Did Paul Thomas Anderson already finish shooting The Master?

According to Damon Wise from Empire Online, yes:

Nick Nolte joins The Gangster Squad!

Deadline has the exclusive:

Nick Nolte continues his recent career resurgence. He’s been set to join the cast of the Ruben Fleischer-directed Warner Bros. drama The Gangster Squad. Nolte will play Bill Parker, the new chief of police in Los Angeles, and the first in a while who hasn’t been corrupted by Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn).

The chief, a Purple Heart recipient at Normandy, is the one who starts the Gangster Squad, a crack team designed to bring down organized crime. Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, Mireille Enos and Anthony Mackie star.

Nolte stars in the Gavin O’Connor-directed Warrior, and he just wrapped the Taylor Hackford-directed action film Parker for FilmDistrict opposite Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez and Michael Chiklis.

Ghostbusters 3 could go forward without Bill Murray?

Apparently so, according to Coming Soon:

After years of rumors, it appears that Ghostbuster 3 is finally moving forward and will likely do so with or without Bill Murray's involvement. Dan Aykroyd appeared on The Dennis Miller Show to discuss the project, dropping specific details about the sequel, hinting that the plan is to film in Spring of 2012 no matter what happens casting-wise.

"Yes, we will be doing the movie and hopefully with Mr. Murray," he says, "That is our hope. We have an excellent script. What we have to remember is that 'Ghostbusters' is bigger than any one component, although Billy was absolutely the lead and contributive to it in a massive way, as was the director and Harold [Ramis], myself and Sigourney [Weaver]. The concept is much larger than any individual role and the promise of 'Ghostbusters 3' is that we get to hand the equipment and the franchise down to new blood."

Bullock and Reynolds also planning to reunite?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, yes:

Pals Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are poised to reunite on screen.

Though Bullock's deal has not closed, the former Proposal co-stars are in talks to lead the voice cast of And Then There Was Gordon, from Reynolds and Allan Loeb's production shingle, Dark Fire, and 20th Century Fox TV.

The news comes one week after Dark Fire sold its first project, Guidance, a high school set buddy comedy starring Mad Love’s Tyler Labine, to Fox.

In this case, the animated comedy project is about an ordinary child surrounded by brainiac siblings. It received a presentation order from Fox, home to Sunday evening's animation domination block of such shows as The Simpsons and Family Guy.

Looks like DiCaprio and Scorsese are once again teaming up...

Deadline has the exclusive:

In what shapes up as a reteam for the writer, director and star of the Oscar-winning The Departed, Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star in The Gambler, a Paramount remake of the 1974 drama.

James Caan starred in the original as an academic whose gambling addiction begins to get the best of him.

William Monahan is writing the script as a potential directing vehicle for Martin Scorsese.

DiCaprio recently completed the Clint Eastwood-directed J. Edgar, and he’s playing Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s remake of The Great Gatsby for Warner Bros, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic. DiCaprio then takes a villainous turn in the Quentin Tarantino-directed Django Unchained for The Weinstein Company.

Robert Zemeckis drops out of directing the time-travel drama Replay...

...which I honestly was really hoping he'd do. Here's the article from /Film:

With the amount rumor running around Hollywood, it’s hard to believe a movie is actually getting made until a filmmaker calls “Action” on set. That said, it seems after considering a number of projects, Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis has settled on his next film and it’ll be one of the many he was previously attached to. That film is called Flight and stars Denzel Washington as a pilot who saves his plane after a malfunction and is labeled a hero (Think Sully Sullenberger). However, as the investigation moves on, it becomes apparently that he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and he must then deal with keeping the secret and the guilt of being an undeserving hero.

As a result of choosing to direct Flight next, Zemeckis has dropped out of the Groundhog Day/Back to the Future influenced Replay.

Deadline broke all this Zemeckis news. Their article says the producers of Replay, which once had Ben Affleck attached, are trying sell the Jason Smilovic scripted project to another filmmaker. It shouldn’t be a problem with a premise that’s as great as this. I can’t be the only one bummed that Zemeckis is NOT doing this film:

Want to see more Zoe Saldana?

