Two More for Stone's Biopic: Thandie Newton says good-bye to being Norbit's girlfriend and hello to playing Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone's W. Joining her is Fantastic Four's Ioan Gruffudd, who will harness his innate accent to play Tony Blair; Michael Sheen is not amused. The question remains: Will Paul Giamatti be cast? And as Karl Rove or Dick Cheney? [HR]

Maguire Pets the Rabbit: Endgame Entertainment has acquired the dramatic thriller spec Hungry Rabbit Jumps for Tobey Maguire to headline. Spec, from Even Money's Robert Tannen, has been described along the lines of David Fincher's The Game. You may remember Maguire from another movie about games: Fred Savage's The Wizard. [Variety]

MGM Running in Circles: MGM threw down 3 million smackers for Robert Ludlum's The Matarese Circle, to be adapted by 3:10 to Yuma's Michael Brandt and Derek Haas. Producers plan to contemporize the Cold War story about a CIA and KGB agent who put aside their differences and work together against an international gang of criminals. Ah, Robert Ludlum, is there any genre you can't master? Spy thrillers … spy thrillers … international-espionage thrillers ... [Variety]