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A.I.: Haley Joel Osment will supposedly be paid $2 million to star in the Steven Spielberg-helmed "A.I." for Warner Bros./DreamWorks, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Posse: Disney has tapped Adam Rifkin ("Detroit Rock City") to write and direct "Posse," a sci-fi action comedy. The story centers on a small-town sheriff who is dragged into a manhunt by three alien federal marshals. Variety reports that the deal is worth a high six-figure sum, with Rifkin to complete the screenplay before the picture is greenlit at Disney for him to start shooting.

Cursed Part 3: Actress Rae Dawn Chong ("Soul Man") will make her feature writing and directing debut on the independent horror genre spoof "Cursed Part 3." The story follows a crew filming a "Blair Witch Project"-style documentary. Part of the comedy is that there are no "Cursed Parts 1 & 2," saidd Dana MacDuff, who will produce with Ken Schwenker. According to THR, "Cursed" is to start shooting April 10 in Los Angeles.

Cletis Tout: Tim Allen and Christian Slater are negotiating to star in "Cletis Tout," a comedy about mistaken identity. Slater would play an escaped convict who takes on the identity of the title character, who happens to be dead. That plan goes awry when he realizes that the previous holder of the name Cletis Tout is slated to be rubbed out by a hitman, a quirky assassin to be played by Allen. According to Variety, the indie project is slated to begin shooting in May with Chris Ver Wiel directing from his own script.

The It Girl: Writer-director Andrew Fleming ("The Craft") is on board to helm Sarah Michelle Gellar in Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures' dramatic thriller "The It Girl" for producer Bill Gerber. The studio hopes to have the project in production by early June. Fleming is now rewriting the script for "It Girl," which was originally written by Nina Coleman. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the project tells the story of a young girl, seemingly from nowhere, who moves to New York, manages to endear herself to upper-crust society and falls in love with its most eligible bachelor.

Ocean Warrior: James Marsden ("Disturbing Behavior") is set to star in "Ocean Warrior," the story of Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson, who also founded the Sea Shepherd Society. The picture, set in Europe, chronicles Watson and crew's rabble-rousing efforts on behalf of environmental concerns as they form Greenpeace. Watson co-founded Greenpeace in 1971 but was booted from the group for being too radical; he then founded the Sea Shepherd Society. The independently financed picture will begin filming Aug. 15. According to Variety, John Badham ("Nick of Time") will direct "Ocean" from a script by Keith Ross Leckie.

The Shipping News: Kevin Spacey has committed to star in "The Shipping News" for director Lasse Hallstrom ("The Cider House Rules"). Based on the 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Annie Proulx, "Shipping" centers on a newspaperman who survives an awful marriage to a woman who runs off with his two daughters and sells them into prostitution. The man saves the girls, moves with them to Newfoundland and takes a job writing the shipping news, while slowly discovering his own identity and some dark family secrets. The Columbia Pictures and Miramax Films co-production is slated to begin shooting early next year.

The Perfect Storm: An official "Perfect Storm" poster, courtesy of perfectstorm.net. This upcoming drama stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

Replicant: Michael Rooker ("The Bone Collector") is set to co-star with Jean-Claude Van Damme in the indie feature “Replicant.” According to Variety, this project starts lensing next month in Vancouver.

Tusker: Jodie Foster and Morgan Freeman have come on board to voice DreamWorks/Pacific Data Images' animated feature "Tusker," which is in preproduction for a holiday 2002 release, THR states. Co-directed by Tim Johnson and Brad Lewis, "Tusker" follows a herd of elephants who take a dangerous trek across Southeast Asia, at times meeting up with poachers. Foster will voice the role of a young female elephant, and Freeman will speak for the herd's elder.

Dirty Dancing 2: A clarification on the Britney Spears/Dirty Dancing 2 rumor that's been floating around the net for a while. Thanks to 'Moviehole.'

The last couple of days there has been a rumour on the net, that Britney Spears is apparently going to do a "Dirty Dancing 2". I have just found out some big news, courtesy of my daily newspaper here in Australia, "Herald-Sun" which basically puts a stop to that rumour. Britney is writing a film, a dance film, but it won't be a sequel or even a remake of "Dirty Dancing", as previously noted, in her own words Britney tells the paper "it's going to be LIKE a modern version of "dirty dancing". So that basically crushes people's hopes for a dirty dancing sequel/remake.