The Hollywood Reporter has the exclusive:

Just as her action movie Colombiana opens across the country, Zoe Saldana has set up the supernatural thriller Dominion at Paramount.

The pitch hails from Dean McCreary and Chester Hastings and while plot details remain sketchy, the story centers on a woman (Saldana) who is half-human, half-angel.

Saldana will also serve as a producer on the project, alongside Robbie Brenner. Brenner is a producer on the Gerard Butler drama Machine Gun Preacher, and it was on that project where he first met McCreary and Hastings, who worked on the screenplay early on.

Hastings and McCreary, both repped by Gersh, co-wrote You’re My Angel, a thriller from 4 Horsemen Films that is in development. They also co-wrote Fanboy, a short film about a video store employee who is the world’s biggest Sam Raimi fan. The unreleased comedy features turns from Raimi and J.K. Simmons, who play themselves.

Could Ryan Gosling be in Terrence Malick's new film, thus delaying Logan's Run?

Well, The Playlist seems to believe it's a possibility:

Is Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling‘s upcoming modern adaptation of classic sci-fi “Logan’s Run” set to be delayed by a teaming between the latter and renowned auteur Terrence Malick? Apparently so, according to Film School Rejects, who were on hand at a Q&A with the director for his latest effort “Drive.”

Refn and Gosling are already set to reunite later this year for the Bangkok-set noir “Only God Forgives” and had planned to directly follow that up with “Logan’s Run.” Refn, however, now reveals that his love affair with Gosling will be set aside for the actor to squeeze in a film with Malick between his two projects.

What Malick project might Refn be referring to? The short answer is: we’re not sure. Earlier this week, it was reported that Christian Bale will himself be reuniting with Malick for a new, mysterious project that is said to feature a cast smaller than even his untitled next effort aka “The Burial.” It was noted at the time, though, that the film would “center around two leads, one male (Bale) and one female.” Whether this is the same project Gosling is being linked to now is anyone’s guess really but it’s definitely safe to say the once-dormant director is well and truly back in the game.

Behold the trailer for Blackthorn!

Courtesy of Apple Trailers:

Ben Affleck is planning his next directorial endeavor already?

So it seems, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Just as Ben Affleck gears up to begin production on his thriller Argo, the filmmaker-actor is already targeting his follow-up.

Affleck is in negotiations to star in, direct and produce Line of Sight, an action project at Warner Bros. that is being produced by Joel Silver and Andrew Rona.

The idea, conceived by Silver Pictures'Alex Heineman (who also exec produces), centers on an elite commando squad transporting cargo while dealing with a global threat. One of the conceits of the movie is that it tells the tale from a point-of-view akin to a first-person shooter game. The script was recently worked on by Peter O’Brien, the man who wrote the game Halo: Reach for Xbox 360.

Behold the teaser for The Lady!

Possible Best Actress contender? Take a look:

The "other" Jeff Buckley biopic has gotten its lead actor?

Apparently so, according to Deadline:

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Darkstar Reeve Carney has signed on to play Jeff Buckley in the untitled film about the late musician that Welcome to the Rileyshelmer Jake Scott is putting together for a November shoot. Carney, who performed the Bono/The Edge-pennedSpider-Man single Rise Above 1 at the American Idol finale, will do all the singing to bring to life the music of Buckley, who was just getting started as a solo artist when he drowned at age 30.

Considering that Buckley had only released a single album when he died in 1997 after getting caught in the wake of a passing boat in Tennessee’s Wolf River, it seems amazing that there are not one but three feature films about him. The first one to start production will be Greetings From Tim Buckley, the Dan Algrant-directed indie film that starts a four-week shoot Monday in Brooklyn. Conventional wisdom that the first film out of the gate wins doesn’t necessarily apply here; these two projects tell very different stories about Buckley. Scott is making a biopic, while Greetings From Tim Buckley stars Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley as a pre-fame Jeff Buckley who reconnects with his estranged father Tim by singing at a tribute concert for his folk-singer dad. In Algrant’s film, that short adventure forged Jeff Buckley’s own solo aspirations. The other Buckley film is called A Pure Drop and it is being mounted by Mad Bastards director Brendan Fletcher. The title comes from the book A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley.

