Overstuffed: Mark Wahlberg and James Franco have joined the cast of the Steve Carell–Tina Fey flick Date Night, as a crazy securities expert and a dim-witted con man, respectively. Which sounds promising, until you realize this is part of director Shawn Levy’s thus-far-successful attempt to make this movie as cameo-riddled as his Night at the Museum series: Also onboard are Common, as a bad guy; Kristen Wiig, as Fey’s best friend; Leighton Meester, as the babysitter; and Taraji P. Henson, as a helpful cop. So wacky! [Variety]

Spring Screen: McG is in the early stages of bringing Broadway smash Spring Awakening to the big screen, with original writer Steven Sater doing the adaptation and the one-name auteur directing and producing. You might recall the musical — a sexual-coming-of-age story based on an 1891 German play — from back when every single person in New York was obsessed with it two years ago. And on that note, man, is Jonathan Franzen gonna be pissed. [HR]

Pearl Jam Bonanza: Pearl Jam’s getting busy: The band is fourteen songs into a new album, being recorded in California with producer Brendan O’Brien; it has announced it will play San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival in August, will most likely also headline the Austin City Limits Festival, and may release a concert film helmed by Cameron Crowe. No word on whether Crowe will include that time he caught Eddie Vedder high on acid, screaming from a fan’s rooftop, “I am a golden god.” [Billboard]

Germ-inem: Producer Bernd Eichinger and director Uli Edel, the German filmmakers behind The Baader Meinhof Complex, will make an 8 Mile–style biopic on German hip-hop star Bushido. Starring the half-German, half-Tunisian rapper, it’ll trace his life from his high-school-dropout, drug-dealer days to his stardom days (over 1.5 million albums sold!). Apparently Bushido is known for his controversial lyrics, including perceived sexist, racist, and, um, nationalist content. A German rapper with nationalist lyrics? Really? Oh boy. [Variety]

Mafia International: Working Title productions has acquired the rights to Mischa Glenny’s McMafia, a non-fiction book about the mafia worldwide, being marketed as the organized-crime equivalent of Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat. As the report notes, non-fiction books without a narrative or central character don’t seem to be the most likely candidates for movie adaptations — but hey, if it worked for Drew Barrymore … [HR]

Scammed: Josh Gad, the young man thus far best known from The Rocker and the Kelsey Grammer sitcom Back to You, somehow has more work lined up: He’s slated to be a regular on CBS’ Waiting to Die (about two men happy with their lives no matter the dire situations they are in), has a recurring part on ABC’s No Heroics (about a group of B-list superheroes), and will be a guest correspondent on The Daily Show. In related news, Josh Gad's agent is good. [Variety]