Saving Silverman: Jason Biggs is set and Steve Zahn is in final negotiations to join Jack Black in "Saving Silverman." Biggs will receive north of $1.75 million to star, and Zahn is expected to land $1 million-plus for the comedy, THR states. "Big Daddy" director Dennis Dugan is helming. "Silverman" tells the story of three young men who have been best friends since age 5. One of them, Silverman (Biggs), can't get a date, so his friends set him up with a woman (Amanda Peet) who turns out to be a nightmare, and they must get rid of her. The project is scheduled to go before cameras around June.

The Ice Age: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Jane Krakowski and Goran Visnjic will lend their voices to 20th Century Fox's animated feature comedy "The Ice Age," to be directed by Academy Award winner Chris Wedge. Kristen Johnston is in discussions to join the project, due to start production in June. Set in prehistoric times, "Ice" is described as a comedy about a woolly mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger and a giant sloth forced to work together to return an abandoned human baby to its family. Romano will voice Manfred the Mammoth, with Leguizamo and Krakowski ("Ally McBeal") as sloths Sid and Jennifer. Visnjic ("ER") is the leader of the saber-toothed tigers. Johnston would come aboard to play Sylvia the Sloth.

Arach Attack: The duo behind "Independence Day" and "Godzilla" are producing "Arach Attack," an f/x-driven comedic thriller about a toxic waste spill causes giant spiders to go on a rampage. The picture, said to be budgeted at under $30 million, will start shooting in September in Australia. Variety reports that New Zealander Ellory Elkayem will direct from a script he cowrote with Jesse Alexander. No cast is set. "The physical production of 'Arach Attack' is a Volkswagen with a Porsche engine," said Dean Devlin, referring to the fact that most of "Arach's" low budget will be spent on some 200 effects shots that Centropolis Effects will create.

Collateral: DreamWorks has picked up the script "Collateral," which Frank Darabont, Rob Fried and Chuck Russell will executive produce through their Edge City Films. "Collateral," a thriller written by Stuart Beattie, was originally developed by Edge City as a possible feature for HBO, with whom it has a five-picture deal. DreamWorks is said to have paid mid-six figures for the project. According to THR, the script's title is hitman slang for a murder that a professional assassin has not yet been contracted for. The story revolves around a New York cab driver who finds that out he is collateral when he discovers that he is chauffeuring a hitman from murder to murder.

T for Thriller: Word from Paris is that Dustin Hoffman has committed to star in an English-language thriller directed by veteran French helmer Claude Lelouch ("A Man and a Woman.") Shooting on "T for Thriller" is scheduled for the end of the year in New York, Paris, Britain and Italy, a Lelouch spokeswoman told THR. No budget has been fixed, and the famed director's company Films 13 hasn't began selling the film on the international market. Lelouch wrote the leading role specifically for Hoffman in what is described as "a love-story thriller" after the two met in Cannes a few years ago. Hoffman agreed to the role after a meeting last month in New York, according to Lelouch's office. An American actress is being sought to play opposite Hoffman, but no other cast has been attached.

Josie and the Pussycats: Parker Posey is set and Tara Reid and Alan Cumming are in negotiations to join Rachael Leigh Cook in "Josie and the Pussycats," Universal's live-action feature based on the comic book series and cartoon of the same name. Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan ("Can't Hardly Wait") will direct from their own script. A summer start is planned. The feature satirizes contemporary pop music and pop culture and revolves around a group of female sleuths/rockers, the Pussycats, headed by Josie (Cook). The three rockers find themselves being used by an evil mogul to brainwash American youth by placing subliminal messages in their songs. Reid would play the Pussycats' drummer, and Posey has been cast in the role of the tyrannical egomaniacal record label CEO who manipulates Josie and the band. Cumming would play her right hand man, a talent scout responsible for discovering Josie and the Pussycats.

Harry Potter: Chris Columbus ("Bicentennial Man," "Home Alone") looks set to direct "Harry Potter" for Warner Bros., the first in a series of three films based on J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." The screenplay was adapted by Steve Kloves. It is believed that Rowling will maintain some creative control over how her work is interpreted on the big screen. No release date has been set, but WB is reportedly shooting for a July 2001 release. Thanks to IGN FilmForce.