Carney will star in what Scott hopes will be a definitive film about Jeff Buckley’s life, and WME is raising funding. They have exclusive rights to Buckley’s music and personal archives, including the nod from Sony to use Leonard Cohen’sHallelujah, which is perhaps Buckley’s best-known tune from his first albumGrace. A second album, Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, was released after Buckley died. Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, has also thrown in with Scott’s project and is executive producer. The script by Ryan Jaffe (The Rocker) was informed by the David Browne book Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley.

A sequel to 'The Last Exorcism' is in the works?

It apparently is, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

The producers of The Last Exorcism are moving ahead with a sequel, tapping writer Damien Chazelle to write the follow-up to the surprise summer 2010 hit.

The PG-13 Exorcism, from production company Strike Entertainment (Children of Men) and directed by Daniel Stamm, grossed $62.5 million worldwide on a budget of $1.6 million. The found-footage Lionsgate release was written by Andrew Gurland and Huck Botko. A sequel was probably a given considering the profitability of the first film.

Studio Canal is financing the follow-up and production is slated to begin this fall.

Exorcism centered on an Evangelical preacher, played by Patrick Fabian, who, after years of performing exorcisms, decides to allow a documentary crew to film the last exorcism he plans to perform, in order to show his work is a fraud.

Woody Allen's next film is going to be set in Munich?

The Hollywood Reporter says that it just might:

Woody Allen is doing his version of the grand European tour.

His Midnight in Paris is still in theaters, the director is still shooting The Bop Decameron, set in Rome, but Allen is already making plans to head to Germany for his next project.

Bavaria studios in Munich is in negotiations with Allen to play the backdrop for his next, still-untitled project, which would shoot next summer.

Bavaria is set to come on board as a co-financier for the film, said to be budgeted at around $25 million.

As is always the case with a Woody Allen film at this stage in pre-production, plot and potential cast are top secret.

Allen's Midnight in Paris opened this year's Festival de Cannes to rave reviews and has gone on to become the director's most commercially successful film, earning more than $50 million in North America alone.

The Bop Decameron boasts an even-more impressive cast than Midnight headliners Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, featuring Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Penelope Cruz and Alec Baldwin among its ensemble cast.

-Joey's Two Cents: It's no secret how much I enjoy Allen's work, so seeing where this newfound resurgence takes him is very intriguing to someone like me who finds even the least regarded Woody work to be worth my time...thoughts?

Djimon Hounsou is the Angel of Death!

I must say, I do enjoy coming up with Paradise Lost casting headlines. Variety has the exclusive:

Djimon Hounsou is the latest heavenly figure to join the cast of Paradise Lost for Legendary.

Alex Proyas is on board to helm with Bradley Cooper and Ben Walker set to star.

Based on the 17th century poem by John Milton, the story revolves around the epic war in heaven between archangels Lucifer (Cooper) and Michael (Walker), including the latter's role in Adam and Eve's fall from grace. Hounsou will play Abdiel, the angel of death.

Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing with Vincent Newman via his Vincent Newman Entertainment banner.

Stuart Hazeldine developed the primary draft of the screenplay, originally written by Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi. Lawrence Kasdan provided a polish as well as Ryan Condal, who delivered the most recent draft.

The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer have BIG plans for Cloud Atlas...

The Hollywood Reporter has the story:

Cloud Atlas, the ambitious literary adaptation being co-written and co-directed by The Matrix siblings Andy and Lana Wachowski and German helmer Tom Tykwer (Run, Lola, Run, The International) is set to begin shooting mid-to-late September at Germany's Studio Babelsberg. The mega project, which stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon, Ben Whishaw and Jim Broadbent, has been delayed slightly as Berlin-based producers X Filme close financing and contract negotiations with talent. X Filme topper Stefan Ardnt said the budget for Cloud will be "definitely lower" than then $100 million - $120 million that had been floated as an estimate in the past but he would not be drawn into giving an exact figure. Ardnt did confirm that the bulk of Cloud, "some 80 percent," will be shot in Babelsberg, Berlin and the surrounding area.

The film is based on David Mitchell's epic novel, which follows six story-lines, each set in a different place and era. The novel's timeline and geography stretches from 19th century Australia to a post-apocalyptic Hawaii.

