Father Geek here along with Elston Gunn and this week's edition of our regular column designed to keep those of you too busy to spend the work-week surfing the web for all the confirmed movie news informed and up-to-date on all the very latest from Tinseltown. Soooo with that in mind dive into this week's report and find all those fantastic film facts in one easy to locate spot...

THE WEEKLY RECAP...

TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

CASTING

* Nick Cannon joins Lindsay Lohan for an untitled romantic comedy for Revolution Studios, Happy Madison Prods. and writer/director Tom Brady. The story centers on a young girl trying to make it big in New York's fashion world who gets set up on a date with Cannon's character, who is blind.

* Russell Crowe is in talks to star in the big-screen adaptation of Australian author Murray Bail's award-winning novel EUCALYPTUS for Fox Searchlight. The project would reunite Crowe with director Jocelyn Moorhouse, for whom he starred in 1991's PROOF. Michelle Joyner adapted the book and wrote the original screenplay, with Moorhouse coming in to work on the script.

* Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston will star in Disney's teen comedy SKY HIGH for director Mike Mitchell and producer Andrew Gunn. It centers on a high school for superpowered teens in a world where superheroes are an everyday occurrence. Russell and Preston will play Cmdr. Stronghold and Josie Jetstream, respectively, the parents of a boy attending the high school. Michael Angarano will play their son.

* MTV Films is set to produce an untitled Usher film project, built around the R&B artist. Usher will star and executive produce. The plot details are being kept under wrapts.

* Will Ferrell is in talks to star in the comedy STRANGER THAN FICTION for director Marc Forster (MONSTER'S BALL), Senator Intl. and Three Strange Angels. Zach Helm wrote the script about an IRS auditor whose life is interrupted by the sound of a personal narrator who knows his every thought, feeling and action, including when and where he will die. Senator Intl. is exec producing and distribbing worldwide.

* Wesley Snipes is starring in SEVEN SECONDS for Andrew Stevens Entertainment. Simon Fellows directs from a script by Martin Wheeler about a heist expert who accidentally steals a bag containing a Van Gogh and must find a way to save his partner, who's held hostage by gangsters pursuing the painting. Tamzin Outhwaite co-stars.

* Shohreh Aghdashloo (HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG) is attached to star in a feature adaptation of Azar Nafisi's READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN: A MEMOIR IN BOOKS for Industry Entertainment. Aleksandra Crapanzano will adapt. The book is the true story of Nafisi, who resigned from her job as a lit professor in Tehran and invited seven of her best female students to attend a weekly class of Western literature in her home. At the clandestine meetings, the women often shared photocopied pages of the illegal novels. They discussed books by Vladimir Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jane Austen, which served as a springboard for debates on the social, cultural and political realities they faced living under the repressive regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

* Tea Leoni is in talks to star in Columbia Pictures' remake FUN WITH DICK AND JANE, replacing Cameron Diaz who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

* Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment is making its first foray into the feature film ring with a project called THE MARINE. John Cena, the professional wrestler known to fans of "Smackdown!" as the self-proclaimed "Doctor of Thuganomics," will take the title role. Cena is in negotiations to star as an injured Marine who returns from the war to find his girlfriend inadvertently caught up in a kidnapping.

* Taylor Handley ("The OC") will star in the feature ZEROPHILIA, based on a script by helmer Martin Curland. Handley will play an insecure college freshman who discovers, to his horror, that he may literally be transforming into a woman.

* Justin Long ("Ed," DODGEBALL) will join Lindsay Lohan in Disney's new love bug pic HERBIE for director Angela Robinson and produced by Bob Simonds. He has also won the male lead in basketball-themed drama DREAMLAND, an indie being helmed by Jason Matzner and produced by Peter Heller and Doug Mankoff.

* Jude Law will play protagonist Jack Burden in Columbia Pictures' remake of ALL THE KING'S MEN. Sean Penn is in talks to play Southern populist politician Willie Stark, whose tale is at the center of the story. Steven Zaillian is on board to direct from his own adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's novel for Phoenix Pictures.

* Jennifer Aniston will star opposite Clive Owen in DERAILED, based on James Siegel's best-selling novel, for director Mikael Hafstrom, Miramax Films and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Based on a script by Stuart Beattie (COLLATERAL), the project revolves around a married advertising executive whose life takes an unpredictable turn when he misses his train to work.

* Matt Damon is in talks to star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in THE DEPARTED (a.k.a. INFERNAL AFFAIRS) for director Martin Scorsese and Warner Bros. Based on a trilogy of popular Hong Kong crime films directed by Lau Wai-keung and Mak Siu-fai, the story revolves around a gangster who infiltrates the police department and a cop infiltrates the gangs at the same time. The two find out that a mole is in each organization and race to find each other's identity.

DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS

* French director Sylvain Chomet (THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE) will direct THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX for Universal. Gary Ross is producing through his Larger Than Prods. The script for the film will be based on the book THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX: BEING THE STORY OF A MOUSE, A PRINCESS, SOME SOUP, AND A SPOOL OF THREAD, written by Kate DiCamillo.

* Jonathan Davis has been hired to rewrite Eli Roth's SCAVENGER HUNT for Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Universal Pictures. Roth, who wrote the first draft of the screenplay, will direct the feature, which is inspired by his experiences from his school days and follows a group of overachieving students on a scavenger hunt.

* Scribe Jeffrey Nachmanoff (THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW) is reteaming with director Roland Emmerich on ONE NATION for Columbia Pictures. The political thriller involves an impeached president who refuses to leave the White House. Meanwhile, an FBI agent is rushing to discover the truth behind a top-level conspiracy that threatens to undermine the Constitution.

* Andrea Berloff has been hired to write BORDERS for Scott Free Prods. It centers on a Mexican-American Border Patrol rookie who must work his way out of a morass of corruption, greed and human suffering along the Arizona border.

* Writers Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio have set up two projects at Columbia Pictures: STRUTTER, a comedy about the Olympic sport of race walking; and HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE: A NOVEL OF SEX, THEFT, FRIENDSHIP & MUSICAL THEATER, based on the book by Marc Acito that is due later this year. It follows a New Jersey teenager in the early 1980s who goes about raising money to attend Juilliard in the most unscrupulous of ways.

* Maverick Films is producing a film based on the infamous 1971 Stanford prison experiment, which Christopher McQuarrie (WAY OF THE GUN) may direct. McQuarrie is producing and supervising a script by Tim Talbott.

* Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (AMERICAN SPLENDOR) and Tailslate Pictures are partnering on WANDERLUST, an original documentary about road movies for the Independent Film Channel. The film will explore the road movies that have influenced and reflected American society through the years. Dennis Hopper, David O. Russell, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Benton, Callie Khouri, Alexander Payne, Karen Black and Monte Hellman are among those who will be offering commentary.

* Director Leander Haussmann (BERLIN BLUES) has begun NVA, a comedy-drama about the East German military.

* Sony has picked up the animated pic MONSTER HOUSE from DreamWorks, where it was in turn-around, with Gil Kenan set to direct. Pic will be the second film made using "performance capture" animation -- which will first be showcased in Warner Bros.' POLAR EXPRESS this November. ImageMovers will produce. It's based on an original screenplay by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab about three kids who discover that a neighbor's house is a living, breathing monster. They try to stop the house's evil plans, though adults don't believe their claims.

* Martin Kunert and Eric Manes will rewrite DODGING BULLETS for producerJoel Silver and Warner Bros. Original draft was written by Michael Givens and follows a tough female bodyguard who finds unexpected romance while protecting a cocky NBA star from an unrelenting stalker.

* Sheldon Turner (upcoming THE LONGEST YARD) will write a prequel to New Line and Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes' remake of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

* Ron Howard is in talks to direct a new adaptation of John Steinbeck's EAST OF EDEN for Universal/Imagine and producer Brian Grazer. Paul Attanasio wrote the screenplay. Grand Illusions will also produce.

* Producer Scott Rudin and Paramount have optioned FAILURE TO LAUNCH, written by Matt Ember and Tom Astle, about a thirtysomething guy and his parents. Moving back home to avoid getting into a relationship, he one day meets the girl of his dreams without knowing that she is someone who has been hired by his parents.

* Mark Waters (FREAKY FRIDAY) is attached to direct BOB THE MUSICAL, written by Mike Bender, for Disney and Touchstone Pictures. It's described as a musical in the vein of GROUNDHOG DAY in which someone is trapped within a musical.

* Screenwriter William Broyles Jr. (APOLLO 13) is in talks with Fox 2000 Pictures to adapt Robert Kurson book SHADOW DIVERS: THE TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO AMERICANS WHO DISCOVERED HITLER'S LOST SUB.

* DPS Film Roman and Rob Zombie will produce an animated feature based on Zombie's Spookshow International comic book EL SUPERBEASTO. The story, written by Zombie, will follow the adventures of the titular crime-fighter, an over-the-hill masked wrestler who has more interest in strippers than adventure.

* April Blair is set to adapt THE PRINCESS AND THE PAUPER for Disney. The film will be a contemporary retelling of the classic Mark Twain tale THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER with a modern-day female twist. The Gotham Group and Junction Entertainment will produce.

* Darren Aronofsky will develop and direct WATCHMEN, based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' limited DC Comics series, for Paramount Pictures. David Hayter is writing the screenplay.

