Tom Hooper's first directorial effort since winning Best Director will be...

...Le Miserables, according to Deadline:

Looks like Universal Pictures has won the battle for the next film to be directed by Oscar-winning The King’s Speech helmer Tom Hooper. The dealmaking has started for Hooper to direct Les Miserables, a full-blown musical adaptation of the Cameron Mackintosh-produced perennial stage hit. This is the first film he's begun negotiations on since winning the Oscar, but insiders in Hooper's camp stopped short of saying it would definitively be his next film. I hear that's how it will work out.

Mackintosh is producing with Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, and Bill Nicholson has written the script. The intention is to begin production before year’s end, somewhere in Europe. After the success of The King’s Speech -- a $13 million budget film that could reach $450 million worldwide gross when it’s through -- Hooper had been widely courted for his next slot. The Weinstein Company tempted him with Tulip Fever, and I’m told there was talk of an adaptation of Macbeth, among others. Hooper was tempted instead to film the musical adaptation of the 1862 Victor Hugo novel, the struggle by ex-con Jean Valjean to outrun his past and his relentless pursuer Javert. The musical, which opened in London in 1985, features such songs as I Dreamed A Dream, On My Own, and Bring Him Home.

Harvey Weinstein will indeed release a PG-13 cut of The King's Speech...

...for better or worse. Here's the story from the A.V. Club:

Despite director Tom Hooper’s strenuous objections, The Weinstein Company is moving forward with a proposed PG-13 edit of The King’s Speech, having just received an okay from the MPAA to release it to theaters as soon as it pulls the original, R-rated version. (Normally a film has to be absent from theaters for 90 days before a re-release is granted; in this case, The King’s Speech was granted a waiver.) As we reported earlier, the Weinsteins’ decision to censor the film was based primarily on helping the Best Picture frontrunner broaden its box-office take by attracting more families—something that Harvey Weinstein apparently felt was more crucial at this point than continuing to make a stand on principle, like he did at the time of the film’s first date with the MPAA. Back then, the only thing that came between The King’s Speech and a PG-13 was a key scene where Colin Firth’s character lets loose with a string of cathartic profanities—and while there’s nothing official yet on what “unique way” (in Weinstein’s words) they’ve found to work around it, we’re assuming that scene is now pretty much gone, perhaps momentarily replaced by an insert of a couple of friendly chaps playing snooker.

-Joey's Two Cents: It is what it is, and yes, I've avoided the porn set story in regard to The King's Speech on purpose...mainly because it's a waste of time. Thoughts?

Tom Hooper was offered the director's chair for Iron Man 3?

Apparently so, according to 24 Frames:

Of all the filmmakers to see their stock boosted this Oscar season, none has enjoyed the Google-like jump of Tom Hooper. Like any director with an Oscar nomination and a $100-million hit on his hands, "The King's Speech" helmer has been wooed by numerous studios in town.

Perhaps the most interesting offer that we've heard about? It comes from Marvel and involves some shiny gizmos. According to a person who has worked closely with Hooper but who asked not to be identified because the director did not authorize this person to speak on his behalf, the Brit was offered the director's chair on "Iron Man 3," the latest installment in the Robert Downey Jr. franchise. He turned it down, and "Lethal Weapon" writer Shane Black wound up landing the job several weeks ago.

While Hooper won't be steering Stark Industries, another person who has worked closely with him said he was weighing an offer to direct "Les Miserables," a new version of the classic novel and Broadway musical set in 19th-century France. The movie, which is being developed by "Atonement" producer Working Title, is conceived as a big-budget musical.