the Cinderella role and Angelica Huston as her stepmother.

The zombies live to see another day!  The Universe does want to see Elizabeth Bennett and her beloved Darcy become zombie hunters. And I will get to see a Regency zombie apocalypse.  Huzzah! Lily Collins (formerly Snow White in Disney's Mirror Mirror) will star and director Burr Steers (17 Again, Charlie St. Cloud) will helm Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, based on Seth Grahame-Smith's best-selling novel. 

He reinvented Star Trek and he's on his way to do the same to Star Wars, so what's filmmaker extraordinaire J.J. Abrams doing in the Downton Abbey kitchen? Can he introduce time travel into the show and bring back Matthew Crawley? Pretty please!!!

Weekly News Roundup: Clint Eastwood is a busy man and the return of James Bond!

• Clint Eastwood, at 70, isn't resting on his laurels.  His much anticipated Hoover biopic is already underproduction.  Leonardo DiCaprio tweeted about J. Edgar starting shooting on February 5th and they have a new cast member, Josh Lucas, who will be playing Charles Lindbergh.  Ed Westwick aka Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl also has a role of Agent Smith.
• But that's not his only production.  Eastwood might possibly be directing Beyonce (!) in a remake of A Star is Born.  I honestly thought this was a joke at first.  Dirty Harry directing a musical?  But it's completely legit.  Let's give him a chance, right?
• Dark Horizons has some new details from producer Tim Johnson on the upcoming sequel for How to Train Your Dragon and the TV series spin-off.   This means awesome adventures ahead for Hiccup and Toothless.
• Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) is actually thinking of filming The Great Gatsby in 3D! The horror!! This is a very bad idea, very very bad idea.  
• Bond is back! Don't count out James Bond out of the movie business yet.  The 23rd Bond flick is set to release on November 9th, 2012.  Sam Mendes is attached to direct.  The film could potentially be called "Red Sky at Night" and word is that, Rachel Weisz has been offered a role.    
• Mike White exits Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as director.  Despite another setback, I am still stoked for this project to get off the ground.  Please Universe, we need for this movie to find its director along with Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy.   

News Roundup: The Great Gatsby and Worst Titles Ever

• The Star Wars prequels can rest easy.  They no longer hold the title for Worst Movie Name.  No, that honor now goes to Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  What?  Yes, seriously, you couldn't make this up.  And never fear Transformers 3, you won't hold the title long, the Piranha sequel is coming up next, Piranha 3DD.  What is this world coming to?
• He is.  He isn't.  No, not anymore.  But wait, yes, he is.  I'm going to be known as the blogger who cried wolf again.  Peter Jackson is on again to direct The Hobbit.  I think I'm going to hold off on any new Hobbit information unless it comes neatly tied up in a press release.
• James Cameron is talking about some Avatar sequels.  Promising, but knowing the way he works be prepared for a long wait til you see the world of Pandora again.
• Baz Luhrmann recently held a workshop for The Great Gatsby in New York.  Who were the actors who read the parts?  Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Rebecca Hall as Jay, Nick and Daisy respectively.  This casting may not stick until filming but I like it already and besides when is the last time the two friends Leo and Tobey have acted together? Not since the 90s, I think.  
• Finally some hope, albeit a tiny sliver, for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  Because who doesn't want to see Elizabeth Bennett kick some zombie ass?  

News Roundup: No Regency Zombie Apocalypse

• So, remember that DVD review of El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in their Eyes) I posted a few days back?  I thought back to that film often these few days thinking wow, what a great film and amazing story.  Apparently, Hollywood thought so too and yet another foreign film falls down to the way of the remake.  Director Billy Ray (Shattered Glass) will also write/adapt the screenplay.  I, meanwhile, am not amused.
• And the bad news continues.  Last month, I was delighted to discover that the comic novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, was going to be turned into a film.  Elizabeth Bennett, a martial arts experts, and Mr. Darcy, a zombie hunter.  I wanted more.  David O. Russell (Three Kings) was attached and Natalie Portman had been signed on as Elizabeth Bennett.  Things were looking promising but now both have dropped out of the project putting it in jeopardy of ever getting made.  Fitzwilliam Darcy, zombie killer, we hardly knew thee!
• Natalie Portman, does she have a super-secret project no one knows about? Because she is also not in consideration for Alphonso Cuaron's Gravity anymore.  Sandra Bullock is now in talks for the role.  This would be a good comeback movie for her after her Oscar win.  Natalie's loss, Sandra's gain.  
• Off to news that will cheer me up.  Sam Raimi is officially directing Oz: The Great and Powerful about, obviously, The Wizard of Oz.  They're hoping Robert Downey Jr will play the Wizard.  Yes, please!
• Kathryn Bigelow, first female Best Director Oscar winner, has got a great followup feature, Sleeping Dogs, set in South America about the dangerous underworld of crime and drugs.  Both Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp are said to be interested in the projects.  
• And finally, The Green Lantern website has been launched.  Have a look see to find out who the villain is!