* Universal grabbed THE DOG WALKER, the new novel by former Dell editor-in-chief Leslie Schnur. Kristen Buckley and Brian Regan (HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS) will adapt while Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Type A Films partners Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Simpson will produce. It's about a gal who's laid off from her publishing job and fills in for a pal who walks dogs for the Gotham elite. Gig allows her to snoop through their apartments, observe their lives and figure out what she wants to do with hers.

* Paramount snapped up a comedy pitch for Tapestry Films to produce from writers Steve Faber and Bob Fisher (upcoming THE WEDDING CRASHERS). The pitch is about an somewhat disorganized president who leaves office broke, enlists a young college professor to help pen his memoirs and proceeds to push the prof's life into chaos.

* New Line Cinema picked up Neil Gaiman's graphic novel DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING, which was in turnaround from Warner Bros. Pictures. Gaiman is in talks to make his helming debut on the pic. Gaiman wrote the script -- currently titled DEATH'S DAY -- based on his own work. Story involves a teenager named Sexton who's been contemplating suicide. He is rescued by a mysterious teenager who claims she is Death herself, spending one day every 100 years on earth to learn the value of the lives she takes. Film takes place over 24 hours as Sexton learns to love life by spending a day with Death. Don Murphy will produce.

* Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan's production company AB Corp. is partnering with Satyajit Pictures on VIRUDDH (VERSU). Helmed by Mahesh Manjrekar, the pic will be made in Hindi and English and star Bachchan and Sharmila Tagore. It's about a couple's fight against corruption.

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS

* Joe Carnahan has dropped out of the director's seat for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 due to creative differences.

* Writer/producer Ronald Shusett and Daniel Alter have teamed up to option the feature film rights to Jordan Raskin's INDUSTRY OF WAR, an Image Comics series that debuts in September. The book is about undercover government agents who hunt down missing military technology before it falls into the wrong hands. The story revolves around a former gang member and recent parolee who accidentally stumbles across the latest weapon on the agents' retrieval list: a bio-symbiotic prototype suit designed for foot soldiers and programmed for an assassination mission during the 1991 Gulf War.

* European Web conglom Tiscali will commission a movie about the assassination of the controversial Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. It will premiere on the Web before going on theatrical release. MAY 6TH will be directed by Theo Van Gogh and will center on the failures of the Dutch secret service to protect Fortuyn, who received hate mail and threats on a daily basis.

* Paramount Pictures has assigned producer John Goldwyn to develop a sequel to the 2003 remake THE ITALIAN JOB. He'll supervise a sequel treatment being written by Wayne and Donna Powers.

* Universal Pictures has acquired G.P. Taylor's bestseller SHADOWMANCER for Fortitude Films to produce. It's a 17th-century-set tale about a group of kids who try to steal an ancient relic that will be used by an evil sorcerer to bring darkness to the world. Fortitude Films has also made a deal with the author for screen rights to Taylor's first nine novels.

* Stone Village Pictures has purchased the film rights to Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez's classic novel LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA. Published in 1985, the book tells the story of Florentino Ariza, who waits 51 years, nine months and four days to be with the woman he loves.

* Disney has bought feature film rights to writer Matthew Reilly's teen techno-thriller HOVER CAR RACER for Beacon and Alfred Gough and Miles Millar to produce. The story is set in the near future, with hover car racing the Formula One of its time. A 15-year-old boy who qualifies for the famed International Race School fights it out in races on the international circuit, including a white-knuckle super-race that winds through New York City.

* DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures have acquired the movie rights for the Transformers, Hasbro's toy line of giant robots that morph into cars, trucks, planes, ships and other technological creations. Angry Films are producing the live-action feature, along with Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Steven Spielberg will executive produce. The Transformers are divided into two groups of robots, one led by Optimus Prime, who believes in tolerance and the sanctity of life, the other by Megatron, who espouses survival of the fittest and the extermination of biological life.

* Rights to Will Eisner comicbook THE SPIRIT have been purchased by Odd Lot Entertainment, which is planning a live-action feature adaptation. Odd Lot will co-produce with Batfilm. Created in 1940, the story centers on a detective who thwarts an attempt to release a substance that will leave the inhabitants of Central City in suspended animation. He is exposed to the goo, giving him the ability to withstand any beating. He battles crime and a slew of femme fatales.

* Producers Gregory Leonarczyk and David Guy Levy have partnered to form Periscope Entertainment, an independent production company to develop and produce three or four films a year.

CORRECTION

from last week's recap:

* Tyler Perry will star in, write and produce an adaptation of his play THE DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN for Lions Gate Films. Darren Grant will direct. Cast includes Shemar Moore, Cicely Tyson, Steve Harris and Kimberly Elise. Filming begins July 21 in Atlanta.

Until next week...

Elston Gunn

elstongunn@hotmail.com