Hounsou Tackles Thulsa Doom: Djimon Hounsou has partnered with Dynamite Entertainment to star in and produce a bigscreen feature about immortal sorcerer Thulsa Doom, a central figure in the Conan the Barbarian and Kull comicbooks. Doom was portrayed by James Earl Jones in 1982’s Conan the Barbarian. Planned pic will showcase the origins of the flawed hero and show how his road to hell was paved with good intentions. [Variety]
Producers team for Papillon Redo: New Spanish production shingle Atlantia Canarias is teaming with L.A. producers Branko Lustig and John Kelly for a remake of the Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman starrer Papillon. Currently in the earliest stage of development, with no screenwriter or director attached, Papillon will shoot in English on a budget of about $90 million, Lustig said. As someone that thinks Papillon is the best McQueen movie (yup, better than Bullitt, Magnificent Seven, etc.) I think this is a HORRIBLE idea. [Variety]
Fergie joins Rob Marshall’s Nine: Fergie is in negotiations to join the Rob Marshall-helmed musical Nine for the Weinstein Co. and Relativity Media. She will join Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cottilard, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Judi Dench. Fergie will play Saraghina, a lusty woman who introduces Guido (Day-Lewis) to the world of sexuality. [Variety]
Tobey Maguire to Star in Crusaders: Tobey Maguire is attached to Universal’s The Crusaders, a drama about the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case. Gary Ross is attached to direct, and U has hired “Recount” scribe Danny Strong to write the script. Maguire would play Jack Greenberg, who, as an idealistic lawyer fresh out of law school, joined with NAACP Legal Defense Fund head and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to win a Supreme Court case that ruled segregation in American schools illegal. [Variety]
Screen Gems finds Roommate: Screen Gems has acquired Sonny Mallhi’s spec thriller The Roommate, a story centering on Sara, a college student randomly assigned to a freshman dorm with a stranger named Rebecca. They start off as friends but things turn deadly as Rebecca begins to target people in Sara’s life. [Variety]
Director Takes on Don Cheadle’s Passion Project: Jose Padilha will direct Marching Powder, a drama that Don Cheadle has long wanted to star in and produce. Pic is based on “Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine and South America’s Strangest Jail,” a memoir Thomas McFadden wrote with Rusty Young. Cheadle intends to play McFadden, a British drug trafficker who was arrested in Bolivia and jailed in La Paz’s San Pedro prison. During his six-year stretch, McFadden served as a tour guide in a prison that thrived under a capitalist system made possible by bribery of officials. [Variety]
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