Category: Rumours

Det. Mike Logan Back On TV?
NBC is considering Chris Noth for a role on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, according to Broadcasting and Cable magazine.

Hanks Cracks ‘Da Vinci’ Cast
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Tom Hanks is expected to step into the scholarly shoes of Robert Langdon, the professor who unravels the mystery of the Holy Grail in the film version of Dan Brown’s phenomenally successful novel “The Da Vinci Code.”
Hanks has emerged as director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer’s top choice for the lead role in the film, which Columbia Pictures hopes to begin shooting next year. And talks have begun for the actor to join the project.
“Tom is an exciting actor to watch thinking,” Howard was quoted as saying in the latest issue of Newsweek. “We probably don’t need his status from a box office standpoint, but he gives Langdon instant legitimacy.”
Hanks, who currently can be seen onscreen in animated form in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “The Polar Express,” previously worked with Howard in 1995’s “Apollo 13” and 1984’s “Splash.”
Howard is currently completing work on “The Cinderella Man,” a boxing drama starring Russell Crowe, which Universal Pictures will release in the summer.
Akiva Goldsman, who wrote the screenplay for Howard’s “A Beautiful Mind,” is working on the screen adaptation of Brown’s Doubleday novel, which has spent 86 weeks on the New York Times’ hardcover fiction best-seller list.

‘Miami’ Twice
It only took 20 years, but the pastels of Miami Vice are finally moving from the TV to the big screen, with the show’s executive producer, Michael Mann, at the helm, according to Variety. Colin Farrell is in talks to replace Don Johnson as Det. James ”Sonny” Crockett, while Jamie Foxx — who previously worked with Mann in Collateral and Ali — is up for Philip Michael Thomas’ former role, Det. Ricardo Tubbs, the trade paper reported.
Earlier this month, Foxx, whose upcoming role in Ray is sparking Oscar talk, told the movie website latinoreview.com that he was looking forward to appearing in the Vice movie. No word if Johnson and Thomas get cameos — but surely some of those drug-dealer roles are open.

‘A-Team’ headed to the big screen
A big-screen movie version of the popular ’80s action series “The A-Team” is in the works.
Bruce Feirstein — best known for writing the James Bond films “Golden Eye,” “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “The World is Not Enough” — has signed on to write the project, Variety reports.
Creator Stephen J. Cannell will produce the film alongside Spike Seldin.
Casting for the movie has not yet begun.
“The A-Team” ran from 1983-1987 on NBC. It starred George Peppard and Mr. T as Veitnam vets wanted by the military for a crime they didn’t commit.

Dougray Scott To Play Bond?
British actor Dougray Scott has reportedly beaten off competition from actors, Eric Bana, Ioan Gruffud and Clive Owen to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.
The To Kill A King hunk, 38, clinched the role after discussions with Bond producer Barbara Broccoli and will be the seventh actor to appear as the sexy British agent.
He will make his first appearance in the 23rd Bond movie after Eon Productions decided they wanted to return to a more brooding Bond in the mould of fellow Scot Sean Connery, reports British newspaper the Sunday Mirror.
A movie insider says, “Producers have been eager to take Bond back to the broody and sexy figure that Sean was so brilliant at. Obviously it’s not possible for Sean to return at his age, so they have been looking for a younger actor with similar characteristics. Since then Barbara and Dougray have been in talks – and she believes he will be the perfect new 007 for the 21st Century.”
Brosnan announced two months ago that he would not be starring as Bond again, saying, “That’s it. I’ve said all I’ve got to say on the world of James Bond.”

JEDI MINDTRICKS?
Star Wars fansite TheForce.net reporting that employees of George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic were required to sign non-disclosure agreements promising not to talk about the possibility of a trilogy sequel. Lucas has previously said he’s closing down the franchise after the prequels.

New U2 album out in November
U2’s still untitled new album will be released at the end of November, according to the U2 fan site Interference.com.
The site announced Tuesday that the confirmed release date for the new U2 record will be Monday, Nov. 22 in Europe and Tuesday, Nov. 23 in North America.
The album, produced by Steve Lillywhite, will be preceded by a new single titled “Vertigo,” which will be available commercially on November 9. The single will hit North American radio on September 24.
A support tour will be announced in December, with a likely start-time in March of 2005 in the U.S.
U2’s last album, “All That You Can’t Leave Behind,” was released in October 2000.

