–Multi-interpreted Catholic literature gets a boost as Emma Thompson has signed to play the role Mrs. Marchmain, the matriarch of an imploding family in the filmic version of Brideshead Revisited. Brideshead follows the story of a young man who, through the friendship of a college friend, is brought into the aristocratic, Catholic-tinged and drama-filled world of the Flyte family, where no one gets what they want, but maybe, as the main character discovers, that’s the point. The production will begin shooting next month.
–Apparently Ted Danson’s still working, as he’s been cast in the bank heist comedy Mad Money, which if it resembles anything like the similarly named Mad Money stock show on MSNBC, will be more annoying than actually comedic. Of course, they’re different, so put your mind at ease. Danson joins Diane "I’m old and neurotic!" Keaton, Queen "I used to be a contender!" Latifah and Katie "Save me from Tom!" Holmes. Shooting begins… today!
–Trick ‘r Treat, the upcoming film by Superman Returns writer Michael Dougherty, has released a nice and eerie one sheet for your viewing pleasure (which you can view here all big-like). All of the art for this project has been whimsically creepy and Dougherty’s My Space page is loaded with stuff that gives a lot of portent on the tone of his upcoming film about Hallowen and the ties that bind four separate stories together- all of which have something to do with a pajama’d boy (or is he?) with a scarecrow bag over his head.
–As we reported in March, Duane Adler’s dance formula movie (since titled in the faux-aspirational commands of its Step It Up-like ilk: Make It Happen) continues the fast track with Diary of a Mad Black Woman director Darren Grant being recruited for helming duty. The story follows the travails of a big-dreaming, small town gal who ends up on the other side of the tracks kicking it old school at a burlesque house. Inevitably, she’ll meet a fella who will prove to her that she can be who she wants to be and maybe the whole burlesque gig ain’t so bad.