Her Leading Man: Sandra Bullock is in early talks with Universal Pictures to star in "Her Leading Man," a film described as a "deconstruction" of the romantic comedy genre. According to Variety, Universal bought the "Leading" pitch two years ago from Kevin Williamson ("Scream"), Greg Berlanti and Julie Plec. Williamson will also produce and direct the project.

A.I.: Oscar nominees Jude Law is set and Haley Joel Osment is getting closer to a deal to star in Steven Spielberg's "A.I." Osment's commitment to the project comes after he entered into talks about the project earlier this month. He has even tried to help Spielberg cast the role of his mother, THR states, and he informally asked Julianne Moore during the Oscar nominee luncheon if she wanted to play his Mom. Moore cannot do it because of prior commitments (including "Hannibal").

Salton Sea: Deborah Kara Unger ("The Hurricane") has been cast as the female lead in Castle Rock's crime thriller "Salton Sea." She joins Val Kilmer and Peter Sarsgaard in the feature film directorial debut of D.J. Caruso. Written by Tony Gayton, the script follows a man (Kilmer) who witnesses the murder of his wife and goes undercover as a drug dealer to avenge her death. Unger plays the role of the neighbor of Kilmer's character who becomes his love interest as well as his nemesis. According to THR, the project is scheduled to start shooting April 24.

Expendables: Frank Marshall ("Alive") has come aboard to helm Warner Bros.' action drama "Expendables." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marshall will develop the script, which the studio hopes to put into production by year's end. "Expendables," written by Scott M. Smith ("Navy Diver"), is about a group of maximum-security prison inmates allowed to leave their digs to be part of a special unit that performs high-risk deep-sea dives. When they find themselves conned into recovering a sunken German U-boat full of gold and Nazi bank records in the waters off Cuba, the inmates not only pull off a heist but redeem themselves and become national heroes.

Posters: One for the thriller "Gossip," starring James Marsden, Lena Headey, Kate Hudson and Joshua Jackson. One for "Passion of Mind," a romantic thriller starring Demi Moore. An official poster for "U-571," and also one for the Sean Penn/Kristin Scott Thomas drama "Up at the Villa."

Ghosts of Mars: Courtney Love ("Man on the Moon") has confirmed that she'll be starring in John Carpenter's "Ghosts of Mars" as Melanie, an interplanetary police sqad officer 175 years in the future. Courtney also mentioned that fellow musician/actor Ice Cube ("Three Kings") will co-star in what she calls "the only girl western I've seen... ever." The film is slated for a 2001 release. Thanks to h o l e m u s i c ( . ) c o m.

Breakers: Gene Hackman has agreed to star in the MGM comedy "Breakers,'' joining Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jason Lee. According to Variety, the picture centers on mother and daughter con artists who use their feminine wiles to hook and then blackmail the men in their lives. Hackman will play one of their wealthy targets. David Mirkin ("Get a Life") directs, and also had a hand in shaping the script along with Stephen Mazur and Paul Guay.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: A review of Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman's fifth "Grinch" draft, dated August 13th 1999. Minor spoilers. Thanks to Stax.

The Grinch - Script Review (Negative)

The Vertical Limit: Sony has opted to push back "Vertical Limit" to a December 8th release. Though never officially slotted for a specific weekend, the Martin Campbell-helmed thriller was expected to join "Hollow Man," "The Patriot" and "Loser" on Sony's summer slate. Distribution chief Jeff Blake said the intricacy of the film's special effects and a chance to counterprogram during the holidays drove the decision, which he stressed was made "out of confidence in the picture." More >>>

Terminator 3 & 4: Producers Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna have signed two foreign distributors as equity partners on the development and production of their "Terminator 3" and "Terminator 4" sequels. The two partners are VCL, Germany's leading indie video distributor, and Japanese distributor Toho Towa. Though no one has committed to financing the picture, VCL is a 25% equity partner on the sequels, and it is thought that Toho Towa has a similar deal. Neither project has a cast, director or U.S. distributor, but Kassar said he expects "Terminator 3" to be delivered in the summer or fall of 2001. According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Teddy Sarafian is nearing completion of the "T3" script, and David Wilson has completed an 80-page treatment for "T4."

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