Don’t Mess with Texas
The liberal politics of ”The West Wing” may be out of sync with those of the real-life White House, but during the coming season, the show will mimic reality by focusing more on presidential campaigning. And a central figure may be a politician from Texas. Variety reports that the show’s producers are in talks with Jimmy Smits to join the cast as a three-term congressman from Houston with an eye on the Oval Office.
The possible hiring of the former ”NYPD Blue” leading man and the campaign storyline may add some needed juice to the show as it enters its sixth season. Though ”West Wing” remains Emmy bait (it earned 12 nominations last month), its ratings have declined, and critics have complained that the quality of the writing has also slumped since creator Aaron Sorkin left at the end of the fourth season. With President Bartlet’s (Martin Sheen) term in office winding down, it’s natural for the show to develop the election storyline, writer-producer Lawrence O’Donnell tells the New York Times. ”In the evolution of the stories, politics and campaigning has been the arena least explored. We’re trying to rectify that balance,” he says. ”It’s a slightly unreal element on the show that we haven’t had the political sharks circling the White House. That dynamic will now be added.”

Universal Wants Another Helping of PIE
The storyline of the AMERICAN PIE teen comedy flicks logically wrapped up with the third installment, AMERICAN WEDDING, but Universal is at work at a fourth slice of PIE.
FilmJerk.com cites an anonymous source that AMERICAN PIE 4 is on a fast track, slated to begin next month with director Steve Rash.
However, none of the original cast is expected to participate. Instead, this new piece of PIE will be about Matt Stifler, the younger brother of PIE jock Steve Stifler.
The story would focus on young Matt being sent to band camp, a locale which was at the center of the original PIE trilogy.

Timberlake Out of Sync?
After you’ve disrobed Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl, and presumably disrobed Cameron Diaz someplace, can you really go back to being just one of the boys?
For Justin Timberlake, the answer is no, per a report in the new People magazine.
Timberlake “doesn’t want any part” of a planned ‘N Sync reunion, a source says in People.
“Justin said he’s not in the mood and doesn’t think it will work,” the spy tells the magazine.
‘N Sync, with the Backstreet Boys, the leading boy band of the teen-pop explosion of the late 1990s/early 2000s, has been on hiatus since a 2002 tour in support of the group’s third pop album, Celebrity, released in 2001.
The five members–Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick–have reteamed occasionally. In 2003, for instance, they harmonized on a Bee Gees medley at the Grammy Awards.
Last month, the “Bye Bye Bye” boys performed the national anthem at a charity basketball game in Miami for the Challenge for the Children Foundation, an organization founded by the popsters.
The Miami gig was supposed to be the start of putting ‘N Sync back in sync, People says. But instead of talking about recording dates, Timberlake reportedly was talking about not recording.
Officially, the group is still a group, Jive Records spokeswoman Sonia Muckle told E! Thursday. She also says there was never a new ‘N Sync album planned for this year.
Chasez, Bass, Fatone and Kirkpatrick “are undecided right now” about the future of the band, the People source says. The foursome were said to be ticked off at Timberlake’s defection.
It was Timberlake who sparked talk of a reactivated ‘N Sync last year. He told the Website Launch that the reunion would occur after Chasez’s solo album debut, Schizophrenic, came out in February of this year.
When it comes to solo acts, the 23-year-old Timberlake is the solo act among the ‘N Sync set. His 2002 album, Justified, went triple platinum, spawned the hit singles “Cry Me a River” and “Like I Love You,” and won two Grammys.
Off the charts, he’s dated Britney Spears, Jackson and incumbent girlfriend Diaz, and bagged a leading role in the big-screen thriller, Edison, due out next year. Last January, he manhandled Jackson’s bustier in the wardrobe malfunction seen around the world.
By comparison, the other ‘N Syncers have had more modest successes, not including Lance Bass who almost immodestly walked in outer space, but none seem hard up enough to warrant a sad Behind the Music profile.
With ‘N Sync possibly out of the picture, the Backstreet Boys should have less competition when they seek to reclaim the hearts and minds of their older and possibly wiser fans.
The Boys have been on the road since the spring. A new album–their first since 2001’s optimistically titled The Hits–Chapter One–is expected later this year.
Unlike the ‘N Sync situation, no Backstreet Boy has a soaring solo career to get in the way of the group–Nick Carter’s Paris Hilton-related headlines, notwithstanding.