What is Pixar cooking up next?

Entertainment Weekly has the answer:

Pixar announced two very peculiar animated features, both of them what-if concepts that immediately raised more questions than the studio was ready to answer.

“We’re going to announce two new films no one has ever heard about. Original films,” emphasized Pixar and Disney animation chief John Lasetter [sic], rousing cheers from the auditorium at Disney’s D23 fan convention, where the news was revealed. “You’re the very first group anywhere in the world to hear what these are about. But I’m not going to tell you about it. I’m going to let the filmmakers tell you.”

So are we …

Atom Egoyan is going to be making a film about the West Memphis Three...

...and The Playlist has the full details:

Well, that was fast. No sooner were the West Memphis Three freed on Friday that Hollywood struck while the iron was hot. Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan (”Chloe,” “The Sweet Hereafter”) revealed his intentions to direct a feature-length drama called “The Devil’s Knot,” based on the true-life story of three teenagers, known collectively as the West Memphis Three, who were convicted of the murder and sexual mutilation of three 8-year-old boys in 1993. As the teenagers were fans of heavy metal music (and especially Metallica), the prosecution in the case suggested the motive behind the slayings was part of a Satanic ritual. Even with incredibly questionable police work—which many felt to be outrageous—sensationalized media, fear and panic from the satanism angle in the trial led to the teens’ conviction and sentence of life imprisonment.

This decades-long story took a dramatic and triumphant turn on Friday when, under a plea bargain, the three individuals, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were freed immediately after 18 years in prison.

Tom Cruise is going to be a cowboy?

Perhaps, according to Collider:

What do you do when you’re offered the chance to direct Thor 2? You agree to direct a cowboy movie. At least that’s the vibe I’m getting from this latest news, courtesy of Variety, who claim Game of Thrones director Brian Kirk is circling Paper Wings, a rodeo drama about a rootin’ tootin’ bull riding champ who falls in love with a country singer. Think 8 Seconds meets Pure Country meets Top Gun. And speaking of Top Gun, word is Maverick himself has stepped in and offered his services on the project, going so far as to select Kirk for the gig. He may even star in the film. More after the jump.

Christian Bale set to team up again with Terrence Malick on his newest project?

The Playlist says yes:

For much of Terrence Malick‘s career, his workflow has been defined by single projects taking years at a time to take shape and finish before he moves on to the next one. Now, it seems the guy is making up for lost time. With “The Tree Of Life” hitting theaters this spring, the director currently has his untitled film—aka “The Burial”—in post-production and is also at some stage of development with his “Voyage Of Time” documentary which recently added Emma Thompson as a narrator alongsideBrad Pitt. Earlier this year word cropped up that Malick was starting another film, one that would be small in nature, that would potentially shoot late summer/early fall. Not much has been heard since, but it looks like that film is now moving full steam ahead with an early 2012 start being eyed.

Twitch reports that Christian Bale—who starred in “The New World” and was set for “The Burial” but was replaced by Ben Affleck—is set to reteam with the director on the new project. Of course, details are unknown other than it will apparently feature an even smaller cast than “The Burial” (which features Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Barry Pepper and Jessica Chastain) which certainly falls in line with earlier reports that Malick intends “to be finished with this one in a matter of months.” The story will center around two leads, one male (Bale) and one female, with Rooney Mara, Haley Bennet (”Marley & Me,” “Kaboom”),Clemence Poesy and Mia Wasikowska all said to be in contention for the part. And well, that’s it.

Of course, when we’ll get to see these pics is anybody’s guess. The U.K. rights to “The Burial” recently sold to Optimum and we would guess that if indeed it’s coming next year, another trip to Cannes will be in the works. As for “Voyage Of Time” and this new project, whose to say. But with early word that Malick expects to get it done sooner rather than later, that certainly bodes well though anything can happen when the mercurial director gets behind the camera. Hell, his whole vision for the project could change between now and the New Year. But clearly, the 67 year-old director is newly inspired and we couldn’t be more excited. Let’s hope more details arrive soon.

-Joey's Two Cents: While it's no secret I'm not in love with much of Malick's work, I'm always eager to see his projects, and his upcoming ones are no exceptions...thoughts?