Hamm-Westfeldt Sandwich: Jon Hamm and his lady friend Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) have set up production company Points West Pictures. They have three projects in the pipeline, including an adaptation of the play Dusty and the Big Bad World, a dramedy influenced by PBS’s 2005 scandal “Bustergate”: Dusty revolves around an 11-year-old girl with gay dads who wins an appearance for her family on her little brother’s favorite show, only to have an influential member of the Christian right threaten to get the show’s funding pulled if the episode airs. Apparently said member did not have that kind of pull from 1987 to 1990. [HR]
Bioshocked: Pre-production on Gore Verbinski’s Bioshock, the video-game adaptation about a power struggle in an underwater city, has been stopped due to budget concerns. Verbinski and co. are looking into a few financially savvy options for the movie, now at a budget of $160 million, including shooting in London to take advantage of tax credits and making it about pirates in the Caribbean. [Variety]
In Good Company: Mario Bello and Craig T. Nelson have joined Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, and Tommy Lee Jones in corporate-downsizing drama The Company Men. Bello plays the VP of human resources who fires Affleck’s character and Nelson plays the CEO of the company. This is just like that time on Coach when Hayden has to fire Luther, but then, ahh, no one’s ever actually seen an episode of Coach. [Variety]
Torture Onscreen: David Cronenberg’s 1983 thriller Videodrome is getting a remake at Universal. The original starred James Woods as the head of Civic TV Channel 83 who creates the hit show Videodrome, a series depicting all kinds of crazy, violent shit. The remake will be a big budget sci-fi action-thriller and will feature a nanotech subplot, which makes sense because, as we insidery types know, nanotech subplots are super-hot right now. [Variety]
Olyphant Gets a Badge: Timothy Olyphant will star in an untitled new FX show, a drama based on Elmore Leonard’s short story Fire in the Hole. He’ll play U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, a man dedicated to his job who is a bit behind the times as he returns to his hometown in Kentucky. Fire should know: As far as all-time greatest U.S. Marshal–centric entertainment goes, they’re playing for second place. [HR]
Chan Gets 100: Jackie Chan will star in and co-direct Chinese Zodiac, his 100th film project. The movie sounds like a Chinese National Treasure and is Chan’s second recent Chinese film project. Does the Chinese Ministry of Culture have revealing photos of Chan and Chris Tucker carousing in a hot tub or something? [Variety]
