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RDJ Invades DreamWorks: Robert Downey Jr. is in negotiations to star in Cowboys & Aliens for DreamWorks, the pulpy Wild West story of cowboys and Indians who team up to stop an alien invasion. The Hollywood Reporter acts like our eleventh-grade English teacher and helpfully points out that aliens represent "the American imperialist drive to conquer," which is only marginally less interesting than imagining RDJ continuing his Tropic Thunder spree and playing a black cowboy sheriff. "Hey, it worked in Blazing Saddles." [HR]
Any Given Raimi: Sam Raimi will direct The Given Day for Columbia, based on Dennis Lehane's as-yet-unpublished novel about post-WWI Boston, the Spanish flu, and a police strike that almost destroys the city. Lehane is like crack for directors, on a hot streak with Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone, and Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island. It seems like the only question left on Raimi's mind is, "How do I get Bruce Campbell in this movie?" [Variety]
Wiseman Gears Up: Len Wiseman, who somehow found a way to make John McClane PG-13 in Live Free or Die Hard, will direct video-game adaptation Gears of War for what's left of New Line Cinema. Chris Morgan (Wanted) is rewriting the script, possibly because the original draft was too much like this fan-made A-Team version. [Variety]
I, Kasdan: Screenwriting colossus Lawrence Kasdan will write Warner Bros.' Robotech, the adaptation of the sprawling eighties anime show about guys putting on giant robot suits and fighting aliens. Be excited because Kasdan wrote Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but be afraid because he also wrote Dreamcatcher. [HR]
Damages Hurt: In his first regular TV role, William Hurt will join FX's Damages, reuniting him with Glenn Close for the first time since The Big Chill (yet another Lawrence Kasdan script). Hurt will play one of Close's clients, and it turns out they share a past that is "more than just professional." Why so coy, Variety? What, did they go kayaking together and then win a jelly-bean-counting contest? [Variety]
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